Can’t Find A Partner?

 

 

 

Solo Training

 

Whenever we have a student choosing to leave us at WingChun.Online, it has nearly always been due to one thing, not being able to find a partner.

 

Of course a partner is something that at some stage you will need, but how soon and how often?

 

Before you need a partner:

Before you can partner with anyone, you need to know what you are doing yourself, how to stand, how to punch, what the blocking positions are and so on, and most of this you will need to do solo, before you even consider looking for partners (that way you may feel more confident with what you are doing).

 

When you’re ready to partner:

So often when I am teaching a class, I will give very specific instructions to individual students regarding what THEY need to work on, at THAT particular moment in THEIR particular Chi Sau training, only to then see them partner with someone who makes all of that information just fly out of the window.

 

This happens all of the time but is also a little understandable.

 

If I tell you to work on your relaxation, this will then be quite a task if you then go and partner with the strongest guy in the school!

Therefore, in order to do this (For YOUR development), this takes a special kind of person.

 

Remember, if you are training something brand new or against habit, then there is a VERY high chance that you will get hit while training it.

 

SO WHAT!

 

Drop the ego and start learning!

 

It is because of this mentality that we can see how sometimes having a partner can actually be the problem!

 

In Chi Sau as in a fight, it is the MOST important thing that you

‘STAY IN THE MOMENT’

 

I see this mistake played out in Forms too, people rushing toward the next move in the sequence instead of making sure that what they are doing at that precise moment is perfect.

 

If you cannot keep this in check when just training a Form, and solo, how can you possibly hope to do this in reality, under pressure, or even worse, when under attack.

 

In a previous blog, ‘THE UPS AND DOWNS OF WING CHUN’ I discussed the idea that what is needed at the start of your training, may not be needed later, an principle of relaxing basics, almost letting them go, and doing more of what works for you rather than following the heard.

 

Just because someone has trained Wing Chun for years, DOES NOT necessarily make them good at Wing Chun, and especially when it comes to Chi Sau.

 

YOU need to focus on what YOU need, after clear instruction, and then be able to train it without distraction from ‘partners’ distracting you from your training goals, especially when this is not yet needed.

 

 

What I mean is simple:

If you were training against someone who was very good on their right hand side, the clever approach would be to use your left side.

If someone obviously prefers long range, then try to get in close, and so on…

When playing Chi Sau in ANY kind of a competitive manner, the aim of the game would be to try to take away what our partner/opponent is good at, therefore leaving them open to your attack.

It is often the case that in most classes there is at least an element of the competitive in moststudents and it would be this which would prevent your from working on the areas that YOU need to work on.

 

 

Therefore:

First of all, teach yourself to stay in the moment through Forms and Drills, and when we fully understand this, we realise that sometimes we can develop further without the use of a partner.