Xingyi versus Real World Violence -- Taking Down a Violent Suspect

xingyi self-defense xingyiquan Jan 25, 2009

Don't tell the MMA guys this, or the guys who say what you study in martial arts classes don't prepare you for "real life" violence. We don't want to disappoint them.

One of my students is a police officer. I ran into him today and he was excited about his success using Pi Chuan -- one of the five fist postures of Hsing-I Chuan -- to capture a violent man recently. I'm not including all the names, locations and dates to protect identities.

According to the officer (my student), the suspect had his fists up, daring the officer and his partner to cross the room and get him. He was ready to fight. This wasn't the first time he had been in trouble with the law. The officer took out his taser. The man laughed and said, "Go ahead and use it."

The officer loaded his stance, then suddenly exploded forward, taking ground as we had practiced so often in class, and took the suspect down with splitting palm. He told me he kept his energy down and focused on taking his opponent's ground, exploding across the room without warning.

This officer was a student for about two years, practicing Tai Chi and Hsing-I. He especially loved Hsing-I (he's one of the students in the Hsing-I Fighting Applications DVD). He stopped coming to classes after he became an officer, but he still practices the fist postures, forms, and fighting applications every day. After he and his partner had handcuffed the suspect, the suspect looked up at the officer and said, "Who took me down? Man, that was awesome! That was really fast!"

It's nice when even a violent person that you've just busted compliments your technique.

When I read books that pretty much say that classroom training doesn't work, I know that I'm just reading one person's opinion. There are a lot of different types of classrooms and a lot of different types of training going on in martial arts classes. It's not accurate to paint everything with a broad brush. Likewise, as much as I appreciate all these varying opinions and enjoy reading the viewpoints of others, the fact is this: good training and frequent practice develops skills that work in the real world.

In China, Hsing-I is said to have been used by soldiers on the battlefield, but it gained the most fame when it was used by bodyguards in later years. Their Hsing-I was good enough to fend off bandits, and their skills and art became highly respected.

We're doing the same now in America, but in a different way.

This isn't the first time the officer has used the techniques we practiced in class on the street against violent criminals. He's a really nice guy, and tries most often to avoid violence at all costs. But as a police officer, he knows that sooner or later, he'll run into someone who's ready to rumble. So he practices Hsing-I -- what some uninformed people call a "soft art" -- because he knows what works in the real world isn't just found inside a cage match.

--by Ken Gullette

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Xingyi versus Real World Violence -- Taking Down a Violent Suspect

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