Thoughts on Pak Sau

[EternalSpring]

I think Bruce Lee is a great and influential man. I dont really care much about defending his honor, but logically speaking, I gotta say it's mind-boggling seeing people arguing against his fighting ability by simply mentioning that he was an actor. Makes me wonder if all the "fighters" on these forums have day jobs. Wouldn't it seem stupid to go up to any fighter who doesn't fight for a living and say "hey, you're not a fighter because you're an entrepreneur/doctor/lawyer/teacher/etc?" Not to mention that it's common knowledge that Bruce also taught martial arts. Then there's the fact that he made it clear even in interviews that "screen fighting" and "real combat" are not the same at all.

From the looks of it, there's no reason to say that he wasn't a fighter. If you ask me, the real issue is when people say he was the greatest fighter or martial artist of all time. Of course, that's a totally different and probably easily debatable statement. But to say he wasn't a fighter at all? That's almost as out there as saying he was the greatest fighter of all time.

Just my 2c.

[EternalSpring]

oh wow, forgot that this thread was about Pak Sau. Ha.

In regards to that blog article. It's hard to say what I "think" of it because it's simply just too basic of an article. The author lists 4 points to gaining an awesome Pak sao. They are

1. Do pak sao as done in siu nim tao
2. Use foot work (such as Biu Ma) with Pak sao
3. Train the footwork well so your structure is strong and effective and uses the whole body
4. Train what I learned as the "jong sao drill" where one person (or both) uses footwork to cut into his partners space and both their jong sao's collide and one side does "pak da" to the jong sao and the other side "pak saos" the punch that broke through with the "pak da." I'm sure most people have a similar exercise, I've seen a lot of JKD guys do it as well.

Ultimately, it was an article that could be summed up with "practice the form and do drills and your pak sao will get better (although I'd say it still wouldn't be perfect without some sort of sparring application)" What do i think of that? It's true, but common sense. I dont see how one could even train Ip Man Ving Tsun without doing those 4 tips naturally. But hey, if those tips did help anyone or offer something they never thought of, more power to the author.