MightyBands, home gym system

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Essential Half: the Training Partner

I had the pleasure of running the latter half of class on Monday night. In that time, I wanted to make a special point - that the partner attacking the wing tsun student is incredibly crucial to the wing tsun student's progression.

There must be an emphasis on the attacking partner that s/he must attack with intention of hitting, with the proper distance of hitting and with the emotions of hitting. too many times our partners "go easy" on us or go "mentally lazy" as they play the role of an attacker.

What good is it to learn how to apply self defense moves against someone doing some softcore, pseudo attack??? I mean, yes, there are times where slowing down is good, but there are also times when it is not. In particular, when drills are what relatively well ingrained into the student or that the moves can be considered "elementary".

I wanted to create the idea that the attacker's role is to..well..be the attacker, not just simply model a punch, but actually try to punch the wing tsun student (without actually hurting them should contact be made).

As such, the wing tsun student must not see his/her partner as a partner at all, but as the enemy. The wing tsun student must remember that there's more to it at stake than purely going through the motions.

For some reason, our detail-oriented martial art some times leads us astray from the realities and blatantness of a real attack.

The partner is crucial. If s/he is giving you half-assed attacks to drill, you might as well just sit down and twiddle your fingers.

Until then.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Chain Punch Video

I came across this chain punching video. I like the idea, but to me, the drill kind of defeats its own purpose.

I mean, how often do you come across a guy who resists your chain punching with tan sao/bong sao?

Let me know your thoughts!

Until then.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Trapping Range

Many argue that "trapping range" (probably defined as the distance between punching and elbow distance) rarely makes an appearance during a fight. It can be pictured in one's mind that punching and clinching/grappling is what primarily occurs - most likely a mix up of the two (clashing distance, breaking distance)..but then you might have the occasional kick...but rarely would you imagine someone pulling "trapping" moves in the appropriate range..

Even if the range presented itself, can "trapping" techniques even be pulled off, especially against an opponent that tends to pull their arms back, pull back with strength and tries to create space and distance....

the argument then goes on to say, well, if trapping range/distance rarely occurs in a fight, then why does wing chun (or even other kung fu styles) emphasize so much of that training in the school?

Well guess what? there's a lot of truth to this argument. (Scary isn't it?)

I think it's easy to get caught up in chi-sao/trapping drills and distance, and end up forgetting that all it comes down to is whether you can punch/hit/kick or not.

that said, i would see wing chun, (as i'm taught) as a basis or foundation for being able to punch or kick or hit your opponent. Not "trap." I see chi-sao, not necessarily as a tool to see what kind of cool trapping techniques are available, but more as an exercise to increase structural resilience, fine tune the tactile reflexes, simply for the purpose of punching/hitting the opponent.

It's easy to get caught up in this, and easy to confuse chi-sao as a measure of fighting effectiveness or even punching ability.

But chi-sao and punching your opponent are two different things

Much like jump rope and hitting the heavy bag for the boxer are two different things, but both essential to the training curriculum.


your chi-sao may be good, but it doesn't mean you can hit the other guy. Wing chun is not meant for trapping range. It's meant to knock out the opponent. The premise that wing chun is for trapping doesn't/shouldn't hold.

Until then.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Wing Chun Makes You Fat?

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day talking about the exercise benefits of kickboxing. This person was referring to cardio kick boxing and then she made mention, that the good thing about this is that she'll be able to kick some real butt too. That's where, of course, I interjected and mentioned that just because you can hit a bag doesn't mean you can fight.

on goes the conversation into economy of motion, structure and eventually, not having to be super fit like those capoeira guys to kick some butt..

so it got me thinking - does wing chun make you fat?? I mean, the lack of cardiovascular exercise, the class structure where many Sifu's are no longer hands on, the emphasis on chi-sao, etc.

Funnily enough, this thread pops up on the forums..

So what do you think? Do you think wing chun makes people fat?

Until then.

Here's the forum thread posted by Robert Chu:

WCK - watch your lifestyle and diet!

Oftimes, WCK is too economical in movement. What I mean by that, is for your health, you need to supplement it with proper diet and nutrition, and supplementary exercises. Modern man does not walk enough and problems modern WCK has is health.

Here is something related to diet from Jamie Oliver:

http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp_37...ty_and_Disease

The founders ate what they ate, but probably had shorter lives due to war, famine, disease, but they had to do things on the Red Boats by hand and walked more than us. I will say that what is done today as "Chinese Food" is overindulgent in fat, oils, sugar. MSG, salt/sodium, and simple carbs.

Too many carbs like rice, noodles/pasta, pho, buns/bao, bread, breadsticks, cake, cookies, chips, soft drinks and juices load up the body with too much sugar that can be detrimental to your health. This easily leads to overweight, obesity and eventually, diabetes.

What Hawkins Cheung always said to me was, "If you survive, your art survives..." It has strong wisdom behind it.

Many WCK teachers see the pounds coming on as they age and have to consistently do something to change their eating habits, build lean muscle, and rest properly. By eating poorly, it leads to many modern diseases like hypertension, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, obesity, coronary artery disease, hypothyroidism, diabetes, and cancer. Diabetes (usually type II in overweight or obese individuals) can lead to blindness, neuropathy, impotence, etc. It is important to maintain a healthy BMI.

For example, WSL passed on due to a brain aneurysm (stroke) - it usually means that his diet was not that good, and he smoked and drank alcohol.

Yip Man died at 79 due to throat cancer, which is diet related and due to toxins in the food. Cantonese often like to eat preserved foods like salted fish, preserved eggs, stinky tofu, etc. which are full of cancer causing chemicals.

Bruce Lee's favorite dish of Oyster Beef on rice is full of sodium, carbs and preservatives. Drinking raw beef juice is also not a good idea... some of his diet ideas were very poor.

Late nights talking, extensive Mah Jong, many Dim Sum sessions with students is detrimental to health, as are bobas, sugar cane juices, and shave ices Chinese like. And eating late at night after class is very unhealthy and leaves for bad digestion problems, like diverticulitis, bowel cancer, ulcerative colitis. Gambling, along with smoking and drinking, it is a very dirty habit that some Cantonese enjoy and detrimental to health.

Juicing is also unhealthy as it releases tons of sugar in your system at once. I shudder to think of the many cokes and snapples I drank after long workouts in my youth. Plain old water or unsweetened ice tea would have been better.

It is good to be conscious about health.
__________________
Robert Chu, PhD, L.Ac., QME
chusauli@gmail.com

http://www.chusaulei.com
http://acuchu.com

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