article9_secret

THE SECRET TECHNIQUES OF WING CHUN

Have you ever gone through a Martial Arts magazines, and seen ads for books or videos, that state, "the hidden secret techniques of Wing Chun." Well, your in for some luck today, coz the first 30 viewers of this website will receive free information, on the secret techniques of Wing Chun, by yours truly.
Well, the first secret to Wing Chun is practice..... uh, your probably saying no duh, right now. But let, me finish my statement, practice the way correctly. What exactly do I mean by that.
I'll lead by example, and give you different meanings regarding the word, "practice."
Okay, you've just come from your Wing Chun class and learned something as basic as the punch. Now it'll be a good several days before your next class, so you spend at least an hour everyday practicing the punch. Over and over you go over the punch, and the minutes turns to hours, and you've logged in some good practice time. A weeks rolled by and your ready to show of the fruits of labor. The next thing you know your doing your punches, and literally, being corrected nonstop after each punch. What's wrong? You spent all this time practicing, right? Well, that's what I call wasted time. Practicing without knowing the way. Its sorta like doing your homework everyday incorrectly, and then by the time you have a test, guess what, you fail!
One of the things I stress to my students on a consistent basis, is knowing the way. I literally tell them I'd rather have them practice 10 minutes a day correctly, then spend an hour every day, doing the moves incorrectly. Quality not quantity is the measure of what you should be looking for.
Now, that you know the way, I'll speak of another way to practice. I often have student tell me, man you make it look so easy. How do you do it? Well, I tell them I practice religiously everyday. I'll let you in on a little secret. Have you ever met a Martial artist, who then brags, "yeah, I've been in the art for 15/20/30 years." And, then you end up sparring him, and he ends up sucking ass. Well, think about it, I'm sure it happens in your gym. Some guy that you see come in once a month, a year rolls by, and the next thing you know. He's shown up 12 times the entire year, and then says, he's notched an entire year of the art under his belt. Believe me, its not the number of years you spend in the art, its the number of dedicated and consistent hours you spend practicing the way correctly. Believe me, I'm so unimpressed by individuals who brag of there years. Through my 9 years of Wing Chun, I've run into countless "year braggers" who have all eaten humble pie after I've chi saoed with them. And believe me it s a dish served best cold ;)
Thus, the formula for success is always the same regardless of what you do. If you want to be good in something, you have to practice at it. Thus, want to be good in dancing, math, singing, etc, etc, then you have to sacrifice the hours. Wing Chun is no different from anything else. Look at Sifu Fong, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jerry Rice and they make everything look easy. That's because spectators only see the end product. But, if you follow these individuals in there every day lives, you see that they spend countless hours perfecting there craft. No one ever show cases the blood, sweat, and tears that a superstar puts into their game. For example, I’ve heard of Jerry Rices workout routine, after winning the Superbowl, his season didn’t end there, he quickly went back to work improving his skills while others were taking months of and relaxing. Tiger Woods even mentioned that all his friends like to play golf, but he enjoys the part they all hate, the part that involves developing the drive or practicing the putting. But yet, like all American’s today, they just want to do it, without knowing how to do it.
Now the 2nd secret to becoming good in Wing Chun, is controlling your ego. Ego, without a doubt is probably the number one obstacle that you will have to overcome. You'd think that martial artist in general would have less ego. But the reality is, that ego does exist, even more so if your a Wing Chun practitioner. The truth is the best Martial artist have the biggest ego’s, which help propel them to that level, but the best also know how to control that ego and put it in check. In the end, there’s a balance to all that we do, and ego is no different.
Wing Chun is about getting to know yourself, about learning how to control yourself. But all to often, I've seen this countless times before. You'd have two people chi saoing, one guy gets a hit by the other, and then the one who got hit gets a bruised ego from that. Next thing you know you have a sparring match in chi sao, and if you understand chi sao, then you'll know that they're wasting their time. You see, the way I teach, is if your chi saoing and you get hit, its because you did something wrong. Instead you should take the time, to go over what you did wrong with your partner, and learn from the moment. But instead, most practitioners just want to settle the score with a hit.
I remember when I was about 6 to 7 months into the art. I was chi saoing a guy who had over a year on me. I was doing actually pretty good, picking my hits here and there. And, I guess this pretty much pissed him off, cause I was fairly new in the art, and doing so well. Anyway, he decided to let one of his punches follow through with no control. Well, I pretty much ate a solid punch to the eye, and had to get stitches. Besides the fact, that he was a total prick, this guy had massive ego. Anyway, today my skill level is where it is today because I've controlled my ego, as for him, you can say he's gathering dust.
All to often, people use chi sao as a tool to feel good about themselves. They believe, that if I hit my opponent really hard, that'll show of my skill. The way I chi sao is I go regular speed with power with whomever I practice, but just before I'm about to hit someone, I stop an inch or so from ever laying hands on him. Chi sao is about control, not about who can hit who first or the hardest. But, I'm willing to bet that the majority use chi sao in this brutal fashion of tag, Thus, its not to common to see someone whose invested 15 to 25 years in the art, who are more impressed with their hand speed and their ability to hit. When your chi sao is at a higher level, you already know that you have a hit, without even having to take it. You see, that's your ego not having to go out and prove to your opponent that your better than him. Believe me, your opponent will know skill when they try to attack and they can't even move there hands to do so.
Earlier I talked about those individuals who brag about the years they've been in the art. Well, guess what that's ego talking. And, those that brag 99% of the time, can't walk the talk.
Wing Chun is all about common sense, and the reality is, there is no secret technique to develop quick sensitivity over night, to become good in the art you need to practice the way correctly and control the ego.
Written by Sifu Ed Cruz

Windy City Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation, Inc © 2012