Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
What do you find impressive, in the martial arts, and how has this changed as you have become more experienced?
When I was younger, I was certainly more impressed with flash. As an inexperienced capoeirista, I was impressed by the acrobatics. Later, I came to recognize that some people develop their acrobatic ability but neglect their other skills that are more important in the art. They end up show-boating with the gymnastics, and don't know how to develop a good capoeira game.
Fancy weapon work was impressive to me. Flashy nunchaku, or twirling showy double Chinese dao. Now, I look for something that is a useful, killing technique for the weapon. Flashing it around just doesn't impress me anymore, and my change in attitude has come with my growing experience with the weapon. A simple weapon form with strong stances and basic but effective technique is far more impressive to me, than a flashy, fancy, acrobatic form that lacks realistic technique.
Superfast hand speed used to impress me. I have seen it in Wing Chung, and Kenpo. The first time I saw that speed carried out farther than 3 or 4 strikes, I thought, Holy Smokes, that guy can hit. Problem is, it seems that power drops off significantly with that kind of speed. Speed can be very effective with power, for a couple of shots. But if you keep it up beyond 3-4 shots, it seems to me that you've probably lost much of the effectiveness of the technique. With the long sequences of lighting strikes that I've seen on some youtube clips, I get the impression the person throwing the strikes himself must not have faith in their effectiveness, otherwise why would he feel he needed so many?
Now, I tend to look at stances and footwork, and power generation that is really effective. I ask myself, is that guy really grounded and stable? Could that one shot, all by itself, end a fight? Where does the power come from, and is it for real? I guess I tend to look more for something that is effective very quickly, with little effort and without being dragged out for too long.
Anyway, these are just some examples from my point of view.
So I ask, when you see martial arts demonstrated, what do you look for? What impresses you? What makes you take a second look, and say to yourself, "that guy/girl is really GOOD, and isn't just empty flash like so many of the rest"?
When I was younger, I was certainly more impressed with flash. As an inexperienced capoeirista, I was impressed by the acrobatics. Later, I came to recognize that some people develop their acrobatic ability but neglect their other skills that are more important in the art. They end up show-boating with the gymnastics, and don't know how to develop a good capoeira game.
Fancy weapon work was impressive to me. Flashy nunchaku, or twirling showy double Chinese dao. Now, I look for something that is a useful, killing technique for the weapon. Flashing it around just doesn't impress me anymore, and my change in attitude has come with my growing experience with the weapon. A simple weapon form with strong stances and basic but effective technique is far more impressive to me, than a flashy, fancy, acrobatic form that lacks realistic technique.
Superfast hand speed used to impress me. I have seen it in Wing Chung, and Kenpo. The first time I saw that speed carried out farther than 3 or 4 strikes, I thought, Holy Smokes, that guy can hit. Problem is, it seems that power drops off significantly with that kind of speed. Speed can be very effective with power, for a couple of shots. But if you keep it up beyond 3-4 shots, it seems to me that you've probably lost much of the effectiveness of the technique. With the long sequences of lighting strikes that I've seen on some youtube clips, I get the impression the person throwing the strikes himself must not have faith in their effectiveness, otherwise why would he feel he needed so many?
Now, I tend to look at stances and footwork, and power generation that is really effective. I ask myself, is that guy really grounded and stable? Could that one shot, all by itself, end a fight? Where does the power come from, and is it for real? I guess I tend to look more for something that is effective very quickly, with little effort and without being dragged out for too long.
Anyway, these are just some examples from my point of view.
So I ask, when you see martial arts demonstrated, what do you look for? What impresses you? What makes you take a second look, and say to yourself, "that guy/girl is really GOOD, and isn't just empty flash like so many of the rest"?
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