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Sunday, January 30, 2011

What Age to Learn Wing Chun?

The other day, a lady friend asked me about kung fu schools that teach to children 4 years old and up. After consulting a few friends in the kung fu circles, they weren't able to find any that taught younger than 6.

it got me thinking - what age is appropriate to learn wing chun? I know some have kids classes - but is it motivated by money or for actual well-being of the students?

Can kids understand the concept of the centre-line, knee pressure, chi-sao, foward energy, etc?

Are their bodies capable of learning the "pigeon toe" stance? is it good for their body development?

Some schools only teach adults, while others may teach teenagers and older.

Wing Chun seems to be in its old category when it comes to teaching children - there aren't kids at the age of 6 swinging their arms and legs like that in karate or taekwondo. Perhaps the kids will be bored out of their minds just doing Siu Nim Tao? Even i've had my days....


Until then

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Double Knives

In the WT lineage (that i'm aware of), it seems that the double butterfly knives forms and applications is the cream of the crop. It is the stuff that only the masters of masters get to learn (and who can afford it). As such, not many have been taught the butterfly knife form - at least this is my understanding and part of the WT curriculum.

I've only heard rumours of what the costs would amount to learn the form itself, plus cost of the private lessons, and accounting that the teacher will only teach you in bits and pieces, plus costs of attending seminars and so on...

Very few would get to learn, but I imagine that without it, you could still get pretty good at WT/wing chun. But do you think it's still worth learning?

Do you think that if you have the right foundation from the forms, chi-sao, wooden dummy, lat-sao, etc., that your body would know what it's "looking for" when you train with the knives and that you don't really need to be taught the form itself?

If the function can be determined before the form, doesn't it mean the form isn't needed?

Until then.


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ip Man: A Closer Look

NetFlix has been introduced into Canada, albeit a very weak selection of movies. Well, I had some free time one day and thought i'd give it a shot since they're offering a free month trial. One of the movies was Ip Man in HD.

The service worked great, but more importantly, it gave me an opportunity to watch this movie again and this time with closer scrutiny that the first time.

It is an awesome movie and probably the best wing chun movie I've seen (have yet to see Ip Man 2). The action and choreography is superb - and shows off the power that can be had from wing chun training.

But, unfortunately, I was sooo disappointed of the historical inaccuracies in the movie. Let's a run through a few of them now.

  • Ip Man actually fought against 32 karate guys, not 10. They toned it down as to not embarrass karate practitioners
  • In real life, Ip Man never really liked sweet potatoes.
  • The real Ip Man actually used a bong sao in the third frame of the fifth fight scene against the right punch, not a tan sao.
  • His wife was Chinese, but his mistress was a blonde.

Too many historical inaccuracies if you ask me. But I still managed to enjoy the movie.

Until then.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Grasshopper 2.0 Welcomes the New Year!

Happy new year everyone! i hope you all had a wonderful break filled with good eats, drinks and laughs :)

The past two months have been incredibly hectic as I've been busy with home renovations, latest developments at work and keeping up with the demands of the holiday season. I've neglected my wing tsun training, working out and pretty much been out of the loop!

Anyway, i'm back and I'm welcoming the new year with open arms. One of my resolutions - up my training! I already know exactly what I want to work on:

  • Punching power
  • Connecting footwork with upper body
That's it - just those two things. That's all I want.

What are your wing chun plans for 2011?

Until then.

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