Wing Chun is Limited!

It seems that there are some WC camps out there that feel that, ultimately, wing chun/tsun is a close range fighting art that trades powerful blows for lighter rapid punches. And because this is the case, it is not good for short and small people, since well, you need to maximize knockout power and you want to be able to reach the target. So in essence, wing chun is close range fighting (have to keep the shoulders square) and utilizes rapid light punches (chain punches). On the surface this is true.

So unless you’re tall and strong, don’t learn wing chun. But if you’re tall and strong, why are you learning wing chun when you can maximize your attributes and learn something else like muay thai, or MMA. In fact, why are do you even bother learning a martial art. Who’s gonna be picking on the big strong guy? It’s us little/average guys that need the training!

That said, it seems that there is another piece of the puzzle that is missing in their training. The above points are misconceptions. If you had the opportunity to throw a right hook in order to hit the opponent, would you take it? if you had the opportunity to land a straight punch into the neck and give it all you got by rotating the torso, would you do it? I SURE HOPE YOU WOULD!

In addition, the idea of short-range and long range distance is also blurred. Many feel that boxers, taking the “forward stance” is a long range fighter as they can rotate their shoulder for extra reach, while the wing tsun practitioner must square his shoulders at all times (so that he can use his amazing trapping skills). Well, what if you’re 6’5 and your boxing opponent is 5’5. Your short range is now his long range and his long range is now your short range. Does it matter? Nope. What if he’s a foot taller than you? Do you think that just because you can rotate your shoulder a bit that you have extra reach? Probably not. Distinguishing between different distances is one thing but letting that determine your game plan is another.

Wing Tsun shouldn’t be bothered with distances or shoulder twisting or not. In the end, all is fair game. A lot of these restrictions are for the sole purpose of building the appropriate foundation and for training. But these restrictions are not meant for the street fight. Just fight.

And if your punches are weak..well you aren’t training them hard enough. Chain punches or any punch delivered by the WT practitioner should be heavy and have knock out ummph. Of course, this is ridiculously hard to do, but hard work is what it’s all about.

Until then.