What do you guys think of this guy?

So... what do the experts 😬 on this forum think about this guy and his whole setup? Anyone actually sat through one of his videos or dug into his book?

http://www.energyarts.com/cms/index.php?id=53

I honestly can't say—I haven't actually come across any of his work yet!

I woke up a little while ago and the first thing I saw was this thread titled "What do you think about YOUR master?" 😁
I don't really have an opinion on this guy since he's a total stranger to me... You clearly know him pretty well, so it would be fair if you could drop a few words about him for us 😉

So, yeah... nothing much else to say. Same goes for all those other instructors I haven't actually met personally.
If you're really curious about how someone teaches, just go sign up for their classes and see for yourself.

I don't know much, but based on what this guy says about himself on his site, I’m feeling pretty skeptical. Then again, maybe I'm just being cynical and he actually has all this deep knowledge he's trying way too hard to hype up.

I'll try to dig up his rates; that might give me a better idea of what we're dealing with.

You really picked the perfect example with BKF 🙂

Watched videos of him and his main instructor—I’ve actually got some of his books. You can learn a ton from him, and those tricks he’s picked up over 40 years of training are insane (like, dodging a kidney shot... okay, I'm not even kidding)

People say he’s a legit fighter—even the guys who usually talk trash about him have to admit that part.

His books have some pretty solid theories on neuromuscular connection and kinesiological analysis of internal martial arts.

Now if you could just dig up John Painter and ask him about the guy...

ruggedfalcon2 said:woke up a bit ago and saw the thread title, "What do you think about YOUR master"😁
don't really have an opinion since I haven't heard of him before... you clearly know the guy well, so maybe it'd be cool if you shared some info on him here😉

Not a bad idea for a thread...
I guess he's one of the big ones out there. Would love to hear what Robin Palmer3 thinks about him.

Jonathan Johnson67 said:honestly, nothing much. same goes for any other masters I haven't personally met.
if you want the real scoop on someone, just go train with them.

Yeah, maybe a bit too far...

Eric Jackson43 said:I don't know much, but based on his website and how he talks about himself, I'm a little skeptical. Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe he actually has a ton of knowledge he should be promoting more to get the word out.

I'll try to dig up what he's charging; that might help me make up my mind.

He charges a ridiculous amount. Apparently, a two-day seminar is $200, maybe even more...

Jamie Fowler2 said:Man, you really picked a controversial figure to bring up here 🙂

I've watched him and his main instructor before, and I actually have some of his books. There's a lot to learn from him, honestly. Some of those tricks he's picked up over forty years of training are just insane (like dodging a kidney shot... okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit). It's just whenever he starts talking about his master, Bruce Lee, people start getting skeptical.

People say he's a solid fighter—even the guys who usually trash him admit that.

His books have some pretty cool theories on neuromuscular connections and kinesiological breakdowns of internal martial arts.

Now if you could just dig up John Painter and ask him about the guy...

I figured 😍
Jamie Fowler2 would chime in.
Is anyone even hating on him?
I'd really appreciate it if you could break down those theories for me; they're kind of hard to wrap my head around.
What does your Chinese contact say about him and his teacher?

And what do you think of these sites:
www.ironpalm.com

www.ymaa.com

www.taijiworld.com

George Martin70 said:The prices are insane—a two-day seminar is supposedly $200, maybe even more...

You think that’s expensive? 😕 In the States, an hour of private Wing Chun training with a well-known master runs about $150 to $200... it’s all just business... word is, someone like Leung Ting keeps his wallet pretty thick—he charges anyone who travels to Hong Kong to learn a specific technique directly, and he's always on his phone booking sessions 🤣 It's a great business model, and the Chinese really know how to play the game 😁

George Martin70 said:I knew Jamie Fowler2 would show up 😍
Is anyone actually hating on him?
I’d appreciate some actual detail on those theories of yours—they're too wordy for me to wrap my head around...
What does your Chinese contact think about him and his teacher?

What’s your take on these:

www.ironpalm.com

www.ymaa.com

www.taijiworld.com

Of course people are hating on him.

All those complicated theories you're talking about basically boil down to coordination and just putting in the work... 😬

My Chinese contact probably doesn't think much of him. But he should respect the teacher—the guy was a straight-up legend back in the day.

Got nothing to say about Lacy.

I dig the YMAA books because they gathered all the classic texts and put them in one spot—original Chinese, English translation, and interpretation. No clue about the training quality though.

Erle Montaigue can be a handful, and his Old Yang style is pretty controversial. He even put out one of those weird books (like dim mak Antigrappling or whatever it was called).

What else haven't you found out about Painter?

George Martin70 said:They’re charging an absolute fortune for this stuff—some two-day seminar is supposedly running $200, if not even more...

I guess it depends on what’s actually being put on the table when you look at the options available in the States.

ruggedfalcon2 said:You think that's steep? In the States, you'll drop like $150 or $200 just for an hour of private Wing Chun training with some big-name master... at the end of the day, it's all just business.

So, based on everything you’ve been saying, it sounds like all these Wing Chun masters are just straight-up materialistic cowards, more interested in seeing who can scam the most people and squeeze out the biggest paycheck by peddling the shittiest techniques they can find. 😉

Eric Jackson43 said:Based on what you’ve been saying, it sounds like all these Wing Chun masters are just materialistic cowards competing to see who can scam more people out of their cash while peddling broken techniques. 😉

I think you might have a point there... I wouldn't go so far as to say they're intentionally setting out to defraud people, but when it comes down to it, most of them are definitely driven by the almighty dollar. As for the whole "selling bad technique" issue, you really have two distinct groups here:
1) The ones who actually know their stuff but won't just hand it over to some random guy you made up—some Joe Schmoe expecting a Chinese master to just happily pass down ancient secrets to him on a silver platter. You have to remember that until the mid-1950s, Wing Chun was mostly kept strictly within families... and specifically among Chinese practitioners. Ip Man was the first one to really present Wing Chun to the public, but even then, he wasn't looking to teach Americans; he wanted to teach Chinese students. Even Bruce Lee faced pushback from Ip Man because he wasn't fully Chinese himself...
2) The ones who don't know anything at all and just spend their time teaching nonsense and garbage.

So how are you actually supposed to learn some decent Wing Chun then?
From the looks of this, it feels like every instructor out there is just looking to bleed you dry without teaching you anything worth knowing.

Jonathan Johnson67 said:-So how are you actually supposed to learn decent Wing Chun then?
-Based on this, it sounds like every instructor is just going to take a massive pile of cash without teaching you anything useful.

-It's tough...
-That’s just my take on it, anyway...

George Martin70 said:This isn't a bad suggestion for the topic...
I honestly think it’s one of the biggest ones out there—would love to hear what Robin Palmer3 thinks about it.

Did I lose my mind trying to figure out what that little guy is even training?😲 🤣

Honestly, I don't get Che gnom—how can you actually train and defend a martial art that seems designed just to drain your bank account while hiding everything that actually matters from you? 😕 😕 😕

Jonathan Johnson67 said:So, how can you actually learn some decent Wing Chun then?

Honestly? You can't.
It just doesn't exist.
It’s basically just a sales pitch people use to peddle it around here.

I mean, think about it—isn't it kind of weird that you've been hearing these fairy tales for months now, yet you haven't seen or heard anything remotely concrete?
You probably won't.

If we're talking about Wing Chun, the absolute best anyone from that so-called "real" industry has ever shown is just your typical video for those bad fantasy martial arts—you know, some older Asian guy in a white gi doing some move that looks like a useless kata, just against a "live" sparring partner.

- Stipe -

ruggedfalcon2 said:-tough luck
-that's just how I see things...

if you already know all that, why even bother training Wing Chun?
PS. this goes out to all the Wing Chun practitioners out there...