LEGENDS OF KUNG-FU #15 Kung-Fu People Can't Fight I'd originally planned to write this month's column on words of wisdom from another traditional Chinese martial arts authority, but I came across a few people this week that changed that for me. I was at a social gathering this week where some people were talking about Chinese martial arts. What made this interesting was that these people were not members of the martial arts community, not martial arts students, not martial arts instructors, not hardcore martial arts fanatics, but rather, just racially diverse people who were random representatives of the public-at-large. Being part of the martial arts media, I was eager to play the fly-on-the-wall and just listen in without revealing myself. When the conversation turned to martial arts, I was really surprised to hear that the "uneducated" public still had a reasonably good grasp on the different martial arts, even the Chinese martial arts. Many of the people I talked to knew that Jet Li was a wushu star back in China, had heard of Bruce Lee's jeet kune do, and knew something about Shaolin kung-fu and tai-chi. Thanks to all of the widespread media coverage from Playboy Magazine to the Los Angeles Times to the regular specials that appear on the Discovery Channel, the general public has an increasing awareness of martial arts, which to be a secret world for them. One comment in particular grabbed my attention. A 28 year-old Caucasian woman mentioned that if she were to start taking martial arts lessons that she'd stay away from the Chinese arts "since they can't fight". I was waiting for a while to hear someone stick up for the combat worthiness of kung-fu fighters, but I found myself waiting for quite some time, and by then, my attention shifted to a cute Asian girl on the other end of the bar. The reality of the situation is that the 28 year-old Caucasian woman was indeed correct. As much as I hate to say it, it's the truth. And here's why. Most traditional Chinese stylists (modern wushu excluded) can't fight within the confines of their traditional style. Many kung-fu stylists who are good fighters these days have sought out training in other non-Chinese arts, such as muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or Filipino kali to better their chances in combat. Does this mean that the style they began learning is a sub-standard style? Does this mean that traditional kung-fu is little more than a nice calisthenics routine? Does this mean that all the stuff of Chinese martial arts lore is just legend without factual basis? NO. Regardless of style or background, ask any fighting authority from wing chun's Gary Lam to combat shuai chiao's David Lin or even Korean hwa rang do's Taejoon Lee and they'll tell you that most Chinese martial arts students lack traditional combat skill because they fail to spend the adequate time mastering the fundamentals of their chosen art. The phrase I've heard over and over again is that "Chinese people have too many techniques and don't take the time to really master any of them." Some people have criticized certain Chinese martial arts by saying that the simpler systems like wing chun are the only ones that produce fighters since the student isn't burdened with learning tons of different flowery movements in a whole slew of forms. This is partially correct. But then how does that explain those purists like Daniel Yu Wang who can handle himself combatively while still being proficient in a variety of ornate styles like bagua, chaquan, and tai chi? It's simple. There are 4 main ingredients to a good Chinese martial arts fighter that can be acquired. The flow is like this: 1. hard training in basic techniques - Take a single movement or short combination of movements and practicing them ad nauseum until you find yourself capable of performing those moves with power, speed, and balance whether you're in the training hall, on the street, in a swimming pool, or on the toilet. The difficult thing here is that you may have hundreds of moves in your chosen system, but to be a competent fighter, you just have to choose a few techniques that suit your body and your personality and perfect those, instead of trying to do that with every single move of every single form that your sifu has in the curriculum. You have to be at the level where you can do your chosen move, even if you're ill or injured; 2. partner drills - Every style from northern Shaolin to Yang style tai chi has some sort of two-man fighting set or partner drill, like wing chun's famous sticky hands. When you constantly practice the mechanics of your chosen techniques on a live body and a resisting opponent, you start to understand how to position yourself better, adjust your timing for a smoother entry, and close your openings so as to not get brained on the way in. Practicing moves in the air is just to get your body used to moving in a certain way. It doesn't provide you with the adequate training to develop proper positioning when facing the variations presented by a live opponent; 3. concentrated thought - One of my close friends and great sparring partner told me that the reason why he got so good at kicking was that he'd always be thinking of ways to use his feet against an opponent in every situation. If we were having dinner and someone would be standing near our table, you could see him thinking of ways to kick or sweep without leaving the chair. If we were actually doing drills or sparring, he'd take a particular kick, and work on implementing that one kick as the prime blow with every clash. That kind of mental effort brings your technique to a different level. You're not just doing choreographed routines or drills anymore. In this case, you really become one with the technique; 4. free sparring - No matter how many drills you do, nothing is the same as free sparring. If you want to see how your techniques have improved, just get in the ring or step on the mat. If you can start setting up your opponent with your attacks and start defending his attacks without panicking, then you're on the right track. Free sparring isn't necessarily the same as full-contact sparring. You can begin with light contact and even practice on a regular basis with semi-contact, but to know your fighting prowess, there's no way around getting it on with an attacker in a full-contact situation. My rationale for saying that is simple. Unless you know you can take someone's strike and not lose your will to be in the fight, you don't know your level. Unless you know that you're not going to ruin your underwear when someone lands a stiff backfist on your lips, bangs their shin into your shin, or sweeps you so hard that your butt goes higher than your head, you just don't know how tight your game is. If you consider yourself a traditional Chinese martial artist,
do yourself and your chosen art a favor and take these words to
heart. We don't make traditional Chinese martial arts better by
importing other systems. We make them better by working harder
to make the traditional techniques applicable in our modern settings,
in our modern clothes, and in our modern lives. |