Hello Everyone,

It's been many years since I studied Kung Fu San Soo.  I admit, it was many years ago, before September 11, 2001.  Anyway, the San Soo community has changed especially for the newer generations adding in elements of MMA (I already have explained in this blog they do this because it attracts new students and they have to borrow from BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing, etc. because those fighting styles actually work!).

One thing about martial arts training is that when a person starts out training you remember the people that were with you when you first started training and how you become friends, get to know each other, etc.  When I began Muay Thai I can recall getting to know fellow students as we trained, sparred, go to fight promotions, etc.  It truly is cool how we become a family and how we care for each other.  However, things in life happen and if you keep up with training and going to the gym you'll gradually see people leave to attend college, new job, move to another state, raise a family, or getting a girlfriend (really, this happens more than you know and you'd be amazed how girlfriends can change people's hobbies).  New people come to the gym of course and sometimes you make good friendships with them, but it's really not like when you started with the original group.

I recently went back to visit my old Muay Thai gym and showed respect to my Muay Thai teacher and coach.  I really miss training with them, but my career prevents me from it.  There were a couple of the old students I trained with there and it was great catching up about what was going on with our lives.  However, the new students were there training and it's weird how they have formed their own group (or family) amongst each other.  My current Muay Thai gym is a legit gym too and I hope to train as often as I can, however, it's not like my old gym.  I'm older and have been doing Muay Thai for years so I know how it works (the old fighters/students get pushed aside because the new fighters/students take over with their younger aggressive and superior skill because they know they will be fighting the next battles in the ring or cage).

One thing about the fighting styles recommended on this blog teaches is that a person will get to know the feeling of how great it feels to be young and how depressing it is to get old.  When you're young you can spar hard, hit bags and pads with speed and power, your body will recover from the hard workouts fast, see your body develop awesome physique, etc.  When you're old (or getting older, and I admit I'm one of them) you realize you can't spar or roll (grappling) like you could, strike fast with power, your body takes longer to heal, etc. etc. etc.

*Due to the fact that traditional martial arts like Kung Fu San Soo don't have hard workouts or real fighting or the environment of harsh fight camps or a combat sports environment where there are always fight promotions in the ring or cage every few months I don't believe a san soo person gets to really feel what I'm discussing in this post.  How could they?  Nothing about their style is hard.

In my current Muay Thai gym, I know why I'm there (to maintain self-defense skills, physical fitness, and support the fight promotions).  Whenever I go to a Muay Thai or Kickboxing promotion I have to admit it's awesome seeing the new generation of fighters carry on the sport.  I can imagine when I'm much older than I am now I will still go to whatever Muay Thai or Kickboxing promotions there are and watch the young fighters enjoy their glory in the ring.

I have to admit it would not be easy for any San Soo master nowadays to train in Muay Thai, Pradal Serey, Western Boxing, Dutch Kickboxing, etc. because they are young man sports!

Whenever you go to a Muay Thai or Kickboxing or MMA event in America you're rarely going to see anyone over the age of 55 in the crowd, if anyone at the event is over age 50 they're usually the coach or teacher of a fighter or an owner of a fight gym.

I can totally see myself being a very old guy with white hair and a cane going to a Muay Thai event and watching all the younger people scream and cheer and enjoy the fights.  I know I will be one of the only old guys.

REAL FIGHTING STYLES WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE YOU THINK HARD ABOUT MORE THAN JUST FIGHTING, BUT ABOUT ONESELF'S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH CHALLENGES IN LIFE.

Questions or Comments?

JimmyHWoo2016@gmail.com

Recommended Fighting Styles:

Southeast Asian Boxing

Muay Thai, Muay Lao, Pradal Serey, Lethwei, Tomoi

East Asian Boxing

Sanda (San Shou, San Da), Kyuk Too Ki, Shoot Boxing, Yaw Yan

Western Striking

Dutch Kickboxing, Savate, Western Boxing

Grappling and Other

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Sambo, Pankration, Judo, Shuai Jiao, Kali/Arnis/Escrima