Kung Fu vs Aikido - Real Sparring
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2023
- Aikido vs Kung Fu sparring finally happened as I challenged a Kung Fu master to a fight.
Get access to the Functional Aikido seminar with a limited time 20% discount now by using the code "WRISTLOCKSRULE" - martialartsjourney.thinkific....
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Welcome to the Martial Arts Journey TH-cam channel!
My name is Rokas. I'm a Lithuanian guy who trained Aikido for 14 years, 7 of them running a professional Aikido Dojo until eventually I realized that Aikido does not live up to what it promises.
Lead by this realization I decided to make a daring step to close my Aikido Dojo and move to Portland, Oregon for six months to start training MMA at the famous Straight Blast Gym Headquarters under head coach Matt Thornton.
After six months intensive training I had my first amateur MMA fight after which I moved back to Lithuania. During all of this time I am documenting my experience through my TH-cam channel called "Martial Arts Journey".
Now I am slowly setting up plans to continue training MMA under quality guidance and getting ready for my next MMA fight as I further document and share my journey and discoveries.
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#kungfu #aikido #martialarts - กีฬา
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Hello Rokas, you should try to train in an Ashihara Karate Dojo, since that style has a great focus on tai sabaki in combination with grabbing the gi with one hand, it has the potential to be a great vehicule/delivery system for Aikido counter techniques. Maybe a subject for a future video? Keep up the great work!
Then why did he give up on Kong fu why not just pressure test it constantly and see if it will work in a modern fit and rocus you sound like bad historian they say stuff like this we're so much smarter than the people of the past they couldn't have created the stuff we have now in other words people didn't know how to fight back in the past and you're saying something similar we're so much smarter and better than them at fighting now and yet you know where boxing came from ancient Greece and the same with resiling
And also I heard that when China became communist country they removed all the effective fighting and left all the pretty stuff
I think Matthias against you rocus if he was going faster but then of course he'd get tired more puickly
He didn't do kung fu he did performance art. No real practitioner, who does kung fu sparring, does the movements like this. This is ridiculous.
I studied kungfu while living and working in China. I spent a weekend training at a school at the actual Shaolin Temple. The sifu asked me, when I signed up, if I was there to learn how to fight. If I was, he said, he suggested I was in the wrong place because kungfu was about maximizing mental and physical health, and fighting is the opposite of that.
buddhist philosophy is not about studying to end other peoples life either by killing or destroying their body for not having any income anymore. But like many martials arts you can easily do by modifing it. Same with judo, it is soft in the way that you do not hurt the other one this much, but modify it, that let them fall without breaks, on their heads or just let yourself fall on them with the elbow pointed at body parts and you gonna quick realize that there is a thing besides philosophy
i bet they said otherwise before it was called out
That's kinda silly.
@@arebee9024 By who?
@@arebee9024If itwas a temple then they most likely didn't, Shaolin monks have been pacifists for a couple hundred years now
Coming from a karate background, I have to say I’ve been very pleasantly surprised to learn that 75%, or more, of the techniques I’ve been practicing in kata for 20 years aren’t actually strikes but are stand up wrestling and takedowns.
I have a feeling that most of the movements in these animal forms are actually supposed to be for grappling and throws, sweeps, and takedowns rather than strikes.
This has been the case with my reevaluation of wing chun. I've been thoroughly convinced wing chun is a stand-up clinch and throw system rather than a close quarters "trapping" and striking system
Check out the channel "Ramsey Dewey". He's an MMA coach and he's done a few videos about "karate blocks" actually being wrestling moves.
I took Tang Soo Do for 2 years in high school and these days I train BJJ. I utilize some of those "blocks" to break my opponents grips during BJJ matches.
The magic of ShuaiJiao fitting into longfist😊A
@@Timonsaylor Of course it is. Nobody plays patty cake at that range. There are many other styles of Wing Chun than Yip Man's, who was, by all accounts (even according to his son), a horrible teacher.
@@varanid9 tbh there's that, but if you actually go through the first form, there's a bear hug, a shoot in to clinch just like what you'd see in muay thai, etc
What I understand from my Sanda coach is this: It's not so much that martial artists directly copy animal movements. Instead, what likely happens is this:
First, monks and fighters develop specific combat styles, focusing on different things like powerful strikes, clinches, or evasion, etc.
Second, To make these techniques easier to explain, they use animal movements as comparisons. It's like how in English, we might say something dramatic like "His kick could've sliced me in half!" Mandarin speaker prefer to use metaphors, like "his punches are as fast as a snake bite," to emphasize a point. This linguistic difference naturally gave rise to the idea of "animal style."
So, rather than animals being the main inspiration, these movements are more like handy metaphors that help illustrate the fighting techniques.
My sifu taught it was more the spirit of the animals. Example, the ferocity of the Tiger, the grace of the crane, etc. So yes you are correct, but the animals were the inspiration of the style and technique. The application had to be adjusted for a human body though. You have a keen mind. 👍
Imagine in the age of no footage trying to explain Mohammed Ali's boxing style to a beginner. Butterfly and bee? Observing the animals and hearing the metaphor explained is like old school footage. Mimicking the animals literally can be taken too far, especially confusing training for application.
It’s similar with Tai Chi: there are those images you use to remember the kata; even the shortest is 24 stances where hands, feet, head, breath, and stance have to be exact. So these serves as anchors to memorize the different movements while they did not yet become part of your movement memory.
You are learning from a Commie created, intentionally watered down "Kickboxing" clone. If you think you can Trust what the Commies created... think again. The commies dont want their masses, to have Lethal level combat abilities. You can see what they did with the Falun Gong practitioners... when a large growing group of them... were noticed practicing their Non-Combative exercise routines (Rooted in Qigong).
Yes, the Chinese did in fact, Observer nature. Especially, the Animals... and how they fought. We are in fact, animals too. And the Physics behind what makes a Tiger Paw strike so powerful... works the same when a Human develops and uses that same attacking method. Likewise... seeing the tiny stick like MANTIS... locking its Prey up tightly with its Bent Arms... was also noticed... and was also effectively adapted into actual Human combat methods... using the same type of Bent arm technology + sensitivity + grip strength...etc.
Obviously... no man is going to have the +2000 lbs of a fully grown Tiger, nor the Razor sharp claws... to be able to generate the equivalent kinds of forces, and flesh tearing abilities. HOWEVER... with specific types of Radical training methods... you can in fact, develop some seriously Damaging + Lethal level output potentials. One dude I met that was taking the "5 Animal Style", was specifically training in Tiger. He said that for the upcoming test... they put some garden hose on top of a board, and stapled heavy Carpet on top. You had to be able to use your fingers to Tear through the carpet, and yank the garden hose through it.
Ive also met a different fighter, that also trained in the 5 animal style... and his arms were thick as some peoples leg muscles. When he swung his Hammer Fist around... It was very easy to tell, that if your leg or arm was in the way of them? They would EASILY have been shattered. He had Immense speed, and Immense Power, with them. But even more amazing.. was when he showed me how Tiger operates. He showed me a Three Movement setup + hit: I believe the first move was a Sweeping Parry + a light and quick Tiger palm to the underside of the OPs chin. The intent, was to cause their head to be lifted upwards diagonally, to the opposite side. This was followed immediately by a full body power Tiger Claw to the opposite side of the OPs JAW. It was designed to be powerful enough to "UNHINGE" the jaw from the Joint. The next thing he showed me... I had seen from someone whom trained in Karate (which was based on Chinese White Crane Kung Fu). You would use an Inverted Tiger Paw (bent knuckles at the first joint only). You would strike the OP just under their Rib Cage. Once deep enough, you would uncurl your fingers, and Latch on to the bottom Rib... and then YANG hard and fast. This was designed to Break the Rib from the Inside.
(The skin isnt penetrated.. but can Stretch behind the ribs, when pushed deep enough. Its a very painful thing to even think about... let alone, to FEEL someone hook your rib like that)
The Crane is another Famous portrayal. According to legends.. someone spotted a Crane being attacked by a Snake. The Crane used its long angled Wings, to be able to Divert the snakes attacks. This was how they likely started to understand how the Arms could be used similarly, to intercept and "WEDGE" the OPs attacks away from their bodies. Replicating the Cranes beak attack, was also fairly easy to do. Just cup the Thumb and the two next fingers, into a Triangular beak shape. Its excellent for both Hooking the OPS arms (like also seen in Mantis).. but also, for attacking the OPs eyes, Neck..etc. They strengthen and toughen the fingers, on sandbags (and other equipment), so that these strikes are incredibly strong... and wont Break / Injure themselves.. under combat impacts.
While the Chinese are definitely Exaggerative in a " POETIC " sense of descriptions... I can Assure you, that they are not actually exaggerating about the Brutality and Lethality, of the Real Deal.
Well, that could be the case, but for decades now, Americans and their stories have believed that Chi is real and they can hack off somebody's head with a karate chop!
The Chinese are trying to take over the world and they're doing it through fentanyl, cheap labor and kung fu stories! Watah!
I hate to be that guy but I think the experiment would have been more beneficial if you guys sparred at 70%-80% One round fairly hard would have yielded better and more honest results.
Great video rokas
Good point! Note taken for the future
@@MartialArtsJourney If you come to Karlslunde in Denmark, I am down for that experiment Rokas. :) I will do 70% 80% with MMA rules (doesn't allow for eye pokes, but I'm used to testing my Kung Fu like that and restricting it, when I do spar using animal style fists. Mostly I mix rudimentary boxing and Kung Fu kicks, but I have 2 pairs of thick MMA gloves for each of us and wearing those I can still form a snakefist and tiger claw).... I even have a DIY ring in my garden that we can use (You can see the ring on my channel in the recent exhibtion fights I've had inside it, Mind you, in those I don't use pure animal styles in those recent fights, but there's plenty of sparring videos on my channel where I do, in case you wanna see if I can use it, before the experiment)....
@@MartialArtsJourney I totally agree. I think you can start with an easy sparring to warm up and showcase some techniques, but by the 3rd round we need to see a MMA rules sparring at 70%-80%.
@@ZenDragonTH-camChannelthat be awsome
Love your videos@@ZenDragonTH-camChannel
Watching kickboxing being used in an Aikido gi looks awesome
Haha, true! Interesting blend now that you mentioned it 😁
@@MartialArtsJourney
Reminds me of Mokichi Robinson from Kengan Ashura
Love this look! Also the short hair and his more masculine, yet calm and confident demeanor.
100% agree...I don't have a "real" opinion of Aikido...but I've always thought the uniform looks great.
@@tarnishchris
At least everyone can agree that the gi is awesome
sparring is key, as someone who has practiced chinese martial arts for a long time I can say confidently that the Kung FU schools that spar and modify their techniques are often far superior in practical application and fighting as opposed to the schools that don't. The way techniques look in the forms aren't the way they should look during sparring. In the forms they are big grand movements in sparring they are supposed to be scaled down. The movements are supposed to be smaller and more direct. Another thing is a lot of techniques that are perceived as striking are actually grappling. At the end of the day pressure testing is key, it is the only way to see what works best for an individual. I also feel that no matter what style you come from you gotta make it your own, you shouldn't fight exactly like you're Sifu/Sensei of coach. I like your content, cant wait to see the next self defense championship
great insight
Heard that the Choy LinFut practitioners did well once upon a time in Thailand 💪 Not sure where I read that.
I was about to say this
The animal style seems to have good movements, if you shrink them down they are all actually really great techniques. So I am not sure why this gentleman did not do this.
My Sifu said that same exact thing about not fighting the same and I also read the same about the various styles of Bagua. Taught to three different students each with their unique approach and physical traits that eventually evolved into their own systems.
Yeah, I've noticed much more "economy of movement" in sparring of senior/experienced instructors than in recent/inexperienced black-sash instructors with little sparring/fight experience.
Forms are to demonstrate technique, so exaggerated movements are used.
Those AI videos are going to give me nightmares
A wild Jeff Chan appears
So he is a fighting type Pokemon?
@@yesman7675you need to capture one to find out.
big frame kung fu is practiced in form in order to develop speed, power, flexibility and extend the range of motion. It is essentially an exercise hence the reason the gentleman got burned out attempting to use said movements in sparring.
Big frame was a common method of training especially in many of the longfist styles since they were developed alongside melee weapon training such as sword, spear, staff etc. however In most traditional schools with complete knowledge of what they are practicing, the big frame movements are eventually compacted in order to develop skill at fighting at closer range as well as developing chin na (joint lock skills) and San shou kuai jiao ( fast wrestling skills).
Yes most traditional Chinese martial arts did not evolve to the realm of standardized combat sport (hence the governments recognition for the need for sanda in creating contemporary wushu) however it is important to point out that the traditional arts were not so unevolved that they did not contain the basic ingredients of striking, wrestling and seizing the joints.
It is the training methods in many schools that veered more towards form, conditioning exercises, partner exercises and as you rightly pointed out less towards pressure testing that stunted the evolution of these traditional arts.
I completely agree with you (in fact I wrote a very long comment saying more or less the same thing), but I just wanted to say that it's good to see people being kind and respectful in the comments sometime, and taking the time to explain without antagonizing.
When I did Kyokushin they were very clear on this: The low stances, the wide swings when learning the form for techniques as well as Kata was all for conditioning. Exaggerated movements that were designed to tire you out so that you could practice technique while also basically doing cardio and light strength training. Then they would show us what the application of the technique looked like and how you would use it in sparring. Which was usually a much smaller movement and much more functional. And very similar to what you'd learn in kickboxing or other less traditional styles.
I have a feeling that a lot of traditional arts had this approach when equipment for strength and conditioning was less widely available and the whole thing not quite as well understood. The pressure testing would then be done in confrontations outside of training. That part is no longer as prevalent and styles that never had that as a part of the training and didn't adopt it as times changed have lost any reality checks on what they're teaching when it comes to how effective it is in an actual fight.
Someone more familiar with kung-fu can probably correct me, by my understanding is that at least in Shaolin kung-fu, San Shou is their sparring and application of kung-fu. And it pretty much looks like kickboxing. Don't know how old that practice is though, or if I got it right? That's at least what the local shaolin temple representative has put up on the website for our local temple.
Pretty much spot on. Contests were traditionally performed on a platform, where pushing someone off was a way of winning, kind of like MMA but with less ground work and a Sumo component added, which was probably more relevant for their context.
Worth mentioning that they had strength and power training programs that were very effective, revealed a high level of practical understanding. A strong appreciation for targeting the weak points of kinetic chains and revolving recovery cycles around that. They could reach their genetic potential same as modern natty athletes.
You are just as misguided as many modern practitioners. I once sparred against a dude that knew like 7 different arts. Most of them, Chinese arts... that I didnt think would be effective at all... as how could those Low Shaolin stances, beat the speed of Wing Chun? I believe he was in a forwards bow stance, when I quickly darted in for the attack. As I came within range, and started to attack... he simply pulled back into a Cat Stance... while at the same time.. parrying my attempted strike. This left me at very close range to him, and him having already parried my attack... I was in trouble. He launched a double palm strike, while stepping forwards into a bow stance (through me)... lifting me off the ground... and sending me sailing about +12 feet away from him.. almost gasping for air (he was being "Nice", but it was still Brutal level forces).
Yes, you can in fact, reduce and tighten certain movements. HOWEVER... that doesnt mean, that these methods were designed specifically, to be Shortened. Its often that the Practitioners are simply not using these combat methods as the Original arts Designed them to be utilized.
For example... you cant just throw WIDE Tiger Strike at a the OPs head. He will see it coming a Mile away, and easily evade it. I sparred against such a fighter.. and he first would parry my attacks, then immediately counter with a long and heavy strike. These parries could be short, or long and heavy. He also had advanced trapping methods too... but I cant say how much of that was from his JKD and Wing Chun skills, vs from his Long Fist, and Five Animal skills.
He did show me a three move setup for tiger. I cant really remember the first movement... but I believe it was a sweeping parry of the OPs attacking arm, followed immediately by a light and quick tiger palm.. hitting under the OPs chin.. causing it to go upwards and diagonally away from the hitting palm. This was immediately followed up by a slower but far more powerful... full body driven tiger palm to the opposite side of the OPs jawline. It was designed to be able to take the OPs jaw off of its Hinges. And if you saw the sized of this dudes Forearms... and felt his "Light" strikes... you would easily know, that he could have easily done just that.
Ad for Sanda and Sanshou, they are watered down kickboxing clones. They pale in comparison to the Real Deal. Its like comparing a burger flipper.. to Chef Gordon Ramsay. They are not even close to being on the same level. These "FAKE" arts, were created by the Chinese Commie Govt., that does NOT actually want its citizens to learn the REAL DEAL... as they are in constant FEAR of massive rebellions forming against them and their corrupt Cronies.
NEXT UP: i challenged a silat guru to a fight (make it happen please)
YES
Silat practitioner here and I would love to see that too. Huge fan of Martial Arts Journey myself.
@@xDinomanx letsgooo
With or without knives?
@@toddellner5283 Both.
I'm a young Shaolin Kung Fu teacher, and that's my thought about Kung Fu effectiveness :
Kung Fu, especially Shaolin one is a very very large martial arts. I use to say "it's impossible to learn everything in this martial art". So every practitioner find his way into this. For many, this is only taolus or weapon training or fitness or cultural experience or combat sport (sanda).
Shaolin Kung Fu is not codified at all (yes a bit now, but nevermind) like karate or others martial arts. Yes there are forms which have names and you can find it in every Shaolin school, but they are not unified it's like every practitioner has his own version of the same form. You can search a form on TH-cam, watch 3 of them, they look like the same, you recognize the form but some move are a bit different or completely different. When I studied Shaolin in China, the same school, the same form, two instructors different moves.
In this mess, my thought is Kung Fu is a personal way. It take me a lot of time and research to find a correct use of a move, but I fond in that many very interesting techniques that I teach.
I love your content and me too I'm in the same approach to make fonctionnal kung fu by training a lot in sanda, a bit in shuai jiao and recently in bjj.
In my approach when you learn forms you first has to master positioning and body mechanics, then when you master it you always have to get the application in mind.
This results in when you applying the technique it becomes a second nature even if you transform it a bit to get smaller stances or shorter moves, or different guard. The goal is to keep the principle of the technique and modify the shape for a specific combat situation or a self defense one.
When I spar I use a lot of Shaolin techniques, some of them are very obvious and other looks like classical combat sports moves to an untrained eye.
When I saw the sparring my think is that the kung fu guy use to many wide techniques like you said. In my opinion he should keep the principle of a technique and dont be attached to the shape. When you have to force your mind to use a complicated move instead of a shorter one (in a combat situation) There is a problem.
In conclusion training traditionnal Kung Fu is not the most efficient way to get real combat skills but it's a very rich one.
(Excuse my english, I'm french)
🎉🎉🎉
I'll just say this. The grappling/wrestling aspects of Chinese martial arts are rarely explored. It's like far too many people forget that chinese wrestling (shuai jiao) and fast take down wrestling (kuai jiao) are parts of chinese martial arts. Chin na and various joint locking techniques work best in clinching situations because well you are CLOSE to each other. I still don't understand for the life of me why people still believe sanshou/sanda isn't chinese martial arts. Oh well, an issue I'd have to learn to let go of.
As a long time viewer and commentor who has mentioned kung fu, it was nice to see someone with some Kung Fu knowledge and not just Wushu. My only criticism is the misconception of big telegraphed movements. Its true that its part of the training but you are actually supposed to work beyond that. Its only meant as a training method work big and refine smaller. You are absolutely right about how Kung Fu is today versus how it was back then. I'll admit that even as a practitioner myself. Still gonna do it though alongside more modern styles though.
My impressioin that Matthias was going for more of a showcase rather than competition - but my god that was cool to watch.
Yeah I think so too... Matthias would know from the kickboxing and other pressure testing that the Kung Fu principles Carey over to small movements and not the large telegraphic methods.
In Shotokan we do large exaggerated movement when training basics/fundamentals...
But when moving in Kumite or partner practice it is short and explosive. When the British brought in boxing footwork with Karate (Shotokan or Wado) it was a game changer in the 70-80s leading to them beating the Japanese at their own game. Shout-out to the legendary Sensei Ticky Donovan 💪
Are you a king fu master?
@@vicentegeonix Haha fuck no. I think my Sifu is maybe a student of a master or someone high in our lineage/system but personally I've only scratched surface but I have had plenty of practical experience fighting thieves but nowhere at a professional competitive level. Im not deluded like some of these other "masters". I know i need to train more and get that experience from outside sources as well.
Dider bedar. Medhi ben hassan. look into these names. MBH fights MMA, main style Kung fu and PROUD. It works greatly
good stuff! :) i love the humility both of you display towards eachothers' traditions while also looking for ways to improve them. what i was really disillusioned with while practicing wing tsun, was the general unwillingness of showing respect towards other styles in the community. this is a huge mistake no matter the style, and i'd argue this mentality thwarts growth in all aspects of life, not just martial arts. keep on fighting the good fight!
It's very common. I've dabbled my toes in quite a few styles and there is always that one student that feels the need to tell you that the style they are doing is the best while putting down other styles.
My personal favourite was when I was training at my gym, we had two mats, one for Judo students and the other for BJJ students. I was just in watching at the time because I had to heal from a injury. I barely knew this guy, and I liked him, but he suddenly started talking about how Judo is better than BJJ and how he got pink eye when he did BJJ.
Just talking about it really disrespectfully right next to the mat of BJJ guys next to us. I was thinking to myself is this guy not situationally aware or does he not care. I think it's good to compare martial arts respectfully and in good faith like Rokas did where the goal is finding out what works. When it gets to doing it in a way that's disrespectful of other styles and practitioners or doing it towards functional styles like Judo and BJJ that take a specialised niche aspect of combat and makes it functional like throwing and ground grappling.
You might as well be asking whether a hammer is better than a screwdriver. Just a waste of time and you gain nothing out of that commentary other than pissing off the other mat of BJJ students and not being functionally minded enough to consider you might need both skill sets.
It s a bad habit amongst TMA.
@@leonardovegaolmedo5483 Mostly I have seen it with TMA's but every once in awhile I see it in combat sports as well but it's very rare. Having said that I've done more TMA then MMA type stuff.
Agreed, I'd also add to serious sparring, serious conditioning the other weakness I've spied in many kung fu schools, practicioners of soft styles should have hard bodies paradoxically as framing, flexibility and posture is the source of most your power, Some free weights and a bicycle'll do wonders for your king fu
Not for nothing, the Shaolin condition like mad Men, possibly the difference between their effective animal kung fu and your ineffective animal kung fu
It is so good to see you still exploring, questioning and even going back to your roots. You are expressing in your martial journey, the heart of a great student which results in beautiful teaching.
As always, love your content.
Your functional Aikido is fascinating. The school near where I used to live offered something like that, mostly in response to the four MMA gyms that were around it. Ended up being a ton of cross training, but when the takedowns happened, it was amazing to watch.
When it comes to GOOD traditional schools, it really comes down to training with sparring; change is the name of the game, do the forms and then pressure test them in sparring to expand the applications a lot more in a modern way.
Sort of like Rokas has done with aikido. It’s awesome that you’ve made aikido work out properly in a modern way
leo tamaki exists.... he works in making aikido functional.
Y’all keep up the good work. Y’all got some killer moves and techniques. How impressive.
Awesome just started learning jkd myself
Despite the advice that others have given for improving these experiments, I must say, I'm really digging the idea of more content like this where you pit your functional aikido against other styles (particularly ones that don't necessarily have the best reputation for combat). Great stuff!
As i think back to the Five Animal forms I trained when I was younger, I'm becoming more and more convinced that a lot of them were never intended to do what we were taught that they would do.
For instance: in "Crane Form" we did a lot of movements that looked like pecking at something with the fingertips, often in rotating movements. One junior instructor even said that these were intended as precise strikes against vulnerable points. In hindsight that is obviously nonsense: fingertips are fragile, the necessary precision is beyond humanly possible, and those little pecking movements delivered with lower arm and wrist would not generate any force. Also, there is no video on youtube showing someone actually using fingertip pecking successfully in a fight.
But: in tai chi there is a very similar hand position, only there it is called "holding a lamp" (imagine that you're carrying one of those storm lamps with a ring at the top). Obviously you're not supposed to go into a fight with an antique portable light source dangling from your fingertips, it's a mnemonic device, a funny name for a movement that someone once thought looked a bit like carrying a lamp around: the names for tai chi movements are full of puns and similes.
And yesterday at the bjj practice, our teacher did pretty much the same movement. I think he called it "Oh, I'm going to faint! arms". Forearms up and limp hands dangling down. He said "that's how you defend against the underhook, you trap that arm before it gets in!". Not that weird; tai chi is mostly a standing wrestling art. I think the "carrying a lantern" is the same thing.
So what I think now is that none of the crane form "pecking" movements were ever strikes. They're handfighting drills. You grab your opponents wrist, he rotates around your grip and grabs yours, you grabs his jacket - he counters with a whizzer or overarm, and then you do similar stuff at elbows, at biceps, at neck, and so on and so forth.
When we trained traditional martial arts kungfu, we were taught the forms as if they were a natural sequence of moves you might do to an opponent. Our club had demonstrations that looked like that, and I know a lot of TMA styles have similar demos. But now I think traditional forms are probably more like counting rhymes, a way to list a number of items you should remember to include in the training at some point.
And in this video. My gut feeling is that some of those big rotating telegraphed strikes that doesn't work ... well they might have started out as wrestling and clinch moves too.
I really like your insight, it's something many others have noticed also with plenty of martial arts. I don't agree 100%, but I would say that tackles a good portion of the problems that most TMA faces.
This is fire. How is the uproot different from a double leg? It's not. One goes up one goes down. Mechanics the same. How do we know? We can actually fight. Too much content is made by people who have never been punched in sparring, a ring and in the streets.
Really cool video, thank you for doing this Rokas, this is a good direction for the channel, interesting and informative. 👍
Glad to hear it! This is where I want to take my channel to next
Amazing video Rokas, I gotta say youre Aikido looks much more effective now
I think the major problem with TMA is exactly in thinking it's supposed to look like practise when applied for real. The practise is the ultimate ideal of the forms, and its repetition mostly meant to re-wire your muscle memory, but when applied under stress, yes it won't look as fancy or dance like because, as your sparring partner has shown, who has that kind of energy?
On the flip side, it's also frustrating how people who practise forms of kickboxing deny TMA entirely because "the effective techniques are just boxing" because that's a circular argument, then boxing just stole from TMA, pick one.
What I've found in my own wing chun practise, anything that looks more complex than just a strike to an opening which could be set away as "just boxing" is usually part of a longer response to a back and forth altercation; as in, swinging your arm up, back, striking, and landing a pose isn't supposed to be one complicated strike, it's a dodge, parry, counter and throw.
And the thing is, when applied, very rarely will you be like "okay now we do form, set 1" when attacked, the ideal is instead that after battling it out with someone in the chaotic, stressful, half-blind manner a fight to kill goes, in the end you may (or may not) realize "Wow, looking back half of what I did when I was holding that guy's leg and he suddenly clinched me was sort of form, set 4"
eyy, good insight! came to the same conclusions after years of practicing muay thai, wing tsun and hema.
@@Baso-sama For me it was mostly, after I didn't even really realize I was in a fight yet, but someone was being very agressive with me and held on to me, I got startled, and broke loose and decked him in the face, which closely resembled a technique, but would in class 100% be considered sloppy or poor form.
It was, but the end result of me going to school was that when entirely surprised, I did pull off something that did end up having the desired effect, they were hurt and I was not.
I have discussed something similar with the koryu iaido guys at our dojo.
Big movements are purely pedagogical to teach students to use the body as a kinetic chain and generate power efficiently.
I agree with most of what you said, with the exception of practice being "the ultimate ideal of the form". It's my understanding that forms look the way they do mostly for fitness, balance, and understanding of the body mechanics as someone said. You do low, wide stance in forms to strengthen your legs, but in combat you're never supposed to go that low and that wide.
I have done two hybrid kung fu system. It ultimately looks like eccentric kickboxing. And I don't think there is nothing wrong with it
Amazing. always wanted to see both fighting. Thank you Sensei
The mentioned festival was just amazing and Matthias is such a nice person. Cool to see, that you two colaborated. Well done! Love the AI clips ;)
Thank you for letting us watch your journey.
Great video as always!
That was a great video, I've been looking for a aikido vs kung fu sparring video for so long 😄.
Lokas, you are an inspiration for me, after years of doing Hapkido (altough there are more practical versions of it as a combination of Taekwondo&Judo) and Wing Chun Kung Fu, after witnessing their lack of sparring through your videos, I have started practising Dutch Kickboxing, and Muay Thai. When i finally learned about real hand to hand combat now i can see some benefits and edges these traditional styles can give me. Thanks for your openmindfullness and spirit for search in the truth. Love ❤
lol. REAL combat?! lol. I used to spar against Muay Thai dudes all the time. None of them could land a single hit / kick on me... and I easily pummeled them, like my own personal kick bag. Wing Chun has a much more advanced Leg-Fencing method... that easily deflects their Low round kicks.. WITHOUT taking impact damages. Of course, you likely never learned that... as most WC practitioners dont stay in schools long enough to reach that level of training.
At most, you will develop the required Strength and Body conditioning, that is missing in "Modern" Wing Chun (it was part of the Ancient training).
When you top out... and that will happen pretty quickly in those arts... you will be left with nothing new, and low tier skills that dont really translate to barefist fight situations.
There is a reason why boxers get hit like +100 times in a single round. Its because their Sportized art, lacks the Technical Defensive skillsets, to prevent being Hit so often, and so easily.
That said.. I think its Good for people to train in arts like Mauy Thai, first... THEN go to high level arts like Wing Chun AFTER. As without being In Shape, Strong, Conditioned, Being Hit hard often (mental and physical conditioning)... you are likely never going to fully understand how to use arts like WC effectively. Its like trying to take college level material.. right from 1st grade level math abilities. Unless you are a super genius... thats not going to pan out well.
I will also say, that when I was learning Wing Chun... I was also cross training in other arts methods, to best "Know the Enemy". This included Boxing strikes, Muay Thai.. TKD.. and Wushu + Northern Shaolin Style kicks. I also did hardcore Shaolin Iron Body conditioning. The FULL body... not just the Shins... like MT. My Forearms were like Iron Bars.. and any artists that was Intercepted with them... they would Wince in pain. For a Demo... I used to Chop my own throat, as hard and fast as possible... about 7 times in a row. No choking, no bruising. This freaked out everyone whom witnesses + heard it... even the MMA fighters.
Real Combat... is Barefist. Not Gloved Sparring play. Sparring is a good and needed Tool for developing skillsets and the proper mindset. But make no mistake... two 7" diameter gloves.. is NOT the same as actual barefist situations. Its not "Combat".
That was a very balanced narrative. Nicely done.
Thanks!
That was really cool. I really like you and Ranton's (another channel) sincere approach to martial arts. I feel I learn a lot and have a framework to not waste time and do the martial arts that meet the specific needs that I have. It was light sparring but I wasn't expecting to see that Kung Fu style come out so distinctly.
He knows ranton, he will be in rokas next season of self defense championship
@@tAtarit0 I did not know that and I’m looking forward to it. I cannot stress enough how important those self defence seasons are.
It feels like it’s been years since we got something honest with how real self defence works. It annoys me so much how much work has to be put in to see what work’s clearly rather than having instructors just be rational about it.
From the book "The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts" by Meir Shahar who has a PhD in Asian languages and civilizations from Harvard University, academic, evidence points to the fact that bare-handed Chinese martial arts that we hear about today mainly come from the Ming to Qing transitioning period (17th century).
The Shaolin Monastery, for example, was not famous for bare-handed martial arts during the Ming Dynasty. They were famous for their Staff Method.
A lot of Chinese martial arts are not as old as people think.
My theory is that every martial art has some form of practical use if pressure tested I think rn we are starting to see the use of traditional techniques in mma starting to see validation standing hammer fist old school kung fu and karate blocks as well
Love your channel,mate
While many kung fu styles do have hundreds of years of history, I think it’s a common myth that *all* traditional martial arts are older than western combat sports like boxing or savate. Of course it depends on the exact style, but many of what we consider “traditional” martial arts are more recent than e.g. even BJJ.
Love watching your journey 🇦🇺
This is a great series of videos especially the ones where different martial artists are asked to "grade" different arts (A - F). I love to hear their contrasting expert opinions, and the reasons they give to explain their grading.
Being a kung fu guy myself, while I found this sifu's style interesting, in my opinion he was mimicking forms. In forms (kata) it's true that kung fu has a lot of big circular movements to emphasize and show the movement. To apply a lot of them, you have to make the movement smaller and more direct. He had no need really to gas himself by constantly making giant movements. Still circular, but way smaller so your counter attacks would be less telegraphed and use less energy. A lot of what happens in forms is not practical with the exception of a few specific movements that represent things like joint locks, grappling, blocks and counters...Certainly an interesting video Rokas, thanks!
Could also be a northern convention. I know Southern styles tend to be more compact in their movements
@kevinmarquez5733 yes I do northern style. We were trained in the forms to make the big movement but to drill that move we shrunk it down.
@@chadlpnemt Oo, very neat! It’s hard for me to find reliable northern tutorials online compared to, say, southern schools like Wing Chun or Hung Ga, so this insight is very helpful
@kevinmarquez5733 I do tien shan pai, much more popular on the east coast than west but I like it a lot.
😢🎉😢🎉
I'm glad that on your first arm lock with him, you didn't break his arm just to prove your style. Thanks for that! :D
Interesting and awesome as always
You should find more Gungfu styles to test and spar with, there are so many and the diversity between them is great. I think it would absolutely paint a more complete picture, would be very entertaining, and may surprise.
If I could make a particular suggestion, I would try Pai-Lum. There is a retired Kickboxer named Don "The Dragon" Wilson. You may have heard of him, not only does he have a ridiculous win loss ratio in a kickboxing career lasting almost 5 decades, but he has 16 titles, 11 of them world championships, in 4 different weightclasses. Often considered the best American kickboxer in history, backed up by STAR system ratings. His boxing career is a little less stacked, he plainly states he was mainly a kicker which led to average boxing, but his biggest accomplishment would be beating Muhammad Ali's former sparring partner John Johnson. All of this to say his main fighting style was Pai-Lum Gungfu, a derivative of Shaolin Gungfu.
I know what you're thinking, it was the art of kickboxing that led him to victory. In fact, he's trained in wrestling and karate as a kid, and of course boxing for his bouts. But it was when he was knocked around by his brother Jim after all that training, who was only into Pai-Lum, that he got into it. He personally credited the art as his style and for his performance in kickboxing, and iirc says he was simply a gungfu practicioner who got into fights to better his Pai-Lum practice. Now I'm not sugesting you get the man himself (😉) but I would be curious and 100% on board to see how that art, which does not come from modern combat sports, fairs against you with specific Kickboxing and MMA training.
Great video as always, Rokas! However, I'll share something my Sifu (Mizong Luohan Kung Fu) told me: those big sweeping moves were never intended for use in actual combat. They were primarily developed to a) teach the technique and b) build up muscle memory. In a real fight, the moves would be tighter, less exaggerated and thrown from a typical fighting stance.
At least, that's how I learned it. It seemed pretty effective and we sparred fairly regularly at around 60% - 70% speed and power.
This is what I learned in MJLH as well
Fun fact: most Kung fu styles today cannot be traced much more than 150 years. Wing chin for instance was invented in the 1800s (despite the mythological origin story) and in fact wing chun was heavily influenced by European sailors and their classical pugilism (hence the vertical punches and low hands in wing chun)
What you said about passing down the art was interessting. I also train a traditional style but i added muay thai . Since then i feel more a sense of a backbone to my other art.I think hunderts of years ago the intent was way different than today. Through the strict passing on and training without questioning.( especially japanese) it was extremly watered down, but not with bad intension or laziness. Its nor even the arts fault or the teachers.Its just a natural process.We live in a great time now to analyze old concepts ( which you first have to master) and try to bring it back to its original and primary purpose which its self defense and at the same time honoring and repecting the heritage of its history. This is why i sympathise with you so much. Thank you. Ganbate ne 🙏
Wow, his art was probably the most beautiful I've seen deployed in any practical way
I love the thought about how once this was actually not only used but people's survival depended on it. Having spent so much time and energy preparing and having so many chances at pressure testing with terrifying stakes it does seem that one of the ancient masters would be a formidable - and most likely deadly - opponent.
Really interesting video. As you said, it would be really cool to see animal kung fu being revisited for the purpouse of fighting while staying true to its nature. Imagine a guy stepping into the ring, getting into some weird-ass guard and kicking your ass like an absolute killer while styling on you with his fancy moves. Anyways, keep up your good work, we love you
Evolved/Functional martial arts FTW. I actually LOVE the fact that you are trying to evolve aikido to be useful, thats amazing.
Im my opinion if someone wants to actually learn to defend themselves just go train muay thai, wrestling, boxing, those are alot better than ALOT of ineffective traditional martial arts.
Oh, this is type of Kung Fu is the one I am studying right now, albeit in a different country, in a different organisation (I assume) and with a somewhat different practicality approach. The animal styles are the same (with a hierarchy the new students go through: Tiger - Crane - Snake - Moneky - Dragon), and in terms to practicality, we are taught to default to a regular kickboxing stance when in doubt.
Our usual training session consists of practicing moves very much akin to those Matthias displayed in this video, so I'll dare add my two cents on the topic: judging by the similarities of the moves in the video and the ones I was taught, I assume that Matthias' training also includes extensive practice not of singular animalistic moves, but chains of said moves. In simpler words, instead of practicing an elbow block, one might be required to practice an elbow block flowing into an opposite arm strike, flowing into a strike by initail elbow, transitioning into a cross-step forward by a hind leg (which turns you around), which sets the opponent up for another elbow strike in the solar plesus, which open them for a throw. Yeah, it's a bit lengthy.
So, what I was told to do, is to practice these combos, but never really expect them to work in the same succession in a real fight scenario. So, the point is to learn the combo, learn to recognise why and when it is supposed to be used, default to basic kickboxing (!) and MAYBE use a component of the combo if the stars align. And, I gotta say, this (sometimes) works miracles on opponents of my skill level (which is admittedly pretty low) - I wholeheartedly agree that these moves look damn freaky, but honestly, good luck predicting that.
So, given Matthias' background with combat sports, I'd genuinely pay good money to see a sparring session where the both of you are allowed to mix the elements of both the traditional and modern movesets of yours (with a quiet internal hope that Matthias would do much better).
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While I have your attention, a somewhat fun fact. When deciding on a school, I visited two open sessions of two schools. One was in a nice gym under the same roof as a Qigon hall and a wellness center. It was taught by a Chinese teacher, who called himself Master, wore traditional oriental martial artist's robes, and taught a basic punch that started from the hip. As in, chamber your fist so it is slightly above your belt level, and punch. The other was taught in a somewhat derelict basement of a dance school, by a somewhat chubby slavic guy, whose day job is a local plumber / electrician, and who teaches basic punches in the same way I was taught in a Muay Thai school I used to go to (this is to say, his instruction were to keep your goddamn arms up and for the love of god do not start the punch from your hip). So yeah, Kung Fu is a very, very mixed bag.
Oh, and to clarify, I do not mean to imply it is suitable for combat competitions as is, but with due dilligence, it is well-adjusted for self-defence (in the sense of 'deescalate-distract-disengage-(optionally) discourage through force' style of self-defence).
The idea that kung fu has hardly evolved over time is actually not true at all. Kung fu was very much evolving up until around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, when kung fu decisively lost to firearms as a force in combat. Not only were practitioners creating new styles, synthesizing and testing their skills against each other, practitioners often wrote of newer styles and pedagogy methods being more effective.
That's not to say that there were no problems with the practice of kung fu before then- there was plenty of documented proliferation of woo and fantasism even before the Boxer Rebellion. But it's very much not the case that kung fu has always been too steeped in tradition to undergo continual evolution.
A lot of Kung fu/wushu schools they teach Sanda. Hope to see a video soon about Sanda.
God I want to learn Sanda but it’s really hard to come by in the USA
Damn dude your functional Aikido looked slick! The wrist lock and foot sweep in particular was very interesting.
@@AikidoEducation Why are you responding with such hostility? This type of technique isn't generally in the scope of what I do so as a fan of martial arts seeing it is interesting to me. My general exposure to Aikido is watching people inexplicably dive to the mat after someone "throws" them so seeing a version of it where it makes sense that someone would be off balanced and swept was neat.
Where did I say or even imply that it was new?
For someone whose screen name is "Aikdio Education" you are displaying a lot of ignorance yourself. You should calm down and maybe get off the internet comment sections for awhile. I hope you have a nice day.
@@AikidoEducation I can see that you get pretty wound up about words on the internet and that isn't something I would expect from someone who has, I assume, dedicated their life to teaching and growing a martial art. Relax. If you read what I said again I think you'll find that neither the tone nor content of my comment was disparaging to Aikido.
You're conflating me with people who are talking down to you and your chosen martial art and that's not what I'm doing. I'm not accusing you or your martial art of anything. I'm not threatening you, your students, or your school.
I understand off balancing people for trips, throws and take downs. My school trains these types of techniques and we use them in sparring against a partner who doesn't want it to happen to them and will actively resist. We are not a grappling school so it is kept simple - things like O-Goshi, O-Soto-Gari, Uchi Mata, and then some trips off of catching kicks.
I don't understand Aikido videos where one person runs at another one with an unrealistic attacking motion like chopping their hand from above or maybe both arms reaching out like a zombie while the other person performs a technique that doesn't appear to off balance the opponent, prepare the throw then execute it in a way that makes sense to me. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I've just never seen it work in the way it is portrayed.
A lot of people claim to have used Aikido principles effectively on unwilling aggressors and that's great. There's also something to be said about training for the sake of training or for fun without any eye toward whether or not it can be used and that's a valid expression of martial arts as well.
The wrist lock sweep in question demonstrated those 3 core principles of throwing to me in a way that I generally don't practice which is why I commented on it. It looks like it would work on someone who may resist.
Anyways, I don't really have anything else to say to you other than have a great day.
Rokas, i am always facinated about Tiger style king fu. Even i trained boxing, muay thai and Bjj, i want to learn that kind of style
I would hesitate to come to a conclusion off of one sparring round with one kung fu practitioner. There are so many different styles and they aren't all exaggerated.
There is a guy in norther Europe , Zen Dragon, that fights full contact with Animal Kung Fu , and a guy in the US, Sifu Sergio Lopez, who does the same, and he's very good ( both have you tube channels), nice exchange here I learned a lot, thanks !
It always strikes me as a bit strange to watch traditional martial artists use big techniques in sparring.
I train kendo, but our dojo specializes in koryu iaido. I once asked the koryu guys whether they find our small technique practical given that all of their kata and all but one of ours exclusively train big technique. The guys I spoke with informed me that since their koryu almost exclusively targets arteries, the big strokes are overkill so in practice they would use small techniques like ours. The big movements in the kata are pedagogical to teach the student how to use the body as a kinetic chain and transfer power from the feet to the sword.
Traditional martial arts devolve into fantasy martial arts when practicioners attempt to either functionalize the pedagogy or develop counter techniques to the pedagogy.
Its awesome how true he kept his kungfu style for his modified version
If you want to see the actual practical applications of this guy's movements, then check out Shifu Kanishka. He's an Indian Shaolin monk who also teaches Kali, and demonstrates the combative applications for these styles. It's not just flailing your arms in circles
Glad to see others are trying to make the traditional styles work. Quite the exclusive club.
Stay awesome Rokas!
I went to High School in the 80s in North Chicago/ Waukegan. I had several friends who studied 5 Animal Styles and saw them use it in fights effectively. The big movements went away and it was very aggressive. I was lucky in that my friend group had TKD, Wing Chun, Judo, Animals, Shotokan, and others so we could spar with as well as fight alongside each other in street fights. Our school often had gang fights or people getting jumped. Often with weapons.
So I’ve seen the arts people say “don’t work” actually be effective in real encounters. You just have to train for the reality of violence.
Love your work
Great and insightful video. OSSU!
We're all talking about practicality, but I just want to point out how sweet Mathias' moves looked. This was a ton of fun to just watch. Art indeed
You are making Aikido work!
Please don't give up on Aikido.
One step at a time! 😊
@MartialArtsJourney I understand you had a bad teacher and it was very painful 💔 for you however For people like myself who had the big blessing of having Good teachers and Read the book Aikido works. Thank you for sharing
The thing is, for each takedown he lands, he could have done it with judo and wrestling with much more ease - the Kung Fu guy was in such a compromised position, a child practicing wrestler would have taken him down
@@AlphonsoFrett-xz6pi"you had a bad teacher, my dojo is different" xD I'm just kiddin
love your journey and your attitude young man.
I have a similar philosophy my self, having been there at the beginning of MMA, back when it was lots of different martial arts styles clashing against each other.
I came in from a primarily Judo background - and quickly learned I needed to learn other styles to fill my tool box of skills.
Regarding kung fu specifically - I studied Tiger style in my late teens for a few years along with continuing the judo and picking up boxing/kickboxing.
What I have found is that Kung fu is the best at is exercise - it excels at it in fact, it develops strength and flexibility, wellness and health better than any other style. So I say to you young fighters on your own journeys: Train kung fu /taichi! but don't expect to use it much in combat (sport or self defense). Also speaking as a former soldier and also security/doorman I can say for sure kungfu is better 'street' than 'sport', teaching strikes at vulnerable areas and with different hand forms - all banned in sport.
Im very much middle aged now and my fighting days are behind me but now I train non combative kung fu and taichi for HEALTH, and it is this training that keeps me on my feet and out of a wheel chair, much to the continued surprise of medical professionals.
bless you all and good luck on your own path.
I’d love to see you and Adam Chan of Vintage kung fu do a video together
I heard the 5 animals were originally weight classes somewhere. If you're a big, tall guy, the monks would teach tiger style. If you were a little short dude, you learned crane. This information may not be accurate though.
It's really cool to see you're continuing to develop your Aikijutsu to this level. One day you can rematch that mma fighter and potentially win with aikido. This is getting to be like the plot of a kungfu movie.
The idea of animal styles being designed with different body types in mind is really interesting. Never heard that one before. 🤔
@@tacticaltemplar875 Not entirely far off. In my training, we have the five basic shaolin animals: tiger, dragon, leopard, snake, and crane. Unironically we do have forms specific to each animal and train for specific skills in each. At my current training level, I'm actually going to be learning the solo crane form as my body type is more fitting to it. I'm 5'11, not very bulky(175lbs roughly) and i have long limbs which is ideal to the snake/crane styles due to my range with my arms and legs.
Dedication and hard work
Fantastic ! Also I love the content-aware motion generation to fill the gaps !
I enjoyed the vid.
Disclaimer rokus you would probably mess me up in a fight, but as an aikidoka that also has been training in bjj I would like to say. Break the techniques down. What do they all have in common ? 90% of the techniques are preformed with outside control in mind. Judo and bjj mostly focus on inside control. So the clinch stuff you have been working on is awesome but I noticed you kind of stay on the inside with alot of your techniques. The leg reap kotegeshi was nice though because you where outside and a perfect example of what I personally have been working on in my own training. I ramble sorry but rather than looking at aikido as a separate thing from grappling look as a system of grappling that focuses on outside control. I have been playing with adding things like the Russian tie to set up techniques and recently the wizard grip to set up a drop Shiho nage.... either way keep up the good work bro and have a good one.
Thanks for the Vids. These discussion around martial arts are always interesting. And it's also interesting to see the style of different practitioners. I always wonder with 'Kung Fu' as there are so many styles and philosophies around what it is and what you are trying to achieve by learning and practicing it. For example, I have trained Kung Fu as I am able for nearly 20 years (not syaing I'm good at it). But a lot of what I hear online in regards to what kung fu is and is about I haven't heard from my own teachers - which I just mean to show that it's not like kung fu is a single thing. So I'd be intersted to see you fight a wide range of Kung Fu practitioners and consider those differences and so on. (I should say, I appreciated that in this video you did define the kind of kung fu the other guy was practicing).
I am primarily interested in Aikido for ukemi over holistic stuff or specific fighting application (though I’d like to give Judo or Daito Ryu a go again once I’m better at the falls and rolls), but it’s good to see you exploring martial applications for a more dynamic Aikido.
There's an unpredictable aspect to it for sure that seems pretty cool as long as the opponent hasn't encountered it before. It does seem like it leaves for lots of openings, maybe modify the styles to keep protecting the head a priority? It would def be awesome to see what schools that use sparring regularly with these styles look like.
The kung fu practioner relying purely on hi kung fu was effectively holding back. He has studied more combat sports and needs to apply the principles of those combat sports arts. This maybe a better representation of his "Pure" kung fu style but his personal style likely still has a lot of influence from kung fu and I feel if he was working on developing his persoonal style as a "realistic and applied" kung fu style he would have done a lot better. e.g. hes defence using snake hand parries were very good but he can use principles from boxing to make his movements smaller and more efficient. combine the ripping, tearing and grabbing of tiger with applicable jiujitsu grappling and throw techniques. But overall good and informative video. well done to both of you.
Strike first, strike fast.
please Rokas, we need a video about Wing Chun!
It would be interesting to meet you some day. I have practiced some form of martial arts since the mid 80s. 😊
Your editing and narration is awesome. Keep up the good work!
Thank you
When I was in traditional kung fu I had this belief that if the Sifu could do it to me, then it must work! If I ever was to question a technique the Sifu would be quick to say 'come over here', and successfully perform the technique on me, as an effort to prove that it worked. And it did work, on me...an untrained student with no real fighting experience. Of COURSE it would work on me...the higher level student should always be able to win. In that realization I understood that my Sifu being able to beat me(an unskilled opponent) meant absolutely NOTHING in terms of 'proving that it worked' ...this was the biggest realization I had that made me turn my back on that particular art...I still enjoy it as a hobby, but I don't take any of that training seriously. The lack of checks and balances/resisting opponents made that training fantasy based.
The Discount Code for your Functional Aikido Course doesn't work! Did it end already??
A key point with TMA's vs Combat Sports is the issue of weapons.
This will greatly change the way you defend.
The efficient style of covering used in boxing & MMA will get you badly hurt against a clubbing weapon, for instance, and a larger intercepting motion needs to be used - but this would not work well against a rapid-fire boxing combo.
Remember, martial means war. War means weapons.
What software did you use to generate your b-reel? It's pretty good!
@martialartsjourney Thank you for your interesting insights as well as the valuable points. However, the sparring looks more like a semi-contact, thus not a "real" sparring imho. Nevertheless, it's still sufficient to make your point. Very well done! Do you also teach your funcional Aikido somewhere in central Europe as well? Would love to participate.
It honestly looks pretty cool how he is using what i assume to be a snake style so much for defense. Like, that snake motion he has is great at parrying your strikes. This was a really fun one to watch.
ok; i watched this video once more... i need to explain what i meant in the previous comments because i might not have worded it correctly... what i meant by torque and being more grounded you demonstrated that before the sparring session during the demonstration... what i mean by grounded thus producing torque is similar to how you push off the ground going forward... you did do that... i didn't see that in the sparring session but ofcourse it isn't so easy to pull off in this scenario; one reason being you guys aren't going full blast although i think it can still be done aggressively while still keeping it spar friendly. There are moments during the sparring session you demonstrate that aggressive application of technique looked really good Rokas... what i meant to say in my previous comment was that i would've wanted to see you apply that same aggression to enter ofcourse understandably you guys were taking it easy although i still think one can enter aggressively without it getting too out of hand... i didn't see you attempt a nodotsukiage ofcourse again you guys are taking it easy... i don't have formal training in aikido... my uncle johnny who is 101st airborne ranger taught me aikido briefly... we didn't get far in the training...but i have made what he taught me a part of me... this is what he taught me...
the hands are swords
wherever the head goes the body follows
if no technique is available use hand deflections until a technique presents itself
don't force a technique, if a technique isn't there find another
he showed me nikkyo, yubidori, and nodotsukiage.
afte that we lost contact with each other but ive been pondering the way of harmony since 2010... i remember seeing an aikido video where the person said when they pull you push, when they push you pull, uncle johnny may or may not have said those words but i remember him talking about blending with an attack... so then on my own i would ponder moving in harmony and seeing it in other arts and sports, like boxing, where to me slipping punches via head movement say how mayweather dodges jabs is blending with an attack in my eyes... once i was among a group of people and this guy started to kick my leg and slap my face and i wrapped his head in a guillotine to control him and he immediately went to grab my groin area...i spread my legs to use the pants as a barrier luckily and he couldn't get a grip i immediately proceeded to walk forwards and we went tumbling to the floor and i took side control telling him to stop (verbal aikido) and long story short he eventually stopped... another instance with the same dude we were sitting across from eachother on two different couches and he began speaking aggressively to me and he began reaching into his pocket, he kinda held it there trying to give the impression he had a weapon i immediately got up closed distance and put two hands on his wrist that was in his pocket not demonstrating any aggression on my part simply pleading with him to calm down i simply pressed his hand to his body with all my body weight... i said look man im going to let you go just please relax man ok? and he was like ok and long story short nothing more happened. Anyways back to uncle johnny i remember discussing with him and how aikido can be applied in such a way where you run someone's head into a wall or the floor and he would finish with a head stomp... he would get together with others he trained with and they would go over techniques from class and see how to modify it... the more i speak on this the more i see what O sensei meant to accomplish by modifying what he learned and instead of crashing someone's head on the ground cradling it some how...again i never got that far but i hope to develop the skill to do so thus keeping in line with what ueshiba sensei wanted.
This is so cool! I incorporate a hung gar technique into my boxing here and there and can frustrate my sparring partners until they figure out what I'm doing.
It'd be interesting to see you do this with some Aikijutsu & Sanda practitioners.
I appreciate your journey and agree with the importance of move forward with the style. But I dont agree that the moves in ancient martial arts in general are outdated, they may not only be concerned with effectivenesss, but mostly they just have their original context or application forgotten.
Rokas, i really like your functional aikido! Id love to see you spar with sifu jacob from your kung fu wrestling video
A lot of people forget that Kung Fu is intended as a weapon based art. You start with the movements empty handed to build up muscle memory and strength and you switch to weapons later and that is why kung fu worked as a form of defending yourself. All those strange movements and angles, when you add weapons, especially weapons with two edges is a total game changer. I would say that kung fu is one of the most developed weapon arts in the world, especially the manuals we have for the military use of weapons in kung fu. Bagua, where we get a lot of the highly unusual weapons invented those weapons to optimise the inflicted damage from the movements that seem so strange but if you add deerhorn knives into the mix where every part of the weapon is an edge, it starts to make more sense. All martial arts that are not modern martial arts were invented with weapons in mind.
Amituofo. Impressive. Keep training. ❤
Good vid!
Some years ago I was in a wushu school in which we also do at least 2 hours of sparring for week, the sifu and the instructors also train, teach and compete and won the province championship of K1 kickboxing many times, for what I learn is that it doesn't matter how flashy you look doing a 360 kick, what matters is how you apply what you learn.
I still remember doing the taolu (kata) and trying to use it in sparring, somethings can work others was hard or almost impossible to use, I recently starting training boxing and find both useful if I combined together.
I think that every style can give you something but the problem is how you learn it, for me martial arts are like math, you can read as many math books as you want but if you don't solve a single equation by yourself you don't understand math, the same applies to martial arts, you can do as much forms as you want but if you don't sparring and don't try to develop your own way to fight you don't understand martial arts.
Awesome video! It would be great if you could find a Nothern Shaolin style master, it's pretty different from Southern style. Movements are less flashy.
Nice job catching him with that irimi nage!
Thanks! More to come!
I have done Kung fu for 6 years at first in Rome. I was full of myself and believed I was a tiger. Then I went to Melbourne and started doing a particular style of wing chun and working as a Bouncer. I discovered that nothing worked from that traditional style and also that the kung fu master made up the whole style and his Chinese master never existed, and stole the diplomas of his real master and hide himself behind legends and supernatural powers.
I started learning wing chun properly and I started improving much more and being more efficient in my self defence and timing.
Now I moved to Poland and started doing BJJ which is still more practical.
I'm glad you made this video, and I can see my old fake master on the verge of collapse, self destroyed by his lies and delusion.
Keep up the Great work Rokas, you are opening the eyes of many people who have been deceived by impostors.
You are a real legend :)
What many people do not get is that a technique does not stand on its own but is part of a sequence, many if not most strikes are there to create an opening for another technique.