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Archive for May, 2009

Tan-sau vs Fook-sau

23 May

One of the confusing issues surrounding Tan-sau and Fook-sau for most beginners concerns what each are really for and how they are used.

Tan-sau, or “Bridge-On arm”, sees the palm facing upward and the elbow slightly inward. With this angle, the arm can project forward by slicing into the incoming punch. Tan-sau’s main purpose is defense against a straight punch, but some will train it as a defense against hook punches.

Straightline and hook trajectories have different angles of attack, which in turn cause different muscles to be used for creating the most force when employing them. By contrast, defense against these two punches would see difference musculature being used, too.

Because of the angle of attack with a straightline punch, Tan-sau’s elbow can project the arm directly forward by using the wrist to “slice” into the attack. The fingers are pointed towards the shoulder of that attacking arm, which keeps the necessary angle (thereby affording a proper defense). When it comes to a hooking punch, though, Tan-sau’s elbow and forearm angle is somewhat insufficient.

Fook-sau, or “Bridge-On arm”, has two uses. The first is the position seen during the slow cycle of Siu-Nim-Tau section 1 and will not used for this discussion. Instead, we will focus on its second position.

The second position is with the palm directly downward and the elbow outward a bit. With this arm position, the angle is such that a strong connection is established from wrist-to-elbow-to-shoulder. This connection then allows the body to play a more prominent role by “wedging” into the hooking attack.

Should Tan-sau be used for countering a hook punch, the palm facing upwards sees the elbow moving slightly inward. The angle of the forearm changes to the point that it requires a great deal of strength to actually halt a real hook.

Those that train Tan-sau to defend against a real hook punch will see one of two things happening:

  1. Tan-sau will collapse because the speed and power of the hook will simply overcome it, or
  2. Tan-sau must be reinforced with Wu-sau, a common action we are now seeing in some circles

The problem with point 1 is that the angle of the attack is overcoming the angle of the defense. Therefore, Tan-sau would not be an appropriate defense to begin with. And the problem with point 2 is that the practitioner is now using two hands to defend against one of the opponent’s, thereby breaching a basic Wing Chun tenet.

The correct action would be that rather than using Tan-sau for hooking attacks, Fook-sau is much more capable of wedging into even the most powerful of hooks. No reinforcement is needed, either, since the wrist-to-shoulder connection allows for giving up of our force and absorbing the attack (while simultaneously providing enough strength to withstand the original force to begin with).

Take the time to experiment with real punches that you would encounter and you will quickly see the angles that our defenses were meant to counter. Things will sometimes work in class that will not work in real life because not enough speed and strength is used as we would encounter for real. But when you work things with “real” power and “real” speed? It is a lesson that will go a long, long way for seeing what will really work.

 
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Posted in Siu-Nim-Tau, Training - Reality

 

Weight Distribution

22 May

One of the differences that many of us experience between WC/VT/WT styles is weight distribution for the lead-leg stance. Some learn a 100/0 ratio while others learn a combination of 80/20, 70/30, etc.

So which one is “best?”

My personal feeling is that one is not the absolute best over the others. In that, however, I also believe that it depends on your style that will dictate the stance ratio used.

Each lineage is driven off of their personal views of weight distribution, and from that, all kinds of things take place. How our initial reactions will be, how we will drive into the opponent, and how our footwork will respond if the opponent drives into u are just a few of the actions learned that are based on the instructor or lineage’s ”take” on things.

If your training is with a 100/0 ratio, then you might focus on using hand and leg attacks simultaneously, each and every time. Everything you do would evolve over time to incorporate that principle into your training, and changing to a different ratio would mean re-training your fist-fighting actions to accomodate it.

On the flip side, change the ratio to 80/20 and now more focus is on the hands. The lower body will still respond, of course, but more as a driving “wedge” into the opponent’s legs to cut off their response vs. responding to their kicks or jams.

Further still, push the ratio to 70/30 or even 60/40  and now a whole new world of hand responses open up. Sometimes it takes a great deal of training to deal with these practitioners, because their upper body has become so strong and their hands so fast that it takes a great deal of relaxation to handle it. They can easily walk right over you if you are not up to par.

Whereas all of these have their “pros,” they also come with “cons,” too. A practitioner training 100/0 ratios has to spend an inordinate amount of time in stepping and covering distances. It is not easy to respond to a gap in distance when an opponent has suddenly moved backwards or out of range. At that moment, you have to recapture the ground you lost in order to maintain the proper working distance.

And for practitioners with other ratios, they have to deal with attacks to the legs because in order to use the lead leg, now that weight has to transfer to the rear leg in order to lift the front leg. It is either that or they have to continue driving inward in order to close the gap, thereby decreasing the distance between their leg and the attack (which decreases the striking distance).

However, a great deal of training is required for that because leg attacks are very difficult to see, which means they are difficult to respond to (which we all know so well because that is the very tactic we employ).

Regardless of what ratio one trains in, the focus is on learning what all of these points are about and how to use them for your advantage. Knowing the weakness of an area, you can bring it up to become a strength.

 
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Posted in Misc.

 

The Order of Things

17 May

At our recent North Carolina seminar, I was relating how Wing Chun teaches the curriculum in  a specific order because the forms are progressive. To that, one of the participants asked a great question: “What is the order of things taught in Wing Chun?”

And that got me thinking that there are still quite a few out there that do not really know the “why’s” behind why we train like we do.

So in a nutshell, here is Wing Chun’s curriculum and the “why’s” behind why it is trained like it is. Although I have previously described some of this, it is always good to reiterate it to those new to the art (as well as to those who simply have never been told).

Everything begins with Siu-Nim-Tau (visit AWCAOnline’s Siu-Nim-Tau section). Meaning “Little-Idea” form, this stage begins with teaching us the mechanics of the art. For example, creating the stance used, learning arm placement, and how to breathe. It is here that we learn the basics of all-things Wing Chun and how those basics will be expanded on in the coming lessons.

However, it is also here that a lot of people do not pay the appropriate amount of attention to. For example, someone new to Wing Chun will see the wooden dummy and think, “If the dummy is the most advanced empty-hand area of the art, and since I can buy a dummy and some books/videos, then I will bypass all the middle ground and go right to that!”

What they do not realize is that the wooden dummy is the culmination of what came before it. You need thorough comprehension and mastery of everything in its proper order in order for the next stage to be useful. Otherwise you have nothing but a mish-mash of actions that mean nothing.

In fact, without approaching it in that light, Wing Chun’s actions can actually set you up for defeat vs. making you a competent fighter. It is akin to running before you know how to walk.

After the Siu-Nim-Tau comes the Chum-Kiu (visit AWCAOnline’s Chum-Kiu section). Meaning “Arm-Seeking” form, this form takes us from a point of basic offense and defense to one of tactically seeking out the opponent, thereby taking the fight “to” him vs. waiting for him to come to us.

If you know you are going to have to fight, then there is no sense in waiting. The longer you wait, the more dangerous it becomes. So if you know you are on, then go.

Chum-Kiu teaches us how to drive straight into an opponent, seeking out the weakest parts of their defense to attack through. It is also here where we learn body torguing, the use of elbows and kicks, and also trapping and pinning.

During the Chum-Kiu, we engage in a side curriculum called Chi-sau (visit AWCAOnline’s Chi-sau section). Meaning “Sticking-hands”, a Wing Chun practitioner learns to contact an opponent’s arms. Once that contact is made, he/she learns how to use that force to dictate their own responses.

In real fights, you rarely have time to actually react like you think you will, much less the time to think about “what” to do before you do it. Chi-sau takes the guess work out of the equation by teaching us to respond solely to what we feel, thereby removing the need to think about anything.

The next stage of training is called Biu-Tze (visit AWCAOnline’s Biu-Tze section). Meaning “Thrusting-Fingers” form, this stage is geared exclusively for the scenario that your life is in peril and you need to literally fight to keep your life. Due to its nature, it is reserved exclusively for those that have already demonstrated an extremely strong and positive moral character.

The final empty-hand stage is called Muk-Yan-Chong (visit AWCAOnline’s Muk-Yan-Chong section). This is the wooden dummy, and while it “does” include many actions from all previous forms, you will also find a host of new concepts and actions to take your skills further than you might have thought possible.

The entire concept of the wooden dummy is to unite the upper and lower bodies for forming a more complete union. Along the way we learn to work new concepts, develop short-range “bursting” power, and other elements essential to Wing Chun, but the overall concept is to make your body a complete unit vs. just a collection of parts.

The weapons are in a class by themselves so we will not go into that here. Suffice it to say that a practitioner will spend years and years on just the empty-hand system without really needing to learn the weapons, although the weapons “do” contribute to more advanced empty-hand concepts.

But in a nutshell, that is Wing Chun. It is a progressive method that continuously builds on what came before it, and the start or “foundation” if you will is the Siu-Nim-Tau. Without a solid, competent Siu-Nim-Tau skill set, everything following it will be mediocre at best.

So my advice? Spend time at the Siu-Nim-Tau and learn what it means. Become a proficient, true master of what the Siu-Nim-Tau teaches and you will not be disappointed.

 
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Posted in Curriculum, Origins

 
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