How practical is kung fu in reality?

Question

if a master in shaolin got jumped by a street fighting heavyweight who would win?

like who would go home in the ambulance and who would go home in the police car?

Answer 1

if it were you, it depends, I don't know you, never met nor sparred with you so I cant give you a realistic answer over the internet.

if it were a shaolin monk it would be a very different story.

shaolin monks are monks, not fighters. They are dead-set against violence in any form. Their training is about discipline and conditioning, not taking out opponents.

If you've seen their training routines you'll see they are phenomenal athletes and very flexible.

I'd say it would be very likely that in this hypothetical situation the monk would do his best to avoid the attacker and escape without raising a fist.

He would probably rather get beaten to a pulp than lay a finger on his attacker, however I'm sure he will be fast enough to dodge the attacks and choose the path of non violence.

I honestly don't know what it would take for a shaolin monk to use his skills to harm another human being but I'm certain he wouldn't use it in a street fight.

Answer 2

That would depend on many factors, is the master of shaolin also a heavyweight?

is the street fighter armed?

is the Shaolin master proficient in sparring? sparring heavyweights?

Nobody would go home in an ambulance, an ambulance would take you to a hospital, if they fight in the street and get caught, both would possibly go in a police car.

Answer 3

If the monk is a "martial monk", not trained in "wushu", he would have a huge advantage.

Kung fu-acrobatics is a total crock of "&*(^." !

Answer 4

Wow.. there needs to be some serious seperation between fact and legend on here...

Before any of this the answer to your question relies on how the monk trained. If he trained with sparring, full resisting opponents, Sanda type competetions and the like. But being as that is violates some major tennets of Buddhism, I don't see that as a 100% likely.

Also there should be some clarification, Shaolin monks were not ultimate fighting machines, nor do they have any reputation at being so. First off, there is no historical record of amazing feats other than the circus style tricks done by Shaolin monks. No historical record of amassing numerous victories in battle, no evidence what so ever of them being supernatural fighting machines, or even in defending their temple against any and all comers (as it has been burned to the ground numerous times). Also no historical or anectdotal evidence from historians at the time (keeping in mind Chinese and Japanese are notoriously pretty well known for their documentation) of amazing fights being conducted by Shaolin monks. Or Emperors employing Shaolin Monks as body guards for their extreme combat prowess.

In fact, what is called Shaolin now has very little do with the actual Shaolin Monastic order, and much of the Shaolin Kung Fu hype stuff is propaganda made up by the Chinese Government to support tourism is to capiltalize on Asian Martial Arts mythology. They are little more than a Government Tourist attraction. So all these amazing stories you here about Shaolin monks are mostly part of Chinese Government Propaganda that have little to do with historic evidence.

As far as your question, in all honesty it would depend on HOW the monk trained. As participating in violence is a major faux pas in Buddhism, I don't see them willingly wanting to engage in that. But let's say some of the tougher monks, the ones that sparred every day and did Sanda, then I would imagine they would pretty well.

But at 15, there is no way you would be a Shaolin master, and would in all likelihood get destroyed in a fight against someone larger and more aggressive than you.

Just my opinion from the various things I have read.

(Edit: I hate to do this, but I would really hate anyone to be decieved by dmaud56's absolutely ill informed answered:

First, no touch KO's didn't originate or have anything to do with Shaolin Monks, or their handspeed. (For your information, their speciality is, and has been considered staff, not super speed hands, or incredible bone conditioning) Secondly it is impossible for a human to throw a "hypersonic" punch, that would roughly over 3,800mph (or 5 times the speed of sound, your flesh and muscle would literally rip off from your hand due to atmospheric friction, and the kinetic force generated would tear your arm off your body as you wouldn't be able to stop it) additionally moving so fast that the human eye can't detect it is virtually impossible for a human to generate, as humans can see well over 70 frames per second. Or one hundreth of a second. That is just in focusing, they could detect blurs at much higher speeds. It would be quite nearly impossible for someone to move so fast that you did not see them. (People can see baseballs move past them at 90mph, people can see racecars blur past them at 200+mph, people can see the blur of a hummingbirds wings. The idea someone would move so fast that no one could see it happening at all is unlikely, especially onlookers. While someone could hit someone faster than their reaction time would dictate, moving faster then the eye could detect is pretty much impossible.  Tiger Wood's clubhead speed is about 125 mph and his ball moving is about 182 mph, yet people can see his ball while by and his clubhead as a blur, it is not undetectable by the human eye. So nobody is punching at over 200mph. Additionally watching video of someone (TV was typically at 24frames per second) isn't the same as seeing them in person. But I challenge you to show me one one punch Ali did that literally was not seen by the camera. That his hand was up high, he hit the guy and it was returned without the camera catching it. So seriously instead of spouting pseudo exagerated fact and misinformation, take some time to research what you are saying instead of making stuff up.

Sorry...

Answer 5

a master shaolin monk, would not even go somewhere were he would be jumped by a street fighting heavy in the first place.

The thing about Shaolin monks though, is that they all condition their fists to where they are hard as cement, so only one strike would put a street thug in the hospital who, far as I know, do not posses the discipline required to build up their fists to that point.  Not only that but if the Shaolin monk was forced to strike him, worst of all for the thug, he wouldn't even see it coming.

The myth of the "no touch knock out" got started largely from the fact that many Shaolin, because they trained so hard, they could punch with such speed you literally couldn't see their fists anymore.  Think this is far fetched?  Look up Muhamad Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson vids on youtube or h**l just look at modern welter and middle weight fights.  Sometimes boxers will punch so fact, the camera won't catch it.  It happens rarely but it does happen.  The Shaolin, remember, trained in Kung Fu for most of the day, so such speed, considering the way most Chinese men are built, was likely not uncommon.

There never was such a thing as  "no touch knock down."  Just a punch landing a hypersonic speed, traveling so fast, none of the witnesses of the fith saw any fist.  They just saw an attacker approach someone, and the moment they reached arm's length of the monk, the attacker fell unconscious.  Given the superstitious nature of the people at the time, back when the Shaolin monks were at their peak, naturally they though it was some secret, mysterious magic, some form of "power" when, all it was, was an extremely fast fist.

That was to make a point; the Shaolin in days past could strike with such speed, likely, that is how the whole "no touch knockout" myth got started.  When doing sword demonstrations, sometimes modern Japanese swordsmen will slash with such speed  the blade seems to dissapear.  It happens very rarely; what set Shaolin monks of old apart, from modern ones, is that they could strike with such tremendous speed CONSISTENTLY, rather than OCCASSIONALLY, as with modern boxers.

One last thing; regardless of size, bone is bone.  Strength advantage would go in favor of someone the size of a pro wrestler against a martial artist who never conditioned their hands but, see, taking into account some men were big, the Shaolin conditioned their fists into natural "brass knuckles" for precisely that very reason.  Hard fists, negate a strength and size advantage.  And, again, because most criminals lack that kind of discipline, 9 times out of 10, the Shaolin monks won.

In the old days of the Shaolin temple they got accosted by "street fighting heavyweights" all the time.  And, far as anyone can tell, the temple is still here.

peace out.

Answer 6

Kung Fu can be deadly. It is so dangerous that a lot of it's techniques have been out lawed from the U.F.C

Answer 7

The "modern Shaolin Monk" is little more than a Martial Arts acrobat.   Judomofo has excellent input on that subject.

Now if my Sifu were to be jumped in that situation, I would have no doubts that he would come out victorious.  That being said, we are a fighting Kung Fu school.  We fight and train constantly, with great emphasis on self defense.  While this can never duplicate the reality of a street fight, it does help prepare us for that instance as well as we can.  Forms put the moves into our muscle memory, but only fighting will ready you to the actual use of the techniques.

If you were to find a good quality Kung Fu school that trains with Self Defense in mind, then it will work in reality, as long as your skills out weighed that of your opponent.  

I have fought people well over 200lbs before, and it is definetely a challenge.  Didn't do too well at first, but after a few of them, I started to learn what worked and what didn't.   That is the real teacher,...... experience.