AGangstaMonk
White Belt
Alot of Grandmasters smoked. Do you guys think it makes your kung fu worse? Or do you think it doesn’t matter and your kung fu skills is what matters?
Smoking in Kung Fu
- Thread starter AGangstaMonk
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We know smoking is bad for general health, especially for the pulmonary system. So, yeah, it's bad for any fighting style.
In the past, people did things differently, largely because of what they didn't know.
In the past, people did things differently, largely because of what they didn't know.
jobo
Grandmaster
well it doesn't make it better, at least it doesn't make their physical condition better, if it helps psychologically is harder to define, there is a case that some people have a phycological disposition towards smoking and if they weren't doing that they would be doing something else equally bad or worse at least as far as conditioning goes,
not many youngsters smoke these days, however there is an epidemic of energy drink abuse, loading your self with caffeine and sugar doesn't strike me as a good idea either, they only seem to imbibe tobacco in order to get their cannabis down, which they need to off set the effects of the energy drinks
a strange amount of top class athletes seem to smoke, this is certainly true of soccer players, rugby players and cricketers, perhaps less true of disciplines which are entirely cardio based, hard to say those that do tend to try and hide it. in order to be a good role model.
they also seem to involve themselves with alcohol and various recreational drugs which also don't help performance
non of this seems to mean they cant be top class athletes so the main question would be, would they be better if they didn't ? don't know, no data
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D
Deleted member 39746
Guest
Until you devolope something i dont think it matters much. It also dpeends how much you smoke and how. I would analyse this the same i would athleticism with the same sliders.
Would not advise it if you dont want anything connected with smoking or you want to live longer or are concerned about longentivity though. It might be the last nail in your coffin for fighting ability though edventually.
Would not advise it if you dont want anything connected with smoking or you want to live longer or are concerned about longentivity though. It might be the last nail in your coffin for fighting ability though edventually.
Smoking is a cultural behavior from the past and a lot of people in every country used to smoke a lot. It used to be norm.
It was the acceptable thing to do and seeing kids smoke wasn't a big deal. The idea that "Smoking makes you look cool or refined" was a good marketing idea that has been around for centuries.
Fewer people smoke now because people are more educated about the effects that smoking has on the body. As to , will smoking make your kung fu worse? Yep, easily. Kung Fu systems are usually very mobile, so if you can't breath because your lungs aren't working efficiently then you'll have a difficult time.
My wife used to smoke. Kung Fu killed that bad habit. She couldn't do both. Smoking made doing kung fu a miserable activity as she struggled to breath during the exercises. there were 4 students in my old school who smoked. 3 of them stopped smoking 1 kept smoking and it was easily to see how much better Kung Fu gets when you don't smoke. 3 got better at moving around where the 1 smoking person moved around like a wounded animal.
After thinking about how big smoking was.
Maybe all of the Great Kung Fu masters and legends were great because they didn't smoke. Maybe all of the people they fought against were people who smoked. If a typical healthy person without training struggles with 30 seconds of fighting. Then a typical smoker who was trained would last about the same time and one that didn't train would last even less.
If we could choose disadvantages for our opponents, then smoking would be a big one.
Maybe all of the Great Kung Fu masters and legends were great because they didn't smoke. Maybe all of the people they fought against were people who smoked. If a typical healthy person without training struggles with 30 seconds of fighting. Then a typical smoker who was trained would last about the same time and one that didn't train would last even less.
If we could choose disadvantages for our opponents, then smoking would be a big one.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I think someday I will chain-smoke my way through the Boston Marathon. Just because.
ha ha ha.. I'll be there to cheer you on with oxygen tanks at the 2 mile mark.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I probably ought to carry a bucket as well. To collect my vomit.
Is breathing important?
And the suggestion that it 'doesn't matter until you develop something' is asinine. Smoking will damage your lungs and affect your breathing LONG before you are actually diagnosed with any of the many diseases you're inviting. In short, Rat doesn't really know anything about martial arts (because of a lack of actual training) or medicine (for the same reason, combined with a lack of common sense), so it would be a bad idea to take advice from them.
And the suggestion that it 'doesn't matter until you develop something' is asinine. Smoking will damage your lungs and affect your breathing LONG before you are actually diagnosed with any of the many diseases you're inviting. In short, Rat doesn't really know anything about martial arts (because of a lack of actual training) or medicine (for the same reason, combined with a lack of common sense), so it would be a bad idea to take advice from them.
It will be too late when you have developed something. The pleasure of smoking cannot replace the joy of having clean air to go through your lung. Your lung is too important to be destroyed.
The day that you have lung cancer, and your doctor tells you that you only have 6 months to live, you will regret that you had your first cigarette.
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MetalBoar
Black Belt
My Hapkido instructor used to smoke and quit shortly after he moved the the US. When asked why he started and why he stopped he said everyone in the Korean army smoked and that no one told you it was unhealthy. He moved to the US and there was info everywhere about how unhealthy it was so he stopped. This was all decades ago and not that long before he moved here it was being advertised as perfectly healthy in the US too. Even years after he had quit he was still angry that everyone of his generation had been lied to about it.
jobo
Grandmaster
that seems a better reason to avoid doctors than not smoke
Graywalker
Brown Belt
Everything you consume, can have a negative effect, if you overindulge in whatever you consume....so yes, as with anything else you can eat, drink, smoke, shoot... overindulge and it will produce negative effects.
I would be mad too, especially when companies were well aware of the danger and lied about it anyway.
?
The earlier that your doctor can find your problem, the better chance that your problem can be cured.
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Almost everyone everyone in China smoked if you go back far enough, and a lot of them still smoke in China. But then look at the 40s and 50s and even into the 60s in the USA and Europe, virtually everyone smoked then too.
A few random thoughts on smoking and martial arts:
Young people, especially teens can smoke and not really show the negative affects that much. Then by the time you get a little older, say your late twenties and you can't deny the adverse affects, you are really hooked and have done a lot more damage to your body than you realize.
When I was a teen in the late 60's and early 70's, I smoked ...it seemed like everybody smoked. At least all of us young people. Fortunately, I got involved in crazy things like kung-fu, yoga, running, and biking and quit smoking after a few years ...before I was really hooked. Nearly 50 years later, I still occasionally crave a cigarette. But I don't give in.
When I was in my early fifties, I got really into fitness. I did some serious hill-hiking in the local mountain parks several times a week, even when it got really hot. Like 110°. Did it till finally, some years later my knees and ankles made me cut back. I'll never be that strong again. So anyway, back then when I was really fit, I went hiking up Humphrey's Peak (12, 637') with my brother and his chain smoking son, who was about 18 at the time. At about 11,000' feet, he lit up a smoke and ran full bore all the way to the summit, while I slogged on, lagging far behind. You can get away with a lot when you are 18.
Grandmaster Yip Man smoked his whole life. Did opium for a while too. He died of throat cancer in 1972 at age 79. ....That sounds pretty old to an 18-year-old. But GM Yip Man's eldest son, Ip Chun, who physically resembles his dad quite strongly and doesn't smoke, is alive and still doing kung fu at 96.
Young people, especially teens can smoke and not really show the negative affects that much. Then by the time you get a little older, say your late twenties and you can't deny the adverse affects, you are really hooked and have done a lot more damage to your body than you realize.
When I was a teen in the late 60's and early 70's, I smoked ...it seemed like everybody smoked. At least all of us young people. Fortunately, I got involved in crazy things like kung-fu, yoga, running, and biking and quit smoking after a few years ...before I was really hooked. Nearly 50 years later, I still occasionally crave a cigarette. But I don't give in.
When I was in my early fifties, I got really into fitness. I did some serious hill-hiking in the local mountain parks several times a week, even when it got really hot. Like 110°. Did it till finally, some years later my knees and ankles made me cut back. I'll never be that strong again. So anyway, back then when I was really fit, I went hiking up Humphrey's Peak (12, 637') with my brother and his chain smoking son, who was about 18 at the time. At about 11,000' feet, he lit up a smoke and ran full bore all the way to the summit, while I slogged on, lagging far behind. You can get away with a lot when you are 18.
Grandmaster Yip Man smoked his whole life. Did opium for a while too. He died of throat cancer in 1972 at age 79. ....That sounds pretty old to an 18-year-old. But GM Yip Man's eldest son, Ip Chun, who physically resembles his dad quite strongly and doesn't smoke, is alive and still doing kung fu at 96.
