Addicted To Kung Fu
I am excited to announce that Enter Shaolin has created a Vimeo On Demand service and they have their first video up for your viewing pleasure.
Enter Shaolin could use your help. If you there are specific kung fu lessons you would to see let them know. You can can let them know by visiting this link in the comments section.
Really it doesn’t matter what style of martial arts you are studying. What matters is how you approach your training. In today’s martial arts world you hear lots of talk about sparring and training realistically.
How many times have you heard things like: A wing chun guy is doomed if he/she is taken to the ground. Or that school doesn’t train with real pressure, they will never hold up in street fight.
First and foremost statements like that are just plain rude. Even more importantly you don’t become a skilled martial artist because you spar everyday. You don’t become a skilled martial artist because you show up to class every week.
Your skill as martial artist happens because of what you do on your own. Meaning when nobody else is around to watch you. The time you take to solo train every week is the most important factor if increasing your skill matters to you. [Read more…]
I am not sure why when people talk about Wing Chun they mention Chi Sao and then they go into how Chi Sao isn’t training for realistic fighting situations. Then I usually hear that if you really want to see if your Wing Chun works you need to try it against a resisting opponent.
I am not sure how other people train their Wing Chun but we don’t use partners that allow us to do whatever we want to them to make our kung fu look better. In fact we encourage our partners to try and get us.
However with that said this post isn’t really about if Wing Chun is good or bad. This post is to help you understand what Chi Sao is used for. Often times when you see a Chi Sao video you see 2 people just smacking the bejebus out of each other. It’s not what the intention of the exercise is. Chi Sao was created to teach people how to deal with energy.
While there are times when you can play Chi Sao very aggressively, most times you should train it calm and relaxed. Your partner should give you time to fix your mistakes. Part of what you are also doing in this drill is training your fighting ranges
Like everything else, there is a time and place for everything. Don’t do Chi Sao with the intention of beating your partner. This will only create bad habits in you and your partner. [Read more…]
