americans think kung fu sucks

[Banjos_dad]

Oh yeah:

If you step it up to 21 hours training a week you'll have them eating their words much sooner

friend in martial arts. B_d

[Dark Knight]

In our school the rules specifically prohibit us from demonstraing moves or applications to no-students, & even students at a more basic level of study.

A lot of schools do this so that the students are not exposed to other methods, normally its out of fear that they will lose a student because soemone comes along and critisizes the style.

revealing kung fu moves to them.

If you have an instructor telling you that he teaches you secret moves that no one else has, then you should find a new instructor. He is misleading you, and taking advantage of you, there are no secrets.

[Banjos_dad]

It is better to learn from the mistakes of others, true :-D


<haw, haw!>

Other reasons for non disclosure type rules:

1. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing: A non-MAer who tries to demonstrate ' martial arts move that someone showed him once or twice is likely to be seriously pummelled, more so than if they hadn't tried to make any pretense of skill. cough[yourpost]. oh excuse me!

2. Sifu makes his living...teaching kung fu. Showing other people kungfu moves = taking work away from Sifu.


** See drayconn, even within kung fu, everyone acts like each other's kung fu sucks. Stick with it anyway.

[No_Know]

"All my friends thing kung fu is "stupid" (nice way of putting it) and they make fun of me for it. I really hate the fact that they think they could beat me up because they think kung fu doesnt really teach you anything. I really want to show them whats what (again nice way of putting it)"

Friends like yours tease. Not much else to do besides tease your friends. And if you ever do get a life, your friends can sometimes be the ones who keep you down with taunts to fill your self doubt. This way they don't lose a hanging-out-with-because-we-don't-have-anything-important-in life-to-be-a-part-of buddy.

There was a reality show called Survivor. The people who were apparently tough competition got ganded-up on in secret and those trying to lead got voted out in at least some instances. Being strong can be helpful. Showing how strong you are is like playing high stakes Texas hold 'um (Poker) with your cards, faces, showing. And some will back down or back off. But at least some will press you because they Know what your cards are.

[Odin of Wei]

Originally posted by Dark Knight
A lot of schools do this so that the students are not exposed to other methods, normally its out of fear that they will lose a student because soemone comes along and critisizes the style.





If you have an instructor telling you that he teaches you secret moves that no one else has, then you should find a new instructor. He is misleading you, and taking advantage of you, there are no secrets.

"Seldom used, rarely shown" is the old saying.

My Sifu told me that one.



Yet don't you think if you demostart a few moves that would better your sifus business?

[freehand]

It is my experience that folks who are *not martial artists will feel compelled to challenge you. If you demonstrate a wrist leverage, and they don't cooperate, do you:
A. Give up and let them think it doesn't work?
B. Apply it anyway, with force, and break your brother-in-law's wrist?

This is not a question of taking sifu's business away from him. The odds of any random aquaintance being a potential student of any sifu is pretty slim.

The secret of all the arts I've studied has been the training. "Kung Fu" after all, means "mastery thru hard work". There are secret techniques, but I don't think I've been shown any. Maybe I can't be trusted with 'em

But demonstrating techniques can lead to hard feelings, injuries, criminal charges and law suits on one hand, or folks thinking your art is ineffective on the other.

I'm not a kid anymore, and if I meet another martial artist, I can usually show him how I might try to handle a situation without any hard feelings or injuries. A karate man asked how my kung fu might block a kick. I told him to throw a side kick at me; I swept and scooped his foot and pushed just a little on his chest to unbalance, then dropped his leg. An onlooker remarked that my kung fu was "better", and I quickly pointed out that I knew what the attack was going to be, he didn't throw it full power, and he didn't try to counter my counter. The karateka's curiosity was satisfied and he was not insulted. No problem.

But the potential for trouble is there, and when teachers advise against it or forbid it I doubt they are worried about lost business.

[Odin of Wei]

Word!

I thought it was werid too that it would decrease Sifu's biz.

[SimonM]

I'm all for the play fighting angle.

I am a bit overweight. I used to be REALLY overweight, that is why I started doing Kung Fu in the first place.

About a year back, I began to get confident in my abilities and started talking to my friends about Kung Fu a lot. A few of them had a "yeah right fat ass" attitude about what I was saying. So I said, "well, you want to play fight?" It didn't take very long before my friends started taking my Kung Fu seriously and I never hurt one of them. Seriously, the concept of "play" within Martial Arts does not violate the tenent of using Kung Fu "only for good" while still giving you a method of protecting the reputation of the martial art.

Just don't go too far and accidentally hurt someone you care about.

[Friendless Tool]

This is what i did...

I told a friend at school i studied kung fu.

he seemed interested..
so i told him..

"Hey why dont you join?"

now we train togeather every monday and thursday.

No problem...


now once a guy did tell me that kung fu was bull****..
this guy also happens to snort cocaine...

so i told him... well i rather waste my time with kung fu then be a worthless cokehead....

he shut up....


if your peers are being b-a-st-ard's about you training..

all the more to be an even wittier b-a-s-ta-rd back.

[Shadow Skill]

In some sutuations you might have to (as my sifu would say) make a believer out of them.

when I started kung fu I was also playing football in college. I would always get crap "that $hit work on me" or " that wouldn't hurt". This went on for a while, I told my sifu about it. He told me a very simular story to mine (he played football at florida state) then he told me something I never expected from him he said "sometimes you gotta make believers out of them".

that following practice I got the same crap "what if I hit you like this" so I said to one of how about you try it in real life.

This guy was 6'2" 260 I was 5'9" 171 with pads on everyone in the locker room gathered around. He proceeded to swing as hard as he could I ducked under the punch and pushed under his punching arm knocking him off balance. see I could have hurt you
he swing again I block his punch an push him off balance again.
The third time I blocked his punch and sent him to the ground w/ a knife hand to the throat. I didnt realy hurt any thing but his pride. after that the "your kung fu sucks" jokes ended.

[unixfudotnet]

Originally posted by drayconn
Im a blond haired white average american child with his fair share of problems. So are all my friends, cept I goto kung fu 9 hours a week. All my friends thing kung fu is "stupid" (nice way of putting it) and they make fun of me for it. I really hate the fact that they think they could beat me up because they think kung fu doesnt really teach you anything. I really want to show them whats what (again nice way of putting it) but my schools creed number 5 is use kung fu only for good, and I dont feel like being the better man, any ideas?

real friends care about your feelings. sure, guys joke around a lot, but if you let them know that it is really too much, they should respect that and back off. though I didn't find that out after I moved out of my parent's house, heh.

after all, you have a choice if you want to hang out with them or not you have control

[Meat Shake]

". A little knowledge is a dangerous thing: A non-MAer who tries to demonstrate ' martial arts move that someone showed him once or twice is likely to be seriously pummelled, more so than if they hadn't tried to make any pretense of skill. cough[yourpost]. oh excuse me!"

Yup. I had a drunken friend "show me a move this guy taught him real quick" ....
Wound up in the E.R. with a dislocated shoulder after he picked me up and promptly fell on me without warning.