GM Lam Sang could jump to the second story of a building!

[JGTevo]

http://www.jooklummantis.com/jlm/for...osts.asp?TID=5


I will forever be a skeptic until I see it done myself, I personally think the idea is ridiculous, but I'd love to be put in my place if anyone can explain any scientific principles behind it?

[Infrazael]

Weird . . .

[TenTigers]

I have heard similar stories, such as Chan Pui jumping down from the second floor fire exit. Jumping down ten-twelve feet without getting hurt is very plausible.
Remember those Indonesian guys jumping from that building?

They said that Wan Chi-Ming in his prime jumped across the subway platform.
That's about a twelve foot jump, which again is quite possible.
- but I still wouldn't try it across the platform!)

Thw world record for the high jump is over 8 feet, the world record for the running long jump is over thirty feet.

There are many people who can slam dunk a basketball, and stand under 6' tall. I've seen some pretty short dudes do this.

We've all seen Jacky Chan run up the corner of a building-no wires.
Some of the modern Le Parkour guys are doing amazing things.

I'm not saying he did, or he didn't. I'm just saying that the human potential is much higher than we are aware of.

Btw-I can jump up to the top of the old Mayflower Tea room. I have also jumped off the second level of Hop Kee Chinese Restaurant.
(Anyone from NYC's Chinatown knows that is quite a feat)

[Reality_Check]

To be diplomatic, I'll say that I find this to be highly implausible. In the first post on that thread, Sifu James Cama stated that:

"G.M. Lam standing directly in front of him without bending his knees lept over his head landing directly behind my friend."

Without bending his knees and no forward momentum he jumped over an adult? Dare I say that is impossible? Try jumping without bending your knees, I bet you won't get very far off the ground.

Yes, the high jump world record is over 8 feet...with a running start, the bending of knees and momentum. The world record in the long jump is 8.45 meters (approximately 29.4 feet). Once again done with a running start, the bending of the knees and a ton of forward momentum. Even people who dunk basketballs have to bend their knees when they jump. Oh and they generally have a running start too (unless they're tall like Shaq).

[Doc Stier]

I don't recall personally seeing Master Lam perform any of these extraordinary jumping feats, nor do I recall hearing any of the Kwong-Sai Jook Lum SPM Masters who were his top students relate such stories about him.

Nonetheless, I can say that his internal power development and his physical martial art skills were both quite extraordinary by any standard. In fact, the skills that Lam Sang actually did demonstrate were of such a high level that his reputation will most certainly live on in the memory of those who witnessed his abilities, without the need of any 'wild history' embellishment!

Doc

[bamboo bug]

nor do I recall hearing any of the Kwong-Sai Jook Lum SPM Masters who were his top students relate such stories about him.

Well here are two...

SharingMantis :
"The story of Lam Sang jumping from street level to the second floor of hip sing is true.Alot of eyewitness saw with their own eyes at the time.No one else,student or deciple has this skill,because like Lam Sang say:You must learn when you are still a virgin."

and,

art123abc (A student of Mark Foon) had this to say...

" master mark said that when they would go out to eat some times lam sang would flick a tooth pick into things! he also said he could from a still stance jump up onto the altar!its really cool to hear these stories! apparently lee siem could do alot of crazy things too! like knocking fruit out of trees and jumping really high! sifu mark said that lee siem went to the shaolin temple and demonstrated sam bo gin he kicked the sand and it was like bullets! he also lived to be some were around 120 years old supposably! very cool "

[Infrazael]

This is more of the inane-psuedo-scientific-mysticism-DBZ-horsesh!t that CMA doesn't need!!!

[TenTigers]

what parts of me have to be virgin? I might still have time yet.
(I've been pushing off that thorough examination I'm supposed to get when we reach our fifties...)

[TenTigers]

this could also explain why Jailhouse Rock doesn't have light body skills.

[TenTigers]

many of the legends are based on some fact. It is not a terrific stretch to see someone with extraordinary skills, and then tell someone, who tells someone else...and little by little they get exaggerated. Like we said about the high jump and long jump, or the way Jacky Chan can run up a wall. Add to that the fact that no two people will have the same experience or interpetation of an event.

Lam Wing-Fei is very famous in NYC's Chinatown for his Southern Mantis skill, both as a fighter, and for having extraodinary abilities. Anyone who has met him, probably has some sort of story to tell.

As far as these special skills go, has anyone heard of Grandmaster Ting Fong-Wong of the Joy-Ga school? I have heard many things about him, and met his brother and some of his students. I have seen a picture of him at a demo drilling his finger into a red brick, but have never seen it first hand.

As far as Chan Pui's light body skills go, I have seen pics of him doing a single leg squat on the neck of a water cooler bottle.I have seen that man, well into his Autumn years drop into a split and pop back up several times, while performing the Pu-dao.

You can call it what you want, I still find it inspiring.

I have also seen old stop motion footage of a Shotokan fighter jumping over his sparring partner's head-I believe it was in "Best Karate" the Kumite volume.

[bamboo bug]

You can call it what you want, I still find it inspiring.

I think this is what really matters.

Personally, I see stories like these of GM Lam Sang as inspiration to train harder. This is what inspires me to try to achieve that next level in my training; the possibility of attaining higher skill.

I'm sure 200 years ago if you told someone one day we would be flying planes in the sky, they would think your crazy. But if the Wright brothers never had the inspiration and dream of the possibility of actually flying, then it would not have happened. There will always be another level, even if we have not yet discovered it, it's there...

[Eddie]

I would never have thought it would be possible to crack a walnut with your thumb, or to poke holes in a water melon with your fingers. But I saw it.

As ten tigers said, some things are not that impossible. Just because we cant all do it, doesn’t make it impossible.

[Lama Pai Sifu]

I would never have thought it would be possible to crack a walnut with your thumb, or to poke holes in a water melon with your fingers. But I saw it.

As ten tigers said, some things are not that impossible. Just because we cant all do it, doesn’t make it impossible.

Aww, don't flatter.

Seriously though, my teacher had told us that Lum Sang had some high level skills, although he never went into anything specifically.

I do believe that stories about old teachers can tend to get just a little 'exaggerated' over time. I have even heard a few about me that were gross exaggerations told back to me by 3rd and 4th parties.

But I do think that the goal of these stories is to inspire as Ten Tigers said. I also think that one has to have a level head and a realistic ear when listening to them though.

I mean, someone once said that my teacher ripped out a man's intestines once. Nice story, but alas he did not. Tore a few of us a new asshole from time to time, but no ripping of intestines.

[JGTevo]

I agree, inspiration is great...

My issue with this has generally been the students who take it as something real. Anything to encourage them that they're in a kung fu movie is imho very dangerous without a firm grounding in reality as well... I've had friends who have studied, buy into the kung fu movie hero BS and end up shot and stabbed.

I personally believe there is too much of these stories, and too little grounding in reality for many schools. Not necessarily these schools, but schools that I've been to personally, and I'm sure it is the same in several others.


Eddie, I never said it was impossible. I was actually really asking if anyone can provide any scientific explanations around it. I mean, SPM training methods develop the muscles and tendons that would enhance your ability to jump using your feet and ankles, instead of your knees.. but could the human body actually, legitimately jump that high without using your knees?

Funny thing is, I actually did start training to see how high I could jump without bending my knees

[sanjuro_ronin]

When I asked my current HK teacher about some of these stories his reply was, " what does this have to do with fighting" ?
Inspiration is great and to see certain feats done is way cool.
Like that guy that bends wrenches and frying pans.
But what does that have to do with fighting?