spinninggumby

True. I am sure that such intense training would greatly enhance the odds of somebody overcoming an attacker in the vast majority of all conflict-based situations. However, like Angus said, no amount of hard training will give you eyes in the back of your head despite so-called claims of a 'sixth sense' and the ability to sense who and what is going on around you (although there is some truth and credibility to refining and heightening your level of awareness). Intense training will get you very far, so far that you could pummel 99% of all street thugs in any fair fight. But in real life there is no such thing as a fair fight. If someone wants to beat the crap out of you, he won't care if he has to grab 10 of his drinking buddies and take you down from behind, or even put a bullet in your back of your head from 100 yards away late at night when you are not looking. It is my assumption that there is no real technique to defend against that, even if you are preparing for your 15th Dan test and you train even when you are sleeping. You will never be untouchable. There is no such thing as long as you are human. Room for error, no matter how marginal, is still room for error.

Most advanced kicks are not very practical in a street fight, and usually the most effective ones are also the most simple (i.e. front snap kick to balls). Modern wushu is very showy but not practical. IMHO if showy, fancy, and challenging movements are what you are interested in, you should look no further than demonstration tkd, acrobatic karate, capoeira, or modern wushu. Otherwise you can still challenge yourself thru hard workouts and conditioning with practical streetfighting techniques (more in the area of perhaps Wing Chun, bjj, muay thai, etc.) but they will not be showy nor fancy (I think that's just the way it goes). The ultimate in fancy kung fu perhaps would be modern wushu, the ultimate in practical kung fu, would, well I'm not sure but I would assume something like Wing Chun or sanshou or jkd (not really kung fu but definitely heavily influenced by wing chun roots as it developed into an ideology/style/whatever by Bruce Lee). Even if you have the speed, accuracy, precision, and power to execute a well-timed spinning hook kick at will with cold muscles in any situation, your regular hook kick or snap kick will be even faster, so if your life is on the line, why not go with the simpler technique that has a smaller room for error. No matter how good you are, your simple tactics will always be speedier and stronger in proportion to your fancy ones. So i guess I'm trying to say that fancy and practical are kind of contradictory toward each other LOL so maybe I would recommend training both for style and for application while at the same time realizing the merit of each movement you practice. :smile:

Most advanced kicks are not very practical in a street fight, and usually the most effective ones are also the most simple (i.e. front snap kick to balls). Modern wushu is very showy but not practical. IMHO if showy, fancy, and challenging movements are what you are interested in, you should look no further than demonstration tkd, acrobatic karate, capoeira, or modern wushu. Otherwise you can still challenge yourself thru hard workouts and conditioning with practical streetfighting techniques (more in the area of perhaps Wing Chun, bjj, muay thai, etc.) but they will not be showy nor fancy (I think that's just the way it goes). The ultimate in fancy kung fu perhaps would be modern wushu, the ultimate in practical kung fu, would, well I'm not sure but I would assume something like Wing Chun or sanshou or jkd (not really kung fu but definitely heavily influenced by wing chun roots as it developed into an ideology/style/whatever by Bruce Lee). Even if you have the speed, accuracy, precision, and power to execute a well-timed spinning hook kick at will with cold muscles in any situation, your regular hook kick or snap kick will be even faster, so if your life is on the line, why not go with the simpler technique that has a smaller room for error. No matter how good you are, your simple tactics will always be speedier and stronger in proportion to your fancy ones. So i guess I'm trying to say that fancy and practical are kind of contradictory toward each other LOL so maybe I would recommend training both for style and for application while at the same time realizing the merit of each movement you practice. :smile:

Yea I would hafta agree that sticky hands and chi sau can't really be learned in books or by yourself b/c it is something that must be felt and learned with someone else who is experienced. Someone you care about and love! j/k uh Kinda like sex, except uh you only link at the arms and it probably is only half as fun when you get your chi sau cherry popped. But in all seriousness, the impression I get when I practice chi sau is that relaxation is the key and it is generally not good if you rely on your eyes to react to your opponent's bodily movement/attack. It's almost like a sixth sense, by increasing your sensitivity and awareness, you get better and better at predicting and knowing where and when your opponent will try to target next, and you learn to be one step ahead so that you always end up on top or in the advantageous position. No protection needed unless you are going full contact. The practice (and the effectiveness) of chisau and sticky hands is very hard to describe in words, and there is no one standardized form of practice either.

Well this is not a silly question even though your forum topic revolves around a video game , hehe. I am fairly familiar with Rival Schools and I know who Kyosuke is. In fact, he is also a character in Capcom vs. SNK 2. He uses other hand techniques besides punching but also uses many different types of effective kicks. To answer your question, there are probably an abundance of kung fu styles which use a variety of hand techniques (i.e. eagle claws, monkey paws, palm strikes, etc.) which are supplemented with powerful effective kicking. I could not place his style right off the bat (considering that it IS a video game and his style is probably a mixture of many) but I guess as an example, my old Shaolin kung fu kwoon taught many open handed attacks and we used powerful kicks mainly to intercept and finish off the attacker. It's not too uncommon, I would think. BTW I prefer Hideo and the guy with the red coat and the sword, hehehe. :lol: P.S. I would assume, even though I have no formal experience in either, that cross training Muay Thai with Brazilian Jujitsu would be a good idea since they both have proven (at least to my knowledge) to be fairly effective on the street when compared to many other arts. Muay Thai has very effective simple strikes and BJJ is known for its grappling and ground fighting It can't hurt to delve into other things, just in case you happen to end up on the floor in an alley or federal prison shower room.

So far I have encountered none, but I have definitely heard stories of these types of cases. Many traditional instructors (karate, kung fu, etc. AND THIS IS JUST WHAT I HAVE HEARD), not to put anyone down, tend to give special or preferential treatment to say probably Chinese or Japanese or Korean or whoever b/c they still harbor those traditional yet close minded and misguided feelings that many of our grandparents or even parents may still have. I know that many kung fu instructors were reluctant to teach non-Chinese in the past when they first immigrated here to the U.S. and if they are still alive right now, I wouldn't put it past them to keep the same attitudes that they did before. HOWEVER, in terms of having biased feelings in general, unfortunately I feel that this is much more common than outwardly exhibited racial discrimination, and will occur in individuals of all sizes, shapes, ages, and race. This, to me, is just as bad and is an even bigger problem b/c you cannot see it and people hide it. Stereotypes and bias are engrained into most of our minds and, quite frankly, we almost automatically pigeonhole everyone we see because it is so much easier for our minds, because that is all we have to go on. It would be tough for me to honestly say that when I look at a giant muscle bound guy with a tattoo in a dojo, that I don't have any preconceived notions about what he is like or what kind of background he may have had, or what type of temperment he may have. Sorry don't want to get into Sociology 375 or any of that right now. I am fortunate enough not to have experienced or witnessed any outward blatant bias or discriminatory treatment (at least in my experiences related to martial arts).

Uhh, I live in WA and I might be taking a trip up to Vancouver Canada soon. Does that count? Errrr probly not.............crap :roll:

Hi Yoda Hey those dummy plans sound nice. If you could somehow send them over in some shape or form that would be greatly appreciated, hehe:) I am no lumberjack but I'm sure that if I get a few brains together that we would be able to put together a decent wooden dummy. Hey you should make a book, it should be called 'The Dummie's Guide to Making the Wooden Dummy' *groan* sorry just had to let it out. :razz:

Hi Elliott Welll, the first TKD form I ever learned was Kibon 1 (basic form 1) and the whole form moves in the shape of an 'I', (starting with low block 'arae makki' and then middle punch 'momtong chirugi') and my school is WTF, but I'm not sure whether this is the same form that you are learning. I have no experience with ITF forms so maybe it's the same for both or maybe not, haha. Well I guess one way to tell the difference between ITF and WTF is that the forms in WTF are called 'poomse' and are usually labeled as Taegeuk 1-8 and then the black belt forms have separate names after that starting with Koryo. The ITF forms are called 'hyung' if I am not totally mistaken and misinformed lol but hope this helps if not then it feels great to post anyways b/c I feel like typing

I live in Seattle, WA and I am pretty darn sure that I have received wushu instruction under the same teacher as u (owthathurts)

I live in Seattle, WA and I am pretty darn sure that I have received wushu instruction under the same teacher as u (owthathurts)

Uh, the shoes in my wushu class say Kukkiwon also, LOL. I am also from WA, wonder if we had the same teacher, hehehehe As far as i know, I attended the one and only wushu school in Seattle

Hi Elliott Look forward to reading all of your posts. If you have any questions or concerns regarding TKD, please do not hesitate to e-mail me or post them on a forum, P.S. I am by no means the only or the best resource on this topic LOL but just as a possible person to turn to for help or just for the sharing of new ideas. :smile:

Like I said earlier, God or not, most powerful ultimate killing machine bad a$$ or not, Bruce Lee's impressive amount of influence and devotion/commitment to the martial arts and to his craft is undebatable. And honestly speaking, I truly believe that he was the martial artist with the biggest influence on the 'general public'. The only other guy who even could come close in my mind is Jackie Chan, who is an actor and Peking opera acrobat prodigy more than a hard-core martial arts freak. Otherwise, it is quite hard to say who influenced or had the most significance on the development of martial arts as a whole and 'the one person' that the gigantic martial arts community felt was the most inspirational and knowledgeable (or had the most to offer). The world and this area of study is so friggin huge. It's hard enough to find the ultimate and number one pioneer of a single art, much less all of them. There will always be biases when people answer this question because, like I said before, certain icons will have more influence than others depending on our personal outlook, style, training perspective, etc. etc. And I am answering this forum question ONLY IN REGARDS TO WHO WAS THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE TOWARDS THE PUBLIC, WHICH HAS A GREAT AMOUNT TO DO WITH THE MEDIA AND WHAT IT PUTS OUT. I am not a hardcore jkd stylist, I am not even a huge Bruce Lee fan, but I give the guy credit for his devotion. Perhaps he was just the lucky guy whose efforts were realized by the public and by showbiz, considering how many hard working martial artists there are out there. _________________ "Being able to move in and out of styles, movements, and rhythms with ease is the highest skill." - Donnie Yen Don't give me credit, I am only the result of my education. [ This Message was edited by: spinninggumby on 2002-02-16 20:11 ]

My brother and I were planning to build one since we didn't want to shell out the couple hundred bucks to buy one LOL. Any ideas or advice as to where I can find assistance or reference? I'm guessing that I need a nice log and um, I'm not sure what else. I used to lay a chair on its side and use the legs as arms, haha A wooden dummy is a great tool that suits the training of many practitioners regardless of style, not just wing chun or jkd etc.

Regardless of the credibility or ultimate effectiveness of Bruce Lee's skill, it goes without argument that he made an extremely significant contribution to the martial arts world in that he turned 'kung fu' into a household name for the general public of the U.S. (that's where I live, so maybe if you live somewhere else it won't be as significant, LOL). But whether or not he is the most influential in the history of martial arts I do not really know. To the general public, I would have to say yes. If you say the name 'Jackie Chan' or 'Bruce Lee', their names almost become synonymous with 'martial arts' to the 'general public' because the public tends to associate certain issues with what the media puts out (i.e. movies, magazines, etc.). However, as to who was the most inspirational or influential to the martial arts communities is an entirely different story. I think that each and every practitioner has their own heroes/role models whom they may look up to, even though individuality and finding one's own unique path is also very important. For me personally, Bruce Lee did not provide much of an influence although I definitely give the guy credit. My instructors and master have provided me with much more inspiration. As far as ideology is concerned, I tend to agree with Donnie Yen (movie star) and his ideas on expression and martial arts as more than just mechanical movements (ironic since he was heavily inspired by Lee).

Yeah I think it's so kewlio that they are getting closer and closer to being able to render a real looking human being. Will actors and actresses even be needed in the future? Hehehe lol j/k but just think of what they could do. They could make a movie involving a day in the life of septuplet twins, starring Alyssa Milano and Stacy Keibler! woohoo! sorry just had to let that out of my system :angel:

Men tend to be naturally stronger and more aggressive, women tend to be naturally more flexible. Men have the tendency to overestimate their brute strength and may disregard and try to replace good form and strategy with energy and testosterone, and women have the tendency to think things through and not take on this tough-guy attitude. Both strength and flexibility are excellent supplements to the martial arts, but first you must have technique, devotion/commitment, drive, and smarts. These traits are pretty much gender neutral (no neanderthal jokes please) so I say that we are about even, despite the fact that men may tend to gravitate more towards the martial arts because of its physical aspect. As for my comfort level with hitting or applying force against men or women, I would choose neither. I do not really like full force sparring contact. Even with head gear, a deadly well placed kick to the temple area can cause permanent brain damage, or at the very least, hurt like hell and cause you to feel like barfing. Ditto a nice solid punch to the solar plexus even with padding. At my old kung fu school we used to go so-called 'full contact' but not very many people can let themselves go enuff to go full force. That is why I love my friend, the Wavemaster so much. You can knock it over as many times as you want and it will never sue you. There will be those out there, such as Bruce Lee, who say that if you don't train full force, then in real life you will not be able to apply your techniques at full force towards your adversary. I personally don't feel that what he said is 100% true but I could kind of see where he is going. Anyways wow did I deviate from the topic or what haha. :razz:

I have that game! My favorite characters are Geese Howard, Hbiki (the girl samurai/iaido girl), Sagat, Eagle(guy with the tonfas) Akuma, well actually I like a lot of them but those are what I can think of right now. LOL

HeII yeah! hehehe My proficiency in Marvel vs. Capcom had been refined and honed many times over but then Marvel vs. Capcom 2 came out and everybody learned how to link their attacks with the cheap helper moves when the other guy comes in for an assisted hit. Phooey screw that. I quit after that b/c I just couldn't stand up to all the mashing newbies

Dead or Alive is a nice series! Well I am more of a 2D fighting fan myself so I always stick to old school like Street Fighter (but no Mortal Kombat please) and SNK. :razz:

Well, I would have to say that having visible abs doesn't mean that you are in great shape or that you have abs of steel. My abs are very visible yet I hardly work on them at all but that is just becuz I am so scrawny and there is no padding there. My brother's abs are way stronger than mine yet they are not as defined b/c he has some more meat than me although in no way is he fat or out of shape.

God asked Adam what he wanted in his woman companion, and he said 'I want a woman who is incredibly beautiful, smart, honorable, faithful, competent, caring and loving, who will cherish and nurture me, laugh with me, understand me, comfort me in times of sorrow, always be there to lend a helping hand or an ear, someone who I can feel great serving and returning everything that she has ever done for me". And God said, "Well Adam, that is a lot to ask, and for that it will have to cost you both of your arms and both of your legs plus your nose and ears." So Adam thinks for a moment, then he says, 'Hmm, well, what do you think I could get for a rib?" HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! aaaaaa!! :bigwink: *RUNS FOR COVER BEFORE EVERYBODY TRIES TO STONE HIM TO DEATH*

http://www.ucd.ie/~tkd/typeof.html Thought this was a fun link. There's some other stuff on this page and whoever's page this is please forgive me for not crediting (giving credit, crediting, whatever) them Soooo, which of these types are you? hehehe :smile:

What is this?! Every1 dissin the flow. Argh. Anyways if it aint ur cup o tea then don't listen to it just don't mock it okay? :bawling: