General Martial Arts Myths

  1. A person can shoot chi balls through sheets.

    Throughout the years there have been many martial artists that have claimed to be able to shoot chi balls (energy balls) through various objects with the most common claim being the bed sheet. The concept of chi strike is not being discredited or disputed here. We are saying that it is not possible to throw a sphere of energy across the room.

  2. The obi (sash) is not a part of traditional Japanese attire.

    Many people believe that the karate belt is the more traditional attire of the Japanese culture. In fact the sash is the original "belt" that was worn with the kimono. The karate belt did not come into existence until 1888 when it was adapted by the judo systems. Prior to that date the sash was a part of the traditional uniform.

  3. It is impossible to break boards without spacers.

    Boards can be broken without spacers. Many systems use spacers to allow more boards to be broken. When using spacers it is impossible to simultaneously break all the boards at once. Instead, each board is broken one at a time. When breaking boards with no spacers the individual must actually break all the boards simultaneously with no assistance from the top boards.

  4. Practicing techniques quickly makes you a weaker fighter.

    No it does not. When you practice the move methodically, your muscles "memorize" the movement and flow, and therefore you can perform the technique without thinking about it. Adrenaline will cause you to perform the action more quickly. However, after you have perfected the flow and embedded the technique into muscle memory, if you increase the speed, you will find that eventually, your adrenalized technique is even faster. So the first priority is correctness of technique and the second priority is speed. If one of these priorities is not practiced, the technique has a greater probability of being ineffective in a real life situation.

  5. There are unbeatable fighting techniques.

    No. Regardless of what anyone tells you, there is no such thing as an unbeatable technique. There is always a technique that will counter their "unbeatable" technique. There are also counters to every counter, meaning that every skilled fight is also a battle of wits. Whoever can think of counters faster will be the winner, and the one who doesn’t think of the counters quickly enough will loose.

  6. A person can learn to spar/fight by only training in kata.

    Not true. there is no substitute for actual hands on sparring, kata are designed to teach student the concept of how to connect the different variations of strike combination with their foot work while keeping grace, balance, and fluidity.

  7. Some styles say that their techniques are too dangerous to practice by sparring.

    It is not true that certain techniques are too dangerous to practice in sparring, any technique can be practiced in the sparring ring. The ability to practice advanced or deadly techniques requires the instructor or the student learning the technique to:

    1. Have a full understanding of the technique
    2. Have practiced the technique out of the sparring ring to have control
    3. Both the instructor and the student to not be egotistical and be ready to admit defeat when the technique is performed, that way the placement for the technique is realized.

    For example, many know about neck breaking techniques. In sparring, once the opponent is placed in the initial position for the technique to be executed, the sparring match is over without a participant having to initiate the break.

  8. Breaking a staff over someone’s stomach is impossible without hurting them.

    It is possible and there are no parlor tricks involved. We use 6 foot long, pine dowel rods. To receive a brown sash, a student must have one broken over his/her stomach. To receive the rank of Kagebushi (5th grade black), a person must have 13 staves broken over his/her body in various locations during a kata. In actuality, if one uses proper breath control and muscle contractions at the time of impact, it doesn’t hurt much. However, if the student fears that the breaking will cause them pain, then it probably will, because the fear will cause them to lose breath control and/or not to properly contract the muscles. If anyone would like a demonstration of this, please feel free to come to the home office dojo in Cookeville, TN.

  9. The dim-mak requires the correct lunar and solar phases to be performed.

    Wrong. The dim-mak can be performed at will. The dim-mak is a transposing of force through an object (without damaging it) into another object (causing damage). This is most easily demonstrated by breaking boards or tiles (as seen in the videos below). Lunar cycles, time of day, temperature (except extreme freezing cold or melting heat), weather, air pressure, or anything else has nothing to do with the dim-mak.

    In this first video, the dim mak is demonstrated on wood.

    In this second video, the dim mak is demonstrated on ceramic tiles.

    For the more skeptical of you in the audience, here is another video.

    Just to head off some probable questions:
    • The first two videos are continuous shots. There are no cuts in the videos.
    • The outtakes video contains non-repeated, individual attempts to create the dim mak we were trying to show.
    • All of the materials broken were purchased at the local hardware store.
      • The wood was purchased as 10' 1"X12" white pine planks and cut into 12" boards.
      • The tiles were purchased at a discount due to "defects." They were sold in packs and as a result, some of the tiles were whole and some were completely broken. The tiles we used were either whole or had the corners chipped off during shipping. None of the broken tiles were used.

    If you have any other questions about these videos, email them to the fact or fantasy address.