Originally Posted by
Ray Pina
I don't think Chinese Martial Arts had problems in the past, particularly before the advent and wide circulation of the gun... China has a wonderful history of military proficiency. It brought us the Art of War, flame throwers, gun powder and some would argue the foundation for a multitude of modern empty hand methods.
Kung Fu's "problem", from a martial art standpoint, is that it stopped being functional as a whole. Sure, there are schools and clans that may be keeping it real, but that's not the rule, it's the exception.
And what do I mean by functional? Functional to me, is at the very least maintaining the present standards of combat. And by that standard, most CMA players fall waaay short in conditioning, resistance training, free form sparring and fighting. They're all related.
If you train with a significant warm up -- not to waste time, but to improve attributes and ability ... drill with resistance, then spar for multiple rounds with multiple partners... you're going to become a lean, mean, fighting machine. A good number of those guys want to go out to fight. It pushes everyone in the gym. It raises performance.