One of the ongoing things we’re trying at the dojo is broadening our student base. Lots of students get a little upset at punches flying at them, and the like, so we’re evaluating some of the softer styles for an introductory class. I’m looking at turning Wing Chun forms into the basis for a practical martial arts style, and helping with the instructions with it.
First, I learned Wing Chun as a “recuperative” style – I needed some time off to let my feet heal from doing stupid things with a wooden sparring dummy and inadequate footwear. My Dad had taken to Wing Chun for joint ailments as he’s gotten older, and had showed me some of the basics, and I asked permission of his teacher, Greg Pool, if I could record his opening lecture for his introductory class. This is what I got.
“Wing Chun is a balanced style, and I’m planning on doing the following forms with it: The open stance, which is fairly high, keeps the elbows close to the body, and keeps the balance over the knees, is a good one for getting pupils into, particularly if they don’t have a lot of martial arts training. The initial lessons will focus on relaxation techniques, and fluid movements. Wing Chun is a style that emphasizes relaxed motions – extra muscle tension slows down the speed of reactions, and builds up fatigue. While we’re going to focus on Wing Chun as, in some ways, an animated relaxation technique, this will be giving you the baseline for learning other martial arts, going to whatever styles you prefer.”
“The basic stance will have your feet at slightly less than shoulder width part, with your knees bent at about a 20 degree angle, and your toes pointed in. From this stance, breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth, and try to relax – you’ll feel a sense of dynamic tension in your hamstrings and quadriceps when you’re done.”
“For motions, we’ll start with the circular blocks from the left side going to the right. Again, redirection and smooth flow is the key to this. Watch what I do…breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth.”
Now, my experiences with Wing Chun are that it’s more like the Northern Chinese styles I’m familiar with – it’s a whole body style, emphasizing economy of motion and blocks. It’s got a lot of good footwork in its basic forms, and it’s used a lot in martial arts movies, most notably those starring Jet Li.
One of the oddities of the Wing Chun forms is that it really de-emphasizes kicks and throws and power moves. This is ultimately because it’s meant to be a defensive style first. Breaking the lines of the basic form for more power gives your opponent defensive opportunities. However, just because it’s a softer style, don’t think it’s a snap. Like all of the opening martial arts forms, it’ll leave you with a healthy sweat before you’re done, and your knees and hips will absolutely feel it.
The upper body workout focuses on delivering power through the sternum to the shoulder – you try to keep your arms relaxed before throwing a block or a strike, because relaxed muscles respond faster, and get more speed. Trying to power through a block or a punch is almost always slower.
Because the Wing Chun stance is higher than I’m used to, it takes some adjustment for me, not to sink too low. Fortunately, for most beginning students, a higher stance is more familiar to them from every day life. Very few people walk around in the Tiger Crouch when going to the super market, while Wing Chun isn’t too far off from a standard “walking posture”.
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