Addicted To Kung Fu
When we are talking about self defense, the faster and easier a technique is the better. Depending on why you are training in martial arts will determine on what you should concentrate on the most.
If for example you want to learn a martial art for the beauty of an art as well as the health benefits of training then learning self defense techniques isn’t a priority for you. [Read more…]
While this kung fu technique I am going to share with you applies to Wing Chun it can also apply to any martial art.
Because the ability to channel energy throughout the body is universal.
It’s not just a Wing chun thing or Tai Chi thing. It can apply to Karate, Jujitsu, Akido or any martial art…
Generally speaking, if you are training your martial art without understanding how to project your energy correctly you won’t be able to handle bigger stronger opponents.
What I mean by this is: It doesn’t matter how strong you are. Muscles are only good for doing the job they where created to do. We practice Kung Fu so that we don’t have to worry about someone being stronger than us. [Read more…]
Wing Chun really is an amazing martial art. There are many different families of Wing Chun. A long time ago my Sifu said to me that lot’s of Wing Chun schools got it wrong. They focus to heavily on the external side of the martial art.
He was not talking about Wing Chun lineages. He wasn’t talking about anyone in particular he was just saying in general. To be honest with you I didn’t believe him. I simply thought he was running a business and didn’t want me to stray from his teachings.
Over the next 20 years in my travels I visited different schools and played with many different people. From different skill levels to even different styles of martial arts.
The same story occurred over and over again. I would end up playing someone who was very external , very strong and not really able to bend and blend or like my Sifu likes to say B.A.B.E ( Bend And Blend Energy).
Many times the problem was they simply were not projecting their energy correctly. A common mistake is rather than sending the energy from the shoulders to the the elbow then the wrist. Their wasn’t any energy projection at all.
I found this to be true from the East coast to the West Coast. Part of me didn’t want to believe my Sifu. He himself told me there were others who trained the internal side of martial arts. After all he didn’t learn it all on his own. He had his own teachers. After some years I realized that he wasn’t just saying people didn’t understand the internal aspect of Wing Chun to keep me as a student. He was simply speaking truth from his own personal experience. Which I discovered the same thing on my own journey.
So back to the title of this blog post… [Read more…]