“Extra Inch, Extra Power” - The best kung fu training technique. Developed by Master Tarm Sarm.
“Extra Inch, Extra Power” – One of the most used training concepts in Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut and developed by Master Tarm Sarm.
Tarm Sarm discovered the style of Choy Lay Fut by pure fate. He was raised in a village close to a Hung Sing Choy Lay Fut school and decided one day at the young age of 15 to enter the Academy. Arrogant and anxious to test his skills against Choy Lay Fut, he convinced a student by the name of Wong Sum to spar with him. The first round of this fight came to a quick stop when Wong received a blow to the ribs and it was in this moment when he retaliated with Choy Lay Fut and applied a technique that Tarm Sarm found difficult to counter, Tarm Sarm eventually lost the bout.
Against all students warnings, Tarm Sarm, furious with his loss, challenged Master Lui Chang, a third generation disciple of Grandmaster Chan Hueng to a spar. Master Lui openly accepted the offer and within seconds the match was over and Tarm Sarm was dropped to his feet. It was from this moment that Tarm Sarm was accepted as a student of Master Lui Chang and dedicated all of his time to learning the style of Choy Lay Fut.
Quickly Tarm became a top disciple and was appointed to be an instructor, but things were to take a dramatic turn when his Sifu Master Lui Chang left for a trip and Tarm fell into confrontation with a senior classmate. Tarm consequently defeated all three senior classmates and the fight became known as the the ‘Fist that Defeated Three Ngans”.
Upon return of his Sifu, he had no choice but to expel Tarm Sarm from his Academy, despite the fact that he had not completed all of his training. Together, Tarm Sarm and a close college Wong To, paired up and trained very hard together.
The constant experience in sparring and tournament fighting, along with his reputation of being undefeated meant that Tarm Sarm was developing a notorious reputation for bloody combats.
He soon realised that this notorious reputation was reflecting bad on his Sifu’s Hung Sing Choy Lay Fut school. So he moved to the North and settled in a suburb of Canton called Siu Buk (little North). It was there where Tarm Sarm opened his first school and later called in Buk Sing Kwoon. Its still there today.
His named became a household word in Canton and due to his reputation as a great fighter he became known as the ‘Champion of the North”
The school became better known for their fighting techniques and strategy rather than their forms. In the beginning stages, the students found the training tedious and repetitious, the movements were few and simple and they did not appear intimidating or practical to Tarm’s students. Only after a period of time did the students begin to appreciate the training, particularly the devastating straight stabbing ‘Charp-Chui’ fist. The ‘Charp-Chui’ later became the trademark of Choy Lay Fut and the reputation of Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing spread throughout China.
Tarms Sarm’s Kwoon (school) had a famous slogan which was used to motivate the students, it reads:
“Hands are like the wind blowing out the candle, the footwork is like walking on the clouds”
Master Tarm Sarm also wrote his own couplet for his school, which expresses the heart of the Choy Lay Fut style;
“Farn Sun Yau Tse Fu N’gon Tau”
(Turn around like a Tiger raising it’s head)
“Chuit Sau Yau Yu Loong Tarm Jao”
(Punch is like the Dragon raising it’s claw)
Master Tarm Sarm had over 100 fights in his lifetime and his notorious feats were to be recorded in a book, his biography. The book was to be titled “Yut Bart Jeen Gong Wing Look” – which translated to ‘The Record of 100 Victorious Fights’. The book was never published.
Tarm Sarm remained undefeated for 50 years.
