There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the martial arts. Outrageous "facts" from great "masters" are quoted as the truth and wild theories that go against science are put forth as proof of the "facts." Mumbo jumbo is used to confuse reason and hide the truth. The following illustrates how a clever rearrangement of the facts may confuse the truth.

Three men shared a room at a hotel. The price of the room was $30, so each of them paid $10 for his share of the room. Later, the hotel clerk realized the price of the room should have been $25, so she gave the bellhop five $1 bills to return to the men. The bellhop wondered how to divide the $5 equally between three people, and he came up with a solution. Since the men did not know the cost of the room was actually $25, he told them that the cost of the room was $27, which meant that each man should have only paid $9 for his share of the cost of the room. So he then gave each of the men a $1 refund, and kept the remaining $2 for himself.

Therefore, the men paid $27 for the room. The bellhop kept $2. This totals $29. What happened to the other $1. It disappeared!

Answer. Later in the day, the men learned that the price of the room was actually $25. Since they had originally paid $30 for the room and were only refunded $3, that meant they had paid $27 for the room, $2 more than the $25. They demanded and received the remaining $2 from the bellhop. $25 plus $3 plus $2 equals $30; the missing dollar reappeared!

Sometimes a "master" gets something right in the explanation of a theory, however, this does not make his or her entire premise correct. Even a bind golfer sometimes hits a hole-in-one. For example, in December 2005, Zohar Sharon, a blind 53 year old Israeli golfer whose caddy gives him verbal directions, hit a hole-in-one. Likewise, even a pseudo master may sometimes say something profound, but that does not mean everything he or she says is correct.

One area of the martial arts where false facts are presented, or true facts are misrepresented, misinterpreted, or misunderstood, is in area of punching. When punching, which is best to use, a vertical fist or horizontal fist?

When dealing with the “arts” part of the martial arts, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just as in other arts, such as dancing, where some people like ballet and others like to salsa, people have different likes and dislikes within the martial arts. Some people move quickly and gracefully and enjoy soft styles that use graceful movements. Some people move slowly and powerfully, so they enjoy hard styles that use powerful movements. When it comes to the arts, there is no best art, only the art that best pleases the beholder or practitioner of the art. Each martial art may have its own unique theories, movements, and techniques, which may or may not be effective in fighting, but as long as the art’s practitioners enjoy practicing the art, that is all that matters.

However, dealing with the “martial” part of the martial arts is a different story. This is where the art ends and the rubber meets the road. No matter how beautiful the art or how relaxing or how much fun it is to train in the art, the techniques promoted by the art must be able to be used simply, effectively, and efficiently by anyone (large or small, fat or skinny, etc.), under any conditions (wearing gym clothes or a tuxedo, wearing a tee shirt or a winter coat, in the sun or in the rain, against a single attacker or multiple attackers etc.), or in any location (alone in an alley or on a crowded bus, on a smooth tiled floor or in glass strewn alley, etc.). Fighting is not complicated; it has been used by mankind since Cain killed Able.

If I want to know if an object someone is trying to sell me will float, I do not need to measure it, weight it, or analyze it; I just throw it into the water and see if it floats. The person may make all kinds of claims, show me the history of the object, tell me how it has floated in the past, show me how beautiful it is, etc.,  but the bottom line is, when I throw the object into the water, does it float.

Professional boxers make their living from punching; their hands are the tools of their trade. The primary thing that boxers fear is a hand injury, since it will interfere with their livelihood. Therefore, boxers are always seeking ways to prevent hand injuries, and they train to develop the most powerful punches. They pay trainers thousands of dollars to find and train them in the best punching techniques. This being the case, why don’t boxers use the “safer” “more powerful” vertical punches, since they are permitted within the rules of boxing.

Professional full-contact fighters, with the exception of some full-contact styles, such as Muay Thai, may use any style of martial art of they choose and they are permitted to use pressure point strikes, vertical punches, and sticky hands, etc. To make a living in fighting, a professional fighter needs to knockout or submit opponents, or at least impress the judges with their superior fighting skills; therefore, one would assume that a fighter would use techniques that have been proven to work. I have never seen or heard of any professional boxer or fighter who uses any soft martial art techniques in the ring.

Any martial art works well when demonstrated against non aggressive students of the same style. The true test is whether the art works well against aggressive students of another style. For example. in the few times when pressure point arts, such as Dim Mak or Combat-ki, have been used against persons other than their own practitioners, they failed miserably.

Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9