Originally Posted by
Darthlawyer
Not to use the Bruce Lee "boards don't hit back" quote, but well...
If these "breaking skills" had any combat effectiveness, wouldn't there be some MMA fighters who would just break their opponents' outstretched arms, post-punch?
Yes.
Of course, you have to remember that real fighters who are actually trying to hurt you don't leave their arms extended after they punch.
I understand that the skills are dramatic... some are probably faked, but I mean, why would someone want to break a board in two inch increments, unless they were a carpenter?
I always looked at breaking as just a test of hand conditioning. If you can punch through a board you're probably less likely to break your hand punching someone.
Or, breaking can be a cool art in itself. Sort of like a martial arts equivalent of powerlifting.
Breaking doesn't mean you're a good fighter.
I always wondered, however, if say you're fighting someone and you get them in your guard, could you just iron palm strike them in the head and crack their skull (coconut break style or whatever)?
I just figure... if all this mystical stuff was as effective as people think, professional fighters would use it. I absolutely agree with you.
But I don't see any pro fighters doing hour long iron vest sets. If they really resulted in the ability to not take any damage from any torso strikes after 3 years like they claim, fighters would be all over them. Immunity to liver punches, kicks that slip past your defenses and hit you in the ribs, etc. No pain, no damage, not even being stunned. Every pro fighter would love to have that advantage.
But people will just say "oh yeah, that's too deadly for the ring" or whatever It's the same reason their instructor won't spar with them.
And also, if no touch knockout worked, pro fighters would be interested in it. We've all seen the vid of that no touch knockout guy vs the kickboxer or karate guy or whatever it was. The poor old man got punched in the face pretty hard.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a TMA guy win an NHB tournament using something that no one has ever seen before. No touch knockouts, qi-based invulnerability, snake or mantis style or something and everyone is just like omg, that was awesome, I want to learn that! But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Or maybe MMA guys should start hanging by their necks like the guys in those videos were doing so they can last longer before tapping out from chokes!
It seems to me like this mystic stuff is just trying to defraud people. "Whoa, that guy broke 3 bricks with iron palm! I bet he could beat Mike Tyson!" And then when he doesn't, it's "oh... well that stuff was too deadly to use in the ring, anyway."
At least with magicians, you know it's an illusion, and they don't pretend otherwise. But those monks are trying to pass it off as having legit super-human skills when, in fact, the majority of what they did was parlor tricks.
Last edited by IronFist; 07-31-2011 at 01:40 AM.
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