We don't have a wooden dude hanging around :(

[TzuChan]

I practice WT, and in my school (it's a Judo school, they just rent the place once a week) we don't have that wooden dummy. I don't really care yet cause I will probably not use that thing this year anyway. My question is, when do you start using those dumies ? Is it WC only or does WT use it too ? I know our main school is not where I train, so perhaps there are some dummies dunno ..

When I run into a wall it actually hurts :(

[Sharky]

at the two schools i have been to, you don't get to the dummy form until you have mastered the 3 hand forms - which is like basically 2/3/4 years.

Other schools start you off on it in teh first lesson.

I'll admit it, the dummy was the reason i chose wing chun :D

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"Spectacular immaculate raps massacre cats like dracula bats, I'm snappin yer back cos I'm attackin the wack, duckin yer rapid attack, **** packin a gat, the mechanic of rap'll give you panic attacks with his Satanical raps." - Guess who.

[Ish]

i use the dummy when i train but i haven't completed all three hand forms. i only do a couple of basics.

[Sihing73]

Hello,

I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase my wooden dummy back in 1987. It was carfted in Hong Kong by a student of my Sifu, Allan Fong and was rather inexpensive. It did crack but I filled the cracks with wood putty and have used spar varnish to seal it every so often. It has held up quite well over the years.

I have heard good things about The Great Lion Company and if I needed to purchase a dummy they would be someone I would look into further. I also know one of my former students who purchased a dummy from cougarmountain. Interesting design, functional but it was on a portable stand and had almost no play at all. Almost like a dead dummy.

When I purchased my dummy I had not even learned the complete third form. However I was able to practice just about all of the movements on the dummy and can say that it aided me in learning, particularily since I am often without a partner.

Sharky,
I admire the students in you school for being able to "master" the three empty hand forms in as little as 2/3/4 years. I am still working on mastering my basics :) let alone my forms LOL.
(Note: this is not a slight, just having some fun)

Peace,

Dave

[Sharky]

yeah, pick on my ill choice of lexis. You know what i mean. Just to get them down first.

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"Spectacular immaculate raps massacre cats like dracula bats, I'm snappin yer back cos I'm attackin the wack, duckin yer rapid attack, **** packin a gat, the mechanic of rap'll give you panic attacks with his Satanical raps." - Guess who.

[chongnoi]

Before one starts to learn the wooden dummy form, he must have a basic understanding of Wing Chun. So of course the Siu Lim Tao must be learned first and before learning the wooden dummy form, the Chum Kiu form should be learned. I usually teach my students, as my Sifu in Hong Kong also does, the first couple of sets of the wooden man form after they have learned the Chumn kiu Form- and then they learn the remaining forms as they progress and simultanesly /after learning the Bil Gee (3rd Form). Besides the wooden dummy form there are many drills that a wing chun student can do on the wooden man. I do not believe in making a student wait years before they learn the wooden man. If a student is serious,then invest in a good wooden man and start training on it. My experience has been that most students drop out after the first several months-so if a student last say 6 months and has been through some rigourous training and selection procedures-then he will probably remain loyal and serious to wing chun. Why wait long for the wooden man training/ A student buys a wooden man, gets even more interested in the art and then can train on his own every day-since most classes are only a couple times a week. IMHO, wing chun was designed to learn in a short amount of time to be used for combat effectiveness. Nobody wants to have to study a martial art for 10 years before they understand it and can use it for self-defense. If one works really hard, he can learn the entire system in 2-3 years-but of course it will take a lifetime to master. Learning the system is just the beginning of training.

As for wooden men to buy: Ashville woodcrafters and springtime martial arts are both really good dummies.
www.wooddummy.com (http://www.wooddummy.com)
www.springtimemartialarts.com (http://www.springtimemartialarts.com)

DO NOT BUY a dummy from Cougar mountain-one of my students did and it was the most poorly built wooden dummy I have seen. The demensions were not right (the leg was to high up), the arms were in the body to tight (no give at all) the body was to narrow, craked and unfinished, and the price for all this was to high. Do not waste your money there!!!!

A good cheap alternative is to buy a set of arms and a leg from Ashville woodcrafters (total about $150) and then buy a PVC plastic 8" diameter pipe and cut the holes for your body. (cost about $35 and takes about 2 hours!)

[Wongsifu]

when my class practises i am the dummy :(

just kidding when i used to do wing chun in william cheungs lineage he had a rather good way of learning it , you begin just after sil lim tao and learn a few moves every time you progress so you learn it alongside chum kiu and biu jee and you learn the whole thing just before you start of the 2 weapons if my memory serves me right.

I wongsifu shall strike fear into the hearts of trolls and mma guys who **** me off on these forums oh and in real life.

[Sihing73]

Hi Sharky,

Just messing with you man, no real problem with anything :p I just got a kick out of the "master" thing.

I recently walked into a karate school to check out the kids classes. My daughter is a bit young for Wing Chun. Anyhow, the guy was telling me all about how he has mastered about two different systems. The guy was also about mid twenties to maybe about thirty. Needless to say I was not that impressed. Of course the fact that he was teaching a Korean system and traced his roots back to the Shaolin Temple and was one of the only "true fighting systems" taught in the "underground fighting circles". So when you mentioned mastery I thought of him and guys like him.

Sorry if you took offense, though I doubt you really did, at least I hope you did not.

Peace,

Dave

[reneritchie]

Hi,

Virtually every branch of Wing/Ving Chun/Tsun uses the Muk Yan Jong (Wooden Dummy) as part of its training regime. Typically, it is learned after the Kuen To (Boxing Sets). There's an old saying, however, that a wooden dummy cannot replace a live partner, so if you have classmates around, you can practice with them until you get a wooden dummy, or between chances on a wooden dummy.

There's a story that when Yip Man first got to HK he didn't have a dummy for many years (eventually some of his students saw how the Chu Chong-Man school had adapted the dummy to the docks and thought they could do the same to hang it in apartments). Prior to that, its said that Yip sifu taught some students, like Wong Kiu, to do the dummy set as a two-person set, with one partner acting as the "human dummy".

Rgds,

RR