“I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers, or leaves. It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branches or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.” – Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
This week I received a message from one of our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu students at PMA, concerning Kung Fu. Check it out –
“Sempai David,
My wife and I watched the new karate kid last weekend. I really enjoyed watching the form and technique of kung fu, but it made wonder why no one uses kung fu in mma? Is it not an efficient martial art? Just thought I would pick your brain.”
This is a great question. Is what we see labeled as “Kung Fu” really effective? First off, I would like to send you to a blog post from earlier this year in which I addressed the question – “What is Kung Fu?”
on the PMA Blog. This is a quick read and may really clear up some confusion around Kung Fu – http://blog.pmaoakridge.com/training/what-is-kung-fu/.
You have to understand that there are many different “branches” of Kung Fu. Some would be more applicable in MMA, others would be more applicable in the street, and still others may not have very much application to a fight at all! Can we not say the same for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? There are some BJJ schools that train BJJ that is very applicable to MMA, others that are more applicable to the street, and still some that are not applicable to either! I can personally think of a handful of GREAT BJJ competitors that could not fight their way out of a box, but would kill the average fighter in a BJJ tournament!
I want you, after reading this blog post, to think about your primary objectives in training. Do not concern yourself with the “soft” schools versus the “hard” schools, kicking vs. punching, grappling vs. striking, or kung-fu vs. muay thai. What is more important is that we not lose focus of our objective in training. By trying to be partial to one martial art over another (different branches, flowers, or leaves), we might completely lose the root. I want you to imagine a large tree and now pick off one, individual leaf. In my opinion, by singling out one martial art over the other, we are picking leaves off of the tree – they will never survive. Study the root (your objective in training) and make sure you are training accordingly.
Are you training to become the next UFC champion? To learn to defend yourself? To get in shape? To improve your quality of life? It may be a mixture, but make sure your training is meeting your needs…
Now, check out this style of Kung Fu (San Shou). Probably not what you expect –
