hey im a newbie on the forums so please don't flame, just wanted to give my thoughts and compare with others.
background, i'm a 20 year old male, varsity taekwondo in college and i did fairly well in the National Wushu Championships here in the Philippines (current bronze medalist in san shou).
san shou, which means "free fighting", in my opinion, cannot be used as a standard to gauge your fighting skill. for one, it has gloves. gloved hands are much easier to watch out for and block, simply because your fist becomes 4 times its size. certain holes in your opponent's defense where a fist might have passed through will become airtight because of the enlargement of your fist.
two, because of the armor that the fighters wear. maybe it's just me, but i'd rather go into a fight without the helmet, not because i'm some sort of hero, but because the helmet disturbs and irritates me. this little bit of distraction can cost a fighter the match. the body armor is bloody hard. body blows are nonexistent, they just don't do any damage. in the semifinal round i must have landed clost to 20 kicks on my opponent's left and right side ribs, he just kept coming.
oh another thing i noticed is that chinese martial arts focus greatly on the fingers, whether they are used to grab, hold, jab, etc., there is great importance placed on the mobility of the fingers. much more than in the closed fist, which is all you can use in competition san shou because of the afore-mentioned gloves. slaps are also widely used, another weapon that has been denied chinese martial artists in what is called "chinese free-fighting." the emphasis is on "free fighting." i mean, an eagle claw exponent would be at a loss in a san shou tournament; he can't use his fingers, which is what eagle claw is basec on. 70 % of listening jing that you learn in tai chi chuan is done through the palms and fingers, can't do that with gloves.
i'm not criticizing (well maybe i am), but i would really like to know what other people think about this. it looks as if around half of the techniques found in chinese martial arts are useless in san shou because of the afore-mentioned factors. any thoughts? go easy on me, this is my first post
background, i'm a 20 year old male, varsity taekwondo in college and i did fairly well in the National Wushu Championships here in the Philippines (current bronze medalist in san shou).
san shou, which means "free fighting", in my opinion, cannot be used as a standard to gauge your fighting skill. for one, it has gloves. gloved hands are much easier to watch out for and block, simply because your fist becomes 4 times its size. certain holes in your opponent's defense where a fist might have passed through will become airtight because of the enlargement of your fist.
two, because of the armor that the fighters wear. maybe it's just me, but i'd rather go into a fight without the helmet, not because i'm some sort of hero, but because the helmet disturbs and irritates me. this little bit of distraction can cost a fighter the match. the body armor is bloody hard. body blows are nonexistent, they just don't do any damage. in the semifinal round i must have landed clost to 20 kicks on my opponent's left and right side ribs, he just kept coming.
oh another thing i noticed is that chinese martial arts focus greatly on the fingers, whether they are used to grab, hold, jab, etc., there is great importance placed on the mobility of the fingers. much more than in the closed fist, which is all you can use in competition san shou because of the afore-mentioned gloves. slaps are also widely used, another weapon that has been denied chinese martial artists in what is called "chinese free-fighting." the emphasis is on "free fighting." i mean, an eagle claw exponent would be at a loss in a san shou tournament; he can't use his fingers, which is what eagle claw is basec on. 70 % of listening jing that you learn in tai chi chuan is done through the palms and fingers, can't do that with gloves.
i'm not criticizing (well maybe i am), but i would really like to know what other people think about this. it looks as if around half of the techniques found in chinese martial arts are useless in san shou because of the afore-mentioned factors. any thoughts? go easy on me, this is my first post
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