Martial arts movie couple on picking the best discipline, staying healthy, and new baby
- Action star JuJu Chan Szeto and movie director Antony Szeto, experts in multiple martial arts, say the benefits aren’t purely physical
JuJu Chan Szeto and Antony Szeto are a literal power couple. JuJu, a 35-year-old action star who appeared in 2016’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, practises taekwondo, wing chun, Shaolin-style wushu, Muay Thai and karate. Her film-director husband, 59, is an expert in Chinese martial arts. Both also practise with weapons such as nunchucks.
“When you’re working with weapons like JuJu and I [do], you’re doing weighted training, while still doing forms and aerobic exercises,” Antony says.
The results of all this practice are visible. “I can still do the splits,” he says.
“When I’m in the park and people see this white-haired guy going all the way down and doing a full split, they go ‘Wow!’ It’s really that suppleness. Working with aerobic exercises keeps you fit. Working with weighted weapons gives you skeletal muscles.”
But what may not be immediately obvious to martial arts spectators is that a lot is going on in a fighter’s head, says JuJu, who represented Hong Kong in taekwondo from 2012-15 – winning a gold medal at the 2013 China Open Championship – and was the 46kg Thai boxing champion at the WMC The One Legend Thai Boxing Championship, held in Hong Kong.
