Whether it be Muay Thai, Karate, Tae Kwon Do or Boxing I think San Shou is a great sport to train in if you are primarily a stand up fighter. This is because it trains all the primary aspects of stand up fighting, punching, kicking and grappling, but most importantly, grappling. The fact is, even if most of us strikers cross train in Jiu Jitsu, we will never be as good at it as someone who spends most of his time on the ground. San Shou on the other hand teaches you not only how to defend against sweeps and take downs, but also teaches you how to execute throws that send your opponent to the ground very hard while you remain standing. This puts your opponent in disadvantaged position because he can’t pull you into the guard if you don’t go down with him.
Of course, you still need to learn the basics of ground fighting, because the chances are your throw will not be perfect and you will go to the ground sometimes. But San Shou training will help you stay on you feet longer and increase your chances of getting a knockout with the tools you know best, strikes.
So, in my opinion, San Shou is a great training tool for those who prefer to stand up fight.
I get a little frustrated at times when I hear people say that San Da/San Shou is just kickboxing. Muay Thai, Kickboxing and San Da are quite different from one another. In the Muay Thai clinch, the fighters are close together to defend against knees. In San Shou, the fighters lower their center of gravity and keep their hips apart to prevent throws. In Muay Thai, the two primary kicks are the front push and the roundhouse. The strongest kick in San Shou is the side kick. San Shou of course has trapping, sweeping and throwing techniques that have been developed to a high degree; Muay Thai has very little grappling by comparison. San Da may not look like Wing Chun, but it is still kung fu. Many of the earliest San Da trainers were actually Choy Li Fut stylists. This is no surprise to me since one of the guys at our school has faught in China and noticed that they used Choy Li Fut style hooks.
Does sanshou have ground fighting in it? or once they take you to the ground the ref calls you to stop?
San Shou has all aspects of fighting except for submission (you have gloves on) and ground fighting. San Shou has a lot of grappling, but the theory behind it is the exact opposite of styles like Jiu Jitsu. Instead of trying to go to the ground when throwing your opponent, the goal is to throw the opponent down without going with him, in this way you remain standing while he is stunned on the ground. This retains the Chinese flavor of the art and makes it more entertaining to the spectators. This is what (in my opinion) makes it a great sport for stand up stylists, because you learn to not only defend against take downs and stay on your feet, you also learn to counter with your own throws that keep you standing. One could agrue that this is a more practical theory of fighting when it comes to fighting more than one enemy as well.
go here if you want to see what it looks like. check out the video clips http://cungle.com/
Originally posted by stubbs im starting san shou next month. can’t wait!! its about time i got myself into competitions to see what it feels like to get hit!
Cool stubbs! Where are you going to train and how much are you going to weigh? You may end up as my next fight!
So far our experience fighting Muay Thai (8-0) is this:
They round kick hard (no surprise)
They can take punishment (again no surprise)
Easy to hit.
Can’t defend straight techniques well.
Look at sidekicks like it is a linear algebra problem.
Muay Thai has developed the myth of being the ultimate stand up style because the fighters for the most part are in shape and pound the crap out of each other toe to toe. We tell our fighters not to go toe to toe with them move and hit at range. use straight techniques to beat their round kicks and hooks. They clench to knee grab their waist in a bear hug and pick them up, no leverage, no power in the knee.
Muay Thai fighters are tough as hell but just try to beat them not beat them up. It is not in the muay thai mentality to move and hit.
Basically you can beat muay thai under muay thai rules by not fighting muay thai style.
But for the record if someone walks into our school and wants to train the answer I always want to hear to the question “do you have any previous training?” is always “some muay thai” first “I wrestled in high school” second and “some boxing” third.
Look at sidekicks like it is a linear algebra problem.
LMAO!
Wing Chun stylists may have never beaten Muay Thai in the ring, but there are quite a few Choy Li Fut, Praying Mantis and a few (old style) Shoalin guys like Deru who have never been defeated by Thai Boxers.
I also remember reading that when San Shou was first being formed as a sport, many of the coaches and trainers were Choy Li Fut masters.
Muay Thai is more effective than other forms of kixkboxing because the style not the man is better.
tell that to Cung Le or Shawn Liu, I can get their numbers for you.
oh, and the Shawn Liu stroking is making it hard to type, shaking with laughter…
LOL, yeah I should probably stop that, I’ve probably mentioned the guy 10 times already on this forum LOL. I just hear alot about him at my school becuase some of the guys I know trained with him, and he is usually the only traiditional shao lin stylist I can think of that has a history of being an undefeated full contact fighter.
Originally posted by Sim Koning
he is usually the only traiditional shao lin stylist I can think of that has a history of being an undefeated full contact fighter.
Duncan Duffin, he went to the Shao Lin Temple with him a while back. His picture is in Kung Fu magazine July/Aug 2004 issue, page 25. He is the guy crouched in the very middle with a white shirt on.
here is a clip of one of his fights from our school’s website.
