In one word, are traditional martial arts training methods useless ; no.
But this is an interesting topic and one I've spent wondering about sometimes during my interest in the martial arts. Lately, I've been less concerned with this, considering I have found a great teacher.
What was said about the blood part of the training is exactly right. That is necessary and it is a part of traditional training, however, the problem with many schools these days is a bit more complicated ... and this my own theory about it, which may be a bit skewed since I come from an internal art and a Baji background -- Baji being rarely transmitted, carefully taught and rather hard to grasp. However, I definately think this line of thinking can be applied to many styles.
A lot of traditional training was and still is slow, requiring great patience. You're not given all the relevant training methods on day one, nor indeed on day 300. Why is it slow? Well, perhaps the way sifu's teach was motivated by making sure students were worthy, but beyond that there is the aspect of generating force. It takes time to develop the jing of many styles, to really embody the power generation mechanics.
Before that is done, all training in other methods is pretty much useless because you don't have the power to use it. Extremely put why spar, when you don't even have the correct understanding of generating force?
Now, please note I'm not advocating no sparring until five years .. indeed, being exposed to training methods beforehand can be helpful in the view of your overall skill development. I'm just saying people should have their priorities straight. If what you need to do is work on your punching mechanics, that's what you need to do.
So, the problem with styles being watered down is with students starting to teach before they have really embodied the style's essence or learned all the relevant training methods, which I feel was especially likely when the traditional arts were being transported to the western world (the foreigners and indeed orientals who first came here, perhaps possessing only a little of the actual skill, started teaching). Sure, back in wherever the art came from, your sifu could have had you teach the beginning students ; show them the basics that they'd have to work on for a long time. This does not mean you're a ready teacher, or truly understand the art with body-knowledge.
Does that make sense? I think it does.
Later,
Last edited by Daredevil; 04-23-2002 at 05:48 AM.
"Once you get deeper into the study of Kung Fu you will realise that lineage and insulting others become more important than actual skill and fighting ability." -- Tai'ji Monkey
"Eh, IMO if you're bittching about what other people are doing instead of having intelligent (or stupid) conversation about kung fu or what your favorite beer is, you're spending too much time exploring your feminine side." -- Meat Shake