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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Crazy Wing Chun Dream!

Well, I had an interesting dream last night..and it was actually wing chun related. Mind you I dream frequently and it's almost always ridiculously vivid resulting in some days where I'm drained completely as if I actually lived out my dream. On a side note, it's awesome when it involves playboy playmate twins..but i'll keep those to myself.

So what did I dream last night?

It was a wing tsun demonstration in a Chinese restaurant put on my "the" WT organization (my school doesn't belong to one, but it was set up this way in my dream) and the people giving the demo consisted of those in my class and other schools in the organization. We were all involved in the demonstration and the restaurant was filled with over 300 people eager to see what we were all about.

Things started to take a turn for the worst when one of the guys giving a demo was being harassed by the audience.   He was being heckled and almost embarrassed. On top of that, he was being mocked for having a lousy 'inch punch'..or that he was doing it wrong.

I tried to come to help out in his demo, but the audience, turns out was from other martial art schools looking for a fight. The whole restaurant broke into a brawl and all around me was pandemonium. Think of Enter the Dragon. I look to my right and left and my classmates where getting beat up, and only a handful could really handle themselves.

I came across at least 4 attackers and I was able to hold my own. I ended up throwing one head first into the ground (what wing tsun sao is that?) and that killed him.

 It was just insanity. The fights lasted only seconds, but each was incredibly intense. It was all about survival and getting out of there. People were bloody, beat down by chairs, yelling, crying. it was a massacre on both sides. It didn't matter what techniques you used..it was about just making it out ok and using what you know at that moment in time to make it happen. It was about self-defense at its essence. Not technique, stance, etc. it was about awareness, body positioning, thinking about where the exist are..stuff like that.

In the stress of it all, I was looking for people I recognized and tried to avoid the crazed mob looking for blood.  I ended up seeing one and together we were able to watch each other's back as we made our way out only to be surrounded again by another mob..

Only to then be woken by my alarm.

It was just a dream...whooo

Until then..


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Things i Find Annoying About Wing Chun!!!!

Here it is folks, probably one of the more controversial posts on wing chun....IN THE WORLD.

Okay, maybe not.

Before I get into it, let me make it clear that I've been practicing wing tsun since 1998 (I think) and have been taking a slow and steady approach. I'm not what you would define as a hardcore wing chun enthusiast - I don't have the latest videos, books, weapons, and posters. I practice wing tsun because I find it fun, stimulating and a great form of exercise..and of course, for it's self defense aspect of it but overall, I would say this is a great hobby of mine and one I'm proud of.

Now to my topic: this is not a post about the politics of wing chun or the youtube comments and forum wars. It's just seeing the collective style of wing chun (not a particular school, lineage, style, etc) from an outsider's perspective with a touch of my own experience.

Things i find annoying about wing chun:


  • The legend or origins of wing chun. The story goes..the style of wing chun was created by a woman who was a nun from the Shaolin monastery who created an efficient fighting style, blah blah blah. I think the story is so stupid and there's no evidence for it (say the scholars).  It's just so silly in so many ways. It amazes me that so many actually believe it.
  • We are head hunting chain punchers. This is all we have in our arsenal apparently. And then those that say we have more, end up throwing head hunting chain punches in a free fight scenario.. in all the online clips.
  • We talk way too much. Some instructors talk way too much during seminars, classes, about the geometry, angles, how it's like chess, how practical it is, etc. Yes, i know it's great but i can't do it yet, please let the students train it. 
  • We demonstrate way too much. While demonstrations are good, some times the teachers get an ego trip doing it and the lesson is lost..instead the students just keep watching the teacher do demos for the entire class.
  • We write too much.The wing chun academics can write pages and pages of why 100/0 stance weighting is better than 0/100 stance weighting.  How about training? 
  • It takes a really long time to learn. Sure you can apply chain punches quite quickly. But to really learn it will take a long time to practice and develop. If you're not training at least 5 times a week with fighting intensity, it's just a hobby and you can't kick true ass.
  • All we have are demonstrations. I find this so annoying. Show me someone who can really kick ass with wing chun and post the fight on youtube please. I know you exist, but please do it soon. I'm sick of all the demos against cooperative partners. 
  • We aren't good looking. Have you ever seen a kyokushin demo? How about capoeira? the students all look to be in amazing shape. Wing chun, however, is a class of either scrawny or overweight people.  And, where are the women?
There you go. Of course I'm totally generalizing in a tongue and cheek manner but you and I both know there's truth to all of this.

So what do YOU find annoying about wing chun?

Until then



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