Choy Lay Fut - Fighting Techniques

[bviru_xin]

Thanks

[GrahamB]

Like.

[Finny]

Yeah, don't like, sorry

it's everything that drove me away from clf - the only reason the sifu looks so skilled is because he's demonstrating on students who stand frozen, and offer zero genuine attacks or responses.

I'd be curious to see him try his gwa sao on someone who is actually trying to hit him too

[Baguaplayer]

Not impressed.

All the techniques are done with no penetration into the opponent or his structure. As long as that is going on, you are in a slap boxing match with your opponent.

[Azer]

Yeah, I don't really get it. These looping strikes look like they would be slow and telegraphed as well as leaving massive gaps for an opponent to exploit. I have heard that this style is supposed to heavily condition the forearms to be used as a battering ram, but I don't see how such obvious movement can be effective particularly against someone who understands range and timing.

[GrahamB]

Generally CLF uses circular whiping type attacks mixed with straight stabs - the circular strikes aren't about penetrating really, there more about 'taking your head off', and I'd say the stabbing attacks are more 'in and out' (like a jab) than deep punches. It's a feature of the style *shrug* I can tell you from experience that being hit in the face with the leopard fist isn't a nice experience - you don't need that much penetration when it's a hard knuckle going into your throat or eye or lips...

There are plenty of videos of CLF being used in challenge matches "gong sau" and comps, and generally it's one of the few Chinese martial arts that retains its character when actually used.

Some Gong sau around 2.20 mark onwards against Tang Soo Do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLG1yyLZvQA

I think my favourite one is this guy, who I think is a Mantis guy, who gets absolutely plastered by the CLF dude around the 1 minute mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxv6Pl_IuW8

[Azer]

I've spoken to some Buk Sing guys before on another forum, I think they tend to differentiate themselves away from the other CLF groups. If I recall correctly their founder broke away from the main CLF style after some major disagreement/fisticuffs and as a result their curriculum is less traditional and more fight orientated. I'm not sure that CLF and Buk Sing CLF are really the same thing.

[Finny]

They are - the founder of bak sing, Tam Sam, exchanged students with ku yu cheung, so there are some buk sil lum forms in the curriculum. There is a greater focus on the charp choi (leopard fist Graham was talking about) - apparently lin warn charp choi was his signature technique. There seems to be a constant reminder that buk sing is more 'fighty' than the others, but I don't really see it myself.

Buk Sing has fewer forms than hung sing clf, but they are essentially the same.

[Finny]

There are plenty of videos of CLF being used in challenge matches "gong sau" and comps, and generally it's one of the few Chinese martial arts that retains its character when actually used.

I think my favourite one is this guy, who I think is a Mantis guy, who gets absolutely plastered by the CLF dude around the 1 minute mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxv6Pl_IuW8

Do you think Shane is using clf in that fight? To me he looks like an average muay thai guy beating a kid half his size - not to disrespect, I know he did/does muay thai too, but I don't see any clf, and I don't see anything particularly impressive

That's the line of bak sing I trained in for a couple of years

[GrahamB]

From my experience every teacher in clf does it slightly differently, so clf is essentially all the same but all different. Kind of like tai chi.

Finny - I think it was the original fight that was better than that one - I can't trawl through all their clips to find it, but there were more recognizable techniques in the original.

[Andy_S]

Liked it.

Nice technique demo or who this style applies: bridge, entry, forward pressure, big damned swinging strike to take his head off. And - like the MT fighters' shin - if the forearm is hardened, you don't have to worry about blocks, you just strike through like a baseball bat.

When I did Mantis, there were some of the these strikes, though in Mantis, they tended to be predicated on first grabbing the opponent's lead arm before smashing down and through, rather than swinging away from out of range.

CLF was (is?) one of the few styles in HK that had a real rep for leitai fighting in the 1980s: The others were Monkey and (Cheng Tin-hung) Taiji. My late Mantis teacher was good mates with a CLF teacher in HK who was heavily involved in the gangs, due to his successful fighting activities.

Not my bag, though.

[Bao]

Not impressed.
All the techniques are done with no penetration into the opponent or his structure. As long as that is going on, you are in a slap boxing match with your opponent.

That's an interesting comment. If he did that, it would look very different. He would have to compromise the distance and reach. IMHO, he might want to show a somewhat pure expression of the style and make examples of techniques and combos from form and drills practice. Then it should look slightly artificial.

Or whatever, it doesn't matter. But I thought he had clear, coordinated movement and that it looks like he knows what he is doing. I enjoyed the demo.

[Baguaplayer]

Or whatever, it doesn't matter. But I thought he had clear, coordinated movement and that it looks like he knows what he is doing. I enjoyed the demo.

No question. The man has considerable size and skill and his arms had an eerie resemblence to two bats moving smoothly through the air.

My dislike was when he would get every thing going,, smash the guard and then stop and be toe to toe with the smaller guy and continue to exchange blows. Are you telling me with his size, skill and power he wouldn't and shouldn't just smash through his opponent. I kept waiting for him to do it just once and I never saw it. I didn't watch every second of every clip but I kept looking for it.

Maybe it's a difference of styles, but I doubt it. He should be blowing the doors straight through that guy, instead, he's on the outside, front toe to front toe time and again. At least that's what I saw. Maybe I should watch again??