fallen_milkman

Great article. Very entertaining and made me think about my reasons. I believe I also wanted the challenge. I have never done anything important with my life. I feel like gong fu fills a part of me I never used.

Cool article, until it claims Tai chi is for superhumans. That is a little rediculous in my opinion. Otherwise, interesting. I didn't know anyone had mixed tai chi and karate techniques.

As long as someone wants to practise a martial art for any reason, it will not become "obselete". How effective this art is probably isn't as important to these people as other benefits they see in the art. I'm assuming religion, but I have little knowledge of this art.

Great article. I have absolutely nothing to add.

I'd say the odds of a blade slipping between the rings are better than good.

No problem. Good luck, and don't hurt yourself!

http://www.worldkungfu.com/ironpalm1.html Fourth one down on Google.

Well apparently they only use Long Fist forms for their competition forms at that school. This is probably because they can be quite physically demanding, especially once you hit the higher levels. That doesn't diminish combat efficacy, unless you don't learn applications for the forms. But that could be said for any MA.

There are probably a million books and instructional videos on the subject. Just do some quick googling and you should be set to jet.

Since there are no other responses yet, I'll take a crack at it. Never heard it, but I'm going to assume it has to do with wrapping, a technique used heavily in Snake style. When blocking, you cling to their arm and coil around it, moving up the limb to strike around it. Works a bit like leaning, if you're familiar.

Nope. That is a common belief, but it's actually a fairly effective art form. Check out the article for more. It's a good read.

Fighting with them was just for show/comedy. I believe they are a part of Iron Fist training.

Weapons training, if nothing else, is fun. Knowing how to use a lot of the weapons can transfer the ability to other aspects of your fighting, as well. I train knives specifically because smaller ones ARE legal in case I ever REALLY need it. Besides, I'd rather not shoot anyone.

I haven't been taking martial arts long enough for anything spectacular, but I do have two cool things that I am proud of. 1. I was amazed the first time I realized this: I no longer flinch if I get punched in the face while sparring. 2. Once, while timed sparring, I ducked a cresent kick to the head. I stood up really fast, catching the kick on my shoulder. If he hadn't been so much taller than me, he'd have fallen. Since he is about a foot taller than me, I caught him with a few punches to the ribs and one to the groin before he got free. It was definitely the coolest thing I have ever pulled off.

Only art I can think of that regularly does that kind of stuff is sumo. Part of their training involves getting hit in the groin all the time. Not sure what is hoped to be gained by this, other than a swollen, bruised groin. As for the jokes, the cup manufacturer comment almost ruined my monitor via explosive water blast. That was my original thought as well. I mean, who doesn't use a cup in MA anyways?

No failing yet, but I am thinking I will fail my green test if I don't push myself a lot harder. The final requirement for it: one half hour of constant sparring, no puking, no passing out.

Kuntao white sash, test for yellow in a few months.

Hay Carl. Yeah, I used to go camping around your way when I was a Cub/Boy Scout. If you're familiar with King Cobra, you hay have heard of my Grandmaster, Master John Kinkead. He does some judging in those, from what I understand. I don't actually learn from him but from one of his students, Sifu Matt Borczon.

I have two useful bits of info for you, but I know nothing of the book you mentioned. 1. Chi gung is hard to learn effectively without an instructor to guide you. 2. If you can't find an instructor, I'd look up a website or a book on a set of chi gung exercises known as The Eight Pieces of Brocade. It is relatively easy to learn, even on your own, and is supposed to be very good for your health. We do this in my kuntao classes, but I haven't been doing it long enough to say whether there has been a positve change. My teacher is crazy about its effectivness, and I trust his judegement.

I started training myself in knife fighting with a group of friends shortly after seeing The Hunted. After some of us started going to kuntao classes one of our teachers, an ex-marine, showed us some more knife fighting technique. First weapon that is actually in our curriculum (kinda...we actually used a Shaolin-do form) was the short staff.

I'm not saying you have to believe, as I'm not even sure whether I do or not, but I have seen what some of these masters can do. Some of it has been documented. Unfortunaly, I have no documentation that I could show you, so I wouldn't really listen to me either. All I really want to get across is that our bodies are capable of some amazing things in conjunction with our minds. Should we call this chi? I don't see any reason not to. Chi has no mystic behind it, that is from movies and terrible cartoons. Chi is simply paths that energy moves through your body.

It depends on what kind of sparring you are talking about. I am not in the best shape as of yet, and even I barely break a sweat in point sparring. Timed sparring? Now THERE is good conditioning! Five three-minute rounds one after another is an amazing workout at my current physical conditioning. I am drenched and sore afterwords, but I love it.

Most of the people in my school agree, point sparring isn't a good representation of combat. We especially feel this way because of the way we fight: we keep hitting until the job is done. Besides, timed sparring is more fun, and a better workout. We only do point sparring if someone is competing, so we can help them get ready.

Just wondering if anyone could give me some information about this animal style. I am having trouble finding any information on it, most of what I find is monkey style. Some links to dvds for sale would be especially helpful!

One hyphenated word. Tackle-hug.