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…]