hanby is that his name? big black guy w/ spiked srmbands and wong fei hung t shirt (?) was on discovery channel anyone see it? He did the thing where you bend a steel rod against your throat. We’ve all seen stuff like that before I’m guessing, but the scientist guys were quite baffled
Also, I used to do Hung Gar and always find myself doing the “trapping hands” move. What is the application/ point of this? Wher is the trapping. just curius
Re: hung gar guy on Discovery channel/ trapping hands
Originally posted by jun_erh
hanby is that his name? big black guy w/ spiked srmbands and wong fei hung t shirt (?)
You mean Sifu Donald Hamby?
http://www.quandoman.com/home.htm
Too bad, I missed the show. 
wm
yep i saw it, good stuff, i was impressed when the doctor was impressed.
they figured out rebard(Sp?) would puncture the soft skin on the neck at 40 pounds of pressure, well sifu hamby spiked at 165 pounds of pressure and sustained 60 pounds.
good stuff…
I’ve met Sifu Hamby a couple of times. He is one big dude. Around 6’4" tall and built. He used to be boxer before discovering kung fu. Really nice guy. He used to be the sparring partner of my old Hung Ga Sifu.
As to the rebar thing I’m not sure. I’m always a bit skeptical about these kinds of “tricks.”
i tend to be skeptical as well about stuff like that. but they did it controlled, established what could puncture the skin, then sifu hamby went far beyond that limit.
i think sifu hamby was in some kwoon.com episodes as well
[b]Sifu Hamby’s kung fu is first rate and many in the Hung Gar community owe him a debt of gratitude for his work in the community and willingness to share information and connections. His knowledge, experience and promotion of Hung Gar have garnerd him much respect.
I have been more than lucky to find myself in his larger kung fu family.[/b]
Still, this same feat was performed on MTV’s Road Rules as a challenge to the participants.
From http://www.mtv.com/onair/roadrules/season12/episode.jhtml?id=16
"Jeremy, Mary Beth and Dave are chosen as the instructors and must learn about old Polynesian rituals based on trust while the others wait and wonder about the mission. These rituals include “the challenge of steel. The “challenge of steel” involves bending a steel rod with their throat. Mary Beth goes first and while she’s a bit nervous, she is able to bend the steel rod with the instructor and she is blown away by their amazing feat.”
If you have Real Player, check out the video clips.
the vids i have seen of sifu hamby have been very good.
but for the sake of argument, the steel in that mtv episdoe(good to see you keep up with mtv 'cause i dont haha) looked a little thin, as well they had there hands around the ends which could absord some force.
the discovery channel peeps 1st figuerd out what it takes to puncture the human skin in that area, which the skin broke at a peak of 40 pounds. sifu hamby reached a peak of 165 lbs and and a steady 60 lbs. dunno how he did it 
i like hei gung, but i alot of demo’s of it are tricks no doubt, the truth of it is not in demos but in fighting. imo anyways 
now off to apply jow 
Make no mistake…
[b]…about my intentions!
I respect and admire Sifu Hamby’s kung fu and promotional efforts. Nothing my feeble observations can say will detract from his long years of training and many accomplishments in Hung Gar.
His performance garners interest in kung fu and by wearing the Lam Sai Wing shirt he promotes his awesome Hung Gar heritage.
If only more people like him could get on TV! [/b]
So, also just for the sake of argument…
the steel in that mtv episdoe(good to see you keep up with mtv 'cause i dont haha) looked a little thin, as well they had there hands around the ends which could absord some force.
the discovery channel peeps 1st figuerd out what it takes to puncture the human skin in that area, which the skin broke at a peak of 40 pounds. sifu hamby reached a peak of 165 lbs and and a steady 60 lbs.
It stands to reason that an inexperienced 5-foot-something, 150lbs, 20-something kid would use thinner bars. As for their hands, that was to ‘ensure’ it stayed on the soft part, right? I have no doubt that Sifu Hamby applied over 165lbs, but I would like to ask Penn & Teller how its done. [;)]
CT
Chi-Kung-shmee-gung, puncture-shmuncture! This is the oldest trick in the book, I’ve been doing this with spears, arrows, kitchen knives since I was 18. (picture me at 18, drunk and breaking yer mom’s kitchen knife at a house party-what a maroon!)
The object of choice is placed on the throat-at the supersternal notch-the top of your sternum. The person applies DOWNWARD pressure at the other end and is simply bending the bar, or whathaveyou against it. You can also bend it upwards, but its a little trickier. Rebar is real strong and thick, but it was also a pretty long piece. Do it with a two foot length and push with your palm at the end-shove it foward. You will perform a trachiotomy (sp?) on the Master. No offense to anyone who does this trick,we all like to promote the martial arts, but don’t tell me it’s real.
Same goes with the bed of nails. Show me a guy who can lie down on just ONE nail, Then I’ll be impressed. Sorry to burst yer bubbles.
I haven’t seen somebody lie on ONE nail but I have seen:
burning coal on a guys’ tongue right in front of me without damaging
eating glass and broken lightbulb shards without damage
running through a dozen panes of glass without sustaining a cut
hot boiling oil being poured on shirtless men without any skin damage
breaking a solid GRANITE slab the size of a computer desk with a head without damage (and no no spacers :))
bending those pipes you use in underground in roads with bare hands
stabbing a guy and slicing without skin damage
etc
but lying one one nail I have yet to see…
ten tigers is right. Its a pretty easy trick to do. There is a book on the market called the skills of the vagabond and behind the incredible… it expose some of these myths.
No doubt, it takes some skill, but that’s mostly all it does (like juggling).
I don’t know the sifu you are talking about, so no disrespect intended
of course it is nothing mystical, i never said it was.
“it takes some skill”
hmm chi kung is skill no?
hei gung really isnt for show, my teacher always talks about the “tricks” behind demos souding like ten tigers(only in cantonese-english) and what not. but yet he still teachers chi kung. hmmm…
and thats all for me
have fun
tricks are tricks, chi gung is chi gung…
Off course, chi gung has its benefits, but tricks are tricks. See it for what it is. Your master doesn’t train chi gung to show of party tricks does he? Your master doesn’t train chi gung to show of party tricks does he?
I’m not knocking people who does kung fu tricks, but its nothing different to David Blain’s (dunno of it is the right spelling) tricks or just about any other circus act.
True show of chi gung isn’t in fancy party tricks.
tricky ness
no party trick training here
see my post above
i like hei gung, but i alot of demo’s of it are tricks no doubt, the truth of it is not in demos but in fighting.
see we agree after all
I think that it takes a good deal of skill of pull of these tricks, lot’s of practice and time and effort perfecting the skills of the trick, so that would be…kung fu?
Anyway, the real downside of such tricks is that for those who are uninitiated, i.e. the regular civies who do not do KF, that is ALL they associate chi kung with. They don’t quite get the subtleties and think that if you do Chi Kung you become Neo.
Same reason why Wushu-fied Hollywood-fu is bad - leads to unrealistic expectations of fighting and martial arts.
Originally posted by EmptyCup
[B]I haven’t seen somebody lie on ONE nail but I have seen:
[/B]
I think this has something to do with the heat transitivity of coal.
First let me clarify; Sifu Hamby is to be applauded. He has done so much for our art, through articles, books, and his appearance on TV-he is to be commended. I also realise that this is another way to promote Gung-Fu to the general public.
Case in point: I just came back from the Beacon Theatre where the Shaolin Warriors show was playing-same show as Wheel of Life. They did all the Ch’i-gung circus acts. They even broke metal bars over their heads-(pot metal, which is cast, is brittle and will break, also if it is over tempered. The bars broke into several pieces=probably would have shattered if dropped), the bowl on the stomach trick-still working on it, but it’s basically suction caused by abdominal contraction-(ever get two cups stuck while washing dishes?) and holding the kid up on 5 spearpoints-variation on the bed of nails-which they also did.
The audience was absolurely enthralled! They cheered, oohh’d and aaahhh’d.
The forms were basic wu-shu and gymnastics, nothing spectacular(what was up with the guy upside down serving imaginary food with a three sectioned staff? Huh?) I’ve seen the Beijing National Team-with Jet Lei, and Yu Shao-Wen-they were much better than these so-called Monks. The Nan Chuan was atrocious-poor connection, sloppy, just plain garbage. But the crowd LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
So, I suppose it will promote interest in Gung-Fu. I only hope that once they realise that all the showboat stuff is not Gung-Fu, that they don’t quit. Or, worse still-that charletans don’t teach this in class and promote it as the real deal.
In 17th century Holland, the entire economy was based on tulip bulbs. They were what would be today a petro-dollar or gold standard.
Then one day, someone looked at the tulip bulb and said “it’s just a flower bulb” The dutch economy collapsed and receded for 25 years following that.
What does this teach us about what we see and are told as compared to what we actually “know” in our hearts and minds?
Having said that, I will add, Chi Kung has little to do with parlour tricks, but if you never demonstrated anything that was even mildly impressive to the uninitiated, then the art would have been lost long ago.
It is unfortunate that some people focus only on the bull s h i t aspects of chinese martial arts, unfortunate indeed, but frankly in the big scheme of things, if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance because they are not wise enough to understand it, then baffle then with bull s h i t and they will begin.
eventually they will come to understand on their own what is and what is not.
anyone who has been in a structured discipline for let’s say roughly 5 years will likely share the opinion that your views will drastically change as your skill and knowledge develop. Skill and knowledge acquirement washes away assumption, presumption and the doe eyed looks of dazed boys and girls.
cheers
^^^Nice post KL. A more recent example of the same phenomenon is the IT bubble. I think a lot of people actually start martial arts with these parlour tricks in mind.. and it takes them some time to realise the true value of what they’re learning (well either that or they quit when they realise they don’t learn how to break bits of iron on their heads).
well if the iron is not aneeled and is untempered then it is brittle and you can just snap that slag to bits over your head or even over your knee, elbow whatever.
In other words, if you let me pick the iron bar/plate, i will be most impressed if you or anyone in this world can break it over their head
but if you bring your own ala uri geller, I will always doubt it
Chi Kung is literally “breath work” it breaks bad habits we accumulate through life and when incorporated into martial arts it actually streamlines our ability to train and to train properly.
There are of course side effect benefits to ones health from it’s practice. But it’s purpose has never been to perform all the parlour triacks and BS we see atht is called “chi kung” or “Hei Kung” etc etc. That is all and I mean ALL just a load and merely for entertaining people.
Now some peoples martial skills and conditioning can lead them to do some truly astonishing things there is absolutely no denying it, but to put it simply, practice makes perfect, and correct practice makes even more perfect!
It cheapens things far too much when emphasis is forced to be put on the outrageous merely because the viewer is a dullard looking for entertaining monkey boy tricks.
ridiculous really. but how are some of these guys to make their living otherwise if not fleecing the public with parlor tricks. I mean honestly, how many people do you know who are actually willing to do “real” kungfu training and what is entailed in that training?
Not many. For all you guys that have been in hard core training schools for more than 3 years, think about how many people have come and gone in only that short time? How many more will change in the deck by your fifth year? your 7th? your tenth? when will you leave? Because you have to eventually.
cheers