MOVED: ANGELA G: Trying other styles

[Aefibird]

thingy said:

I shall now wait to be corrected by Aefibird, who clearly knows more than me about this.

*laughs* I dunno about that....


Well, yes in a way, there is a slight twist to the wrist to allow exposure to the 3rd & 4th knuckles. The punch isn't exactly straight and inline like it is in Shotokan. There's a superstition in certain Chinese arts that it is unlucky to hit anyone with the 1st and 2nd knuckles; there's an energy line that flows between that point - hitting an opponent with it disrupts the punchers flow of energy.

In Wing Chun punches aren't always performed with the arm straight either - they're often done with the elbow bent into the body. This gives stability to the punch and also allows the bent arm to be used as a block. Energy for the punch comes from the wrist and the elbow, hence the need for the slight bend in both joints. Sounds a little bizarre to a Japanese stylist, until you try it.

There's a lot of open hand techniques in Wing Chun too. We were using a slapping block technique and a counter slap to attack last week in one of the drills we were doing.

Wing Chun is based on centre-line theory, in which all attacks are to the invisible centre line that runs down the centre of the body. This includes all the vital points and sensitive areas - eyes, nose, throat, heart, lungs, liver, digestive system, groin.

In a way Wing Chun is linear. In another way it isn't. Sorry if that sounds like gobbledeygook, but basically, it is linear if the situation depends on it.

There is only a small range of techniques in Wing Chun (about 4 different blocks, a few strikes and a low kick, which is adapted for sweeping in advanced WC practicioners) but practicioners are trained to adapt them to any situation.

The idea of a defensive manouevre in WC is to get in close and do the job in as short a space of time with the minumum amount of fuss. If that means striking linear then, yes, it's a linear art. If the situation calls for it, circular and trapping movements are used.

I don't mind answering questions about Wing Chun - I love training in it and I find comparing the differences between WC and Karate a fascinating thing to do.
Any more Q's? ;D

[AngelaG]

Interesting. No more questions at the moment... but there's probably more that'll pop up soon.

Safe training!
Angela

[searcher2]

Sounds like Shotokan to me.

Arm close to the body as it hits.
Circular movements minimised to appear linear.
Strikes to the centre-line.

The reason I say that all arts are the same is that if you increase the @display@ of wing chun movements to push the bodyweight through and utilise the power of your legs to push the body then it looks like Shotokan anyway. Formalised or informalised is a matter for the teacher not the art. Call it wing Chun, call it Kempo, call it Ju-jutsu; it's all the same in the end.

Try this: take a photocopy of a picture of two ju-jutsu-ka doing a move. Tipp-ex out the guy getting mashed, the other one is doing a Karate move! Guaranteed.

[Andy]

If I might interject re the comments on WC's Vertical punch.......

Firstly, the Vertical Punch is found in many styles of Karate.

If you make a fist, and look at it for a second, you'll see that the first two knuckles are one plane, the typical Karate Punch, while the remaining three form another, so you'd never be punching with the last two knuckles in WC, but the last three.

Now have a look at how those knuckles line up with the bones of the fore arm (Radius & Ulna).
Which would you rather hang onto a tree branch with, the last three fingers, or the first two?
Try clenching the first two fingers, taking note of which muscles in the fore arm tense, then try the same with the last three fingers.
As another example, if you look at Eskrima (stick fighting), an early mistake, is to rotate the stick between thumb and forefinger, which makes it easier to twirl, and the first thing any Kali/Eskrima Instructor will tell you, is that if you must loosen your grip, then loosen the first two fingers and not the last three.

I'm not saying one method is superior to the other, as they both serve very different purposes.

Wing Chun is based on centre-line theory, in which all attacks are to the invisible centre line that runs down the centre of the body.

That's really the Central Line, the line which descends through the body.
Then you have the Center line and the mother line, but it get's horribly technical.

Oh, and the last time I played hands WC fashion, it was with a well respected Shotokan Instructor who also trains in Wing Chun.

Like every other system out there, a large proportion of Wing Chun taught is provided by those with pretty basic knowledge.
Just like Shotokan, you need to choose someone good to instruct you to appreciate the system, bearing in mind that anyone believing their method or style is all encompassing, is a deluded yet talented individual, or perhaps just deluded.

[Aefibird]

andy said:

If you make a fist, and look at it for a second, you'll see that the first two knuckles are one plane, the typical Karate Punch, while the remaining three form another, so you'd never be punching with the last two knuckles in WC, but the last three.

The first two knuckes are one plane whilst the remaining THREE form another plane? How many fingers you got? Six? If I look at my hand then I can see the first two fingers create one plane and the next TWO fingers create another - the thumb is a different matter entirely and not related to the planes of the fingers.

Yes, I know the difference between central line, centre line and mother line. However, I saw no reason to mention those differences as this was a general chat about Wing Chun, not a dive into the specifics.

Yes, a large proportion of WC taught is utter crud. I'm the first to admit that my knowledge of WC had more holes in it than Swiss Cheese. However, I was trying to present the little that I know in a clear fashion understandable to those on here who know even less about WC than I do...

There's an awful lot of bad WC out there, but there's a lot of good instructors in it too. I'd like to think my Sifu and his instructors fall into the latter category.

[Andy]

Cool, I'm sure that between us, we have WC covered for the purposes of this forum.

[Aefibird]

lol, I'm sure that you'll be able to deal with all the technical stuff and I'll pick up what's left over...

[Andy]

aefibird said:

lol, I'm sure that you'll be able to deal with all the technical stuff and I'll pick up what's left over...

It's a deal.