Prodigal Son

Bruce Lee was no way the best ever - he never had a real fight as far as anyone really knows, all stories are anecdotal and most of them are disputed by various people. Geoff Thompson has had 200 real fights and never lost - is he better than Bruce Lee ? He certainly has had more victories and experience... The greatest martial artist to ever live, aside from Yip Man and my teacher, was probably some unheardof fighter. Those who have not used their art in a 'martial' situation over and over - therefore killerd - are what Bruce would call Land-Swimmers. >>>PS<<<

Chun can only be learned from a teacher. Even video tells you nothing about what is going on, because it's all about energy and sensitivity. Find a Sifu ! >>>PS<<<

Self defence will preserve your looks. Win the fight first - posing is for the dancefloor. >>>PS<<<

that's a weak point ? >>>PS<<<

have you thought about finding a local streetfigher to train with ? good brawlers often know more than they think... or perhaps get a couple of your friends round and just jam - see what works ! Anyway, best of luck with your training - and I hope you find a suitable Sifu. >>>PS<<<

Firstly, watching the shoulders works okay - but if you want to know a wicked secret, watch the CHEST. You can see everything in the pheripheral field much more easily. Try it ! In Wing Chun, our kick is shadowless because we do it in such a way that the opponent does not see it - it just strikes and takes his knee out. We can do this because our weight is usually on one foot. Kick the post. The kick does not miss. >>>PS<<<

Then, with respect, you don't know what you were looking for. WC is SO intricate - that's why you can't learn it from watching other people - you must be taught by a teacher. Every movement is bursting with nuance. Beautiful ? What works is beautiful, what looks nice is ornamental. Reeeespec' >>>PS<<<

Southern. >>>PS<<<

I've done a couple of years of Muay Thai in my youth, and it is a great art which blows many others out of the water - but Wing Chun is WAAAAAY more efective on the street - at least IMHO. Watch a Muay Thai fight, and see how long those guys stay standing - too long... I'm not disputing the fact that they are all tough athletes, but it remains a sport. (It is one of the few styles that has never actually been a true 'martial art'.) WC techniques are not for sporting purposes - they are designed to maim and kill with the least possible effort. My advice, with respect to all other fighters and styles, is to take the longer path of Wing Chun and learn something truly special. And you don't have to wear those silly shorts... respec' >>>PS<<<

Well, i'm prepared to take on any two Silat dudes in my front garden. >>PS<<< LOL - only kidding. I hear it's a great art.

I didn't see a Wing Chun practitioner in that video. Shameful. >>>PS<<<

Yes. It can, depending on how you train and what you started with. these ideas only apply to arts which are at least 'effective' - we're not talkin about tae Bo. But you can't know all the rules if you play by a restrictive set. Knowing the rules to monkey in the middle does not mean you know all the rules to football. If you want to get good at football, play football. Bruce saw WC as a partial system based on patterns that had become stylized. I agree, it is. That doesn't make it bad, it just means it won't work for what I do. For someone else wanting something different it might work. I guess it's kinda like driving. To get into a car for the first time and 'be unrestricted by the rules' is a very dangerous game to play. To get into a car, become an accomplished driver and THEN break some of the rules is not so dangerous, because you can correctly asess the risks involved. And Bruce Lee did have a Wing Chun driving licence, but he was not a Team Ferrari F1 driver by any means. i feel that most people mistake 'principles' for rules within MA. I don't punch the way that I punch because it's in 'the rules' - I do it that way because that's what works best for me. Each 'fixed' movement we make has a whole lot of thought and testing behind it - sometimes HUNDREDS of years, and very solid reasons why it is done that way. If all rules are bad, knowing a martial art would be a handicap, not an advantage - and over the years i have found that my 'restrictive rules' have prevented a lot of beatings that have headed my way, and have allowed me to give plenty of them out. Fighters who just 'do what feels natural' and don't have good technique are very easy prey. Also, if you watch two WC fighters, same teacher, same school, you will notice many differences between them as the apply the stuff that they have learned to their own structure etc. i guess this could be said for fighters (good ones, obviously) from any art. I think one of the most dangerous rules in vogue at the moment is "i do it this way because Bruce Lee said so". IMHO Bruce wasn't saying "Don't learn an 'official' style - he was saying "when you have learned it, keep it FLEXIBLE". Repec' >>>PS<<<

All I can say is that I have studied many arts over the last 20 years (Jeez, I don't feel that old !), and WC is in a league of it's own - at least as far as I am concerned. Regarding the previous two posts about learning the application of the techniques, I must agree with both... Othe arts say "This is what you do when somene punches, this is what you do whan someone holds your wrist (and then stands still for twenty seconds while you make your move...)", but we don't do that so much. We practice drills that cultivate a sensitivity - a knowledge within your hands - so that once you make contact with the opponent, you don't have to remember what to do - as the opponent moves, your hands will automatically do what is right. Here's an example... A few weeks ago I was visiting a friend. he asked me to touch hands, and so we went into a hand 'rolling' drill. After about 15 minutes of rolling, my friend tried to end the session by punching me. Now, I was looking out of the window at this point - but I felt him move and somehow or other tied him in a knot and hit him three times in the face (controlled, obviously). I feel that this is a good example of how WC works in the real world, because I don't know which moves I used - my hands did it by themselves. Respect to you all, >>>PS<<<

Oh really ? So Bruce Lee improved a 500 year old art, practiced and modified by hundreds of great masters, before he was 30 ? Even before he had learned the whole system ? If he had 'improved' Wing Chun, then he would have been able to beat Old 'Knife Hands', Wong Shun Leung - but he never did. Everyone harps on endlessly that "Brucey was the greatest martial artist to ever live" - but none of you have anything to support this, other than that you saw him in Enter The Dragon - there are better fighters than him out there TODAY, as there always have been and always will be. I feel I am in a minority on this forum, but it takes a lot more than high kicks and monkey noises to impress me. >>>PS<<<

With this argument, all styles are restrictive - and that means that learning martial arts will mess up your fighting ability. which we all know to be untrue. >>>PS<<< When you know all the rules, you can break them. When you do not know all the rules, break them at your peril. (WC saying)

Oh really ? So Bruce Lee improved a 500 year old art, practiced and modified by hundreds of great masters, before he was 30 ? Even before he had learned the whole system ? If he had 'improved' Wing Chun, then he would have been able to beat Old 'Knife Hands', Wong Shun Leung - but he never did. Everyone harps on endlessly that "Brucey was the greatest martial artist to ever live" - but none of you have anything to support this, other than that you saw him in Enter The Dragon - there are better fighters than him out there TODAY, as there always have been and always will be. I feel I am in a minority on this forum, but it takes a lot more than high kicks and monkey noises to impress me. >>>PS<<<

Sorry I haven't replied to this sooner.... Unfortunately you ignore the most obvious and most dangerous solution he can take... simply marching forward toward you. I don't understand what you mean. When I face an opponent, I will angle correctly according to his approach - direct, circular, whatever. As a WC practitioner, we go in for that sort of thing . Of course if he were to jump on my back and slashes my throat before I saw him, it can be more tricky... Errr, I HAVE CONTROLLED THE KNIFE. My postioning has put me out of reach of the blade, and my lead hand has contol of his two lines which are both, as I said, off me. And even if he turns to change that - in the split second before I maim him - I'll simply step to a better angle. Again, we practice this stuff with big shiny butterfly swords... Here's how to try this theory out... 1. Get a friend to stand to your side, with their left hand on your left arm, facing the side of your head (like they were looking at your profile). 2. Turn and touch them with your right hand before they can move out of reach. If you wanna make this lively, tell them that they can slap your head if they get there quick enough. I'm not a real doctor, but I wouldn't think that tearing the anus with a knife inserted into it would penetrate any arteries. And hey - the dude attacked me with a knife, so if he dies - good. Excellent - I'll remember that What he does or odes not deserve is not really a concern... me not being dead tmorrow is. Excuse me ? It is a concern - for myself, my loved ones and for society, because I believe that wrongdoers should be punished for what they do. Live by the sword, die by it and all that. Respect to you all >>>PS<<<

Most people using knives don't know how to do it properly - some do know, and they are much trickier to deal with. Either way, they say that a knife is worth 5 years of MA training, so avoid such conflicts at all costs. Run if you can - the options here are survival or death, not victory or defeat. But if you have forgotten to pack your Bat Dam Jo / Uzi that day... 1. as the attacker comes, angle to the off side - his left if the knife is in his right - this puts the weapon on a longer and more easilly controlled line, and the opponent must turn or overstretch to reach you. 2. attack the eyes, throat etc with all the force you can muster - several times to make sure - at the same time put him down by kicking off a kneecap. 3. take the knife from the attacker, and insert it into his a s s. He is unlikely to die, but for the rest of his life he will miss TV and remember you every time he goes to the toilet. 4. go home and increase your training regime. Yup - it's a nasty business - but "big boys' games, big boys' rules" - and if he's using a weapon in an unprovoked attack he deserves it all anyway. Respect to y'all >>>PS<<<

Apologies to battousai16 for my earlier misquote - it was aimed at whoever made that stoopid "I think it's gay" remark. Respec' >>>PS<<<

Yes m8 - well said. So battousai16, cutting the hair from your body makes you gay ? Do you shave your face ? And you know what they say about those who protest the loudest... ;-P Respect to you ALL >>>PS<<<

Yah, I agree with Treebranch. All this Brucey-worship has gone too far and he is now considered some kind of martial god. But when you see the beatings that these big powerful UFC guys take and remain standing, I feel that you really must question what would happen to a little squirt like him... And grappling - even if he did study some - was not really his bag. All the 'spirit' in the world will not save you from a good stranglehold unless you have the skill or strength to escape it, and he would have been up against big, strong guys who are masters of their grappling arts and can take untold punishment. I'm not an authority on UFC, but how have JKD fighters done in the competition ? Not so well I think - which must mean that Ju Jitsu is generally a better art for fighting in such an arena ? In Brucey's defence I have heard that he was a really dirty fighter (those that like to win usually are), so a quick Biu Jee to the eyes would take most of the Gracie crew out in the first seconds... Or perhaps his mighty 'inch punch' would have won the day ? Respect to you all >>>PS<<<

Karate vs Kung Fu can be likened to a bazooka vs a pistol. Sure, the bazooka has loads of power - but if I can pick up my pistol and shoot you in the face before you pick up and aim yer bazooka, then the power issue is academic. Biu Jee needs very little power to be horribly effective I'm not dissing Karate (I did Shoto for four years, some Wado and Shorinji Kempo), but IMHO KF (at least Wing Chun) is just so much more complex in it's structure, faster and more vicious on the street. All this depends on your teacher, tho... And as we grow older, our power naturally fades. So as an old men or women who study Karate we will naturally be beaten by younger stronger opponents. Our sensitivity and technique can improve until the day we die though, and because of this many old men in the Wing Chun world are fearsome fighters into their seventies - even though us youngsters are blatantly stronger. Look at all these 'Full Contact' Karate styles - those guys hit each other AS HARD AS THEY CAN, over and over, and still don't knock each other out. Are they learning to give out beatings, or to take them ? Like I say, I am no way dissing Karate so I hope no one is upset by my opinions. Respect to you all >>>PS<<<

Yeah right. Aside from the fact that most Jong arms are made of hardwood, and because of their length and shape they are as hard as hell... (ever tried to snap a short stick ? Well try one that's short, 3 inches thick, rounded and made of varnished mahogany. No way is that snapping !) ...And even if he does have that kind of power, a floor standing Jong would move before it's arm snapped, and a wall mounted dummy's frame would go before the arms - it's simple leverage. But why would he want to break the arms on his dummy in the first place? We don't train power on the dummy - it is used for cultivating good lines and shapes. So if he is hitting it that hard, why is he using it ? Perhaps he moves silently and cat-like around his sandbag... And hardwood dummy arms are so very expensive... Maybe you should ask him to demonstrate for you. (But personally, if he tried to snap the arms on my Jong, I'd be forced to kick his monkey a s s.) Regarding his tiger claw, I can't comment - but it must be reassuring for him to have such a skill, especially with all the trees starting fights out there these days. Respect to you all >>>PS<<<

I started because I wanted to be a wicked fighter. I stopped because I thought I had become one. I started again because I met a teacher who's abilities blew me away. I continue because I love my art. I shall always continue because I shall never reach the bottom of the well. And if I get to be a wicked fighter ? Cool. Resoect to you all >>>PS<<<

Seven steps to victory... 1. Hands in front, in an "I really don't wanna fight" style gesture. This also provides a guard and measures the distance between you. Hope he goes away. But...If he bumps into / pushes against your hand twice, you will definitely be fighting, so move to step two. 2. Ask a question "Don't I know you ?" or something. This puts his brain out of gear for a second. Immediately move to step three... 3. Break his jaw. A palm delivered from the side works well, though you step to create the correct delicery angle. 4. Beat the dung out of his friend (who will be so shocked by the speed and outrageous ferocity of your attack that he will be like a kitten). I personally like to hurt the friend a good bit more than the troublemaker himself - that gets him trouble afterwards for getting his mates into violent confrontation with such a rabid lunatic as I. 5. Once his friend is down - return to the first guy (who will still be staggering about whining about his jaw). Hit the broken jaw again a few times and enjoy the wailing. 6. Make some Schwartzenegger style "Asta la vista baby" wisecrack. 7. Hop it befor the Old Bill arrive. respect to you all >>>PS<<< We have no problems when we have no qualms.