Thank you for taking the time to produce such a comprehensive and informative datasheet, TravelerKai.
I have some questions:
How would you go about identifying whether a school was legitimate or not for these Chinese arts?
My level of skepticism goes through the roof when I hear about these deadly techniques that are passed from master to student for 3000 years. How are you able to verify that these techniques are real, and as lethal as claimed, if they are never actually used in full combat against a resisting opponent?
I hope I'm not coming across as dismissive, I am sincerely interested to know how one can verify the truth of these claims of lethality. I understand how Krav, or Systema, for example, can use leverages to snap various bones, constrict windpipes etc, and how that could be lethal. I understand how a sufficiently devastating blow can kill. But as soon as I hear about things like 'quivering palm' it seems like we're jumping head first down the rabbit hole.
I know a bit for various professional reasons about sharp end operators and their methods. A great deal of emphasis there is placed on raw aggression and excellent conditioning. Of course, well drilled techniques are essential, but if you talk to any SF sergeant they'll almost certainly volunteer that what they really do is go so fucking hard, fast, and aggressive (in a fashion that has been well drilled) that the bad guys can't live with it. That's why a lot of what they do in their combatives programs centres around gross motor skills - things that can be performed in high stress, real life environments when the shit is very much hitting the fan.
The supposed lethality of the Asian arts is at odds with what I know and understand about real world fighting against extremely resistant opposition. I have almost no exposure to them though (other than passing familiarity with the basics of Muai Thai), and would be very interested to see a persuasive argument that my impression is mistaken.
I have some questions:
How would you go about identifying whether a school was legitimate or not for these Chinese arts?
My level of skepticism goes through the roof when I hear about these deadly techniques that are passed from master to student for 3000 years. How are you able to verify that these techniques are real, and as lethal as claimed, if they are never actually used in full combat against a resisting opponent?
I hope I'm not coming across as dismissive, I am sincerely interested to know how one can verify the truth of these claims of lethality. I understand how Krav, or Systema, for example, can use leverages to snap various bones, constrict windpipes etc, and how that could be lethal. I understand how a sufficiently devastating blow can kill. But as soon as I hear about things like 'quivering palm' it seems like we're jumping head first down the rabbit hole.
I know a bit for various professional reasons about sharp end operators and their methods. A great deal of emphasis there is placed on raw aggression and excellent conditioning. Of course, well drilled techniques are essential, but if you talk to any SF sergeant they'll almost certainly volunteer that what they really do is go so fucking hard, fast, and aggressive (in a fashion that has been well drilled) that the bad guys can't live with it. That's why a lot of what they do in their combatives programs centres around gross motor skills - things that can be performed in high stress, real life environments when the shit is very much hitting the fan.
The supposed lethality of the Asian arts is at odds with what I know and understand about real world fighting against extremely resistant opposition. I have almost no exposure to them though (other than passing familiarity with the basics of Muai Thai), and would be very interested to see a persuasive argument that my impression is mistaken.