The Usefulness of Martial Arts.

I just had a lesson in the usefulness of martial arts today.. and not in the way you would think. At a birthday party a child threw a large plush like frisby into a tree and people were trying to get it down. I threw a stick. That didn't work. Then I moved to climb up the tree. Another mother through a stick. I am really bad at climbing trees and I was trying to figure out how to do this without injuring or embarrassing myself. (note: I had to save Jonah from a tree with the help of another Dad and just like him I was afraid/didn't feel like climbing back down back wards and so I jumped down in sandals... in fact I think my ankles hurting recently might be from that. Plus I skinned my fore-arm... stupid lazy and afraid.


Okay so we're going to pause at this frisbee here in the tree

Every Martial artist or teacher will have some story about how Martial arts saved their life or helped them win a fight or prevented them from getting into a fight, or how learning the martial way, the strategy, the discipline... helps them to succeed in life.

Okay back to the frisbee in the tree.

Another father, (the father of one of my students actually.. and a scientist) comes over with a basketball and knocks down the frisbee.

He later joked, "I was going to wait and see you climb the tree.. but I figured I'd make it easy on you."

Mean while his daughter climbed up with tree easily. (she does not do Kung Fu btw. Gymnastics... yes)

My point is.. Kung Fu helped me zero in this situation. Not only that. This is not the only time I have learned this lesson. Now yes... when I first started Kung Fu I had all sorts of stories of how I jumped higher and was lighter on my feet. (Come to think of it, most of that had to do with stance... which I do not practice as often anymore)

So of course a little bit of Kung Fu training can definitely help you with body mechanics. Lifting with the legs... that sort of thing.

But to specialize at it.. well after a while it becomes less than useful. In fact you may do things a very stupid way when there is an obvious solution right there. It's the classic Indiana Jones shooting the big guy with the sword in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Another time I learned this lesson was when a group of people at the house couldn't figure out how to use a cork opener to open a wine bottle. The guy who did it, easily said, "Hey I'm an engineer. I went to school for that stuff." and then later.."You know that's maybe the only time I have actually used my degree for something." Correct he is not an engineer by  trade. but still an engineer. So Kung Fu helped zero in that... and many many other situations as well. I'm not saying Kung Fu has never helped me. But if I analyzed the situation from another perspective, there was probably also another and maybe even better solution.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson said in some interview that a Scientist is like a superhero with a utility belt. Not just a hammer. Because if your special power is a magic hammer, you begin to see all of your problems like nails.

I've seen other videos comparing Navy Seals and Spetsnaz training and one Navy Seals argument for the difference in hand to hand combat training and physical toughness was that the Seals used to focus on that, but they found that many problems were being solved by soldiers being able to think outside the box.. and so that is an aspect that they have shifted focus towards instead.


I'm not saying Martial Arts, or Kung Fu is useless. However I do think it is funny when certain Martial Artists (and this includes Kung Fu practitioners) will point to other martial artists and criticize them for lack of usefulness.

At the same time, I have been moving toward "functionality" in some respects. But when I tried to introduce ground fighting for one of my classes in Chinatown, some of the students just didn't want to do it. I also asked some other students if they wanted to focus on more realistic self defense... and the answer isn't always yes. Some people want to learn "self defense" but in the traditional Kung Fu way. They are going into a Kung Fu class and really don't want to end up doing MMA in that class.

They might be doing it for cultural or aesthetic reasons. Who knows? I know Brazilians.. who will not to BJJ because they don't like it, even though they are from RIO and technically are at the center of the BJJ universe. They do Muay Thai instead. Not because of realistic application. And not because they want to compete in the ring. They do Muay Thai because they like it. And that's it.

In fact I have a story of a Martial Artist in Rio getting car jacked. A child walked up to him and told him to get out of the car, it was a car jacking. The Martial Artist told the child to get out of here. The child shot him in the face. He didn't even bother to take the car.

So does this mean I'm giving up Kung Fu?

I actually didn't really learn Kung Fu to fight. I was jumping around the house pretending to be Bruce Lee and my mother put me in classes. I gravitated most to the Lion Dance. But I liked everything. Basics, forms, drumming, Mein Lei Hum (Tai Chi), Push hands... and you know, had there been stunt work and MMA sparring and jiujitsu like garppling at the same school, I probably would have done that too. If there was Kendo like stuff and we were required to play chess ( not just for fun but required to do it) and look at Feng Shui and other stuff, I would have done that too. Does it all help and translate into the real world? Yeah sure. But none of it is the be all and end all.

One of the most important things is to have enough people, who think differently to get the problem (whatever that is) solved. When everyone thinks the same way.. life is smooth, but maybe there is a way it could be better.

If my friend the scientist hadn't been there today... maybe the frisbee would still be in the tree right now... or maybe someone would have gotten hurt getting it.