My view of Wing Chun training

Being involved in Wing Chun since 1989 my understanding of the art changed over time and at this point there are several things I do and understand differently from most of the other practitioners . I know many will disagree with what I am going to say, even my own teachers , but  we all have our own path to walk and develop our self and our skills in a way we find most beneficial. Anyway , here are some of my thought about Wing Chun.

Wing Chun is advertised as a simplest, easy to learn art, yet when the training starts nothing is simple , nothing is easy to learn and require a great amount of time to learn all the stuff . While Wing Chun principles are pointing toward directness and simplicity, training is developing in a totally different direction, seems that art violates its own principles. There are two main reason for this, first – financial reasons, “teachers” develop overcomplicated drills and make large curriculums to keep students occupied for a long time. Second, most of the teachers never fought in their lives and they make “techniques” that resembles on old kung fu movies, complicated, multiple steps techniques which look attractive but have no real combat value.  My understanding of the art is different. I developed my own training approach which is different from the mainstream WCK training approach.

-          Complicated , fixed drills are not part of my training. Most WCK styles practice complicated drills with no combat value and without clear goal of the drill. In my opinion , drill must be simple and must develop some of the physical attributes necessary for fighting  like reflexes , speed , accuracy, timing , power… if drill has more than two steps ( even two is too much) it is the opposite of what drill suppose to do. Besides some of the very basic drills that can be found in almost all styles ( and those I also practice differently) I have no fixed drills ,I develop drills for each of my students individually to fit their needs and physical predispositions. I focus my training on mobility , strength , reflexes , timing , power.

-          Chi Sao, an omnipotent tool that replaces sparring and trains “contact” reflexes.  I have a question , has anyone , ever seen anyone using any techniques from chi sao in real fight? We all know answer to that –no. There is a good reason for that , chi sao is a tool to develop and train body structure , it is a tool to teach how body structure is used to deal with incoming force, nothing more and nothing less. Chi Sao is just a drill made to develop certain physical attributes but it is not replacement for sparring and it is not a fighting reflex drill. Originally, Chi Sao was not a part of Wing Chun system , it was added later , somewhere around the middle of 19^th century and it has its origin in long pole sensitivity drills adjusted to empty hands techniques.

-          Internal training –  is a bullshit , what people today call internal is simple concept of body structure which helps to generate force and absorb the force. There is nothing “internal” in that , nothing mystical. Problem is majority of wing chun styles have no concept or have limited concept of body structure. Structure is the basic foundation of the style , without it there is no wing chun . To develop body structure practitioner needs to spend a lot of painful hours of training , yes “external” training . “Internal” without “external” do not exist  internal is just a term which describes a level of efficiency , there is no mystery in that.  What I see in so called “internal” training today are two things, people are mixing stuff from other styles like white crane and tai chi and call it “internal” wing chun and no one doing anything beyond Siu Lim Tao level. I don’t see practical usage of “internal” training in sparring or fights , which would be second form level.  All I see are people doing chi sao, pushing each other around with very little footwork ( btw, completely wrong footwork). My training is different , I focus on using “internal” principles – body structure and power generation in a real fight.

-          While Wing Chun is advertised as easy to learn and fast to master art, for the reasons previously named above, in reality it is required around 20 years to complete the system. To learn all the things , drills ,”techniques” and “applications” require a great amount of time. Sad truth is , all those stuff have nothing to do with fighting , they are purpose to them self, to be learned, perfected to look cool and that is all. I do not teach fixed curriculum, I teach principles and give the students basic foundation which he will later develop in his own way. Everyone must personalize the art , that is the only way to fully master it , to fully understand it . I do not make copies , I try to give people what is necessary for their individual development and growth.

-          If it doesn’t hurt it is not martial arts training. Wing Chun training must be challenge , a way to push one’s limits little bit further every training session. If it is not like that , if it is practiced in relaxed and non challenging manner , it is not martial training , it is a sport or some kind of fitness .

-          Secrets – do not exist, people may hide some things but that is what crippled wing chun and made it a laughing stock for most of the full contact sports practitioners. Every now and then someone appears with “secret’ style or knowledge. Just ask check that person fighting record , if there isn’t any , that person is selling a crap. There are no shortcuts , not easy way to achieve skill , only hard and painful work.

-          Pure, original art – is also a bullshit. Many people sell a story about some kind of original styles. The truth is, no one lived in a vacuum, people met and exchanged knowledge over time, every generation added or discarded something , it is a natural process. There is no one who knows how Wing Chu n looked like at the beginning. That is the only truth.

-          Certification and ranks – they doesn’t mean a shit , either you can fight or not , either you have the skill or not , that is only measurement of the skill level. There are no ranks in boxing , or Thai boxing, or kick boxing or wrestling …they don’t need a piece of paper to tell them what they can do.

-          Politics – I don’t care what others are doing , and how they are doing it. Everyone has the right to choose what he will do. About all the infighting in WCK , the more they talk the less they train, that is it .

-          “Wing Chun cannot be used in a competition fighting because gloves are limiting the amount of techniques” , a usual excuse for not going to competition or even spar. Wing Chun , like any other style , if properly trained can be used in competition fighting .

-          “Wing Chun is deadly art”.  Have you ever heard that anyone in wing chun history killed someone with his bare hands? Ever? Fairytales are one of the things that are killing our art and instead of hard training fuel people with false selfconfidence .

To conclude this article, this is my personal opinion and it is not intended to offend anyone. People have right to choose their own path and enjoy in training. Different people have different goals and desires and their training will be adjusted to them. At the end , we do not have to agree on anything but we can still respect each other and promote our art the best we can.