Wing Chun is a Chinese style of Kung-Fu that was made famous by students of Grandmaster Yip Man (Ip Man), such as Bruce Lee, William Cheung, and Wong Shun Leung. It came to prominence due to Yip Man’s students winning a large number of challenge matches against kung-fu masters and muay-thai fighters in the 1950’s and 60’s. Since then Wing Chun has become one of the most practiced Martial Arts in the world. It focuses on simple, direct, and efficient attacks and defenses.
There are 5 components within the Wing Chun curriculum: Forms, Sensitivity drills, Trapping, Application and Self-Defense. Forms: Forms are a meditative, solitary exercise which develop self-awareness, balance, relaxation and sensitivity. Form’s also train the practitioner in the fundamental movement and the correct force generation of Wing Chun.
Sensitivity Drills: Chi Sao or “sticking hands”, refers to a category of contact sensitivity drills used for the development of automatic reflexes upon contact. The drills are performed in pairs, with the participants facing each other with limbs touching. They can vary from pre-arranged drills to more loose or “random” drills. In this drill, participants face each other with their forearms touching. They then push and “roll” their forearms against each other in a single circle while trying to remain relaxed. The aim is to feel forces, test resistances and find defensive gaps. Chi-sao is only a drill. An exercise used to obtain specific abilities. It must not be confused or mistaken as a sparring equivalent.
Trapping: Trapping is a drill that teachers the practitioner how to remove barriers. Simply stated if someone is blocking your attack it teaches the student the proper reaction needed in order to remove the opponent’s defense so the line becomes clear and they can continue their attack. As the student progresses in rank and ability the traps do not become more elaborate but they become more intricate and require less motion and energy to recognize the proper counter.
Application: This is where we teach the student how to apply Wing Chun techniques in a real world scenario. If a fight occurs in the modern world the opponent won’t be utilizing Wing Chun to attack you. Therefore, it’s imperative that we teach our students how to use Wing Chun techniques and principals against the strategies and techniques of a modern day attacker.
Self-Defense: If an attacker catches a Wing Chun artist off-guard by grabbing them in any manner before they expect it (ex. a headlock, bear-hug, tackle etc…), it’s important for the Wing Chun practitioner to break free of the grip and put the attacker into Wing Chun’s effective striking range referred to as hyper range. In the self-defense component of the curriculum we teach our students how to counter the most common form of surprise attacks.
For all our new students we will provide you with a free trial lesson that will cover all 5 of these components of Wing Chun. That way you can get a private, hands on lesson that will provide you with a much better understanding of Wing Chun and how it is taught. To set up your free trial Wing Chun lesson please fill out the short form on your screen.
