Skill vs. Safety Poll

[kj]

Select the choice that most closely matches your viewpoint, relative to training with a "live partner" in Wing Chun.

If you fail to vote, your default answer will be assumed as choice #1. ;)

[TjD]

i know if we were allowed to do biu's to the eyes at my school in chi sau, we'd all be blind within a week. safety does have its place in the kwoon :)

however, theres nothing wrong with getting fairly roughed up. you need to know what it feels like to get hit, and what it feels like to get hit hard, because if your ever in a fight it will happen. if youve never been hit before it will be a big surprise

[azwingchun]

I believe both are equally important. Though as mentioned you can't just bui someone in the eyes just for the sake of skill and doing the technique correctly. But I also believe that you must train in use of power, not only to build the power but to learn how to receive incoming force correctly. There are other uses for training with speed and power, such as conditioning the arms, legs and the body, building hand and eye development. Aslo as mentioned before is the fact of learning what a strike feels like when you are hit, I believe this builds confidence in knowing what the effect of the strike is, and on the other hand, what a strike feels like when you execute it properly. Don't get me wrong, this isn't something I do with my students right away, but only after some time training in Wing Chun.

I believe without this type of training you are only copying some cool movements, and you don't truely learn their effectivness. I will give you an example. I once had a student who was about 6'3 and weighed about 265 lbs. This guy had never had a fight in his life, probably due to his size, as he puts it. When I would discuss a certain strike and the power behind it, he would say how do I know this strike will work and not just **** the attacker off. I found this kinda funny since this guy (because of his size) could hit however he wanted and probably knock someone out or hurt them badly (which is what I actually told him). But due to lack of experience he had no confidence in hitting someone. To make a long story really short, due to training with speed and power, he gradually become very confident in his striking ability. When he would execute a strike properly whether on a bag or with me, I would tell him to remember what that strike felt like to him and remember what the effect was on me. Not only that but to remember that though we were using speed and power we were not using full speed and power and that he could then multiply the effect 3 or 4 times. This training seemed to help him tremendously. I realize not everyone may agree with my way of teaching, but this seems to work very well with my students.

This thread brings me to another thought, I teach only privately out of my home, therefore I am not pushed to fill up a school to pay my rent and can be very picky as to who I train. With this in mind, I try only to take students who are wanting to learn the way I teach as mentioned above. What do you, who train speed and power in class do when you get a student who doesn't want this type of training? Do you hope to change their idea of martial arts and how we train, and gradually move towards speed and power? Do you accept the persons ideas of martila arts and adjust your teaching to their ideas and wants? And if you do change your way of training Wing Chun with this type of person, do you feel like you are cheating them or yourself as a teacher?;)

[yenhoi]

Everyday train until you throw up or pass out from loss of blood, only then will you know good kung fu.

I voted for opion #2.

[kj]

It only takes a moment to click in a response, if you haven't already. There are surely more than 31 people playing here. Having a voice is as easy as clicking a choice.
- kj

[shangchi1]

Your answer to the pole questions really depend where you are on the food chain. If your close to the top FULL contact it cool. If your at the bottom, full contact really makes it harder to pick up the small points that make WC work really well.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by shangchi1
Your answer to the pole questions really depend where you are on the food chain. If your close to the top FULL contact it cool. If your at the bottom, full contact really makes it harder to pick up the small points that make WC work really well.
Shang Chi,

Now you've done it. KJ's gonna say I put you up to that. :p

Regards,