Shaolin Monk's Daily Routine

The daily routine of many Shaolin monks-

5:00: Rising from bed
5:15​–5:30: Sitting qigong
5:30​–7:30: Morning run and kung fu practice
7:30-8:30: Morning meal
9:00–11:30: Performing temple tasks, like working at farms, chopping wood, and tending to commercial affairs; monks who are elders or children attend Buddhist classes
11:30–12:30: Lunch

12:30–5:00: Afternoon kung fu practice: martial exercises and combat skills
5:10​–6:40: Evening Buddhist lessons
6:50–7:30: Dinner
9:00–10:00: Personal Time
10:00: Going to bed
At the morning training session, basic skills are practiced. Morning training begins with empty stomach, by warming up, which includes loosening up the body via rotating the joints and then by stamina training via endurance exercises such as various kinds of running, jumping, push-ups, etc., for 15–30 minutes. Then the "child skills" such as flexibility and balance are practiced for about a half-hour. Flexibility training is done via stretching exercises, and balance training is done via keeping the body balanced in different childish skills postures for a while. Usually, morning training takes 1 hour, but monks may train themselves by doing more basic exercises and other exercises such as practicing combat drills and routines, etc.The Shaolin monks have a carbohydrate-rich dinner of noodles and bread. The most commonly consumed noodles in China are rice, wheat and starch noodles. Bo says the Shaolin Temple typically serves bread made from black rice flour or yellow wheat flour. Alcohol in any form is strictly forbidden for the monks. Try replicating a Shaolin dinner with 100 percent whole-grain noodles and whole-wheat bread. If you do not consume gluten, look for bread and pasta made from brown rice flour.