This is a continuation from last weeks blog about the man with balls of steel, and the other two martial artists. I was basically breaking down what they do since their powers are attributed to their martial arts mastery and deciding whether these are legitimate skills or just magic tricks. The verdict was out on the guys last week but I wanted to present a couple more and offer my opinion.
Will this blog change your life? Probably not but I find it very interesting that there may be real life superheroes; I also find it rather fitting that they are martial artists.
Mr. Dragonbreath (I dubbed it, they don’t actually call him that I don’t think) Liu Fei is slightly different as a martial artist who has internalized his Martial Arts prowess. He is an elderly man from Mianyang in southwestern China. We’ve all seen fire-breathers at the circus, or even at a trendy bar. They put something flammable in their mouth then they blow it out on an external flame and it causes a huge burst of fire. Liu Fei uses flammable substance of sawdust, but somehow there’s no external flame involved. He’s able to increase the temperature of his own mouth enough to light the tinder ablaze and exhale flames and smoke. So can you increase your body temperature high enough to create fire? I’m thinking there is a catch to this one. With the other powers possessed by the previous superhero martial artists, a lifetime of conditioning could alter their anatomy or they may just have been freaks of nature. This fire-breathing thing seems way to off the biology chart. It would burn flesh wouldn’t it? My guess is that he has an external flame or even spark that lights the flame subtly.
Along those lines, there may be truth to Fei’s ability to bring the heat. I just feel like his is a parlor trick. Now this guy Zhou Ting-Jue is baffling me. Qigong, Tai Chi, and Kung Fu grand master Zhou Ting-Jue can harness the energy of his body to create intense heat according to the claims. Ting-Jue has baffled scientists with his ability to channel intense heat through the palms of his hands, bringing water near the boiling point and setting paper on fire. Thermal cameras have captured the process in action, and although many people think he’s a faker, they don’t have any scientific explanation for how he’s pulling it off. With over 70 years of martial arts training, it’s more than possible that Ting-Jue simply understands the abilities of his body better than the rest of us. Once again, I don’t know how he doesn’t burn his flesh in the process. But maybe that is why he is famous and me, not so much.
Muay Thai is obviously one of my favorite martial arts. I believe in the ability of a lifetime master of Muay Thai to defeat any other striking art in hand-to-hand combat.
I have seen Muay Thai practicioners break bamboo trees and baseball bats with kick.
Mak Yuree, a Bangaladeshi man who can kick through a bundle of three baseball bats with a kick using his his shin. An individual bat takes 740 pounds of force to break. Yuree claims to be able to engage 96% of the muscles in his body, which seems crazy, but we have all heard of Bruce Lee right? He felt the same way. The fact remains, Mak can break three bats and he does it over and over again. Yuree grew up in military school, where he would practice every day to toughen up his limbs. Needless to say, I don’t think this one is fake. This dude has obviously mastered the art of hitting the bats at the right contact point with the correct amount of force, and he has conditioned his body to do so. I’d hate to take a leg kick from him.