Why Making Wing Chun Work Is (A LOT) Easier Than You Think…

What makes Wing Chun work is the same force that makes the water seep through the soil. Simplicity and the path of least resistance.

Making Wing Chun work is easier than you think.

Why?  Simple.

Wing Chun works because Wing Chun is designed to work.  It’s not designed to circulate energy throughout the body.  It’s not designed to have the practitioner mimic an animal (sorry all you “wing chun is based on the motions of a snake fighting a crane 300 years ago” folks…it’s not.  Sounds sexy, I know, but still, nope) and Wing Chun was most definitely not created as some physical portal to higher consciousness.

Everything about Wing Chun-its’ forms, techniques, structure and application-is designed to be applied combatively.  Wing Chun was designed as guerilla warfare to overthrow an oppressive regime.  Period.

How effective someone can apply the art is determined by their ability to “get out of their own way.”  What do I mean by this?  The human race has an inherent ability to be able to completely fuck up a bowl of soup.  When presented with something totally straightforward and without ambiguity, what is the first thing we as human beings do?  Over-complicate it until it it is so bogged down with unnecessary bullshit that it becomes an albatross around our neck.

Martial arts are no different. All martial arts are based on fucking up someone who is intent on harming you. THAT’S IT.  The “at one with the Universe” idea of Mister Miyagi and monks on a mountaintop came much later.  Ever since the first two cavemen had a fight, martial arts have been designed for that one purpose.  How did things morph so much?  We got in our own way-again.

Now I assure you I am not deliberately trying to shake a beehive or drop a few F-bombs for shock value.  The fact of the matter is I just don’t care how folks who don’t share this point of view on making their Wing Chun a functional, practical skill set for combat feel about what I say. If they want to labor under their own fantasies, have at it.   I’ll stick to fists in gloves, pressure drills and hard contact training.

3 Reasons Why Wing Chun Is Designed To Work

Wing Chun works because it is based on science, not legend, folktales or animal mimicry. It works because it is designed to do so.  Take a look at the basics:

• Triangular Structure – Wing Chun is built on triangles, both from the ground up for stability and from the chest/shoulders outwards for penetrative power & deflective ability.  The structure of a Wing Chun practitioner’s arms and body in a forward attack is akin to a boat slicing through the water
• Forward Pressure –  There are no fakes or feints in Wing Chun; there are no slips, bobs or weaves.  Why?  That shit leaves you really quick the older you get.  You may stave off Father Time by being a training badass or superb physical specimen but the fact remains that each year you kick around on this planet, your skills in that department deteriorate.  Why then would you want to base your self-defense gameplan off of jabs, crosses, slips and thai kicks?  Wing Chun uses science, physics and strategically applied pressure and movement as its’ base.
• Vital Targets –  All of the human body’s vital targets are located on the centerline of the body.  Wing Chun’s structure is based on the centerline and all attacks are aimed at the centerline of the opponent’s body in the same manner that water finds its’ way in to anything: through the path of least resistance.  Whereas water will use gravity as force to seep into cracks in the ground, Wing Chun uses forward pressure and body unity from stancework, drills and dedicated forms training.  These vital targets are universal, and the Wing Chun method of simple, direct and efficient attack is a natural fit for these targets

Pay attention to these 3 main factors the next time you train and really allow yourself to FEEL each of the ways Wing Chun is designed to work.

Me on the right training the concept of attack without thinking; by sensitivity and pressure. Getting out of my own way is the only way to allow Wing Chun to do its’ thing.

The 1 Reason That ALLOWS Wing Chun To Work

The best advice I have ever read on allowing Wing Chun to work as it should (notice I said “allow” not “make” since that is what we as Wing Chun folks are doing is allowing the system to work by getting out of its’ way) came from  Bruce Lee.  One of my favorite quotes from his Tao of Jeet Kune Do goes like this:

Turn into a doll made of wood: it has no ego, it thinks nothing, it is not grasping or sticky. Let the body and limbs work themselves out in accordance with the discipline they have undergone.

This one quote gives you the secret as to how to make Wing Chun work.  We allow Wing Chun to do its’ thing by getting out of our own heads and getting out of the way.  Do not try to apply “this” technique or “that” technique.  Don’t try to force a certain response to an attack.  Don’t try and mimic any motion.  Let the system flow through you.  Be totally aware of how your body feels when training, allow your hands to shoot forward when unobstructed and follow up with forward pressure generated by body unity and an aggressive yet completely detached mind; one that as the saying goes, “thinks nothing.”

A grenade doesn’t think; it explodes.

A wave doesn’t think; it crashes.

A bear trap doesn’t think; it snaps shut.

These things demonstrate perfect function.  We must do the same.  See the pattern?

That’s how you make Wing Chun work, and that’s why making Wing Chun work is easier than you think – or easier than “you think.”

Train Smart, Stay Safe

Sifu Bobby