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Cost of Our Specialization- Admitted Limitation and Caveats

Stating that Wu Ji Quan Fa has an All Origin tradition may obviously create the impression that we have all martial arts encapsulated into our system and that we are better than all others. That would be insulting to all other martial artists and would rightly make them call B.S.! We are all limited by time, there are only 24 hours in a day and we all have limited amount of time to train. Everyone ends up specializing as a result. No one has the time to specialize everywhere and beyond that, specializing everywhere is specializing no where.


WJQF is a system specializing in extracting from each martial art that which is uniquely effective to defeat extreme violence and then integrating these uniquely effective aspects into a cohesive method. Martial arts are vast!! Systems contain so much that is beneficial for one’s growth but if you study with an eye for what will be effective when facing all out fighting under extreme conditions, the amount of relevant material reduces tremendously. On the market today there are other reality based self defense systems but they are very light in technique and martial proficiency, there are also many skilled martial artists with high proficiency in their art but where they are geared towards fighting under the conditions of competition. It is rare to run into an approach that brings together large amounts of martial arts material already filtered down for maximum applicability in the true combat environment where extreme violence occurs.


Our limit and caveat is to openly state we are not going to be better than other martial artists at their specialties and we still give them the credit that they deserve. Primarily this manifests in how we conduct our sparring drills and the types of fighting tactics and techniques we choose to train. As far as being prepared to deal with extreme violence and come out on top, you need all 5 of the 5 Foundations. You must have a strong foundation of combat perspective and mindset, you always need as much as you can get of power and motion concepts imbedded into your movements, you need to be skilled at strategy to set up as much advantage as possible before you engage and you need fighting tactics that end the fight fast and allow you to go wherever the fight goes. On top of that you need the personal mastery to be able to operate under extreme pressure through physical and internal conditioning.


Most systems only teach a couple of these at most and typically specialize on skills applicable when facing their own style within the framework of rules in their own system. No styles typically want to admit this, but the myopia is there if you have a broad enough perspective to see it. This is not meant to be insulting either but often is interpreted as such. Stating that we prepare you for the combat environment implies others do not. You have to be the judge of your own system and what it is specializing in and preparing you for. Almost all martial arts have tremendous benefits that can be part of the puzzle if you are really wanting self defense. If you become a champion grappler or boxer, the mental toughness, the shear physicality and understanding of the body will be intangibles that will give you great advantage. It may come with heavy blind spots as well, it may come with over confidence and reliance on tactics that were only effective within an artificial ruleset that can have you walk straight into trouble against an “untrained” criminal. These "untrained" criminals are best understood to attack like an animal of a person that has received his training from gang violence in his youth and from his graduate programs in our penitentiary system.


If I was “challenged” to a challenge match, I would decline. Ip Man movies and all the rest are just that; just movies. Movies do more to miseducate people on dealing with violence and on the honor code of true martial arts than anything else. It would be entirely against the true ethic of Gong Fu to take a fight and apply skills only appropriate in the combat environment in a contest began for ego to “prove” oneself. While this has become popular on the internet, it is not something that those with the Old World ethic would engage in. The only way to truly find out and prove it is to commit a criminal assault against myself or other practitioners of such styles, then we could see where it lands when the chips are down.


Of course, we have gone to a lot of trouble to collect the best training methods we could find to develop the 5 Foundations and to be able to give you as a student a complete warrior foundation and so we are proud of all we have put together. We admit we are very non-traditional, and we focus on what we find relevant for our martial training which is preparation for the combat environment and for success in life. Our system gives a good foundation to being able to protect yourself and your family, to making your mind and body as strong as possible so you can be as happy as possible in life. If you want to be a champion in martial arts competitions our system is probably not the best fit for you, it would provide you with some of the elements needed but would need to go and train specifically with the styles that specialize in preparation for those competitions.


In short conclusion, we are good at what we do, we are good at using a unique combination of extractions from numerous martial arts that are uniquely applicable in the combat environment. We are not good at what we are not good at. We are not claiming we would win in martial arts competitions. We are always watching and attempting to learn from other martial artists as our tradition of being open to all origin continues. There is so much talent available to learn from in the modern times for those with eyes to see it. We just specialize in what we specialize in which does come with limitations the same as everyone else. We seek constantly to outgrow out limits, and the limits of our own thought patterns but like all our brothers and sisters in the martial arts community that is a never ending pursuit. We are always open to friendly and respectful exchanges with other martial artists, we are closed to egotistical comparisons aimed to “legitimize” one and “de-legitimize” others. Respect is the basis for martial arts, the modern martial arts community could do with more of that as well. It is good to push each other respectfully in the right time and place and to lay ego and pride aside, this is the better way we seek to follow and which true martial arts points to.

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