Martial arts myth/realities

What do you think of demonstrations of fantastic feats which are attributed to martial arts knowledge?

I find them frustrating and embarrassing to the martial arts community as a whole. When I see some guy laying on a bed of nails, getting kicked in the groin, or other such nonsense, I want to expose him for the phony he is.

Why? Because this type of circus act makes everyone who sweats, bleeds and works hard training look bad. It drives me crazy!

 

A great big fat DITTO!

Grrrrr...........

 

Depends on what you call martial ability. Anyone seen the Shaolin 'Wheel of Life'?
A lot of 'non' martial applications developed through the martial mindset and discipline.

Thanx

 

Oh boy!
Here we go, some people are not going to like me for this!

Let me start by saying that I actually broke a foundation brick after I tossed it into the air, I have on film because it took 5 months of training and focus to accomplish this feat.

I have seen so many "tricks" it makes me sick!
My favorite is the Monk who bends the spear in half while the point of the spear is carefully placed into the throat and as he braces slowly he demonstrates his "chi". How foolish are those who beleive in this type of crap!

Perfect example is just last week one of my Brown Belts was talking about a demo he saw where a Black Belt in Kenjutsu cut a watermelon in half while it was sitting on a students stomach.
I have several swords, more than one is very real, and one specifically is not 440 carbon steel it is real pounded peices of diamond shaped metal. I invited this Brown Belt and others to the studio on a Saturday night and placed the Brown belt suspended between two chairs with a watermelon on his bare skinned abdomen. I took the sword and cut the melon in half. Afterward in his amazement and seemingly "new found respect" for me I revealed his ignorance and naivete', by explaining that the blade will not cut when it hits a soft target and is not "pulled" or "pushed". Waya could prabably explain this in better terms or anyone who is into the discipline of the sword, it has been many years for me.

I believe that fakes should be exposed, we should just be ready to do it ourselves. The problem with this type of crap is that we should learn how to entertain as well as be real in the Martial arts if we want to be visually or monetarily successful.
Good Thread!

 

.............on the contrary, I think you are bang on the money.

Money grabbing attention seeking FAKES!

 

I dunno, makes a good magic show. Everyone likes a little magic, its only when they start claiming to be able to do them for real you have a problem.

 

I'm all for it really.

Most people here wouldn't be in MA if they hadn't been misled or caught up in some film, or mystical nonsense at one time or another.

Those that join MA because they are excited by the violence of UFC events etc, are of far more concern to me.

Of course most people realise Santa Claus doesn't exist at one point, but these showboating 'frauds' don't cause much real damage do they?

The spear bent in the throat is an interesting anotomical trick, anyone care to tell me how it's done?

(I do know, I just want to see who else does)

 

The spear bent in the throat is an interesting anotomical trick, anyone care to tell me how it's done?
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They are not sharp for a start off. In Close Up they have a rounded point, hence won't puncture the skin. Also the 'Point' is placed so that it veers upwards when it is pressed against the skin, so that it pushes as the back of the flat blade against the throat and not a direct point.

Secondly the shaft is made of highly pliable Bamboo, for it to bend and make a show. Try doing that with a Red Oak staff attached!

 

Good and no doubt accurate points, but not the real trick!

This could be the new 'One Spear Snapping' thread

 

santa claus isn't real?

 

good thread , let me start with I train in KYOSHO /PRESSURE POINTS and TUITE/ JOINT MANIPULATION.

The trick I like is the NO TOUCH KNOCKOUT. There is an large group that sells seminars that claim this as a vaild self defense.
They also sell kiai knockouts but that could be really bad breath.

 

Not me.

These mystical tricks never got me interested in martial arts, just made it seem all the more intimidating and imposible to train in. It wasn't UFC either. What started my training was a simple little book I found it in a borders bookstore, and that started me looking all over the place for where I could train in jeet kune do. In my search, I happened to find an article Bruce Lee once wrote on these sorts of magic tricks, and apparently took quite a bit of flak over it in the feedback as well, but I believe he replied back to all of them. Thats why I always liked his approach and viewpoint on the martial arts, he was more practical. It made the idea of martial arts training so much less intimidating and seemed more real and attainable simply by good old fashioned hard work, rather than one requiring some sort of supernatural spirit energy to pull it off.

 

When it's done as entertainment it;s fine. I really enjoyed the Wheel of Life. It's a great show....but it's bugger all to do with martial arts. It's acrobatics

 

Wha.... I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!

 

***** Applause *****

 

What about disciplines such as iron shirt Qi Gong, or even t'ai chi chuan, where there are impressive stories such as teachers not being moved by entire classes of students

 

i agreee with tireces also.
i first started because i was getting beat up all the time but i wasnt into it then.
then a year or so later i find this book just titled karate, it was all about shotokan then i looked for traditional karate schools and now i am set.

 

Try looking at:

http://ofinterest.net/

For rationale explainations of feats such as the Unbendable Arm, Tai Chi's Four Ounces deflects one thousand pounds etc.

Great for skeptics.

 

I used to love stuf flike that when i was younger. Its great for kids, but as you grow older, you begin to realise how its done etc. (Rick Flair isnt really a pro-wrestler!?). TBH it does attract people to MA. My mate stareted doing shaolin Kung Fu after watching the monks. He realises now that half the stuff they do is either so horribly easy/misleading its silly, or so insanely hard it takes millions of years of practice. But now, we have one more person ion the world studying MA, which is good. In this sense it is ok, but i the money making, self praise sense( i am amster blah blah and i can do blah blah) its a load of rubbish.

 

If the circus acts and stunts inspires people to take up MA then I see little wrong with it.

I wasn't introduced to MA by some guy performing the same move 300 times while standing in the same spot or breaking a 2" thick piece fo wood

Monkey magic, the water margin and early kung-fu flicks inspired me and although I know the majority of it is fantasy and in no way relates to the reality of the day to day grind of training.

Take it for what it is, entertainment, wooo a bloke can bend a spear with his throat well that is a feat for sure, useless in any real-life sitiuation but it's an acheivement none the less.