Traditional-Fist

Well that is what I am saying. If it was the same then it would probably be called Wing Chun Mantis. Obviously there are differences as these are different styles. Agreed.

We are entering a complicated area here. One could write books about the subject. Now that you have mentioned Tai Chi, did you know that a master can put his palm on your heart and deliver a "blow" that would kill you. There are techniques in Wing Chun and the various Shaolin systems where a punch to the chest can rupture your heart, collapse your lungs and even penetrate to your vertebrae. This does not exist in boxing. To achieve this kind of power one will need undertake internal training for years under a real kung fu expert/sifu/master.

If you don't mind me asking, does your school belong to any Shotokan federation or functions under any of the main Japanese Shotokan senseis? I am asking because I find the description of your training quite unusual from what one generally hears about Shotokan training which has surprised me in a positive way.

Were your takedowns and ground work training taken directly from and using Shotokan kata and techniques?

I was referring to SPM or Southern Praying Mantis.

Equality is in the eye of the beholder.

As far as karate goes, I really don't know and I would not commit myself either way. As far as kung fu is concerned, you'd be surprised....

But, if you look at it from the point of a view of a Bull, who is condemned for the slaughter house anyway (which is true in Mas. Oyamas case), it is a heroic way to go.

If we are talking about one year of MMA to 10 years of traditional Japanese, specially Okinawan karate training - the way it is really meant to be trained, then I would bet on the traditionalists.

Not to forget that they make similar use of the of the Central Line Theory.

That depends on where one is standing. It doesn't, that is until he gets hit by a Wing Chun punch. Agreed And that makes the type of power that they use, different. I still consider a penetrative strike more powerful then a "not so" penetrative one.

As far as Tai Chi and Shaolin are concerned, there are similar principles involved in some levels and in other levels the principles and methods change. I cannot really answer you question. So in this concept it is difficult to answer your question. However, as far as comparison with boxing is concerned, because of the energy concepts of Wing Chun and kung fu in general, the Wing Chun punches are more penetrative than that of Western Boxing and as far as I am concerned that means that they are more powerfull than that of boxing.

Or a Mc burger, maybe?

"Profound" but true. I do not train with weights and even for pressups, my sifu recommends no more than one session per week.

Can you recommend any good Chow Gar schools in London?

Yes there is a lot of power in Wing Chun. You need to have good rootes, body structure and unity as well as the correct breathing without which you will never hit with your full potential. To the unlooker the Wing Chun strikes do not seem powerful, but if one is on the recieving end the story is very different.

1. Gichin Funakoshi 2. Masutatsu Oyama 3. Bruce Lee

With the TMA you are going to get results longterm only. How long term will depend on you, your chosen style and the quality of instruction that you receive.

Goju Ryu is said to be based on Wu Zhu Kwan or Five Ancestor Fist style of kung fu. It is not the same style as it has evolved and incorporated techniques from the Okinawan fighting arts. Now for someone to invent Chinese Goju-Ryu is somewhat over the top and in my opinion is more of a marketing plot than anything else. Could the new styles of "Chinese Shorin-Ryu" and even "Chinese Shotokan", invented by us Westerners, be far behind?

I think what he is saying is that you can learn many arts that will help you defend yourself in a street fight, but there is no art that will make you invincible, except perhaps Wing Chun Just kidding about the WC bit .

You are probably right, but when they do become competent then one had better watch out.

Thank you for the links. They were very interesting. I did not know of Gary Lam. It seems that he knows his stuff.

The Wing Chun style practiced by me has grappling and ground fighting, praciticed by the more advanced level students, using, of course Wing Chun principles and concepts. Do you have some footage of that or a link or something? I'd like to see it. Unfortunately I do not have any links in reference to ground fighting in Wing Chun. It seems that Wing Chun ground fighting is not trained by all lineages and is not as commonly practiced as I would have liked it to be.

The Wing Chun style practiced by me has grappling and ground fighting, praciticed by the more advanced level students, using, of course Wing Chun principles and concepts.

Killing bulls proved the power of his karate or at least added to its credibility and his credibility and that was in a MARTIAL CONTEXT.. So will I. However, killing a dangerous animal such as a bull with my bare hands, will demonstrate abilities beyond normal human capabilities and that is what Mas. Oyama did, and that is what I meant, in an earlier post with regards to "martial context". It was not just "STRENGTH", it was fighting ability AMPLIFIED...I.E. Power, timing, courage, spirit and fighting ability, amplified to a level to defeat a bull. No he would not be a lesser fighter if he had lost to a bull, BUT, the point is that HE DID NOT, and that is what made him just that bit more extraordinary and it is unfair to say that it was purely a question of "strenght".