Elaine – this is the guy I work with…I bet they know each other

Shaun Rawcliffe

..but Martial Arts is an Art in itself….. theres ,much to learn, discipline as well as the fancy techniques… would anyone have told Bruce Lee not to fight ? i dont think so……. close contact fighting teaches you how to block an opponents incoming fist, there are many 'blocking' techniques and 'Chi sau' is a good way of practicing skills .. get a good instructor tho cos there are too many ( 'think they no it all' characters out there, and you may end up being disappointed………

lol jim is it ? who are you then ? do you work for calderdale c. too then…. lol small world….. yep my hubby is the best all round ! and im not just saying it cos hes my hubby…

oh yep, sorry just spotted your link, yep my hubby trained with shaun many years ago….

'think they no it all' characters out there, and you may end up being disappointed………

See my earlier comment. Probably not a great analogy but you have say Steve Peat who is on another level at mountain biking then you have the majority of us who do it for years and years and still end up decidedly 'average'.

Martial Arts should be taken up primarily for discipline, fitness and mental stimulus. Not to fight/defend yourself.

🙂 (smiley face added incase Elaine's other half beats me up!) 😀

lol Hora !

Blocks nearly always fail outside an unscripted drill when the incoming strike isn't exactly how its anticipated. Just look at contest footage on youtube for proof of this.

This is why boxing has a permanent guard.

The need for perfect or near perfect conditions is the main difference between martial and fighting arts IMO. The regime of martial arts teaches scripted drill and anticipation of 'perfect strikes' from the same style so that one can handle them. I've seen too many martial artists freeze or fail when faced with something outside of their paradigm when mixing it up with other arts and techniques.

Just take up Judo to compliment mountain biking 😀

Jeet Kune Do sounds cool, a mate of mine did this.

'blocking' never hardley fails in my hubbys classes.. ? you must be going to the wrong classes then ? lol. ….
wing chun is an art in its self, and if your prepared to learn the whole system and stick at it , and have a great instructor , you,re onto a winner…

We'll have to agree to disagee on this one Elaine. Wing Chun is one of the better arts for blocking, since they train sensitivity so intensively, but if you watch a free-for all wing chun session, plenty of blocks are missed. Due to the nature of its guiding principles, you may find that another part of the arm(s) gets in th way, but thats not really intentional blocking.

Also, the centre line principle is flawed IMO.

Personally I think you have to be a good fighter to fight, no amount of training for someone without that aggressive attitude will turn them into a street/pub fighter.

Mohammed Ali admitted in his autobiography that he was terrified to fight many locals in his home town as 'I was trained to box in a controlled environment, these guys did it night in, night out, whilst drunk, in varying environments using whatever was around them to infict injury. My training would never allow me to compete against these guys in their bar rooms, the same as they would not be able to compete with me in the ring'.

People who regularly live with violence tend to be good at it, folk who train a few nights per week cannot hope to compete.

Obviously for top guys this may not always be true but I reckon good fighters in one particular style are usually naturally good fighters not manufactured.

Compare someone like Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno, natural animalistic fighter versus a trained athlete.

i dont think the centre line is flawed at all ?.. ( this is a pretty strict area the way my hubby teaches it…
my hubby Trained along with some of the best (wong chun leung) style..
… there are a few different styles of 'wing chun' and each teacher- teaches different /styles/techniques, etc… depends who you have trained with to be the 'best of the best'….

Don't get me wrong, Wing Chun is a pretty functional as martial arts go compared to many, but I'm not so blind to see some of its limitations. Even Mr Bruce Lee acknowledged this. In particular lack of mobility and fixed stance. I realise that this is also its strength!

Wing Chun has the disadvantage of not being that powerful (IMO) until you get good at it and its takes a good while to learn before you become effective at it.

yep it takes along time to learn… but you have to stick with it. there are '3 full forms' to learn and the 'dummy form' too.. which involves using a wooden model that represents a person and you have to perform different techniques on this 'dummy' section,,,good training for 'centre line stuff'..
not being powerfull ???? have you not heard of the inch punch ? i cud knock you flying with this technique ! lol….

Partially agree with Hora, some mickey mouse clubs out there.

2nd Dan Shotokan and studied Akido, weapon use and Wing Chun too.

I use it for defence and keep fit but also as a hobby but not how to fight-I use brain for that.

Spirit and discipline has been lost in many mickey mouse clubs.

I did WTF Taekwondo to a reasonable standard in the past (black-tag). Plenty of sparring in sessions, and a good instructor will teach self defence techniques. I trained with Master Yoon in Ashtead.
Practically though, the best self-defence technique is walking/running away.

have you not heard of the inch punch ?

Can you really use that in a fight tho? Even a sport match?