Quote Originally Posted by PangQuan
now when you are going to take your son, and turn him into a fighter, you do not throw him to the wolves. in those days a fight could easily mean death, or worse. often the fight was with a melee weapon. this is the globe around, not just china.
People have trained fencing for centuries without form. All you need are two sticks.

Every system has core moves that must be trained all the time, with a partner or by yourself. You do this to keep the machine well oiled, to train the mind and body .... that's why boxers shadow box, wrestlers and fencers have a form of this too. But I would not equate this to wushu.

I would equate most of the form I see in CMA today to wushu. I keep hearing how it prepares you and conditions you for fight.... this is just not true. How many competitve fights have these people based this theory on?

There's nothing more taxing than being in the ring. The No. 1 thing is nerves. And the only thing to help you with that is experience, being calm in combat. Two, all the pulling, pushing and leverage -- hitting and being hit .... please don't compare that to form.

As for the coordination and movement, look, any MA will have it. But you don't need all that movement, sometimes too much movement, too loose is no good ... you get tied up like a pretzel. Do you think Ali could perform today's wushu sets in his prime?

I'm sorry, I'm saying it: These people promoting form are promoting the thing they're comfortable with and trying to tie it to the thing they want .... martial proficiency. But look at the people that are doing what they want to do at a high level ..... none of them are doing form.

Am I the only one that sees this? Is this not clear as day?

I'm not saying fight to learn fighting. I'm saying focus on specific principles and qualities and train them like mad. I know those are in the form but it doesn't seem to be working for most CMAs. Maybe it's time to change the model.