What Have You Seen/Felt???

[GreenCloudCLF]

I went to a weekend Judo seminar with Mike Swain, for those who aren't familiar check him out here.

His ease of movements, his ability to teach, and his humility were unbelievable. I watched him toss the instructor of the host school like he weighed nothing. Really impressive.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Ask and thou shall receive:

Those, my friend, are well paid for parlor tricks. I like mine real and full flavored.

[sanjuro_ronin]

is this the guy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iLY0dp0cXw

Yes, his clips of breaking stuff with his fingers and such are very cool.

[SimonM]

I haven't seen or felt anything beyond what could be expected as results from dedicated and diligent training.

there is NO magic, it's all hard work.

This is true. However that makes a truly skilled person more impressive.

[sanjuro_ronin]

This is true. However that makes a truly skilled person more impressive.

Not only that, we also have to remember that,in any physical activity there are always the "freaks", those that stand out from the norm, and MA is no exception.
All the more reason to base a MA effectiveness on what its "average joe" can do and not on what its "upper level" can do.
Its great that Master So-So from Somali Kwon-do can spinning hook kick a 6" tree trunk in half, but what can his students do ??

[GreenCloudCLF]

Not only that, we also have to remember that,in any physical activity there are always the "freaks", those that stand out from the norm, and MA is no exception.
All the more reason to base a MA effectiveness on what its "average joe" can do and not on what its "upper level" can do.
Its great that Master So-So from Somali Kwon-do can spinning hook kick a 6" tree trunk in half, but what can his students do ??

Everyone knows that Somali Kwon-do it the deadliest art in the world. Don't make fun of it.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Everyone knows that Somali Kwon-do it the deadliest art in the world. Don't make fun of it.

Sssshhhhh, It's a secret....

[SimonM]

Break the code and the pirates will come to get you. Because that is the secret of why Ninjas have failed to destroy Somail Pirates when the pirates of the rest of the world have fallen to the ninjas...

Somali Kwon-Do.

[GreenCloudCLF]

Sssshhhhh, It's a secret....

That's because master Abdi only takes on 2 new students a year. Then at the end of the year has them fight to the death.

[Chosen-frozen]

Well there was this one time I went to the school of a mutual aquaintance to pick him up for a road trip. He was a friend of a friend, so I`d never seen his kung fu or known anyone else that did that style. While the guy was finishing packing his gear, one of his assistants asks me if I`ll help him show some apps to a kids class.
He was trying to show them some footwork designed to step around someone moving towards you. So I step in and throw my punch combo....and the guy just disappears. Not like a puff of smoke in a bad ninja movie or anything, but I swear I blinked and he was gone. Then he puts his hand on my back while he goes onto explain it in more detail to the kids.
I picked it up and I can sidestep alot of guys now and get behind them....but not anywhere near as fast or smooth as he did. People know where I went, they just aren`t sure how I did it. But he was so smooth it was like he just evaporated. Impressed the hell outta me.

[iron_leg_dave]

A 6' 2" LF guy jump over a rope at the height of my shoulders, 3 or 4 times in a row. I'm 6' tall.

[LSWCTN1]

i had just started to learn from my first instructor and he does things a little differently to my present instructor in the same style (wing chun)

this might not appeal to all chunners but that how my father sometimes taught - we occasionally used to attack the attack, and not attack the attacker (as i do now)

anyway...

Sunday used to be our main training day, and i was round there practising so he says 'swing for me' so i did. he stopped me and said 'no, really try to take my head off' so i did a neat little right cross. Dad's right hand jum sao'd me and maybe it was a one off, or maybe it wasnt, but my nerve endings throughout my whole arm felt on fire and i actually, physically, threw up in his spare bedroom! i didnt feel right for the whole day and had to stop training for the day.

he said it was only around 20% of full force

and no, i wasnt out on the pop the night before!

[jdhowland]

This deserves to be told: In 1990 I made one of my rare excursions from Alaska to "America" and visited my first sifu, Quentin Fong, in San Francisco. I hadn't seen the man in several years and was pleased that he let me spend the afternoon at his house discussing and demonstrating aspects of Tibetan White Crane, Choy Li Fut and Chen Taiji. At one point he grinned mysteriously at me and said, "John. You grab me." I recognized that glint in his eyes and understood that I was about to get a lesson. Now, I'm a head taller than Sifu and about a hundred pounds heavier, but to make sure that whatever was about to happen didn't make me look too foolish, I locked my hands behind his waist and held on. I felt a slight swaying for about a second and suddenly found myself on my butt in front of him wondering what it was that made me let go. Sifu grinned and said, "No. Grab me harder." Okay. This time, thinking I knew what to expect, I got into a mah bouh, locked my arms around him and leaned into him a bit with my head and shoulder. A small earthquake hit me and I was lying on his garage floor about six feet away from him. As I lurched to my feet I said, "Sifu, that was amazing!" Master Fong replied, "No, that was nothing. The man who teach me that--he did that to me and he never touched me."

Now I know this was just good core control and sensitivity and not some mysterious manifestation of chi, but it was good gung fu. It inspired me to learn more, be humble, work harder. That's what teachers do.

Be well.

jd