Kung Fu San Soo

[Kakudo Tora]

Does anybdy here find San Soo effecive???

[DragonzRage]

Just so i don't step on anyone's toes, let me point out that my comments are directed to the san soo training methods and techniques that I have personally been exposed to. Perhaps they do not reflect san soo in general. But from the san soo that I have seen, i find it highly ineffective. I did not see their training as providing any sort of a functional base. Its kind of like a self defense class type thing...they practice step by step theoretical defenses and techniques against hypothetical attacks from cooperative partners. And the techniques didn't seem too functional either. It was the type of thing that would look great in a demonstration but would be pretty hard to pull off on a real resisting opponent. They also practiced a lot of classical kung fu/karate looking katas that didn't seem to bear a huge relation to the "fighting techniques" that they would practice. Basically, I felt that their training represented the type of thing that you want to avoid in the martial arts world: a lot of seemingly clever but ultimately non-functional techniques, a lack of real sparring or live training and lots of drills and exercises that don't have much correlation to fighting. Although one good thing is that they did make their students aware of a lot of dirty street tactics like eye gouging and whatnot that could be applied in a life or death situation, but those alone are not gonna make you into a fighter.

But as i said, this all may only relate to the san soo school and demonstrations that I have personally seen. Perhaps other san soo guys do it differently. From what I've heard, san soo is one of those arts that has a lot of internal inconsistency and debating among its practitioners as to what REAL san soo is.

[Kakudo Tora]

I have found th same. Wut is the best form of Kung Fu?

[norther practitioner]

I have found th same. Wut is the best form of Kung Fu?
It depends....what are you looking for. If you want to know what form of kung fu always wins, well if you look at history, well who knows, but if you watch a lot of kung fu movies, then I'd say good guy gung fu always wins.
Sorry, had to.

[Suntzu]

"As far as Sans Shou..."

do u mean san shou or san soo.... i thot they were 2 differnrt things???

[JasBourne]

There was thread earlier about san soo. Here is a good website on san soo (not san shou):

East Hills Kung Fu San Soo (http://www.easthillskungfu.com/main.htm)

Personally, I find the "predator mindset" trained by san soo admirable, but the techniques I've seen presented sort of sloppy and scattered. Just my 2 cents worth.

[SifuAbel]

I was just going to ask this very same question. I was viewing a documentary style commercial on local access of a KFSS school and noticed that there is no live content. They actually specified that "no one gets hurt" because they do no free sparring.
How can they be so sure that their technique will work?
If they have never been hit, how are they going to handle the shock of the first strike?

I'm sure this different from school to school.

Kathy long is from a KFSS school and she kicks butt. She would say her classmates fought on a daily basis. So, is san soo as subjective as JKD?

[Kakudo Tora]

Yes I agree. I recently bought a book about Kung Fu San Soo, and Ifound it not to be very usefull, I go to a school that teachesShaolin Kung Fu and in my opinion it is a lot better.No offence.
Justaskin, in your opiion, wuts you favorite style of martial arts?

[Nexus]

Kids seem to enjoy it though!

[SifuAbel]

Can we get a KFSS opinion on this?

[anton]

I think that its a question of which style is right for you personally. I did Aikido when I was young but got bored after a few years - it just didn't suit my mindset... I needed something more aggressive - I tried a couple of Karate schools but didn't really enjoy them either. Eventually I found that Buk Sing CLF was a style that appealed to me.