I used to describe, Kung Fu as a practical means of self-defense. I thought that if you trained long and hard, you would be able to use this Martial Art to defeat many foes. I used to think that Kung Fu would promote you to God of Fighting.
The truth is hard to accept, but Martial arts like Karate and Muay Thai have a better chance at winning. The evidence is online. Just search for Kung Fu VS whatever and you will see three types of videos. The three types are:
1) Demonstration of Technique
2) Sparring within the school
3) San Shou
In this essay I will talk about why kung fu in modern times losing its effectiveness.
San Shou
This type of kung fu is relatively new and has been modified and refined to be combat effective and simple. For those of you that don’t know what San Shou is, “it is a complete system of realistic unarmed combat covering the skills of striking, grappling, wrestling, ground-fighting, and weapon defenses taken from various Chinese and foreign martial arts and hand-to-hand combat styles. It focuses on applying the principles of combat rather than on techniques.1”
The style itself is very effective, no doubt. However, its creation required a loss of technique.
There are no animals. I have yet to see a San Shou fighter fight with the power of a tiger or the swiftness of a dragon. The original techniques and postures have been lost.
The big problem here is that it doesn’t resemble any particular Traditional Kung fu. It’s basically an accumulation of many kung fu and the result is something new and something updated. The fact that this martial art had to exist provides evidence that Traditional Kung fu is outdated.
Sparring Within The School
You learn how to use your Kung Fu by sparring. Does it teach you how to fight? No, it doesn’t, but what it does is it trains you to maintain your style’s structure under pressure. When you do a martial arts form, it is easy to maintain your composure.
The videos that show kung fu sparring usually will only show the same style fighting the same style. If it’s against a different style, they choose a really terrible fighter so that the kung fu guy can dominate.
This gives the kung fu man a false perspective and will fool them into thinking they are good.
But if you put them up against a Muay Thai fighter who had trained for the same amount of time, the most likely result would be that the Kung Fu guy gets humiliated. He becomes a punching bag.
Why did he become a punching bag? Simple--kung fu sparring usually stays at light contact and stays within an amateur level. The reason that Muay Thai wins more times then none is because they are trained to be in the Pro level. That means they have taken their art to rigorous level of performance that only the few and dedicated can get to. What are the chances of a Pro losing to an amateur? The odds are very slim.
Although sparring is a good first step, Kung fu people have to realize that they need to train like a Pro fighter if they ever want to be a dominant fighting style.
Demonstration of Technique
Youtube will have a large majority of Kung Fu demonstrations. All of them will show you how kick ass the style is and they will show you how it all works.
Unfortunately, this is very unrealistic.
The problem is that it is all prearranged. There is no threat of harm or death. When there is no threat, a person’s coordination is at its best.
The moves that they demo, I’m quite sure that they work. I am very certain that they are effective. However, the issue is with the person. Can the person coordinate themselves enough to do the move? If they get start freaking out they will not be able to do anything from their style.
That is why they always teach you to be calm. They are trying to teach you to stay in your optimal state of performance.
In the end it all comes down to whether or not you can apply it in the field. It might work perfectly in the Lab, but if it doesn’t work out in the field, it’s more or less useless.
Is Kung fu Out Dated?
The short answer is no. Kung fu is not outdated, but the focus is. All types of martial arts will focus on punching, kicking and grappling, but in the case of kung fu, the focus of fighting has been lost.
The focus nowadays is about getting perfect form. Perfect posture, perfect technique. That is a bad focus. Perfect form will be the byproduct of practicing a technique over and over again under pressure.
You can’t get perfect form without pressure. Perfect form must be earned. Kung fu people who try to get perfection in their normal mode are only demonstrating the shell of their art. In order to really understand your own art, you need to practice the technique under pressure and that technique must be done right.
Only in this state will you be able to learn what is simple and right to the point.
Take wing chun for example. Many people only obtained the “shell” of wing chun. These people did not fight. WSL fought with his wing chun and he is known as one of the best. Duncan Leung fought with his wing chun and he is known as one of the most well rounded fighters.
Go and apply your art under pressure.
Conclusion
Your Kung Fu doesn’t have to change to be effective. If you want your style to be effective it has to be used with the right mindset and focus. Everyone needs to start small and take it one step at a time. At some point your not going to need training wheels anymore. When you find yourself in that state, its time to take your tools out of the Lab and try it somewhere else.
The focus and the mindset of a fighter is the most important thing. Without focus, you will only have the shell of your art. I believe that kung fu can reclaim its dominance as long as its training focus changes. When that happens, traditional kung fu can rival San Shou. But this requires that they train their bodies to Pro level. Perhaps in a future post I may write about how to get there.
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