May 2009 WT Calgary Seminar

On May 29-30th, Sifu German Ferrer WT Calgary hosted a seminar by Sifu Ralph Haenel of WT Vancouver.

First of all, it was great to see the class full of so many students, including three visiting senior students from WT Vancouver. Having a full class just creates this addictive atmosphere conducive to more intense training. We even had a visitor from Edmonton, a student from WT Vancouver over 10 years ago. Also, Sifu Tony Tam from Saskatchewan shared his Fatshan Wing Chun knowledge with us.


Pre-seminar photos – these innocent happy students don’t know what’s in store for them

In the November 2008 seminar, I had talked about “moving your body”. What are my thoughts from this recent seminar?
- Encouragement, Motivation, Enthusiasm
- Punching power, intense training

Encouragement, Motivation, Enthusiasm
WT Seminars are usually held a couple or few times a year with a different theme each time. But, one of the common threads between seminars is the amount of encouragement they give for your WT training. A jumpstart:
- Revving up a stalled engine (less training), encouraging you to re-start your training.
- Or adding nitro to an already running engine, motivating you to train even harder than before.

It takes a lot of devotion and energy to consistently attend group class, take private lessons, train outside of class, or train on your own, etc. Self-initiative and discipline can be difficult, and having these seminars really do help re-energize my enthusiasm for WT.

The ladies of WT Calgary with Sifu Ralph (Brian are you jealous again?)

Punching power, intense training
In the last blog entry, I mentioned “sweating profusely” in passing. I’d also like to direct you to Brian Yam’s June blog entry entitled "Intense".

The theme for this WT seminar was BlitzDefence (some videos here).

I found that this seminar emphasized the need for explosive power. Without a powerful knock-out type punch, what can you really do with your techniques? As Sifu Ralph would say, “bong sau you to death”?. During the seminar, besides training responses with our partners, we did quite a bit of stamina and punching drills before and after. Giving it all. Locking out. Same target each time. No patty-caking in the air. There were no “empty punches”. The first exercises were so intense. So intense that those arms started trembling and felt like falling right off. So intense that I could barely hold my water bottle during one of the breaks!

Me, lifting a 100 pound water bottle (picture stolen courtesy of Tony from this blog post)

Although we need these exercises to complement all of our training, it’s one of those things that we hate. Yes, don’t lie! How many would rather not break a sweat during a workout? But it feels so good afterwards, and think of the benefits!

Unfortunately, without a large group and/or instructor to push us along, it’s difficult to work so hard until all of your large muscle groups fail, leaving you to rely on all of those new and important muscles you didn’t know existed before. If we don’t have the correctly built muscles to begin with, how can we generate the appropriate power? I’m not talking about stiff brute force, but a pliable power with properly trained muscles ("Muscles of WT", a work-in-progress).

We’ll just have to push each other more, and each one of us should focus on intense training on our own as well. You must train until that sweat just stings your eye! So much that you begin to cry. Crying, out of happiness…

In any case, this wasn’t a chronological summary of the seminar, but again just some random thoughts I had. On Saturday, we did enjoy another buffet at the Regency Palace Restaurant like last year. Good chatting, and good eats. It’s always fun to see the WT people in their civilian clothing.

Perhaps some of the WT Calgary group can make it to the seminars in Vancouver one day. I can tell you that it is a great training atmosphere there as well, with great people just like the ones we have already met so far.

See you next time!

Training: time, quality, and effort

How many years have you trained in Wing Tsun, or your martial art of choice, or whatever other endeavour?

My profile states "A student of WT since November 2004". Very true. Forever a student of course, at least that's what I believe. But what about that second part - what does "since November 2004" mean? Why, nearly 5 years of training by calculation. Ah... but how much do you train, an obvious question. For me, it has been at most only 2-3 times per week, minus vacations, intermittent chunks of absences when busy with family/work, etc. I started taking private lessons more regularly only after 3 years or so. So maybe that 5 years all boils down to only 6 months of training 40 hours/week. Not much, eh?

Recently, I had the wonderful chance of being part of a 10-hour Chi Sau Marathon (http://www.realisticselfdefense.net/blog/index.blog?from=2009051313). Not 10 hours for me, just the one for the students! Granted I was recovering from an earlier private lesson 2 days prior, resulting in a lot of new interesting sores and pains, all good of course! But this doesn't compare to the 10-hour training session of Sifu Ralph Haenel.

How does one get better? Time. Quality of training. Effort spent. You would think that these are obvious points, but how many of us train enough in these ways? Spending lots of time with proper training, and sweating profusely!

Is this a reachable state in people's busy lives with a full-time job or a couple of part-time jobs, a family and other responsibilities? Perhaps not for a long time, but it also depends on what you are able to take away from lessons and group classes. Munch up every bit of information. Just like anything, you can choose to mindlessly wander through without really understanding and developing ideas, or you can try to analyze and incoorporate concepts to improve your limited time spent training.

All theory and abstract banter? I'll leave it up to you to decide!

WT withdrawal

I'm sure you've been there. The sweats, the shakes, the itchy arms... what am I referring to you ask? Withdrawal from Wingtsun of course, what else?!

Whether or not there are busier days at work, family-time becomes a priority, or you've simply fallen ill, there always comes a time when you need to take a break from training. Then what becomes of us? Well, for me, I have a WT addiction to feed. So, it only takes a matter of days before I start getting the shakes.

Try as I might with form-training, resistance training, shadow Wingtsun-ning, etc.... it just doesn't fullfill that feeling of training with a partner. Oh, the aforementioned training is all good and useful of course, but few things surmount the sensation of "crossing hands" in WT.

What to do then? Well, persevere for one thing. And lots of patience.

Do you have an addiction? What is it's root - a need or a want?

It hits all by itself

"When the opponent expand, I contract, When he contracts, I expand, And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit--it hits all by itself" - Bruce Lee

This is what I want to be able do do one day, but with control.

How many times have you accidentally hit your training partner? Sometimes, by chance, perhaps. Other times, maybe the forces were actually in the right direction for once, and just because there was no obstacle, your pliable arms, legs, or body just got through. "Ooops, sorry", you say.

But wait! Let's go back to that moment and see what happened. Then it becomes too complicated, because you start to think about what you did, how you placed your arm, where your pressure was, etc... and everything begins to fall apart. Don't get me wrong, I think analysis is a good thing. It just might be difficult to get right back to that instance of an undisturbed mental state of, well, just flowing I guess. Not thinking too hard.

Techniques can certainly teach proper positioning. Which is static though. Valid and good to learn. In application, it is different altogether! We don't fire off neurons and make our arm into bong sau or tan sau. It should one day, one day, be automatic. When bong or tan or whatever sau just occurs on its own - but just as quickly as it came, it should dissipate again into the next "photo-op" position let's say. Maybe it'll be a fak sau, or a punch, or something else we can give a name to. Who knows? But in the end, it should hit all by itself!

One day...

Why are you learning WingTsun?

What got you into WT to begin with?

- for self-defense?
- to meet other people?
- for a good workout?
- to learn a "traditional" kung fu system?
- to embark on a spiritual journey?
- to "look good"?
- to increase your self-esteem and confidence?
- part of a spiritual journey?

What other reasons compelled you to start training in this effective kung fu system?

Think about what attracted you to WingTsun in particular. Is it the same reason that keeps you there today? For me, being a fan of Bruce Lee and always wanting to learn kung fu at one point, WT was a natural starting point. I'm sure one or more of those above reasons have come into play at one time for all of us.

Initially, I wanted not only to learn self-defense, but effective realistic self defense. Now, I am also excited to build a more solid structure. Back to the basics! Not new techniques, but a solid structure.

Don't you also want to become better?

Happy 2009!

November 2008 Calgary WingTsun Seminar

If I were to summarize the impact of Sifu Ralph’s November Calgary WingTsun seminar in one word, I think that word would have to be “freedom”. I say this as if I were constricted in some way. So, what do I mean by freedom in the context of WT training?

- To liberate ourselves from constrained positions
- To instill life back into our bodies
- To free ourselves from our own force (gasp, the first WT principle of force)
- In other words, as coined together by a fellow training partner, “MOVE YOUR BODY!”

In martial arts, functionality is needed to complement the structured forms. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely do not regret learning proper structure and forms in the past – that’s why I used the word “complement.” In my training to date, I have hopefully gained a strong foundation on which to further improve my skills. Only now, I am embarking on a different stage of training that helps add more fluid function to the techniques learned thus far. I don’t mind if this means going back to the basics, because if it works and is practical then I’m all for it!

It’s hard to explain the training exercises from the seminar in detail using words. In general though, I would like to emphasize that during any type of training, you get what you put in. As decided with another fellow student, we definitely tired ourselves out!

What's that shoulder doing so high up??

Since I have an interest in learning more about the biomechanics of WT, I do want to share some thoughts about the Siu Nim Tau (SNT) Chi Gung form. On the first day, we did move our bodies… but very very very slowly. I was an hour late on the first day, and the rest of the group was all nearly motionless during one of the early sets of the SNT Chi Gung form. Oh boy, quite the stretch! This exercise is a great way (or perhaps the way) to stretch out all the muscle fibres, tendons, sheaths, fascia, etc. The more initial stretch a muscle has to begin with, the more powerful the contraction will be. A stretched muscle has more travel to go through in terms of contraction (e.g. sliding of the myosin and actin filaments of sarcomere units). During any movement (e.g. a punch), when a muscle is stretched further as a sort of “loading tension”, more strength and power can be provided. Anyways, enough of that scientific mumbo-jumbo. In summary, stretching is gooood. It feels great (afterwards, that is), and its benefits will be reaped later on (months, years).

Other than the training, there was good food at the buffet dinner and even better company! The dinner was highlighted with a classy move by Sifu Ralph in acknowledging an official Sifu status for Si-Hing German – well-deserved indeed! It was also nice to see that Si-Hing Brian made it over from Vancouver. Fit quite nicely with the group. Perhaps more people will visit next time!

I’m quite lucky to have found such a motivated, friendly, and jovial group of people from Calgary WT. I do miss the Toronto downtown WT group greatly though. Besides going back to Vancouver every now and then, I hope to find some time to visit Toronto in the future.

Anyhow, now that the holidays are approaching, what can I ask Santa for? How about another seminar and more group dinners!

Why is WT more effective: The four principles of combat

The following essay is not a collection of new and recent thoughts. I wrote this short essay for my student level 6 grading about one or two years ago. I've only made a few minor edits in the introduction since then. Hopefully, this will stimulate some thoughts!

Introduction

My personal hands-on experience in other martial arts is limited, and includes brief introductions to Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido over 10-12 years ago, so it is difficult for me to do a detailed comparison with Wingtsun (WT). Nonetheless, I believe that WT is a more effective system. Note that I state "system" rather than "style" - WT consists of a collection of crucial cardinal concepts (thought I'd try out some onomatopoeia here). Throughout my WT training, I have found that in addition to the physical training there are also many important concepts to learn. WT training provides martial artists with the skills, strength, techniques, and attitude necessary to apply these concepts in the most efficient and well-trained means possible. This is how it differs from other "styles" of martial arts.

Four principles of combat

The following few paragraphs will describe the four principles of combat as I understand how they apply to WT. I will leave the four principles of strength for a future essay. The four principles of combat are as follows:

If the path is clear, move forward

If there is contact, stick

If the force is greater, give way

If the opponent retreats, follow through

I believe that if these fighting concepts are used in all martial arts systems, one could excel and do extremely well. However, by training in WT one can progress even further.

If the path is clear, move forward

Many styles use this concept in essence, but more as an initiating event or a sudden burst of movement when the eyes see a clear path. For example, the initiation of a fight principally involves moving forward and attacking. And thus the first principle is achieved. However, throughout a fight itself, there are plenty of opportunities to illustrate and apply this concept, as it does not only mean the body moving forward, but also the tools that we use, namely our limbs. I mention limbs rather than hands, because in WT we use each and every joint of our limbs including the wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, down to the knees and ankles. When we train our limbs to have forward pressure, we are preparing to use this principle from the stored energy ready to explode forward.

If there is contact, stick

This concept may be difficult to explain to any other martial artist without a similar training program of sticky hands. To grapplers it may mean turning into grappling mode with ground-fighting. In any case, this is a principle more suited to the practitioner of WT, as the combination of attacking and defending exponentially increases with the sticky contact of the four limbs.

When people read or hear about WT, most have heard about Chi Sao (“sticky hands”). What is not very well known however, is that Chi Sao is not a means of combat but rather a form of training. In addition to the skills developed in Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu, and drills, Chi Sao trains the necessary reflexive sensitivity cardinal to WT. During combat, the reflexive nature of the sensitivity training takes place and the opponent is soon thrown into a storm of magnetic, flexible, yet strong bamboo canes.

If the force is greater, give way

Quite often martial arts rely on “force vs. force” principles through blocks with the hands, forearms, or shins. It is also human nature to resist when being pulled, or defend punches by hacking at incoming punches or kicks. This third principle is often applied to softer martial arts such as Tai Chi. In WT, deflections and wedges are used to dissipate incoming forces. Although we train to have forward pressure with our limbs, it is a yielding fluctuating compressible forward pressure that is able to give way when necessary. As such we are then able to relocate the weaknesses and holes through which the attacks can return into.

If the opponent retreats, follow through

This concept is used in combination with the first two principles, by maintaining contact or following through with an attack when there is an opening. This can occur on a smaller scale when there is an opening through the arms or legs, or it can happen on a larger scale when the opponent physically steps back. This is a concept that is likely used in many martial arts with successive attacks. However, in WT we are able to apply this concept very well using efficient footwork, forward pressure, and effective chain punches.

Summary

Most importantly, WT does not only rely on visual cues for reacting to attacks, but rather on forces and directions from whence they come from, employing absorbing movements but also maintaining a flexible forward pressure to gain advantages through openings. Thus there are no rehearsed defensive maneuvers being used, but instead a flowing synergy of attacking and defensive movements.

In this short essay I hope that the reader has gained an appreciation of how Wingtsun is effective in training students to use fighting concepts and principles, specifically the four important principles of combat essential in any self-defense situation or fight. Although any martial artist can likely apply and adapt these four principles, WT training provides students with the necessary tools and reflexes to excel at applying these principles during any fight.