MightyBands, home gym system

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Sticking Hands

One of the signatures of wing chun is its sticking hand drill. It develops tactile reflexes, body structure, stance, coordination of footwork and handwork, and provides a relatively safe environment to increase the intensity without full-out sparring or fighting.

But what's the problem with sticking hands?

For starters, there's the idea that sticking hands is a measure of fighting skill. I always find it funny that wing chun teachers generally challenge each other with sticking hands drill or criticize the other's ability in sticking hands but they don't actually free fight.

Sticking hands encourages the concept of sticking and not hitting. The ability to hit becomes secondary in nature and has to be trained back into the student after he's learned how to stick. Ironic, considering that it's a fighting are we are learning after all.

Sticking hands can be too convoluted, choreographed and complex. It becomes a dance rather than a fighting drill.

Sticking hands can be addictive and can cater to one's comfort zone. Why fight when you can just chi-sao? Why do push-ups when you can just chi-sao? why do step and punching drills when you can chi-sao?

what are you thoughts?

Until then

1 comment:

Waz said...

Not in our lineage mate. We train to hit through a poor structure. Nothing like a few whacks in the same spot to get one mindful of elbow positioning.

While I agree that Chi Sau is not a 'fighting' technique, it is a martial skill that teaches us to flow around obstructions, and hit. Not stick just for the sake of it... that would be a defense based mindset, and not Wing Chun imo.

Which comes back to your gender skew post... girls don't generally appreciate getting constantly hit in the chest, which is what we target... safer than faces/throats. Boys, on the other hand, have much less sensitivity in that part of the body and can take it. Yes I know that is a sweeping and borderline sexist pov., but reality seems to back it up.

Even though we don't (generally) add power when training in sticking hands, we do expect the strikes to have 'solidity' and good structure behind them... kinda like getting 'butt ended' with a baseball bat in the sternum, even done kinda gently, it hurts after a few hit the same spot!

my opinion...fwiw!

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