Arms and Legs

[S.Teebas]

What relationship, if any, do you see between the use of arms and legs in Wing chun?

[JasBourne]

This is because of that "one-armed wingchunner" thread on the main forum, huh. Yeah, that peaked my curiousity too. Like, if I lost an arm or a leg, could I still be an effective fighter using WC. I think it would really depend on how much of what was missing, and how much I could compensate for with a prosthesis.

The two arms/two legs symmetry is pretty vital in WC, energy travels from one side to the other as we move, each limb has an area that it defends and attacks from, and so forth. This is a good question, I have to ponder it a bit.

[red5angel]

It could be a case where you have to "Make Wing Chun your own" .

[rubthebuddha]

red5: aren't they all? ;)

[Wei Sui]

legs move before hands....

[fmann]

... and then you might run in to a punch... :D

Seriously though, the arms and legs can act as one unit or they can act independently of each other. Especially if someone tries to control an arm or leg.

If I lost an arm or leg, it would just force me to make my WC even more brutal and effective -- you have much less margin for error. If it came down to fighting, my opponent will probably lose a limb or an eyeball or something.

[Wei Sui]

off topic...I tried sending you an email but your profile says ya don't accept messages from the forum.

Anyhow, it was uneventful, visited one kwoon, trained with my bud...never found did find HKM's place :).

[whippinghand]

No feet, no hands.

[S.Teebas]

I was thinking more in terms of how they move, they both pivot in their joint sockets...dont they? Does anone see a relationship than can be taken fromt the arm movements and applied to legs?... Is this why we spend so much time on working our arms so we can transfer the "Principals' of the movement over to our legs??

So whipping Hand... What do you mean by no hands no feet?
Are you talking about use of your centre?

[whippinghand]

You got it backwards....

Here's another one: On earth as it is in heaven.

[S.Teebas]

no feet no hands... their connection?

[black and blue]

If you aren't using your feet, then your success with the hands is limited... I think this is what Whipping Hand is saying.

It's the footwork and subsequent positioning that opens up the angles for your hands to work with. One without the other is 50 per cent Wing Chun.

[kungfu cowboy]

Ohhh, I thought he was talking about being a human torso!

[S.Teebas]

If you aren't using your feet, then your success with the hands is limited... I think this is what Whipping Hand is saying.

I am aware that feet are needed, but i want to know how you use them? ...anything important you want to share?

[black and blue]

:D

Whipping Hands said: "No feet, no hands" - perhaps he's telling us he has neither :eek:

Teebas - "How do you use them".

Feet = put one in front of the other to step forward. :rolleyes: I think I must have missed the point of this post. We all use footwork when training - why all the questions?

You combine the footwork with the WC motions, indeed they are a part of all the motions. Errr... what exactly are people asking here????

:confused:

I've heard of trying to run before you can walk... how about learning to walk before you all start a WC class :D :p

Regarding how the two work together... well, I wouldn't use my foot instead of my hand to pak sau a punch :D I'm sorry, I'll have to end this post now... I'm laughing so hard my editor is staring at me. Go to go... this thread has made my day :D :D :D

[S.Teebas]

We all use footwork when training - why all the questions?

And we all use fighting when we fight! (or do we?) There's more than meets the eye in WC 'BlackandBlue'.

Asking questions leads to answers. (see, I just answerd yours!)

[black and blue]

Teebas wrote: "There's more than meets the eye in WC, BlackandBlue".

Indeed, sir. Hence the oft quoted "Simple to learn - hard to master".

David Peterson wrote a good article on the footwork of WC - it's on his site - and on Rene's site as well I believe.

Simple, efficient and direct. These are the three things I monitor most when training. If whatever I'm doing doesn't hold true for all three, I evaluate what I'm doing.

Teebas says: "We all fight when fighting (or do we?)".

We ought to be! Again the S, E and D will determine. If we aim to not chase hands, the same should be said of the WC footwork. It is there to aid the hands, to help create the angles, facilitate defense. How does footwork correspond with the hands?

Well, is it S, E and D? As complex as the inner working of WC may be, what really "meets the eye" should be someone's fist. Now that's simple :)

[whippinghand]

Originally posted by black and blue
If we aim to not chase hands, the same should be said of the WC footwork. On the contrary, you must chase the legs, so that you don't have to chase the hands.