First off i'm so tired of hearing ppl say kung fu does'nt work in combat i wanna just.
!@#$% somebody.
Ok i'm joking about !@#$% somebody.
But i was reading some post when i saw a guy who'd been studiing kung fu for 10yrs say that his school did no sparring and he felt he could'nt use his kung fu in a fight.It took you 10yrs of training to figure something was wrong with your training? Doh!!
I have to admit at one time i was worried about my kung fu in a real fight or even a NHB type tournament.That was yrs ago back before i started training like my life depended on it.Because when the time comes that i need to use my kung fu in a fight my life must be depending on it.I've had many fights over my life. When i was alot younger of course.The area of miami,fl where i live it's a requirement just to walk on the sidewalk.I've never had to use my martial arts to really protect myself i was always good enough without martial arts.
Now although i've never had to really use my martial arts to defend myself i have used them to try them out.I also try to spar semi- full contact with no gloves or padding as much as possiable.Which is usually once or twice a week against my sifu and sihing.I prefer it be against my sihing because it's painful against sifu.
Most ppl when they spar do nothing but kickboxing.So how are you using kung fu when you kickbox? When we spar we're using tiger claws,snakefist strikes,monkey and mantis fist,chin na,etc.........We're trying our techniques as close as possiable to attack level. I'm not saying that no one's getting hurt ,but we try to limit it as much as possiable.Also most ppl just wanna learn kung fu they're not really putting in the time and devotion it takes to be good at fighting.My sifu teaches us for free yet there's still only three of us learning.
" Why"
Because ppl quit when they see how hard we have to train and feel the pain of trying to do a proper horse stance for 1 hr.My bestfriend is one of the three of us learning from sifu and he has'nt been to class in months.He ask about it everyday and has me show him what we're learning ,but he's scared to go because sifu is going to work him hard.Sifu is very hard but one of the greatest ppl you'll ever know.I look to him as a second father in every sense of the word.Infact he and i talk about things my father does'nt even know about me.
Back to my point sorry guy's/gals
I see post about kung fu taking yrs to be able to fight with very good and not being effective in fights. "Bull Puckie" You can defend yourself with 1 weeks training in kung fu."If" you train and practice like you're supposed to.Most ppl i was one of them don't train or practice like they're supposed to.You kinda walk thru the motions half a$$ and expect it to work like magic someday when you need it ."Good Luck" because you're going to need it when you try that technique.
There's no style of kung fu that takes yrs to be able to fight with that's a myth and nonsense.Even Tai Chi can be used in combat if you're trained how to from the start.So many ppl overlook the basics trying to learn Monkey Style,Drunken Boxing,and any style they saw jet li use in his last movie.The more you learn kung fu you see you already had it in your basics it just has a different twist.I for the longest time wanted to learn monkey style now that i've learned some i see i'd already learned half of it ,but just did'nt have my eyes open to it.The more advanced stuff you learn you notice you already knew it from your basics.Why do you think styles like Monkey,Drunken Monkey,Eight Drunken Immortals,Black Tiger,etc....Require you to have a strong foundation of the basics of kung fu?
Because if you don't know and understand the basics these styles are of no use to you.Because they require the basics for them to work period!
Most of all you need a Great teacher not a good teacher!Because someone carries the title Sifu does'nt mean they're able to teach it properly.It takes alot of understanding and patience to be able to break something down for everyone to see and understand.I found this out the hard way.Just because it was so clear in my eyes i thought my students were able to see it the sameway ,but some ppl don't see things like you do.Some ppl see things from a whole different angle than the one you're putting in their face.I did'nt have the patience i thought i had to work those type of problems out.
In closing if you don't understand how to use your kung fu in combat then there's a problem in 1 of 3 areas.
1.Either you're doing something wrong(a)Not training properly or(b)Not paying enough attention to your sifu.
2.Your sifu is doing something wrong.(a) Not taking the time to explain or show technique properly or (b) Does'nt know how to show or explain technique properly.
3.A combonation of both 1 and 2 together in one form or another.
In alot of cases the sifu give the masses what they want. If they only want forms that's what they're given.That's why many schools have closed door students or backroom students that no one outside of this click gets to see what they're doing.Because sifu feels that these are the students that really want to do something with their training.
jeff