Wing Chun Footwork - It is Not Chinese Dancing!
Yeah, I hear that all the time. Even from folks who must know much better. You almost certainly do as nicely, specifically if you do footwork for Wing Chun. Wing Chun, or Chinese Dancing is a soft style with a powerful philosophical bent to it. The name originally came from the ideograms for Ever Spring, and its suitable. I was obtaining tired of walking with bruises and pulled muscles, and essential to switch to a softer st...
So, whats the new dance step youre doing, Yoshi?
Yeah, I hear that all the time. Even from people who ought to know much better. You probably do as well, particularly if you do footwork for Wing Chun. Wing Chun, or Chinese Dancing is a soft style with a robust philosophical bent to it. The name initially came from the ideograms for Ever Spring, and its suitable. I was obtaining tired of walking with bruises and pulled muscles, and necessary to switch to a softer style although I was recovering. I like Kung Fu designs, so mastering Wing Chun was like falling off a log. Only with no as much falling, or as a lot of punches to the sternum. Though the joint locks did remind me I was undertaking a true martial art. (A single piece of assistance any person who mma equipment says Hey, let me show you a joint lock! is a sadist. Just say no. Actually.) In some ways, Wing Chun is like the versaflex early forms exercises you do for Kung Fu, only carried to their logical extreme, rather than utilized as the fundamentals of a challenging style.
What drew me radio controlled toys to Wing Chung, aside from the sprained wrist on my principal punching hand, was the fluid footwork that its practitioners had. Nicely, OK. It was the fluid footwork that I saw in Jet Lis movies, although waiting for the cast to come off. Even so, just from watching the movies, I could see immediate uses for Wing Chun footwork in my repertoire of tactics the moment my wrist healed. Wing Chun footwork focuses on balance far more so than with a robust kicking style, which can leave you very exposed attempting for a circle kick.
In certain, the footwork demands that you settle in a low stance, but not 1 thats so low that your mobility gets hampered. Now, I know, every person who does martial arts has heard about this stance, or that stance. And unless youre operating in front of a mirror, youll do the sloppiest stance you can get away with without your sparring partner kicking you a new 1. What I discovered intriguing about Wing Chun is that the form drills (San Sik is what theyre known as) Actually emphasize fluid motions. Let me tell you, doing it proper youre going to sweat. And the muscles in your quads and hams are going to burnbut my word, is the end result worth it. These forms become second nature, like theyre learned by your knees and hips, and you just do them as soon as the discomfort has gone away.
Of course, everyone will be talking about your new dance methods, but Wing Chun footwork pays for itself nicely since going into it, Ive been significantly much more conscious of how my bent knees improve my reach with punches and elbow strikes, and its been a lot harder to throw me to the mat in Jiu Jitsu. The parts Ive had to compensate for from the footwork Ive learned have been in mobility. Its often feasible to plant as well hard which tends to make it tempting to break stance to give pursuit, specifically when youre flowing from a down block and attempting to transition into a kick at that point, the Wing Chun footwork has to sort of skip a beat whilst you move back to a harder Kung Fu kick.
Either way, Im glad I took the time to discover this. Its given me a good base to function from, and a handful of more tricks to throw into sparring matches. Especially enjoyable is when someone makes fun of the dance measures and then comes up to me and says Howd you do that, Yoshi?
