TOPIC: Kung Fu!

Anyone catch the juggler outside Gen Con on Saturday night? He had a sign that said, "Parents killed by ninjas. Need money for kung fu lessons." I gave the guy a buck just out of general principle of coming up with such a great gimmick for gamers. He was pretty good at juggling too. I got a good smile for quite a while after seeing that.

Yeah I saw him, I thought,"Gamer out of money, very good idea."

...Not original though...I actually saw the exact same sign carried by one

of the homeless here in NY. One of my favorites was "My Rock band went

under. Need money for booze, drugs and hookers." Can't think he's

going to waste it on something worse so just have to be amused.

Yeah, thats pretty bad, but honest.

I dunno...his parents being killed by ninjas suggests that he's Japanese, so I'm not sure it's the most practical thing for him to be trying to afford kung fu lessons, as he'd likely have to go to China for the good instructors. He'd need a lot less money if he were to get Ju-Jutsu, Shorin-Ryu, Karate, or Kempo lessons instead.

I don't think I'd give him money just because he's going to be so inefficient with it.

Or a gun...Gun-do pwns. Also called Gun-fu occasionally.

Equilibrium had some great fight sequences with the Gun Karta's(spelling?).

And had the cutest puppy ever in it!

Or a gun...Gun-do pwns. Also called Gun-fu occasionally.

I was helping instruct a TKD class years ago, on campus when I was an undergrad. Before class, I was warming up, and throwing jump spinning back kicks against a bag. One of the students came in, an older student, who I knew was also preparing to enter the police academy.

He watched me for a while, and when I stopped throwing kicks, he smiled, and said good-naturedly "That's nice, but I bet I could shoot you before you hit me with that kick."

I smiled back at him, ready for class in his t-shirt and sweat pants, and asked "Do you have your gun on you right now?"

I took Karate myself, and I could punch you and knock you out before you could get a spinning back kick off. They are nice to look at, but not quick enough in an actual fight.

As for the guy with the gun, sure at a distance he could shoot you first but if you're on top of him and he isn't pointing the gun right at you, you could probably take him.

I took Karate myself, and I could punch you and knock you out before you could get a spinning back kick off. They are nice to look at, but not quick enough in an actual fight.

One punch knockouts are extremely hard to accomplish. In fact, I have never seen one, not in all the boxing, MMA (mixed-martial art) fighting, and street fighting I have participated in or watched. I have seen very powerful fighters effect knockouts with a small number of punches...three or four in succession...guys like Tyson in his prime, Vitor Belfort against Tank Abbot.

I used the spinning back kick in the example because that's what I happened to have been throwing for warmups when the guy commented. I myself am much better with my hands than my feet, and recently am probably slightly better grappling than I am with my hands. But, that said, I have landed spinning back kicks, and even jump spinning back kicks, in very aggressive MMA sparring matches, and have seen a surprising number of spinning kicks attempted successfully in professional MMA and no-holds barred fighting. It just isn't true to say that they aren't quick enough to be used in a fight. Coming in on a straight trajectory, they are actually very quick kicks, and much harder for the opponent to see than, say, a big Van Damme-esque spinning cresent or spinning hook. They are actually the only spinning kick I bother to use.

In fact, it's also not necessarily true that you could punch me before I could get the kick off, were we in a real fight. If you were right next to me, sure. As with any kick I'd have to create separation first, and by then your punch would be thrown. But if you were 5 feet away to begin with? Maybe now, not having thrown that kick in almost two years, I might not be fast enough anymore. You might get to me first. But back when I was training regularly? Nope. I know, because we trained to kick people who were rushing in, that I could get the kick off before you could reach me with a punch. That doesn't mean I would automatically connect, but at the least it would make you drastically change your own trajectory.

Of course, it's best not to just throw one out there as a stand-alone technique. But it's best not to throw *anything* out there as a stand-alone technique, kick or punch. You need to set it up properly, just like any technique.

But that's all beside the point, as is the distance between the unarmed fighter and the guy proclaiming the superiority of guns. I have taught self-defense classes for years, and I always stress that almost nothing you have is worth being shot over, and that, no matter how fast you are, you cannot close a 5 foot gap without being shot. Do I know how to take a gun away from someone? Yes. If they are close enough, I know a number of fairly efficient ways to do it. What are the odds I would actually succeed? Who knows. Not me.

But my point in the story above was that the guy, claiming confidently that he could shoot me before I could kick him, DID NOT HAVE A GUN ON HIM.

Or a gun...Gun-do pwns. Also called Gun-fu occasionally.

I was helping instruct a TKD class years ago, on campus when I was an undergrad. Before class, I was warming up, and throwing jump spinning back kicks against a bag. One of the students came in, an older student, who I knew was also preparing to enter the police academy.

He watched me for a while, and when I stopped throwing kicks, he smiled, and said good-naturedly "That's nice, but I bet I could shoot you before you hit me with that kick."

I smiled back at him, ready for class in his t-shirt and sweat pants, and asked "Do you have your gun on you right now?"

Not to bash TKD, but I have seen people blow out there knees doing that, that's why I started out with Nin-jitsu then took Kempo with Tai Chi and a little Pauqua(sp).

Not to bash TKD, but I have seen people blow out there knees doing that, that's why I started out with Nin-jitsu then took Kempo with Tai Chi and a little Pauqua(sp).

I agree. I know so many people with bad hips, bad knees, back backs...not even blown out, just shot in general because of the violent impacts they train with every day. I trained in TKD three or four days a week for 4 years straight (started in 1993), and to a lesser degree for another 4 years.

But seeing all of those lingering injuries was one of the many reasons I took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu back in 1997. When I train and teach people now, it's a combination. I teach self-defense mostly, and I believe that you cannot defend yourself adequately without knowing both striking and grappling. But I confess that I teach a majority of grappling.

I've trained in TKD, Goju-ryu, BJJ, Judo, boxing, kickboxing, kung fu (not much), escrima, capoeira...and the 'soft' arts, the ones that don't rely on 'force-on-force' techniques, are MUCH friendlier to the martial artist who's going to train for long periods of time (decades). You will see many more 70 and 80 year old practitioners of even the softer styles of kung fu than you will see 70 or 80 year old TKD fighters still able to train.

Although one of my two black belts is in TKD, I don't really consider it to be my 'main style', and haven't for years. And even then, the TKD that my school studied was very unlike 95% of what you will see if you go to a given TKD school. We didn't train for Olympic fighting. We didn't wear huge chest protectors, or stand on one foot throwing five or six kicks before putting the foot down. We had more than 3 punches in our bag of techniques. We didn't hop up and down like fighting bunny rabbits. We rarely fought for 'points'. Our belt tests were atrociously difficult, and no one ever 'signed up' for promotion...you were TOLD that you would be testing, and only when you were actually ready. In reality, aside from the kata that we used, we had very little in common with what is commonly called TKD. (That's not to say that we weren't training in TKD...more to say that what is commonly called TKD is a very watered down, 'fancy mess' designed to pull in massive amounts of students and take their money. But that's another story.)

I don't consider myself 'a TKD guy', so you don't need to worry about bashing