Kung fu practicality?

[TheeeChosenOne]

Originally posted by: dtyn
That said, Gung Fu is a wonderful composition of styles for protecting yourself. Find one that suits your body type, i.e. Southern Boxers or Northern Kickers. I've been practicing Bamboo Forest Gung Fu for about 13 years now, and I wouldn't be afraid to defend myself against a fighter from any other style.

My Drunken Baboon Doggie Style maneuver will DEFEAT your Bamboo Forest GUMP Gung Fu any day!

Whoooa! Defend yourself! :frown:

 

[StageLeft]

Not useful. Truly useful martial arts are ones that are simple and rely heavily on practice rather than BS traditions. Jiu jitsu or other wrestling is one. And in terms of non-grappling standard kickboxing or thai kickboxing or anything like that is what you want. Ideally you want a combination of the two.

If 2/3 of the class is spent learning "discipline" and "forms" that's 2/3 of the class wasted, because the guy across town is spending 1/3 of the class learning something new and the other 2/3 actually testing it out in a practice fight.

I've spent time in a tae kwon do school working towards a belt. What a fvcking waste of time. The most useful stuff I was ever involved in was a guy who was teaching about 10-15 of us for free. No belts. No uniforms. Just some mats and what he thought to be a truly effective combination of submission wrestling and thai kick boxing. It really was infinitely more useful than the standardized crap you can find in any number of strip malls in the poor part of town.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: TheeeChosenOne
Kung Fu is pretty useless.

Like my old Kung Fu teacher used to say, there is no better defense than your mouth. You can generally TALK your way out of almost ANY situation. Even if the guy robs your wallet, let him have it. Is it worth getting stabbed or shot for it? NO. My master who's an amazing fighter was robbed. He rather let it go than take it to the next step. I agree with his decision.

Now if we were in feudal China where you had warlords raiding your village for goods and female conquests, then YES, martial arts learning is worthwhile. That is why villagers invented these different styles to protect themselves.

In our society, however, martial arts is more for entertainment (movies) or gymnastic exercise. I do think little kids should learn it for a year or so to give them confidence in themselves and to ward off the wankers at school. 😉

I'd rather be knifed (can't use stabbed) then have a guy rob me. That is just me. I'd rather see if he'd actually st@b me (lack of guns in England but there are some about of course but it is un usual for guns), he'd have to take it out of my dead hands. Stupid but I would fight for what is mine.

Koing

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Koing,
Once you experience a true knife wound, I guarantee you'd think twice about fighting the guy off.

It's wise to learn from true master fighters and why they'd rather avoid conflict than participate in it. A Jet Li Lethal Weapon scenario ain't going to happen. Anyone who trains and thinks, I could be the movie version of Jet Li or Jacki Chan is just being foolhardy.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Not useful. Truly useful martial arts are ones that are simple and rely heavily on practice rather than BS traditions. Jiu jitsu or other wrestling is one. And in terms of non-grappling standard kickboxing or thai kickboxing or anything like that is what you want. Ideally you want a combination of the two.

If 2/3 of the class is spent learning "discipline" and "forms" that's 2/3 of the class wasted, because the guy across town is spending 1/3 of the class learning something new and the other 2/3 actually testing it out in a practice fight.

I've spent time in a tae kwon do school working towards a belt. What a fvcking waste of time. The most useful stuff I was ever involved in was a guy who was teaching about 10-15 of us for free. No belts. No uniforms. Just some mats and what he thought to be a truly effective combination of submission wrestling and thai kick boxing. It really was infinitely more useful than the standardized crap you can find in any number of strip malls in the poor part of town.

"Kung Fu" is an overencompassing term that is used to describe martial arts in China. What would you think if someone said that "all Mexican food is disgusting" and proceeds to describe a Taco Bell Bean Burrito (eeeewwww . . ..)? This is what I'm hearing right now, and I ain't liking it. 😉

'Course I can't change people's opinions, but your sole experiences do not justify your opinion as "truth" - of course, neither does mine. What you said sounds like you're generalizing about all the professional martial arts gyms and praising private - out-of-garage type deals. Might be true in some sense, but it's attitudes like that that make a good professional school (which is few and far inbetween, I admit) even harder to find. Of course, I'm lucky to train under someone who's one of the highest-ranking Si-fus of our style in the continent (and can back up his words with complete ease), but if you don't look, how can you find it in the first place?