First Ever Vancouver Wing Tsun Butterfly Knives Seminar

As part of my Si-Fu’s plans for 2014, advanced students at our school had the pleasure of attending the first ever Wing Tsun butterfly knives (bat cham do).

For those that aren’t familiar with the weapons, you can check out this wiki page.

There was a huge variety of butterfly knives at the seminar – although of the similar premise/shape, there were different weights, materials, sizes, lengths, and details across the board. Some felt easier to grip in my hand, others less cumbersome to maneuver and others that had too many pointy edges and were not pleasurable to train with.

I had the pleasure of using my colleagues butter fly knives – which happened to be one of the bigger knives if not the biggest one there! Not only could you stab and slash your opponent, I’m pretty sure I could bitch-slap them too considering how wide these knives were ;)

The entire seminar lasted about 6 hours. All we “managed” to get through was the entire Bat Cham Do form. Here are my major observations: · The is considerably longer than that of the long pole · This is part due to the repetitive nature of the movements, repeating movements on each side (left and right) ·

The movements, as described that day, seemed to be used to fight against very traditional kung fu weapons. I wonder how it would fair against other weapons and systems (eg. Escrima stick, broad sword, baseball bat, etc) ·

There’s an inherent sense that not much is known about the last form in the wing tsun system – many questions, interpretations, lack of history, especially when compared to the other forms found in the system. I should stress that I don’t mean that there was a lack of information but it just feels that we know so much more about the Siu Nim Tao, its history, it’s variations, it’s applications compared to the Bat Jam do. ·

The form feels more like a typical kung fu form, or karate kata than say the other forms found in the WT lineage (same goes with the long pole). I think it would be fun to perform this and the long pole form with the visual flair and expression of my previous days back in Karate/Kung fu.

I did notice that for students who have not been exposed to other martial art styles, it may be worth spending time to learn proper stance and footwork. Many regressed to the typical wing tsun stances we’ve practiced for years, understandably so.

I do think, however, there should be focus on proper stance training, footwork, etc and then deviating from that as the student gets comfortable with the stance and its functional capabilities.

It was another great seminar – it was jam packed with information and now it’s just about practicing the form to get the movements into me. Lots of fun!

 Until then.

Toughen Up Bitch!

Does this make you tougher? I was forwarded this youtube clip from a fellow WT colleague. Apparently it’s a lesson on making your students tougher – getting hit and hitting. Take a moment to watch this.

While the point of the drill is significant, I think this drill is more a waste of time and a bullying opportunity for the instructor rather than a teaching moment for the student. Yes there is some benefit to getting hit and to dolling out hits, but in the context of the drill, you only need a few minutes to get the idea.

If we’re here to toughen up the student there are plenty of more productive ways of doing this in my opinion. The definition of ‘tough’ is multi-layered as well and applies to more than just taking hits.

• Endurance challenge drills
• Intensity challenge drills
• Stress drills
• Circuit training

I’m not necessarily referring to weight-training or resistance training. It can also be used in the context of various wing chun drills as well. But the idea here is that it’s mentally and physically pushing the boundaries of the student’s comfort zone and just giving it his/her all.

Just receiving hits doesn't do any of this really and you can see the fairly slow pace/intensity of the drill..poor kid is just getting hit and that’s about all the value he’s getting out of it. I also think a good sparring session will be a great teacher here as well and also teaches the student how it feels to get hit and in a very unpredictable fashion.

It’s also high intensity and a test of endurance and stress – all at the same time. A few sparring sessions will teach you so much and very quickly. I really believe that, in the context of some wing chun schools, sparring is under-valued especially for students that have never done it before.

There are so many other ways to ‘toughen’ up and for some, it’s more mental than physical. What mental drills are ever taught or practiced? Many may wonder what this means.. Growing up, we suffer trauma as children – either getting bullied, parents being very abusive, injuries or accidents as kids, sickness, illness – all these factors have played into our belief systems, our confidence and our self-esteem which is expressed in our behaviours and possibly our lack of ‘toughness’.

Something to think about.

Until then.

Welcome to Kickboxing!

The other day I was invited to a friend’s kickboxing class. Thought, what the heck! I’ll give it a shot. He’s been doing it for about a year now and the class is a beginner’s class.

Format was pretty simple – Following 5 minutes of shadow boxing warm up, we had 1 hour of high intensity session of hitting the pads.

It was a great workout. And that was about it. A bit of background on me – I’ve done karate throughout my high school years and then dabbled in other Chinese martial arts until I found the current Wing Tsun school I’m at. For fun and fitness, I joined a boxing gym about 2 years ago and was with them for about a year.

My thoughts on the kickboxing class.

It was just OK. In particular, I was watching the caliber of the majority of students - which was not particularly impressive. When they punch, they just hit at the target – sometimes they punch themselves off balance, hands swinging everywhere, elbows high, unrooted, sloppy form, fatigued etc.

When I punch my combos, my partner couldn’t keep the pads up. When I kicked, he moved. I felt solid, I felt rooted. Combos included jab, cross, short hooks, long hooks, upper cuts and the left/right front kicks.

I think my partners were surprised at the speed, comfort and power of my hits..as I was the obvious newbie (no uniform) there.

Of course, I’m not here to bash kickboxing. I have great respect for the martial art and kick boxing produces fighters with absolutely powerful punches, kicks, stamina, etc.

My point here is that the majority of people that train, train casually and are ‘mediocre’ just like the rest of us in wing chun that train casually. It’s really not about the style that is better, but how much we train, how hard we train, how we train, our instruction, etc.

I feel we are very fortunate to have the detailed training that we do, that we focus on rootedness and structure, that we take the time to figure out form, technique and then add power, speed, reaction and creativity.

I don’t feel that, in this particular class, that the teachers emphasized this at all. It was just about leading drills and letting the students hit the pads. Yes, it could have been just this class, just this one time. I can also see how students may think they’re really good at kickboxing as they get to just hit the pads all the time.

But my point here is that students in other styles, in particular that train casually for fun, are not the lethal weapon that we may believe them to be just because of the style they train.

It’s not Muay Thai vs. Wing Chun. The assumption is that Muay Thai will win. But that’s not true. It’s him vs. you. Like you, he’s just an average joe, not a champion Thai boxer…

Would I go back? Nope. My heart’s in Wing Tsun.

Until then.

Perfection Is... a Waste of Time

There are two sides to every coin. The same can be said of our world...

At one point, we understood physics to be of physical objects - of which we could calculate distance, vectors, velocities, predict and estimate forces, pressure, where an object will land, etc. 

And then we realized that physical objects are not physical at all. They are, instead, manifestation of energy. They are protons, neutrons, quarks - unpredictable energy particles that can be in two places at once and behaves nothing like physical objects as we understood it.

What about our training?  We can work to death, down to the very detail of what wing chun action should be or what the drill should teach us, but then, we may lose sight of what it is we want to do at the end of the day - to knock the other guy out.

And it is on this note that perhaps, perfection is a waste of time.

Getting it right 60% of the time is better than attempting it that one time we get it 100% of the time.

On that note, do you believe that training to perfection is a waste of time? Do you think it's worth just getting in the ring and trying to fight where you're at, rather than waiting till you've trained chi-sao to such and such level?

Chi-sao is not fighting. Fighting is fighting. You don't need the perfect tan-sao to fight. Who's with me?

Until then.

First Ever Wing Tsun Long Pole Seminar Vancouver

Ground-breaking seminar last weekend – it was the first ever seminar that introduced the senior students to the wing tsun long pole.

For those that aren’t familiar, the wing tsun system consists of two weapons – the long pole and the butterfly knives. In the wing chun curriculum, the weapons are taught at the very end..so you can imagine the excitement (almost) everyone had for learning this stuff, myself included.

 The long pole measures about 8.5’ long and weighs approximately 5lbs, give or take a pound depending on your innate strength, pole manufacturer, and build quality. The weapon itself is very awkward to handle, in my opinion, unlike that of a knife or even a bat. You’ll quickly appreciate the skill and training required to actually use this thing..

Unlike other martial art styles, the Wing Tsun student handles the long pole at the very end with a grip width of your own shoulders. There’s no dramatic spinning, tossing or twirling of the long staff.

Without the ability to take on a wide grip and the requirement to handle the pole at its very end makes that 5lbs feel more like 40lbs. It is this where the long pole training really shines. The shock to your nervous system to manipulate the staff with any form of accuracy and coordination, let alone power or even speed, is amazing. This is no easy task and, when done properly, you’re easily drained.

For us newbies, a heavy pole is not to our benefit. I would recommend not using such a heavy pole if you can when you first start out, as the handling the sheer weight distracts you from learning how to activate your body to properly move, coordinate and get your timing right. In fact, I had the pleasure of using one of the lighter ones during the first half of the seminar which really helped me ‘figure things out’.

From a conditioning standpoint, this thing just rocks. Your entire body – core, legs, shoulders, chest, back, arms – get an incredible workout. Even those “isolation” exercises, that many in wing chun circles deem as detrimental, are expressed here (eg. bicep curls, shoulder raises). It’s great for grip strength and the low horse stance is fantastic for rooting.

Long pole training really emphasizes the need for “whole-body movement”, as you quickly realize that using only your arms to manipulate the staff is absolutely a waste of time and effort. Such whole-body movement would translate to your empty hand fighting as well.

It’s funny, many wing chun people quickly discount  long pole training. It’s incredibly impractical – you’ll never fight with a pole that long! No one carries a long pole with them! And they’re absolutely right.

It’s also funny that these people rather chi-sao. And the same argument could be made here too – chi sao is impractical, you’ll never fight someone off chi-sao. I ask the same question, why not just fight?

The benefits of long pole training come from its conditioning. It shocks your body and just amplifies all your empty hand skills. It’s no different from any other drill we do and just adds to our tool kit.

But, beyond that, I do believe there’s practicality from a self-defense perspective. Sure you may not ever find a 9’ long staff, but you may find yourself using a weapon that’s 5’ long. Now your body has some idea as to how to manipulate that thing properly. Sure, chances are slim that will happen. But so are the chances that you’ll ever need a bong sao.

Overall, I had a great time at this seminar and was glad to see the energy was shared by others. I got home close to 5.30pm that night, only to be in bed by 8.30pm. I was completely wiped. Slept like a baby. It was pretty awesome.

Until then.

Do You Train REALISTICALLY?

What is realistic training?

Do you consider yourself to train under realistic circumstances? Or do you train to use your skills to fight realistically.

There’s a distinction here that’s very important.

On the surface, I think we can imagine the more conventional scenario of what we might think is “realistic training”:

• Uncooperative partner (tense, strong, resistant)
• Unlimited or many variables (sucker punch, no hint to type of attack)
• Attacks are unorthodox or do not resemble your style
• The drills are aggressive, under stress and pressure
• Realistic environment – cement, street, alleyway, bar setting
• No gi, training in normal clothing and shoes (And the list can go on)

Of course, such training can provide many benefits and I see much value in this. However.. There’s a difference between this type of ‘realistic training’ and training to use your skills to fight realistically.

 Let me elaborate.

You see, let’s take a moment and go back to your more traditional type of training. That could be wooden dummy training, chi sao training, partner drills, etc. Even within the context of it being more “traditional”, I ask you if the drills are being trained to the extent and difficulty to build the appropriate skills, reflexes, structure, etc to FIGHT REALISTICALLY.

To fight realistically, you’re going to need significant body structure, punching power, footwork and that means solid structure, ability to absorb a lot of force, no hesitation in reaction, etc. but where does all of that come from? Ironically, it comes from what we would perceive as traditional drills and exercises.

The major factor, however, is to train with the proper mindset and partner that trains these factors INTO you. Even though the drill may look silly or ‘unrealistic’ it’s actually training the reflexes, structure, strength, footwork, stance, etc that’s required for realistic fighting.

Of course, without this intent, the traditional drills become useless and won’t work anyway.

I do believe that chi-sao, lat-sao, partner exercises, etc can distract us from this intent as we all get lost in the drill - get lost in trying to win - and we forget that we’ve lost by not training for the real purpose of training – to fight realistically with our kung fu.

I don’t believe wearing camo pants and a t-shirt that says “SEALS” on it will justify any training to be realistic, but I’m sure many don’t see it this way.

Training to fight realistically doesn’t mean that your training has to look ‘realistic’ and training that looks realistic doesn't equate to being able to fight realistically either.

Until then.

Ancient Chinese Secret For Deadly Elbow Strikes

What a horrible title… probably ripped off an issue of Inside Kung Fu circa 1992.

Lately, I’ve really been focusing on forms training. It’s funny how certain aspects of training seem more ‘fun’ than others..and what is fun now, isn’t fun 3 months from now and vice versa.

Like the seasons that come and go, so does our attention span for certain training patterns, drills, etc. And, for now, it seems a lot of my attention and discovery is in forms training, more specifically the biu tze form. 

Why all the focus on this form?

First of all - With the unpredictable nature of my work, training classes have been fewer and far between.. Forms training allows me to get in some training in the convenience of my apartment, and on my schedule. 

Second – I miss the beauty and flow of forms training from my kung fu/karate days. Sure wing chun has the SNT and Chum Kiu but I found them to be quite the snooze fest. The biu tze feels more fun in that it has more movement involved and is more reminiscent of my kung fu forms and katas.

Third – conditioning. Although not really cardiovascular conditioning (unless purposely trained with that intent), there’s coordination and functional conditioning as well as muscle memory conditioning that forms training ingrains into the body. The moves become second nature when under the stress of partner drills and sparring.

And to that point, I’m discovering the appreciation of that stretch you get and need to deliver elbow strikes with WT-specific flavour and intention. Similar to how we’re taught to stretch our arms to punch the WT way, a similar type of conditioning and flexibility is required to throw elbow strikes.

Furthermore, is the need to deliver such strikes on the ‘funny’ stance found within the WT curriculum… It’s easy to get off kilter when throwing a forceful elbow strike, while seated in the 100/0 weight distribution stance as seen in the WT lineage of wing chun.

And I’m finding it ‘fun’ to discover what is too much force, what isn’t enough and how to improve on this..all through forms training. Getting that stretch is also important. The stretch extends from the tip of the shoulder, all the way through the lats and even hips for me. I like that stretch feeling and I notice how much more work I need to do. I also find benefit to such flexibility.

Flexibility just lets you throw the strikes with more ease…resulting in a faster, harder strike.

Which is why I also try to maintain flexibility in my legs too. Stretching them out so that you can kick high means that kicking low will only be that much easier!

All in all, I’m enjoying the biu tze form at the moment. What are you training?

Until then…

What A Shame Gutierrez...

Happy new year everyone! My apologies as it has been TOO long since I’ve last posted.  The second half of 2013 has kept me away from my blogging adventures but I’m back and boy do I have a post for you today..

Well, many of you may know this guy, Victor Gutierrez of the WT lineage (now no longer with the EWTO).  I always liked his stuff and here’s a cool youtube clip that I particularly enjoyed showing off to people who aren’t familiar with WT.

You can see he’s quite aggressive, yet his attacks flow well.

But then I saw this clip of him now.

Without any additional context to this video, I have to say I’m absolutely disheartened by what I saw.  RUBBISH I tell you.

It’s really a shame.

And if a guy of his WT caliber produces crap like that..what’s to say for the rest of us normal folk?

I don’t know if he’s intentionally trying to wrestle or if this is what his WT looks like a free sparring environment.

The guy is also clearly tapped after as well.

But let’s assume worst case scenario and that he was trying to use WT but fell into a wrestling mode. You can quickly see how fast your energy dissipates during a free sparring situation (not even a real fight!) and you can see how easily the ‘strength reflex’ kicks in.

I think both of these factors are absolutely normal and also why I feel there’s a lot of value in sparring.

I don’t think our class does enough of this and yes, while there are great arguments against sparring, I do think that as a conditioning exercise or drill, it has incredible value.

If for some reason, we can preach a form that utilizes a pigeon toed stance as something that builds wing chun structure or we can justify all the merits of doing tan sao at such and such an angle and holding it there for a certain period of time, yada yada yada – why is it we’re so quick to ignore the merits of free sparring?

Like with any drill, sparring has its weaknesses, builds bad habits, etc but at the same time, it also brings about many other benefits (adrenaline, uncooperative partner, reveals how fast the WT skills fade, etc).

I’m curious to know your thoughts in the comment section.

Until then. 

Duality of Wing Chun Training

There is duality in everything..

Dark, light

Feminine, masculine

Yin, yang

Positive, negative

Summer, winter

Giving, receiving

Anabolic, catabolic

If you’ve taken a moment to observe the yin/yang symbol, you’ll notice the dynamic of this duality and, as well, within the yin there is some yang and within the yang there is some yin.

When it comes to kung fu training, the method my instructor encourages is to go soft, sink more, exaggerate body movements, take things slower.

On the surface, it contradicts the essence of fighting. Fighting should be aggressive, fast, strong, crushing and indeed it is.

And to a very good extent, such training is needed. However, that is only half of the equation..and is usually the type of training our body is more familiar with. Perhaps maybe too much..too much yang.

So, training at a slower pace, over emphasizing certain moves, exaggerating sinking and yielding..is more yang..it’s more feminine. But it comes with the purpose of fulfilling the other half of the equation.

Your training and your fighting skill should be both yin and yang..it cannot be one or the other.

And in every moment of yang, you must maintain some yin and in every moment of yin, you must maintain some yang.

You can be flexible or soft, but not weak.

You can be strong and hit hard, but not tense.

It’s about getting out of your comfort zone, about getting out of what you’re used to so that you can progress to the next level.

One step back, two steps forward.

For the majority of people studying the fighting arts, aggression and tension is easy to come by. But there are certain people are by nature not aggressive, strong or tense and in their case they must train more yang.

I realize this is common sense and can easily be overlooked. Instead, I would consider this a reminder to reflect in yourself and your training to see if there’s an opportunity here to add more yin or yang to your training.

There is duality in everything. Make sure you cover both grounds.

Until then.

Obasi Saga Continues - Obasi Talks!

Thanks to a fellow reader, I was forwarded this clip of Obasi sharing his thoughts on the recent events of crossing hands with Boztepe, Ng and Williams. If you haven`t yet, you can catch the whole story behind the Obasi saga and the corresponding video clips here.

So here Obasi speaks about what happened with Williams, Ng, and Boztepe and he makes a great point - that each situation was very specific within their own context and cannot be compared to each other.

Granted that`s the case, he does provide his own opinion on who he felt had some considerable skill or at least made an impression on him.

That said...does it matter what this guy says? It's not like he's a benchmark of wing chun..or is he?

Regardless of what he says, can we treat (from an observational level) this a rough estimate of the skill levels of the various teacher's Obasi has crossed hands with?

Obviously the best way to get a better read on his skills is to cross hands with him personally. Obasi, you game? ;)

Why Do You Practice Wing Chun?

In my last post, I asked you how you’re able to keep your motivation up for the art. This time I want to take a look at the other end of the spectrum and ask you why you practice wing chun.

Well, let’s look at why I train.

Let’s hammer through the primary reasons – I consider this very wing chun specific:

I wanted to learn how to defend myself in a non-sport oriented manner

·        I wanted to learn a Chinese boxing system

·         The simplicity of wing chun makes sense to me

·         Wing Tsun (roots in EWTO) was perfect the balance between Chinese boxing and Western thinking/approach.

·         I hate training in the low horse stance found in other kung fu styles.

·         I’m not particularly athletic enough to do the high jumping spinning kicks

·         My teacher was the only person that I’ve experienced that could actually apply wing chun in a combat situation as opposed to many other teachers that just show off pretty katas, forms or their trophies.

·         My teacher kicked my ass the first day in class. Where do I sign up?

But let’s go into the next level of benefits I get when training

·         Wing tsun training teaches you to let go of that ego (getting hit and allowing to get hit does that pretty quickly)

·         All the demos I did with Sifu back in the day and the classes I’ve helped, teaches you public speaking skills and being sociable.

·         It  develops self-confidence  (especially when you start noticing the moves start working)

·         It creates a level of physical awareness that other sports/physical activities cannot develop (eg. rootedness, structure, sensitivity developed from sticky-hand training)

·         Relaxation under pressure is huge. There’s always an underlying nervousness under high pressure situations (either physical confrontation or even in a board room negotiation setting)..but it’s not a panicky nervousness..but instead a “Let’s do this” type of nervousness.

Now from an even broader perspective as to why I train wing chun..

·         WT builds character.  WT is not particularly easy to learn, in my opinion. There are other combat arts out there that can get you up and running in terms of just fighting much more quickly.  Wing Tsun forces the body to work in counter-intuitive ways and your mind/reality has to get around that.  It certainly has its challenges and experiencing those moments build character.

·         You (Me) need a life beyond work and loved ones! Wing Tsun adds that other dimension to your life, developing you into a well rounded person.

·         It opens your social network. You meet a variety of people in class, all great people from different backgrounds.

·         It adds to your social value. Think of yourself as a product worth X amount of $ (I know, horrible example, but please bear with me..), adding wing chun to your menu increases your value – you know how to defend yourself, it creates character, self-confidence, ability to relax under stressfull situation, to be more sociable, etc – altogether it contributes to raising that $ value.

So now I ask you, why do you train?

Maintaining That Wing Chun Mojo

I have to admit, although I’ve been practicing WT for a quite a while, there are those moments where the energy is not there - breaks, lags, gaps, etc through the years. Obviously the length of time I’ve been ‘involved’ in wing tsun doesn’t reflect the hours I could’ve been practicing wing tsun.

There are times in class when I have all the energy in the world, and other times when it’s just SO difficult, where I feel drained even before I start training.  This takes its toll on the training itself, the drills are sluggish, my performance lacks, I get frustrated, and getting hit hurts just a little more than usual.

It’s interesting to see the types of students in class.

There are those that absorb wing tsun so quickly and immerse themselves into the programs, train like crazy, learn everything and anything..only to leave. They love the art, but I can’t help think that they’ve burned themselves out and that excitement and drive eventually dissipates.

 Others take a slow and steady approach.  Their development is very gradual, but consistent.  It means that it’s less likely that they’ll burn out from training, but at the same time, they could be at risk of stalling.

Then others seem to be unphased by anything. They just keep truckin’, keep training and keep progressing, although don’t immerse themselves into everything wing chun. They don’t burn out like the first group, but progress much more quickly than the second group.

How do you guys keep that passion, that drive, alive? Wing tsun draws us in by its simplicity, but could that simplicity also make for a bland and repetitive menu?

Maybe it’s just the way we choose to train – a matter of perspective, a matter of psyching yourself up.

Or perhaps how we train?

Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of a coaching approach, rather than the typical Si-Fu, student classroom approach.  For example, teacher sees your footwork is weak, so over the next 4 weeks, your ‘coach’ has you do a specific program designed to improve your footwork using a combination of drills, exercises, chi-sao, etc but all with that one goal in mind.  Then after that, move onto a different weakness, say punching alignment and then coach you through that.

Although not particularly different from what schools teach already, I’m thinking of a more structured, individualized, athletic, measurable, goal oriented strategy, which might help provide those’ mini-victories’ that could really motivate someone like myself.

This is an approach I take throughout the year when it comes to the gym…months 1-4, work on strength, months 5-8, increase cardio and cut down on body fat, month 9, take break, active rests, etc.

But back to my original question – how do you keep your motivation and passion strong? What works for you?

Until then.

The Obasi Saga Spin Off

If you haven’t read my previous posts regarding the Obasi, Williams and Boztepe Sage, please do so now before going any further.

You can find the article here.

Quick recap

Sean Obasi (wing chun man aspiring to conquer the MMA circuit) does a challenge chi-sao match with various wing chun experts with surprising results:

Obasi vs. Williams – winner: Obasi

Obasi vs. Ng (Obasi’s teacher) – winner: Obasi

Obasi vs. Boztepe – winner: Boztepe

And now, the plot takes an interesting twist…

Williams vs. Ng – winner: You'll have to check out the video

Randy Williams obviously has something to prove here and you can see this in his energy. The hits are harder than what we’re used to seeing in chi-sao clips. Albeit, the wing chun here is absolutely horrendous. I’m allowed to say this because these guys are supposedly masters in their art and this is anything but masterful. 

Side note: although I guess it shouldn’t matter – there’s just something wrong about seeing Philip Ng, old Chinese man, get hit by the younger, more athletic Williams.

If this is what master wing chun looks like, what is wing chun for the rest of us supposed to look like?

This is absolutely embarrassing to wing chun practitioners and again I’m not surprised when other arts simply laugh at wing chun. If anyone from Randy Williams or Ng’s camp is reading this, please let me know your thoughts!

If I can make a special request – I would love to see a Pacquiao vs. Williams clip next though. Ha, just kidding..or am I?

Kernspecht and Williams, now that’d be interesting too.

Until then.

Empty Your Cup or..?

Some of you may have come across this video already of an instructor trying to give a lesson to an uncooperative student.

What do you see?

Do you see an incompetent teacher, unable to apply his skills to a "student"?

Or

Do you see a douchbag of a student with something to prove?

I see the latter option. The student is, in my opinion, probably from some other school and hoping to catch exactly this on camera. Really stupid and doesn't prove anything in my opinion. if you want to prove that person A sucks or his style sucks, then fight him.

Participating in the drill, uncooperatively, is a waste of time for everyone.

you can find the video here - curious to read your comments and emails!

Until then.

This and That

Quantum Shock – my Si-Fu and WT brother have been involved in quite the project lately. Ladies and gents, I present to you, Quantum Shock.  Part 5 was just released and you’ll find yours truly in a fight scene with the main character.  Although the scene was quite short, it took quite a while to shoot.  It was a lot of fun being a part of it.

Power punching/training routine – I actually posted my power training workout routine on my other blog as it’s fitness related. You can find the entire routine and explanation here.   I’m still hitting the boxing gym on the weekends which gives me a good opportunity to hit the bag (I don’t have a wall bag or wooden dummy). Still enjoy it but it’s revealed a weakness in my right wrist that I’ve injured back in my karate days. Really means I can’t deliver right hooks as powerful as I’d like. Of course, still fun though.

Succession – in business, there should always be some level of redundancy/succession built into the system.  If the CEO of Company X were to retire tomorrow or get hit by a bus, what would happen? I ask this of current martial art instructors. You’ve invested so much into your students, how do you ensure your teachings are maintained past your time here on Earth? Do you keep a binder of notes, videos or just hope that your students can pass on that message for you?

Anyone know if Robert Downey Jr is still practicing wing chun? I would love to train with him.  Why? Because he’s friggin Iron Man.

Finally, stumbled upon this on Youtube - Steven Seagal training with Lyoto Machida. As much as I give Seagal a hard time, he's obviously got skills and you can see it here (as well as similar ideas from WT). although the running kick still looks funny..and I just can't help but remember all those Mad TV skits...

Until then.

Trust Issues? We all have them.

In the moments of a fight, an intense drill, or even a regular exercise where you just don’t know what to expect – tension happens.  Stress happens. Your muscles tighten, your jaw clenches, fist squeezes just a little bit harder, for just a little bit longer than you want.

It’s a very natural reaction.

You see this in all fights. It’s built into our nervous system. When animals fight, they all fight with it. As quick as a snack bites..you can see the flexion in its muscles to make that happen.  We are wired to fight in this way…to be tense, to use strength.

From this tension, comes other bad habits – our centre of gravity rises, we tend to reach for our opponent, we hit at him, not through him.

It’s primal…it’s what got us here as a species. We understand it. It makes sense to us  There’s sex and there’s fight – the two most primal of states that we are hardwired to do.

And then you have wing tsun. It says to you, do the exact opposite of tension - relax. Do the exact opposite of what all those thousands of years of evolution has built into us.  The more relaxed you are, the faster your strikes will be, the more powerful they will be, the more grounded you will be. It will also help with your mental state – being relaxed keeps you from freaking out. it keeps your options open..there’s always a way out..there’s always the opportunity to think of what to do next or what to do now. 

Relaxation is key.

But what is hindering us from relaxing during a fight? TRUST.

We do not trust what relaxation can really do. We do not trust the benefits of relaxation and we revert back to our comfort zone – tension.

(Let’s take a quick moment  to state that relaxation does not mean being weak or frail in your structure. You can have very solid structure and be quite powerful but without being tense.)

There is no tension in water. It just flows and it can be devastating.  There is tension in ice, and while it can be a strong tool, it can snap or break.

We have to learn how to trust relaxation. But how do you build this trust?

It’s like a relationship in which we have to build from the ground up starting with a little bit of faith. Fake it till you make it, as they say. 

When practicing your drills, partner exercises, forms – you will have to learn how to relax the body. You will get hurt, and get hit as you go determine the difference between weak and relaxed, but this risk of getting hurt is common with any process of allowing yourself to trust something.

From there, it becomes a matter of fine tuning to see how much more you can relax while maintaining solid positions and structures…sometimes too much tension, sometimes not enough structure.  It’s all part of the discovery process. 

Give yourself up to relaxation, let it take over you.

And just when you think you got it, relax even more.

Side note: You can have your “strong” wing chun days and you can your “relax” wing chun days. No need to ignore one or the other. You should incorporate both sides of the spectrum to your training. Some give wing chun styles a hard time because they’re too relaxed and others give wing chun styles a hard time because it’s too tense.

But the message here is that tension is inherent in all of us. We already trust tension. We already know what it can do, we also know its limitations.  Now it’s time to discover the benefits of relaxation in fighting. 

Until then. 

The Ace Up Your Sleeve: Implosive Wing Tsun..”TM”

Typical catch-phrases, buzz words and tag line for wing tsun – explosive wing tsun, dynamic wing tsun, ..what’s next, primal? etc etc.  The idea these terms invoke makes sense to people. You want to react quickly, with bursts of power unleashed onto the poor guy that is trying to hurt you…

Here’s one for the books – Implosive Wing Tsun.

“What the heck is implosive wing tsun?” you must be thinking.

It’s a new term I’m officially going to coin…

But really what is “implosive wing tsun”?

Ultimately, it’s an idea my SI-Fu has emphasized over and over…and over again – the ability to sink your body behind an action whether it’s an attack, defense or both.

Much easier said than done, especially at that moment of extreme stress – you know, when someone is trying to hurt you.  It’s also the most opposite of natural body reactions..so training oneself to fight “implosively” is going to take a while and probably not something a beginner or intermediate student could do.

It’s about sinking your entire center and bringing any forces into that center during a defense.

It’s about concentrating your energy into your center, dropping your weight into that center, and coordinating that “dropping” movement behind every hit (much like the falling step punch, without the step although a step could be used if needed).

The analogy I’d like to use:

When it comes to defensive actions, your actions/body would be like one of those huge inflatable mattresses that stuntmen land on when they jump off a tall building. As the stuntman lands, all that energy is absorbed into the center and the outer areas of the “mattress” folds inwards and around the point of impact. Your body would react no differently - you sink, absorb and transfer the energy into your center, and fold around the attack.

When it comes to offensive actions, think of your attack as a million rocks all fusing together to form one huge solid boulder at the point of impact.  All that energy from your legs, hips, core, back, shoulders, chest, etc. concentrated into your center and then shot into your opponent as you “drop” into the hit.

The harder you hit, the more you implode.

The harder the hit comes at you, the more you implode.

The only time you could “explode” is when it’s truly safe to do so – your opponent is compromised, off balance, stunned, etc.

You can train your body to hit or react implosively. It’s a long process and does not require hard hitting drills. In fact, quite the opposite. You’ll want to tone things down when training with a partner or to hit light on a wall or heavy bag.  It’s all about coordinating the dropping mechanics and concentrating all the energy into every hit, while still being able to hit fast and with multiple attacks and combinations.  You gotta keep elbows, shoulders, and body low while still being able to reach out to hit. It’s very contradictory when you think about it..but that’s what makes this so powerful.

When doing partner drills, slow things down a lot as you work on coordinating the dropping movement with your defensive actions in a way that doesn’t leave you vulnerable or hinders you from your next move. 

Implosive wing tsun is not necessarily an obvious dropping motion..it might be when you first start and that is fine..but the end product should be a subtle drop or transfer of energy to a lowered center that is not visible to outside observers. Of course, it’s always dependent on your opponent’s energy too..if the situation calls for an exaggerated drop, so be it.

Your legs will fatigue, your core will fatigue. It just goes to show you how much of your body is truly involved in the fighting movement, not just your upper body. Implosive fighting is more work than the more natural “explosive” fighting reaction. 

(Do note that, in the context of my sentence above, “explosive” refers to rising up of the center, reaching high to the head, elevating the shoulders and elbows, reaching for the opponent as you try to hit…)

The interesting part of all of this – one could progress through an entire wing chun curriculum without ever incorporating the idea of “implosive” fighting…yes, they could learn all the forms, double knives, long pole, wooden dummy, know all the chi-sao moves, drills etc and yet have no practical concept of implosive fighting.  Yes, they could still be quite a decent fighter, but implosive wing tsun is that extra ingredient that can really makes your wing tsun sing. 

Wing Chun vs. Wing Chun

So a fellow WT colleague forwarded me this video the other day.  It’s WT vs WT my friends and yes, while one cannot fully judge a Youtube video without actually being there…I’m still gonna do it.

You can find the video here.

Two wing tsun guys would not make a great fight. In fact, the first minute of this clip pretty much highlights what two expert wing tsun guys would do in a fight…nothing. But that, in essence, is part of the WT fighting philosophy - to intercept an attack or entry, not to initiate one.

So they got that right.

But then things just fall apart from there and people are going to say they suck and they ran after their attackers and the other back peddled..and non-WT punches landed and grappling happened and anti-grappling didn’t work, why didn’t he see the kick, etc etc. 

Or that he didn’t use this principle or that principle or no knee pressure or didn’t just step in and punch.

Yes while that’s all true and yes maybe they do suck and are quite bad at Wing Tsun

…

I have to say that this is typically how fights seem to look especially between everyday Joe’s like you and I. You can see how difficult it is to fight an opponent that has space to move.  On top of that, you can see how once an opponent knows that you constantly try to move forward, that they can play with you. You can also see how difficult it is to just GO IN..especially when you are really getting hit. 

You can see how it’s hard to maintain that close distance without grabbing on.

You can see how difficult it can be to knock a guy out.

You can see how little wing tsun anyone really uses..of all their techniques, skills, chi-sao sections, etc..step and punch is all you got..you barely can throw in a chain punch.

These guys fought like how I sparred back in my days in University using my wing tsun (albeit I was a student level back then and didn’t fight other wing chun guys – instead MMA guys, karate guys, hapkido, taekwondo, kick boxers).  Sparring quickly reveals that things don’t happen like they do in the drills. The opponent doesn’t stay in your range and tries to get out as quickly as possible. I remember how annoying that got and I strategically ended up having to corner them.  Then there are moments where you grab them or they grab you, pin you against the wall with grabs/attempted takedowns..and you end up grabbing them to restrict their movements..yes it’s not Wing Tsun..but the reaction is just too natural. 

I have to also note that it’s different fighting guys who are used to fighting and guys who have limited fighting experience. The former have a tendency to take more risks, commit a bit more into their hits, get into a more realistic distance, put more weight into their punches

…while the latter hit with the tendency to stay away, with a fear of getting hit…it’s like they’re more concerned with being hit than hitting..

And fighting that type of opponent can be quite annoying as they are constantly trying to just “tag” you and back peddling which means you can’t get the right distance to land a meaty hit and just end up fatiguing over time.

Space is a factor. They fought in a huge gym. They ran around a lot because they had to the room to do so.  When WT guys train, they may train in smaller quarters, plus under the comfort and cooperation of maintaining close distance fighting.  But in this case, those rules didn’t apply. Any one of these guys could run around to their hearts content..of which you could see the other was getting incredibly frustrated with that.

So what’s my point?

My point is that…for the majority of us..this is what free-fighting will look like.  We can blame them for not doing this or that, but at the end of the day, I think this is the end product (sadly) especially for us guys who train WT for fun, as a hobby or extra-curricular activity. But this applies to any fighting system…karate, kung fu, jkd, mma. It just looks like shit. 

Another point

I do think that in a self-defense scenario, it would/could look different.  This is where the attacker just attacks. There’s no hesitation, just full commitment and with no knowledge of what your reactions would be. He attacks under the assumption that he will ‘win’ and hurt you. This type of scenario presents variables that may favor the person defending themselves, of course, could also mean you could get hurt more too.  But the self-defense scenario and the challenge match scenario above are two very different situations.

My last observation

Why didn’t they show the ending of the fight??? I thought that was lame. I don’t care how bad or boring it could’ve been but still show it.

My 2 cents.

Until then. 

Power Punching Workout Plan Update

I have not forgotten about my power punching workout plan!  This past week has been a trial run as I’m just getting back to the gym (from a horrible flu that put me out for 2 weeks), figuring out my schedule and just going through the workout plans. 

I’m switching from a more conventional body building routine to a routine that emphasizes cardiovascular resistance training, with a lot more attention to wing tsun and boxing. Conventional body building training will be dropped considerably as I’ll only be pushing weights once a week for muscle maintenance.

Here’s what I have so far, in terms of the workout schedule:

I’m pretty much doing a different workout for each session throughout the week.

1)      Power Training

2)      Speed Training

3)      Weight Training

4)      Small muscle conditioning and total body stretching

Power training will consist of the use of body weight resistance and light weights with an emphasis on explosive movements. It will also develop my endurance.  I hope to finish off with some heavy bag training.

Speed training will focus on speed and coordination. Really light weights (if any) and just focus on developing the nervous system to move my hands and feet quickly.  I will also incorporate kettlebell drills to work the core and structure.  The session is neither about fatiguing nor building muscles.  The goal is to get the nervous system to throw punches faster, and with precision. I plan to finish off with the double end bag and mitt work.

Weight training will be designed to maintain muscle, hitting all major muscle groups. For the sake of time, I will superset the various exercises.  It will consist of reps and sets schemes typically used for body building.

Small muscle conditioning will consist of a short list of exercises to hit the small muscles including forearms, wrists, neck , as well as take the time to stretch out joints (eg. knees, ankles, hips, etc).  I will also stretch all major muscle groups.  I’m still not sure when or where I can fit this into my schedule. 

For the rest of the week, I’ll be training more wing tsun. I’m trying to rearrange work to make this more feasible. Given that I’m working such odd hours, it’s been difficult the last couple of years to attend consistently.

I will lay out the exact workout plans for each section above, but only after I run through them and make any needed adjustments.

Until then.

Obasi Saga Continues...Williams, Kwok and now...Boztepe?

How can I NOT talk about this?  My good friend and WT colleague has been keeping me in the loop on the Shawn Obasi wing chun sticky hands saga..

For those of you who are not in the know, Shawn Obasi is this wing chun fighter of which we were introduced to a couple years ago as he was the self proclaimed "Wing Chun man" who tried to enter an MMA competition... unsuccessfully and embarrassingly in my opinion. You can check out my original post about him here. What was interesting and cool at the time, however, was that he wanted to represent wing chun in the MMA world. Great! You can actually see my other post about him where he actually fought in some MMA type of competition.

So fast forward to now..

This guy's been on a "rampage" of sorts..crossing hands with vary well known wing chun teachers of which have master titles and are in all the kung fu magazines and just very well known and, for the most part, respected in the wing chun circles.

Obasi's first 'victim" is this guy, Sifu Randy Williams...he is very well known. I remember seeing articles about him and on the covers and spreads of Inside Kung Fu back in the day...plus all his videos and books advertisements, etc.

So Obasi rolls hands with Randy Williams. Now given the history of Randy Williams, you would think that he'd be able to dominate against a relative nobody like Obasi. Well, not so much. Check out the video here!

What a let down!! Randy Williams was getting worked. Both wing chun sticky hands sucked, but you can see that Obasi was able to get strikes in and overpower Randy Williams. Where's the wing chun principles of using the opponents force? of yielding? of being like water? of intercepting and angles and size doesn't matter, etc etc.  Any hits that Randy got in..were nothing..just touches. Let me say, however, both guys doing sticky hands sucked here but you can tell that Randy was a let down and just didn't bring his game that you would expect a Sifu of his calibre to be...

Maybe it's cuz Randy Williams isn't Chinese. You know, if you're Chinese, then you've gotta be amazing at kung fu.  You can't do any wrong, really.

So Obasi's next "meeting" is with Sifu Samuel Kwok.  This guy is also very well known in wing chun circles. You can read his bio here. The guy's teacher is Ip Chun, the son of the great Wing Chun master, Yip Man. damn!!! Sifu Kwok has been learning wing chun since the 70's - he must be amazing!! he's got many clips on youtube and i think he even did some collaboration with some brazillian jiu jitsu guys.

Check out the video of how the whole thing went down. 

Again, a rather dissapointing show from Sifu Kwok..and again you can see that Kwok can't dominate of which you'd expect a wing chun master of his calibre to be able to do.  You can see how they just stiffen up, keep distance and pretty much just get into girl fight of sorts.. you can see the pushing, the stiffness..all the juicy openings a grappler would love.

anyway things ended fairly quickly but you can get a sense that MASTER KWOK couldn't really do much. Seriosuly..it's so dissapointing.

I feel like i can bring the same game too if i rolled with Obasi...and i'm nobody!!

So now Obasi decides to roll with the wing tsun guy that everyone just loves to hate..Emin Boztepe. Of WT origins, Emin now has his own association under EBMAS.

Now I've actually crossed hands with Sifu Emin back in the day. I was just a puny student level 3 back then..so what do I know, right? But at the time and watching how he just tore everyone apart at the seminars..i thought this guy was the real deal.. Let me be upfront and say that i have no association with him or his organization. in fact, i think the guy's a jerk..but i can't question his skill...

BUT..

so many people just hate on this guy. He's muscular..he's a bully..how could he be good at wing chun? He just does demos..and his partners don't REALLY try to hit him.  It's unreal how much people don't like this guy and think his wing chun is just absolute crap. I can't say i agree. In fact, here's my favorite chi sao clip of him. Just amazing!! But check out the comment threads..it just goes on and on how about how shitty he is..

People love to hate him..

So let's bring it back to Obasi.  Here he is doing sticky hands with Emin Boztepe.

My friends, OBASI IS JUST GETTING WORKED. He can't do a single thing and he just keeps getting hit. and guys, Emin's hits look like they're effortless and not painful..but that's what makes them SO FREAKING painful and you can tell by how Obasi is reacting each time.. every time Obasi moves, he moves in with hesitation and caution and that just let's Emin hit him even more.  You know why? because the hits received  actually have impact.  Obasi doesn't just gets slapped, he gets contact that you know has some boom behind and Emin's just holding back. There's is no pushing, no flailing of the arms..you can see who's dominating and who's not.

And Emin's not even Chinese!

And yes, some of you are going to say that Obasi's not really trying to hit. You know why? cuz he knows he can't get in and the harder he tries, the harder he himself gets hit. Obasi can feel this in his arms from his own sticky hands training..anyone who does sticky hands knows this - you can feel when you can't get in so you don't.  So as the drill goes on, poor Obasi and any partner on the receiving end really can't throw committed hits anymore because they know they'll just get whacked.

You can see the impact of fairly light hits when you watch Obasi's body move from the impact. this is how European WT wing chun trains (at least back in the day)..they don't just play tag.

to sum up...if you kind of use Obasi as the one constant in these 3 clips..you can see who's got skills and who doesn't. You can easily see who dominates and who doesn't. You don't need skillfull wing chun eyes to judge this.

Anyway these are my quick thoughts. Share yours!

Until then.

**EDIT March 3 2013**

Tons of comments and emails coming in on this one and I just felt it would be easier to add here than respond to each person individually. A lot of people are bringing up the **CONTEXT** of which the 'meetings' are taking place... in particular:

The meetings (guys, no way i can say fight, because it's just chi-sao..and if they all wanted to prove who's best, they should just fight) between Sam Kwok and Randy Williams are more aggressive..more like a "winner" must be determined..while the clip with Emin seemed more co-operative, more like Emin was showing Obasi a drill.

Yes, I also noticed the different tone of the Emin clip versus the other two. But here's the thing:

If the Randy Williams one was more of a "revenge match", and Randy has skills, Randy Williams shouldn't have held back. In fact, if he held back and still got whacked with Obasi's fak saos and got pushed around..what's the point of that??  Why can't he turn it up to Obasi's level and just neutralize things? On top of this, my own observation is that his chi-sao skills just aren't there.  Here's a clip of Randy Williams with some other guy..this time smaller and slower..and Randy is able to do the moves, but you can tell it's pretty much the same stuff that he tried with Obasi but just couldn't get it through.  I really like the part when a black belt walks in and doesn't even pay attention to the girl fight.

As for the Emin clip and how it's cooperative. Yes, i think it was too. Here's the kicker - Obasi is hesitant on all his moves, way more than before in his other clips..and he keeps distance. All stuff you do when you REALIZE you can't get in and don't want to get hit.  This was the point I tried to make above in my post...Obasi can sense through sticky hand reflexes (or just knows) that he can't get through and that Emin's hits HURT.   (i'm probably over-analyzing now...there are points in the clip where Obasi tries to hit, but he can't. Emin just shuts them down so subtly that you can barely notice it even happens..which is what good skills should do). Dominance was already established right from the get go from a purely chi-sao perspective..something that could not be done in the other meetings.

The other thing you can't fake is the Obasi grunts! haha awesome. Obasi grunts so differently when training with Emin compared to Randy Williams or Sam Kwok. This is obviously a reflexive habit of his..and it's a good measure of something he can't control..it's purely instinctual and coincides with stress.  Emin's hits are not mean or aggressive..they are just the nature of his hits. I have been to Sifu Emin's seminars and what Emin did was nothing special for Obasi or anyone..it's just how he trains/teaches his students.  And this is how we train and SHOULD train..and it's just part of the EWTO original way of training (i don't know if they do this still?). No slappity slaps..no rabbit punches.  This is normal..at least in my class.

You can tell the difference between this type of crap chi-sao (chasing hands, things getting stuck, no real hardcore hits, both partners just standing there exchanging hits) and this type of superb chi-sao (flow, effortless, determined hits, the losing partner's structure is clearly disrupted, while winning partner is relaxed and upright)

And guys, at the end of the day, you can just tell who's able to dominate and who's not. I can show the 3 obasi clips to a 6 year old and they can determine who "won" or who didn't win in each. I'm sorry, but the Sam Kwok and Randy Williams ones are just not great. These guys are supposed to be AMAZING. I pretty sure if I were to roll with Obasi it'll look like that type of crap chi-sao too..But if i was amazing, i should be able to turn it up a notch to as to neutralize or control him just like i could with my students. And if i was EVEN more amazing, i'd be able to hit him convincingly instead of posting my "explanations" on a website..

Where's the beef? as they say.

We need to show wing chun..not explain wing chun. This is why so many other martial artists just laugh at this kung fu style and I don't blame them.