ok, i posted once before but got very small response, so i’m hoping some more mantis players out there will respond this time! please tell me, in your opinion, just how effective Praying Mantis KungFu is in a street fight, and how long YOU think it takes to get to a comfortable level where you can use your mantis style effectively? Thanks in advance to all who respond…
Very Effective!!!
Praying Mantis is very effective in a street fight. If you don’t believe me then just check out the 8 Step homepage http://www.8step.com and read the history section specifically where it talk about how Master Wei took out a mob of angry Koreans. Like I said before about martial proficiency, I never kept track of it, but I’d probably say once you get to the Black Belt ranks probably even before that I would say too. Also Master Sun in an interview talked about how people in general though Kung Fu couldn’t help you in a street fight, but he told the interviewer that he begs to differ and he can teach you how to use it in the street. All in all it’s very effective
Grey
Praying Mantis Kung Fu is very effective art if applied properly and efficiently. This is the true about any kung fu, no matter how different the art is.
Whatever art u study, if you train hard and is dedicated to leaning the true essence of the system you will be able to use it in the street or elsewhere.
How long does it take? I think that would depend on you!, the time you have to dedicate, your ability to accept information, process it and apply it, and a lot of of other variables.
B.K. Frantzis claims that prating mantis is most afriad of Hsing-I, I think because Hsing-I people place there hands in a way that is impossible to penetrate, and that Hsing-I has some charge that is impossible for mantis to block. What do you guys have to say bout this? I do not mean to disrespect you or your art. I love mantis myself. i just question B.k. Frantzis’s laim about Hsing-I’ superiority, although I really like Hsing-I, also.
Mantis self-defense
How good your Mantis becomes depends on what you put into it. Remember it’s the man that makes the system, not the system that makes the man. Mantis is just as effective in self-defense as any other system of kung fu, Northern or Southern. You have to keep in mind that when kung fu was in it’s development, that were no AK 47’s or assualt rifles or guns, so it’s hard to prepare for those situations. Of course there are those out there who have been training for “20 years” and can pull out a man’s heart and show it to him while it’s still beating, or at least they think they can. Do you want to take a chance that your technique will disarm the person or that it will not and you get shot?, maybe fatally?. What about your kids and wife or parents?, you don’t do them any good dead. My point is use common sense,and don’t be a hero. I rather lose my wallet then my life. Fight the battles you can win. 
Generally my response to people who ask about the effectiveness of any given style is this:
The traditional arts survived because the practitioners survived. That quite often meant taking a life or multiple lives. The modern versions have possibly been watered down for various reasons but there are more than enough usable techniques in any style if you look, study and experiment. I’ve found that slight variations in what I learned produce some very interesting results.
Hsing-I
Dealing with the Hsing-I I don’t know about other mantis styles, but 8 Step contains some Hsing-I in it, so I don’t think we’d be afraid of something we knew.
I have found mantis to be very effective. what it all really depends on it mindset. most people seem to be able to learn these systems and the one time they get in a fight, the adrenaline rush freezes them up. other people are either just naturally maniacal and can easily deal with the adrenal stress. i had been in a few fights (mostly unsucessful ones) prior to beginning my training. I came in with the slight advantage of not being afraid of being hit, or of having to hit so i picked up the fighting aspects pretty quickly. as far as the mantis vs hsing i, i have never heard it and i really dont understand the reasoning. ive seen hsing i, and i really cant see how its that much different that a mantis practicioner couldnt use their system against.
–Jared–
The journey of 1000 miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.
Adam Hsu and the Hsing I myth
I think Adam Hsu dispells that myth in his Sword Polishers Record. Been a while since I’ve read it, but he’s so down to earth about kung fu, I’m fairly certain that’s in there.
Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.
interesting theory…
An attack that Mantis cannot handle..mm, soo much of this is dependent on the practitioner that i find it hard to believe that any art would have an attack that cannot be blocked…they are all good styles. My instructor for example teaches us bujinkan taijutsu..he has however attained teaching levels in chinese arts and two diff systems of karate..From time to time he’ll throw in some CLF or wing chun, and I’m sure HE can make it work against attacks or tactics in our system that are deemed “unstoppable” (all styles have these, as much a product of tradition i imagine as they are effectiveness)..it all comes down to EDUCATION. Once you know what the attack is, i doubt the Hsing-I practioner will really fool the mantis practitioner who is at his level..if they are both knowledgeable..it comes down to who makes the better decision, and who recovers quicker from their mistakes
Michael Panzerotti
Taijutsu Nobody from the Great White North..
Fought off 50 Koreans injuring most, eh? You don’t actually believe that, do you?
who cares what you believe.
Don’t believe it. It was in the Korean Newspapers and he had to leave the country via personal connections. Remember that these weren’t martial artist he was fighting and he was a Grandmaster of 8 Step Praying Mantis and Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan.
8Step Sifu
Ithink 8stepsifu watches to many kung fu movies
whatever
First of all it’s not like he’s the only kung fu master to do something like this and second of all I don’t care if you believe it or not. It doesn’t matter in the slightest to me.
8Step Sifu
It’s true
It’s true. You guys are just too skeptical and like 8StepSifu said he’s not the only one to do this. Perhaps you’ve heard of Wong Fei Hung. He did something similar too. Maybe you should read more and YOU should watch less movies.
Grandmaster or not, one individual wouldn’t stand a chance (even more ridiculous when one brags that there were weapons involved). Heck, give him a gun and he’d still lose against 50 people.
Let’s give you an opportunity to defend this propagandist claim…just provide evidence of the newspaper article. That shouldn’t be so difficult, eh?
As for Wong Fei Hong…hahahahahaha. You guys have a real good sense of humor.
[This message was edited by kenpoman on 11-01-00 at 05:43 PM.]
Korea at the turn of the century
I doubt many of them weighed over 100 lbs and none of them had any skill. Then this guy hurricanes through leaving people on the ground with one hit knock outs or worse, tossing people into each other, their gonna scatter. He didn’t beat them all up, he drove them off.
8Step Sifu
about effectiveness
Even I can manage 50 stupid people but 50 stupid people with guns, don’t think so.
Any normal crowd of 50 people trying to beat you up is going to make it. You can’t fight off a crowd like that without a weapon. A stick at least. When they are close enough to hit you there will be like 8-16 hands and the same amount of feet coming at you in turns. Try fighting off 16 hands coming withing a couple of seconds…
Bottom line, most of these stories are exaggerated. You can escape 50 people but you can’t beat them.
<font color = “#000033”> [b]D[b]reamer</font>
Not the only one…
You are correct in saying these stories are likely to be eggagerated, however nowhere in the story did I see any mention of guns being involved.
Grandmaster Chiu Chuk-Kai similarly defended one of his students who was being assaulted by a mob in Macau. He along with his #1 disciple, went down to the square, standing back to back fended off (I have heard versions ranging from 50 to 100 individuals)likely between 20-40 angry individuals. He was dressed in his long shirt of a Chinese gentleman and carried with him only an umbrella.
Grand Master Chiu held these men at bay until the authorities arrived at which point he simply blended into the crowd of onlookers due to his dress, and vanished. It wasnt until sometime later that the law figured out what had happened.
Master Chiu did not kill a soul, and many of these people returned asking him to teach them.
Supposing this was the case, it is not impossible to imagine this as fact. The style’s positioning and footwork prevent one from being attacked by any more than eight individuals at a time (so I have been told) and with his trusted student to watch his back, it isnt so hard to envision grandmaster Chiu laying people out like falling Trees, one technique, one attacker out cold. In his late eighties and up to his death in 1991 the man could impale- while wakened by advanced digestive cancer- a solid wooden door with a rope dart.
I dont find the story difficult to swallow, and skepticism by western thinkers should be expected. Had I not seen the things I have of my Sifu, I would likely shrug it off too. But if the individuals were untrained, what chance do they have against a grandmaster who was reputed to have never lost a challange… even though people thought he was an opium addict because he was so thin…
But lets face it, whether it is three people or thirty attacking you it really doesnt matter to me. Any more than one or two is far too many for me… heck I dont even want to fight ONE person 
!!!
Anyway my two cents…
Namaste
The article stated that he injured most and killed four…and that the crowd had weapons of ‘all sorts’. We can’t downplay the story with him simply holding back the crowd when the point of the article is to promote the fierce effectiveness of mantis “injuring most and killing 4.” The remark about guns was hypothetical (in that even if he had a gun he would still lose against 50)
It also mentions the actions of the Korean government, which was actually the Japanese government between 1905-1945 (1905-1910 protectorate 1910-1945 occupation). There are 2 points that don’t sit well with me regarding this. First is that people blindly believe such absurdity without question or use of common sense. Second is that the claim is said to be a famous story printed in newspapers, etc., yet no documentation seems to exist today.