My current opinions on wing chun

[Mr. Mantis]

Why do you think WC is so popular ?

I blame Bruce Lee.

[Yum Yum]

Is an ok style if you're not too interested in getting hit. The flipside is that if you don't learn to take a hit now and then, how will you perform if you do?

I think wc has some pretty good techniques; the hammer fists, spear fingers and palm techniques are power shots that could mess someone up in close. But if you can't land these while sparring, how will you land them on someone who doesn't conform to your position, stance and timing?

Some stylists will train and fight against anyone to get a real feel for what works and what doesn't. Its not uncommon for TKD guys to get into a MT gym and see how their kicks work and how they don't...or stand up guys to get into a weapons class to learn to fight with extensions in their hands.

Pardon my ramblings...

[virtual_mantis]

The trapping skills are indeed a must if you are in clinch range and if you don´t want to/can´t grapple, I do use them sometimes when I spar. Such skills are worth having, yes.

But if you want to learn close quarters striking, you should also put lots of emphasis on elbows and knees, something wing chun schools do not usually do.

That´s actually a big problem, even though I cannot say if it is common in other wing chun schools (I suspect it is, considering the videos I saw here): my sifu used to say "oh, if that happens strike with the elbow and/or with the knee". Great idea, but then we should get the pads and actually PRACTICE those knee and elbow strikes a lot, like MT guys do, and we should not hope we will know how to use those weapons with power and precision when the need arises.

I agree with you I was just joking about getting into a fight in a closet.

[Ronin]

I like the trapping.

[lama_xy]

If you rely on distance to generate power....what happen if your opponent take this away from you? This is the premise of Wing Chun (and lot of other Chinese styles). This is why "chi sao" is Wing Chun's "bread and butter".

Why is it so popular? You can thank Bruce Lee for that as alot of ppl use "the art that Bruce Lee studied" as a big selling point. Additionally, the whole thing about "shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line" and "designed by a woman so its techniques are not as dependent on strength" also help sells it like hot cake.

[WingChun Lawyer]

1) If you rely on distance to generate power....what happen if your opponent take this away from you? This is the premise of Wing Chun (and lot of other Chinese styles). This is why "chi sao" is Wing Chun's "bread and butter".

2) Why is it so popular? You can thank Bruce Lee for that as alot of ppl use "the art that Bruce Lee studied" as a big selling point. Additionally, the whole thing about "shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line" and "designed by a woman so its techniques are not as dependent on strength" also help sells it like hot cake.

1) True, I do not disagree. But punches and kicks are the parts of striking generally reserved for long distance attacks, you can mostly count on the distance needed to generate power when you use them. Up close you can use elbows, knees, and grappling, of course.

This doesn´t mean short distance strikes aren´t useful, far from me to say that. But I believe those strikes are vastly overrated in wing chun. I think it would be more efficient to train the proper use of elbows and knees than to spend too much time on short distance punches - and now we come to another of the points I made previously: if we compare WC to other striking arts, can we honestly say that spending lots of time on those strikes and less time on elbows and knees is such a good idea?

Quite frankly, I am trying to fight the notion that the system is not important as compared to the individual. I believe not all systems are equal, some are easier to master and to apply than others. Wing chun is not the best striking system in the world, if we consider its training methods and its main techniques.

2) Yup.

[afronaut]

I think Wing Chun is a good fighting system for close quater fighting. For example lets say you're in a closet and someone starts to mess with you. Wing Chun is the perfect system for this situation.

Wing Chun is perfect for people in the closet.

Damn, WC really is t3h gh3y.

[Ronin]

If you rely on distance to generate power....what happen if your opponent take this away from you? This is the premise of Wing Chun (and lot of other Chinese styles). This is why "chi sao" is Wing Chun's "bread and butter".

.

There are 3 ways to generate destructive force in a strike:
1), the typical boxer/karate way, with speed and mass, creating momentum etc.
the whole f=ma thing
2), the short range "kinetic energy" method for systems like Taiji, and to an extent some WC schools, the whole ke=1/2mxa2 thing ( impulse and all that)
3) the combination of the above.

Distance is applicable to the first method, and many Strikers get stuck in this mode forever.
The WC method, in theory, advocates method 2, but in reality, is just crappy arm punching.

[Nightz]

Wing chun has its good points.
I use it as my base art.

[wcrevdonner]

*sigh*

Wing Chun does have elbows and knees. Not as much as Muay thai but definitely has them. With the way that chi sao goes you'd be a fool not to have them.

And as for the trapping thing...thats useless unless you a) have a decent laap sao (grabbing hand, ie pulling an arm out of the way and hopefully pull them to the side at the same time) or b) have really good chi sao skills, that will overcome the brute you're trying to trap. Otherwise you're into clinch territory which is a different ball game. Don't mistake it, chi sao and clinching are at different ranges, defined by the fact you can still strike with punches/palms/etc at chi sao range, (and are meant to) as opposed to finding the odd one or two at clinching range.