KUng-fu master block with face in MMA match.

**MrSparkle** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 4:42pm

In my opinion, throughout my research on CMA, all of the stance work and forms were just their way of strength training. China was and is a very poor place so they used what they had. Forms can be very strenuous when done correctly, as you're working out your legs in a deep stance, your abdomen and lower back when you tense it as you go through the moves and shoulders back and arm muscles when doing hand techniques. I've also seen people doing the horse stance while supporting another person on their shoulders. Back then, they couldn't just go to Gold's Gym and get on the machines. Unfortunately, these exercises were the only ones taken from CMA and now people think that it's all they need to kick ass. I've also seen people lifting logs or cement bricks, and a lot of bodyweight exercises as well. Now that we have modern equipment, you don't have to go out and cut down a tree to do some bench presses, but I believe forms and stance work still have their place. The forms were a clever way of putting it all (balance, strength & technique) into one set of exercises. That's all they are. The problem is they've dominated importance in CMA gyms all over now because it looks the most interesting, which is why kung fu is so popular here anyways.
If you've ever looked inside one of (the boxer) Ross Enamait's books, you'll see he has a whole section on "warrior animal training". In there he's doing a bunch of crazy looking things but they really work out your core and i've seen them done in CMA practice as well.
The problem here is a majority of ignorant fucks who want to look pretty doing kung fu when fighting is never about being pretty. Please, don't make any comments on how your sister loves Vitor Belfort.

**Thaiboxerken** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 5:03pm

So in China, forms were the exercise and in Europe, calisthenics were?

**MrSparkle** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 5:13pm

That's pretty much how I see it. It's not like they didn't do other things like pushups, pullups, running, rope jumping, etc. though. Just one way of doing things. I still get a good work out when I do a form well though so I don't necessarily see replacing them as a good idea but forms are certainly not enough to make you a fighter.

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 5:33pm

A question; what are all of your opinions on form bunkai? (seeking practical application of movements within forms).

**amichaell** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 5:58pm

Originally Posted by Thaiboxerken

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...32&q=hung+leng

This is more what I expect CMA sparring to look like.

For what it's worth, we look nothing like anything in that video.

**Cullion** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 6:43pm

Not the only exercise, I'm pretty sure that they did repetitive callisthenics and worked with weights too, but there's dynamic tension, stretching, aerobic workouts, relaxation, teaching nuances of correct mechanics in slow motion, balance, all kinds of different things in CMA forms.

I think the confusion comes because a lot of these things mostly intended to work on the above often look like a highly stylised version of some kind of kung fu shadowboxing, so people think it's shadow boxing and say 'well why don't you spar like that ?'. Well, that's a case of misunderstanding what the forms were for. And wu shu larpers (i.e. the people who just do the forms and nothing else) who don't spar are even more guilty of.

**OZZ** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 7:07pm

If people are training in kung fu properly, with body conditioning and sparring (bare knuckle,if you want to train old school) as well as forms. They should be more than ready to fight when the time comes. Quality instructors in CMA are hard to find, and thus it is hard to find quality CMA fighters.
That is really is simple as it gets.
Who gives a **** what someone like TBK thinks.

**Blitzkrieg** · Posted On: 3/05/2006 7:40pm

Omega.... you're not human are you? Jesus. You took a shitload of knees, and shots period. God damn you can take a hit.

And I'm glad some other people have started to realize how much TBK talks from his stink hole