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Richard Cohen, in his excellent book "By the Sword", on page 49 of Chapter 3 reports on Queen Mary I of England's attempt to stem the new practice of dueling: "...denounced 'divers naughty and...

It is my experience that folks who are *not martial artists will feel compelled to challenge you. If you demonstrate a wrist leverage, and they don't cooperate, do you:
A. Give up and let them...

Gorgor: "
(strength+agility+endurance) * fighting skill = overall fighting performance "

Well, yeah, pretty much. But seriously, the problem is *quantifying these qualities. All of us who pump...

Toby: "Fu-Pow, in case you missed it, I took your post word for word and substituted "HIV" and "AIDS" for "THC/cannabis" and "hard drugs". You were implying that HIV->AIDS is a causality...

My gal & I have explained to our daughter that any guy who dates her (more than once) will be pretty strong. Not necessarily physically; he may not train in the arts or even work out much, but he'll...

"The monk would effortlessly thrash him and the go get some spicy noodles."

Yup. It's still true that "anything can happen". I can attack an unarmed six year-old and lose, I suppose, if I am...

Wooiee...

Yeah, this sounds like a guy thing, Becca. It's common but not universal. There *are guys who love women who love martial arts. I've lived with my kung fu babe for 27 years now, and we...

"...its good to hear that you wouldnt do it but, what if someone forced you into a real streetfight battle. also what if you could not run away from the fight. yes there are rules out in the world...

Regarding the web page on Monk Yan Lei...
"His height at only 5ft 5inches enables him to get in close to his opponent for attack without compromising his defences due to his legendary Steel Jacket...

No, William is right. Many dojos are ineffective. The purpose of aikido was spiritual transformation, not combat effectiveness. O Sensei was a master of daito-ryu aikijitsu and other combat arts, but...

Pretty much what I think right now.

My Chen Taiji teacher has us doing a chin na-only easy sparring, and a little more vigorous push hands, and some faster sparring with limitations to...

If the situation is as you describe, it may be best if you get out of Town. 20 miles may not seem like much, but for a city gangster it is a vast distance. If it has only been harsh words which...

Alas for KFSSchaosmaster, Berzerkely is a good 400 miles or so from Riverside (640 km).

It would be a heckuva commute.

I agree there should be no "play fighting"; it will almost always get out of hand. Even adults demonstrating their techniques to friends are asking for trouble, altho it will usually work if the...

Brithlor: "I often hear that... but if you are sparring with light or no contact it shouldn't matter at all... Afterall... If I get struck by a fullpower punch to the throat I'm probably not going to...

To quote me: "He never insisted that it was impossible for another art to know something ours didn't know, (that I recall)."

Deep sorrow. My first sifu Al, alas, lost his final fight to a...

Well, when I trained under Al Rubin, who was a master student under Jimmy Woo, I and my favorite workout partner studied aikido. He also studied judo. We had a student who also boxed. One of Al's...

Brithor: "Are you saying you've "fought" Jujitsu and Kali people... Or that Jujitsu and Kali teach you how to counter defensive moves? "

I currently study under a kali teacher who has some Jeet...

Eddie: "Is kung fu san soo then not just an older version of JKD? "

Nope. Perhaps a variant of Choy Lee Fut, however.

My art of San Soo is not 4 thousand years old; even the oral history I was...

Brithor: "It seems like most San Soo people think that 'If I block and counter ' at the same time that their opponent will just bend over and let them have their way with them"
They generally will,...

The middle rests on our nose, focused on two small supports... any palm or forearm smash has much of the energy focused there.

I can see clearly about 8 inches in front of my face without...

Eddie: Yea, Jimmy Woo liked to fight, and I don't know how much else was in the system that he may have learned but wasn't especially interested in. Perhaps nothing. Learning healing is a good thing...

Ironwind:
In Kung Fu San Soo, we assume that we will miss now and then (although precision is very desirable). When we do finger jabs, we keep the fingers slightly curved, so if they hit, say,...

Eddie: "Well I read on the CLF forum at clfma.com that Jimmy Woo is related to Chan siu Dik (if memory serves me well) who is a Chan family descendant."

I had never heard of Chan in this regard...

Aargh. A perversion of the teachings. It cannot be learned without hands-on practice. And it was emphasized to us over and again that there *are no guarantees. "You're just improving your odds," my...