From WingTsun to Judo to MMA

[Aleem]

About a year ago, I reviewed my old WingTsun school (unlike a few other bullshido links we read, I've fortunately experienced this first hand - do read, it'll enlighten you to much that is wrong with MA, hopefully :

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...544#post722544

Hi everyone,

I'm Aleem - I used to study WingTsun. I actually used to believed that practicing the Siu-Nim-Tao again and again would make me a better fighter. Luckily, about 6 months into training I came to realised, that I had never actually tested my "fighting" skills, that when my friends decided to mess around with me and threw fake, shitty punches, I actually didn't have a clue what to do. Also, we never sparred. Whilst everyone at the school was nice, they were all misguided. It got to the point where, for a "special" single 1 hour lesson, we were charged £10, and the visiting trainer (Richard Summers - one of the four highest ranked members of Leung Ting's organisation in England) was 15 minutes late. For the whole lesson he explained to us the wonders of the forward step in WingTsun, and how beautiful the chain punch was. He also told us the obligatory story (no joke) - that he used to win competitions using Wing CHUN, until he got his ass handed to him by a Wing TSUN instructor; that's when he switched, that's when he became a great fighter. We sat there for 1 hour, whilst he continually drew diagrams on the board. We didn't throw one punch, we didn't warm up, but listened for all that time - I kid you not, we didn't do a single exercise until the last 5 minutes, when we went through our forms. That lesson was completely theoretical, and he rambled on about some "advanced" physics he'd read in some article.

Anyways, I quit - the dogmatic ramblings, the supposed superirority of this art, the completele lack of pressure testing, and being explicitly told that our skills were inferior to the trainer's ... and moved onto Judo. Unfortunately, thanks to a really dodgy knee which tends to buckle at the wrong times, I took a year out to strengthen it. However, I have to say that in those 8-10 lessons of Judo, I was chucked about by all sorts of people, winded countless times, and taught humility. Now I had hoped that the 6 months of WingTsun MIGHT have helped me on the ground, purely for the reason that I had spend close to £500 on that crap. So I decided to try and use the WingTsun principles of "yielding" which had been mentioned in our classes. I would like to add that one of the instructors explicitly told us that he didn't train ground fighting, because he didn't really need it. So here I was, on the ground, thinking "yield ... yield ... yield ... how do I yield to this guy who has my face buried into his chest, making it hard to breathe. I know, I'll use my WingTsun impulses, I'll move with him ... BAM, he rolls me over and starts to choke me. I thought, could I actually eye-gouge a person from this position?" But before that thought was complete I was tapping my hand on the mat, hard.

Anyways, my knee's much better and I'm hoping to resume some Judo and also to join an MMA club if they will have me (www.cambridgefreefight.co.uk) - My heart goes out to those still stuck at that place. We once had 14 of us train in this room - we could have died just bending over. Though their site is under construction, please do take a look at the place I left behind - www.whatakick.com. Please compare the two sites, and let us all know your thoughts.

The point of this post was to maybe give a true story to Bullshido which reminds us to keep our hopes up, because sometimes people do break free from the Dark Side. And it was through Bullshido that I finally managed to see how I was wasting my money, my time, and my brain. Thanks everyone at BS, you may not know it, but it may well have been your post that finally made me see the light.

p.s.

I just found a page on the internet where one of the members has written this about that visiting instructor I told you about:

"Speaking of fun physical stuff, I’m going to be training Wing Tsun (also known as Wing Chun) with Sifu Richard Summers this weekend, which I’m really excited about. I’ve met him once before when he ran a seminar and it’s astonishing to see the way that the guy can move. With a small shift of his weight and a slight rotation of his hips he threw my weekly-instructor above twelve feet across the room. The power that Sifu can generate with tiny movements is incredible, so I’m hoping I’ll pick up a few useful tips to improve my kung fu."

I would like to add, this is a complete lie. I've been to those semiars, he doesn't do anything like that. 12 feet? I'll post a picture on here to show you what the total size of the freaking training room is! And then you decide. (Notice how small the room is, barely 10 feet, and how cluttered - we once had 14-16 people train here. Dangerous? Yes, that's what they mean by "WingTsun is dangerous."

Sorry for the rant,

I'm out.

[Askari]

Welcome to the dark side.

The girl in the pic is cute, but is going to break her wrist if she ever tries to punch like that.


Edited to add: Change your avatar, we have had bad experiences with people who choose that particular avatar.
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[Axelton]

congratulations. heres a cookie...

[Hedgehogey]

Is anybody else noticing that the guys in the back either:

A: have been run through a funhouse mirror lens, perhaps as prelude to their appearance as a cheap gimmick in an indie-rock music video?

or

B: are afflicted with the tragedy of Proteus Syndrome?

[Backdraft]

Congrats to quitting. About the MMA place, I don't see a reason why they would'nt have you. There's nothing wrong with you, right? So go ahead!

[RunningDog]

This is kind of freaky. I did Wing Tsun, then moved to Judo/BJJ when I realized it was bollocks, have a dodgy knee which I'm getting physio for. And I want to do Vale Tudo.

However there's one reason we're different: it only took you 6 months. I took 8 years... the shame, the abject shame of it. Good luck.

Check out the current throwdown threads:
Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Birmingham, West Midlands
Central Europe (Bratislava)

[gringokahn]

The girl in the pic is cute
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a little too bird faced

[Tomas Drgon]

However there's one reason we're different: it only took you 6 months. I took 8 years... the shame, the abject shame of it. Good luck.

Rah!! Same here. 5 years.

Tomas

[Epicurus]

Grats on your ability to see through what appears to be a very misguided class and strike out on your own! In a few months you can go back and let them show you the "yielding" technique they like so much while you Ground and Pound them.

I read your review and found it to be very candid. Kudos for recognizing your situation and maintaining a critical perspective. Your red lightsaber is in the mail.

[Askari]

Rah!! Same here. 5 years.

Tomas

Oh my god, you even have the obligatory standing behind the master picture.

I hate to ask, but for how long was it on your mantel in your home?

I know one chunner that had the pic by his bed. Very disturbing.