Explaining Wing Chun’s ‘Back’ Foot (Part 2)

 

Biu Mar or Chuen Mar?

 

These blogs were perviously posted late in 2022, however, during one of last weeks wingchun.online livestream classes, one of our members VERY kindly commented on these particular videos, saying that they assisted him greatly, giving a clear understanding of the turning stance, and it was his recommendation that I find these videos and share them once again.

 

May I thank you once more for your kind words and as requested, here they are again.

 

Initially I had titled this post as ‘Biu Mar’s Back Foot Explained’ but then thought that this would be unnecessarily specific, as of course the back foot of Biu Mar is also the back foot of Cheun Mar.

 

In Part 1 of this post (Explaining Wing Chun’s Front Foot (Part 1)), I promised a follow up video, this time giving focus on the back foot, well here we are, although to be honest, it is the back knee which we need to focus on more than the foot, the reason for this is that the foot will go wherever it needs to go, in order to accommodate the requirements of the knee.

 

This is the reason I mentioned in that previous post, that the foot positioning may differ from one person to the next, with one reason being down to the curvature of the calf muscles, which ultimately, will define the necessary direction of the back foot.

 

This is so important to understand.

You may not know this but the way that Ip Man used to teach Cheun Mar was that a student would be required to learn Siu Lim Tau, following this training for one full year!

Then their second year of their training would be spent studying the Chum Kiu and everything connected with it.

 

Only after two years would you then be considered ready to learn Cheun Mar

 

In 1969 that Ip Man decide to change this approach by, still teaching the Siu Lim Tau for one year but then teaching the Turning Punch, and to use the second year of Chum Kiu studies as a way of perfecting this technique and therefore, this stance.

So when I was a kid, people were still training for two years before getting this right, or even having the chance to learn it, not centuries ago, in my lifetime.

 

Using my personal method of teaching, I am trying to make this easier for students to learn, simplifying the process for all to better understand.

 

 

Now, to the video:

In the previous beginner class, we had only just covered Lap Sau Exercise and had discussed only a little of the turning stance.

As Turning stance and Arrow stepping are the same thing anyway (the only difference being with where the attention is focussed), we had also looked at Pak Sau’s and in particular, the use of the Biu Mar and its front foot, in this session however, we were defending a strike using a Tan/Punch (remember this was still a beginner class) therefore this time I took the opportunity to focus on the back foot, and in particular, the back knee.

 

This video would be best viewed on a larger screen and with full volume.

I hope you find something of interest.

Thank you for watching.