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.