The Power And Realism Of Kung Fu

[MizuRyu]

My friend is a Praying Mantis practitioner who's been trained by his father since he was a child, along with Wing Chun. He started when he was about 5 and he's 19 now, and needless to mention he's about as proficient as any "master" of either. Well, he was showing me some Mantis stuff today, and I noticed it looks pretty, but how would it fare in real combat? And by real combat I mean someone plowing into you with the intent to break or kill. How would this apply to most Kung Fu? I know it's a broad question because of what the term Kung Fu encompasses, but I noticed they all seem to have emphasis on acting and form over actual fighting.

[shogeri]

There are many teachers who teach kung fu as a hobby, or as a health aid.

This doesn't do the art justice, just as it's not right to teach any martial art that way.

Now specifically practicing kung fu as dance, that is actually termed Modern Wushu, whereas traditional Wushu, just meant 'martial arts'.

The essence behind the forms and techniques are effective, but are useless if nobody teaches the student how to apply them dynamically, making those techniques have a life of their own.

Well, a Mantis student would strike to various points on the face, and on the body. After being attacked, they would use circular type motion in order to gain a better position in which to strike. They also use their wrist as a locking maneuver as well. They kick frequently also, and tend to work the entire body in order to dehabilitate the opponent or kill them.

Mantis does work, but how well depends upon the student and their understanding of what they are doing.

If all they show you is a move, then that is all you will have ~ a move.

[Hudson]

I'll give you my take on what I have learned from training kung fu.

There are plenty of times when, before you understand a movement, it will look completely daft to you.

But then when you break it down, you realize that everything you learn isn't the concrete way to do it, it's just the suggested way of practicing. Every movement has varying levels of complexity in ways that you look at it and apply it.

Take, for an example, a leopard fist. At a glance, it looks very basic, it's a halfway point between a spear hand and a closed fist. Fancy, but what for?

Then when you practice it, and you rep it over and over, you realize things. You realize, hey, this fits nicely under somebody's chin, and if I turn it like this, its an effective way of blocking and hitting a nerve point simultaneously, etc;

So now your basic fist just became a swiss army knife, and you go out and rep each application you find until it all becomes subconcious, and then when you find yourself in a situation where they fit they just flow. And then it's really just a basic fist again.

Er, I went off on a bit of a tangent there.

So, yes, although it make time and hard work to analyze a lot of traditional kung fu's methods, almost everything you do will be practical.

Another point I'd like to mention is that there is a large difference between traditional martial arts, which are for self-defense and focus on ending a fight as quickly as possible with little resistance, and some of the "fighting" martial arts that focus on beating another man around a ring for 5 minutes.

Kung Fu probably isn't the best at doing the latter, if that answers your question.