WCKF for "big" guys

[anneemu4]

Ok so I've been practicing WC for about 7 months now and I really love it. I think that it's hilarious that I actually fell in love with this martial art. I'm having a ball working SLT and I'm just starting Chi dan sau and poon-sau.

But I have a small (maybe large) problem. My belly. My gans normally end up as guats because my elbows get stopped at my mid-section.

So the question I'm wanting to know is, does the ammount of weight disrupt my structure? I'm sure that it would somehow become burdensome when I'm actually in the posistion to have to fight. Sometimes I feel like I lose my core in my mass.This is especially so when I'm touching hands with someone---for some reason my punches just don't seem to be coming out right.

The obvious answer would be for me to lose weight, but in the mean time, does an overweight WCKF practicioner have to modify his/her structure at all and if so, does WCKF leave room for those modifications to make sure that it is still good Kung Fu?

Thanks
Matthew

[John Weiland]

Originally posted by anneemu4

The obvious answer would be for me to lose weight, but in the mean time, does an overweight WCKF practicioner have to modify his/her structure at all and if so, does WCKF leave room for those modifications to make sure that it is still good Kung Fu?

Yep. Your belly can get in the way. My sigung Ken Chung has mentioned it to my seniormost siheng and also my portly sisook that their pot-bellies get in the way. But, neither was so overweight when they began 30 and 20 years ago.

I suggest you try to lose the gut, but you can get good anyway if you work at it.

BTW, I am no skinny guy myself, so I do understand how hard it is to curb the weight.

So no, don't modify your structure, but be aware of how near you are to your partner.

Regards,

[Train]

Hi Matthew,

I am a big guy myself and I think the only way to get better in WC is to lose the weight. Practice the kicks on the dummy and just run all the time.

[S.Teebas]

Your centre of gravity will also be lower if you have a big gut. So when you loose weight this is going to change the way you do your technique.

[Spectre]

The ideal thing to do of course is to lose the weight if for nothing more than health reasons. I have a gut so I understand that sometimes time constraints can make weight loss easier said than done. But more times than not it is just simple procrastination and laziness (and the love of beer :) ).

I do not believe however that an individual should have to necessarily change their body to fit a martial art but adapt the martial art to their body structure or limitations.

Now weight is a relatively simple problem to correct with a little determination and a lot of work. But taking an extreme example - let's say that an individual lost a hand in an accident. Would that mean that they would have to stop practicing WC or just simply recognize their limitations and adapt their WC?

Having a pot belly or gut (whatever you prefer to call it) can often times interfere with the elbow structure in many techniques. For myself, the fuk sao is the most frustrating especially during chi sao. It is much harder for me to redirect an incoming gut shot because my elbow does not make it's way far enough towards my center to redirect the incoming force effectively. To compensate I often have to change the way I apply pressure to the opponent, most often by changing the direction of the pressure with my wrist instead of the elbow slant naturally redirecting. The goal is to make the opponent go to the outside instead of taking the inner gut shot. If the inner gut shot finds a hole and makes it's way through I usually have to float my torso a bit off center to make up for the difference in my fuk sao redirection.

Just a personal example of my own adaptation. I am working to get rid of the gut and will have to eventually adapt again to a different body mechanic.

So IMHO I beleive that an overweight individual can learn to effectively use WC just as well as a trim individual.

Kevin

[anneemu4]

haha I totally understand the fuk-sau dilema

thanks guys for your responses!

[fa_jing]

My classmate went from 270 to 200 pounds in about 1 year. The first two years of training, he hardly lost any weight. Even though he lifted alot of weights, worked out with us etc. He would often run over to the trash can and barf during sparring. Still, no progress. Then, guess what? He made changes to his diet, cut down on greasy and fried foods, cut down on carbs, and started running two miles religiously every morning. Most of the weight came off! His balance and footwork are SO much better now. He's a badass, even. Still needs to lose about 20-25 more pounds, but hey, his before and after pictures are amazing. Also he doesn't lose his balance when kicking like before.

[Stevo]

Use your gut as a weapon. Try to move in on the opponent and smother them with your gut. If you get hit in the gut, all the fat will absorb the blow anyway. Use your gut to bounce them away from you, using a pelvic thrusting motion. I think the force you could develop with it could be quite devastating.

[jesper]

In a fight its not the gut itself which is the big problem, its being out of shape.
When your adrenaline is pumping your hands and feet feels like they are much heavier and your coordinating skills sucks.
studies show that persons only perform at up to 40% of their maximum efficiency during high stress situations. So these technics you perform so well in class, are suddently harder to perform in RL.

A lot of other stuff also happens like tunnel vision and "mind blanks" but that is a discussion for another thread :).

[wingchunalex]

I definately think wing chun is tweekable. you can make adjustments. talk to your sifu about it. I've had to make some small adjustments to my wing chun since I have mild cerebral palsy. for example my feet just do not point inward in yee jee kim yeung ma. maybe you could do gan sau a little ****her out from your body? i don't know, I can't really tell just from what you wrote.