No Form

As much 'flack' as I give wing chun on here, there is something that I love about this style. It's not really a particular move or that it's designed for realistic fighting.

While those are all good things, that's not what I'm talking about.

What i love about wing chun is that, in it's application, there is no form to it. There is no martial arts stance or distinguishable position of the arms or legs that say "i know kung fu". Applied, wing chun is formless. It can look like chain punches if the opportunity allows it or looks like a jab if the opportunities allow it, or it looks like a sloppy elbow to the temple of the opportunty allows for it.

There is no form as to how the elbow is applied or how the punch is thrown. all that matters is that the punch got there.

How did it get there? by the great timing, structure, stance and 'wedging' that your wing chun training developed.

And it's just so deceptive too. I'm not a big guy. i don't look threatening in anyway. You see a guy like me on the street, and you don't think twice about me. You wouldn't say, 'don't mess with that guy'. While, for others, you can tell they are training something, whether that's from there tap out t-shirt, or bruised and mashed up knuckles.

I don't have to worry about 'perception' in the bar, by the bouncers, or by other 'alpha males' that puff their chest and hold their beers as they stare away. Instead, confidence and assertiveness resonates but doesn't threaten. Wing chun is very cool if you ask me ;)

Formless is perfect and that is wing chun.

Until then.

A Weakness In Wing Chun Training

let's put aside all the things that people think are typically wing chun's weakness (limited weapons, 'trapping' doesn't work, close range fighting only, no ground fighting, traditional, etc).

I would say that there is a major 'weakness' in wing chun training that is overly missed. What could this be?

You're probably making the mistake as you trained last week in class.

It's your training partner.

Does your training routine account for the lack of skill of your training partner? I'm not talking about chi-sao. I'm talking about drills or exercises you work with another training partnet. You see, typically when you're training, you ask your partner to throw a right punch or a low roundhouse or a tackle, right?

But chances are pretty good that your training partner is like everyone else - learning a martial art because they have no martial art skill. So the jabs you're defending from are 'lame' and the kicks you're defending from are fake and the tackle you're neutralizing is unlike anything a real grappler would do.

So what good is your training?

Until then.