Think Wing Chun Is Too Hard To Learn?

 

One step at a time

 

This is such a common concern, students thinking they cannot do this, the stance, the turns, the Bong Sau, the relaxation and so on.

Or students finishing a beginner course and left thinking,

“Is that it?

 

”This would be like stopping reading and writing because you’ve learned the alphabet!

 

DO NOT QUIT, at least until you’ve truly spent enough time with the system and honestly given it your all.

 

When my son was first trying to walk, but fell every time, he never thought;

 

‘This isn’t for me, maybe I should just pack it in?’

 

Wing Chun is designed to mould to the individual and we are not all built the same.

 

If you are struggling you must first remember, ‘If it’s not comfortable, it’s not right’ and therefore sometimes and adjustment is not only acceptable, but necessary.

When it comes to the basic stance (Yee Gee Kim Yuen Mar) for instance, ‘You use the stance’, not the other way around.

Only the slightest bend on the knees may be all that is needed, do not try to force this.

 

When using Biu mar, it’s ok to have a smaller stance and also change the weight distribution, 70/30 is our maximum, as is the distance between the feet being shoulder width apart.

In reality we may not be so wide apart nor would we be anything more than 60/40 in our weight distribution.

 

Having a 60/40 weight distribution means we are only slightly away from having the ability too use a non telegraphed kick (at a 70/30 weight distribution) and equally so, only slightly away from having a 50/50 upright stance (for grapple (Chi Sau) or basic attacks etc.).

 

70/30 has already pushed us to our limit, often people get to grips with this and take it as gospel.

 

‘You cannot get better than perfect’,

 

And, 70/30 (in training) is perfect, but people try to push this too far by sitting back further and going for 80/20 on their weight distribution, doing this will only serve to damage your stance, not improve it.

 

‘Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should’

 

A shorter length stance and only 60/40 weight is acceptable, this is not to be seen as a cop-out if this is making your Wing Chun work for you.

 

Turning stance, again is say remember:

 

‘If it’s not comfortable, it’s not right,

Do what works for you.

 

Turning on the heels is best and easy, if trained from day one with no other previous knowledge, but if following years of TKD, Karate, kick boxing etc. where you may have trained to turn on your toes, don’t battle this too much, embrace it and just go with what works for you.

 

I know many teachers who rightly tell their students HEELS, HEELS, HEELS, and yet turn on their own toes.

 

Don’t worry about this too much, as long as you can turn and are able to get out of the way, who cares, at least you’ve tried turning on the heels rather than just dismiss it on day one.

 

At no point am I saying that you should be willy nilly about your approach to training, NO.

 

Train properly, train hard and do it right, but if an area is simply not working for you, do not beat yourself up over this, don’t let it make you pack in your studies, there is always a way around these things, and a way of allowing you to continue training your Wing Chun for many years to come.

 

As Master Ip Chun says:

“You don’t stop Wing Chun because you get old, you get old because you stopped Wing Chun”

 

I hope these points help you to stay with your Wing Chun and see where it eventually takes you.

 

Thank you