When I started in the Martial arts is was far different the the schools you see today. So much has changed. Now it is a business, when I was training it was not, it was a fighting art form and nothing else. There were no schools like you see today. Most training was done in rather old worn out rooms, with wood floor and a few mirrors, if you were lucky.
The arts was rough and only those that had the guts to hit and be hit would dare join. Injuries were almost constant, most uniforms had some blood stains on them from split lips broken noses and missing teeth. Learning to take punishment was part of the training, if you could not take it how them could you dish it out?
There were no tournaments in those days, it was a street art for self protection and nothing else. The Teachers were hard to find, but when you did they were rough street fighters that had little mercy about hitting you often and hard, in fact being hit was part of the class training to learn how to take a blow and come back again for more.
More of the classes was about fighting, and little else, forms training was not the focus although you had to learn them, it was about basics blocks, kicks, punches and taking out an opponent quick as possible. You either learned how to fight or you would get beat up on a daily basis. In those days the people that joined the schools were tough street kids that were learning how to stay alive in the rough city streets.
It all changed now now, It all about money, fancy schools and useless moves, competition for trophies, and the worst part is the lose of the reality of the street condition, which can and is brutal. There are no rules in the streets, therefore there should be no rules in the training school either, but now schools use tons of padding to try avoid injury, this approach is the opposite in the streets. Your not padded in the streets and there are no rules other then to take out your attacker as fast and sure as possible..
It was much later when people saw money in teaching and running tournaments that the arts changed. Now schools have everything under the sun, from yoga, to dance and weight loss programs, parties and the list goes on. Well the only think I can think of is the next time someone comes at you with a knife or club to beat your brains in you can dance for them, maybe you will discover a partner for dancing with the stars.
Sorry, but this is the reality of the Arts as I was trained. I never in my whole training career ever deviated from the old ways, but the arts also never failed me either, because it was real training for the real thing! Just ask a Master like Chang Tung Sheng and he would show you what was real. When he fought for real only one person walked away, and it was Chang !!!!...
