Wing Chun Conditioning

[Samwise85]

Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!

[GlennR]

Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!

Jog, gym and some stretching

Youll be in better shape than 90% of the WC guys out there

[Bacon]

Try doing some HIIT training to build your cardio.
Also work on pushups paying particular attention to diamond pushups. It will help facilitate neuromuscular connections you will make use of during your wing chun training when you apply power down the center line.
Squats are a must. Strong legs are necessary and at my kwoon we stand and do siu lim tao very slowly and it's murderous to the legs.
Pull-ups and chin ups are great as well if you have a place to do them.


If you can find and afford a gym membership you may wish to start a program like Stronglifts or 5x5 to build some basic strength.



Also with regard to training the form... STOP! It's far easier for them to teach you the right way than it is to try to fix the neural connections which have already been made. Stop strengthening those connections and focus on physical conditioning until you get there.

[Ali. R]

I’ll walk four miles a day within a Kentucky wooden area (with my two pit bulls), and man it’s a lot of hills very steep ones as well (legs and core), I’ve had friends/students that couldn’t make that hike half way through that’s a lot younger than myself. Power walking is less stressful than anything I’ve ever done for cardio.

And that’s a great thing to do for people my age.

[Hendrik]

Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!


Do Yik kam transform , it wil give you a good wck foundation . You can learn YKT on your own before go to a proper class.

[Robinhood]

Try to figure out how to develop your Gong, and you will have a great start.

[desertwingchun2]

Do Yik kam transform , it wil give you a good wck foundation . You can learn YKT on your own before go to a proper class.

Samwise,
Do not follow this advice :eek::eek:.

You are doing and will do better for yourself doing what you are doing. You may also want to try other social media and see if there are any individuals in your area with a background in WC.

Heck post in this and other forums asking if anyone near you plays WC. You may have a neighbor with a dummy in their garage, who knows.

[YouKnowWho]

I am very interested in studying Wing Chun ...

- Get a coconut.
- Drill 2 holes on both ends.
- Tie 2 ropes on those holes.
- Tie both ropes on 2 trees.

Try to chass and hit that "bouncing coconut between trees" for the next 12 months (3 years will be even better). This training can develop your:

- accuracy on your punch.
- hand toughness during contact (you can't get this from commercial punching ball).
- speed in continue punches.
- fast footwork.
- endurance.
- ...

After 12 months of training on this, if you spar with any of your training partners, your partner will experience your "chain punches" even if you have not started your formal WC training yet.

Your time invested in this training will be rewarded nicely. With this kind of skill, your future will have no limitation. You will "transform" yourself into a "headhunter".

[Samwise85]

Thanks so much for the tips! I'm hoping to make it to classes one or twice a month in Boulder once I go back to school (from which its only a two hour drive, a bit more manageable). I'm really excited to actually get involved in classes and start learning more of this fascinating martial art.

[Hendrik]

Thanks so much for the tips! I'm hoping to make it to classes one or twice a month in Boulder once I go back to school (from which its only a two hour drive, a bit more manageable). I'm really excited to actually get involved in classes and start learning more of this fascinating martial art.

Seriously, do the YKT drills for 28 mins everyday. It is very simple and fool proof.
You will develop good foundation for both health and martil art.

Class one or twice a month are great but you need to develop your body everyday.

[LoneTiger108]

Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!

First off welcome to the forum!

Post your video clip of the Siu Lim Tau you are practising here and ask for constructive feedback.

Then weed out the information that makes sense and be prepared to toughen up when you read crticisms that are simply rude and unhelpful! ;)

I know a few people who offer online tuition and feedback via Skype and such things, which IMHO is far far better than trying to learn a very precise form through a set of photographs. Out of interest, which book are you using as a reference?

[HumbleWCGuy]

Jogging and basic lifting at the gym will serve you well as others have said. Start stretching the hamstrings and groin. To really get in incredible WC/Striking shape, you need to go through training to know the sports-specific movements. Yea... you could start hitting bags and such, but it's better if you have someone qualified to show you.

[wingchunIan]

Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!

IMHO it depends what you want your wing chun for. Many on here have trained other arts or mix and match with boxing etc and therefore do workouts based on jogging and skipping combined with weight lifting. If you want to fight in a ring or cage, or engage in prolonged sparring then these are an absolute must (and they're great for general fitness)
If you want your Wing Chun for street self defence however being able to jog and skip won't do much for you. Street fights are more like the 100m than the 10km, you need to train high intensity short bursts. Street fights don't have 5 minute rounds like cage fights most don't get past the first 30 seconds. Once you've learned proper form you can build routines from your Wing Chun but until then you might want to base your stuff around explosive plyometrics.

[Graham H]

Then weed out the information that makes sense and be prepared to toughen up when you read crticisms that are simply rude and unhelpful! ;)



There are also ones that aren't rude but still unhelpful..........................yours for instance....................nice guy but Benny Hill Wing Chun! :)

[desertwingchun2]

....................nice guy but Benny Hill Wing Chun! :)

Benny Hill did Wing Chun????

So was that Pak Sao on the poor little fellows head???

[k gledhill]

Benny Hill and these guys ;) WU SAO !

[LoneTiger108]

There are also ones that aren't rude but still unhelpful..........................yours for instance....................nice guy but Benny Hill Wing Chun! :)

Oh! So original... I guess I wouldn't complain if I was surrounded by his girls and chased round parks, but unfortunately this doesn't happen to the Wing Chun performer.

We can't even demand a 'fee' for appearing on an international stage lol! All done for the love of it, so why not show us your most recent demo or Wing Chun promotion? :D

Or offer some more of your own invaluable advice...

[anerlich]

I guess I wouldn't complain if I was surrounded by his girls and chased round parks, but unfortunately this doesn't happen to the Wing Chun performer.

you speak for yourself, my son.

[anerlich]

Just concentrate on basic fitness. IMO there is no such thing as "Wing Chun fitness".

Indeed in my experience very few WC schools really require or promote a high level of strength or cardio.

If you really want to be more specific in your training, train like a boxer.

[Matt_WCK]

For what it's worth, I would certainly echo the statements about avoiding any particular Wing Chun specific activity, such as forms etc, until you have been shown properly. The forms are so much more than a sequence of movements.

Even standing in the Kim Yeung Ma for periods of time is worth waiting until a qualified instructor can show how to to settle into the stance properly otherwise you risk training in bad-habits.

Once you've been shown things like punching drills, standing and movement drills, you can then train them in your own time to complement the partner training you'll do in class.

For general fitness, any generic cardio or strength training will be of benefit but one aspect which is rarely trained (because it's hard) is that of explosive speed/strength. For example, one training method I use is to alternate all out sprints followed by a light recovery jog. I use a football or rugby pitch but any patch of ground is fine. Sprint as fast as you can along the short end, jog or walk the long one as recovery and repeat. In time, sprint the long end and recover on the short.

Same thing for strength exercises - explosive clap pressups will do more for you than normal pressups.

Once you been shown basic striking techniques, try getting a partner to hold a large striking shield and just go all-out on it for 30 seconds. You'll soon see how tiring this is. Then get the partner to move towards you, try to flank you or move away from you. The key is to keep the intense pace of the attacks for as long as you can.

Any martial art is not a game of top trumps (I have Wing Chun which beats your Taekwondo etc although you do see this kind of attitude). The art will require sustained effort from you (kung fu) to learn and master. Physical training is an aspect of this.

Also, where Wing Chun differs from certain styles is that it is not a sports combat art. In sports combat, the stylists will have timed bouts, rules and weight categories. Self defence arts do not. A self defence situation will be very fast and could be against an opponent who is a lot bigger.

But then again, it depends on what you want to learn Wing Chun for. Answer that question and you'll know what kind of training you need to do.

[HumbleWCGuy]

Indeed in my experience very few WC schools really require or promote a high level of strength or cardio.

If there is one thing that I have learned on these boards is that I have less of an idea what other kung fu school do than I thought.

When I was coming up, there was no formal fitness program at the school, but no one ever got promoted unless they got themselves in shape. We were taught to stretch and talked about fitness, but if class started at 8 pm you were expected to get yourself there early to conduct your warmups and stretches. And as I said, anyone who was in consideration for promotion usually ran a few miles several times per week. This isn't the case everywhere?

[Matt_WCK]

I've moved around the UK quite a lot with my job so have been to a fair few different Wing Chun schools from differing lineages and not a single one has ever done any kind of physical training beyond the drills, forms and partner work.

A taijiquan school I went to actually had quite an intensive combat warm up and that was the first time I'd seen that in a Chinese martial arts school.

The reasons behind it, I believe, is that the student is expected to train in their own time and not waste valuable club time doing circuit training and that may work for some people... from a commercial POV, if someone is paying £50 a month to learn Wing Chun - they don't necessarily want to do generic physical activity even though it's impossible to separate the two.

[LoneTiger108]

Just concentrate on basic fitness. IMO there is no such thing as "Wing Chun fitness".

Indeed in my experience very few WC schools really require or promote a high level of strength or cardio.

And you speak only for yourself to little padwan :D

[Lee Chiang Po]

One could always visit Master Wong on Utube and learn a bit from him. I think he can pretty much cover anything and everything. It might not be the prefect situation, but it is certainly better than nothing. Besides, it is free for the taking.
As for conditioning, all one needs is physical fitness. The same daily fitness programs as they have in junior and highschool. Stretching, calithentics sp? , pushups and situps and the likes. I have myself a total gym like Chuck Norris uses and I swear by it. You don't have to be all buffed up to be able to do Wing Chun effectively. That is only one of the major aspects of this system. However, it always helps to be in good shape when you need it.

[Samwise85]

@ Lone Tiger: I have been using Grandmaster Ip Chun and Master Michael Tse's book on Wing Chun as well as Sifu John Ryan Wahnish's book Foundations of Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Most of what I've been focused on is the first section of SLT, which Masters Ip and Tse refer to as the Gong Lik section. I haven't been practicing it lately because of the difficulty of learning from books and the concern raised here about builidng bad habits. Again, I appreciate all of the help from everyone here.

[Matt_WCK]

I haven't been practicing it lately because of the difficulty of learning from books and the concern raised here about builidng bad habits.

There is nothing wrong with learning WITH a book - books can help to explain theory, give differeing perspectives etc. As you say, the difficulty is in learning a physical skill from a non-physical media. Use the books to assist you in your development but they must always be used in conjunction with physical instruction.

A good book which explains a lot of Wing Chun theory in a no-nonsense way is "Simply... Wing Chun Kung Fu" by Shaun Rawcliffe. He is an Ip Chun man (in fact you'll see him as a demo partner in Ip Chun's books) so there will be quite a lot of similarity with what you are studying now. It would be most useful if you could find a book which is in line with the lineage of the school you intend to attend - I'm sure the Sifu there would be able to recommend something suitable.

[wingchunIan]

One could always visit Master Wong on Utube and learn a bit from him. I think he can pretty much cover anything and everything. It might not be the prefect situation, but it is certainly better than nothing. Besides, it is free for the taking.
As for conditioning, all one needs is physical fitness. The same daily fitness programs as they have in junior and highschool. Stretching, calithentics sp? , pushups and situps and the likes. I have myself a total gym like Chuck Norris uses and I swear by it. You don't have to be all buffed up to be able to do Wing Chun effectively. That is only one of the major aspects of this system. However, it always helps to be in good shape when you need it.

PMSL, got to be the funniest post ever brought tears to my eyes.:D

[LoneTiger108]

@ Lone Tiger: I have been using Grandmaster Ip Chun and Master Michael Tse's book on Wing Chun as well as Sifu John Ryan Wahnish's book Foundations of Wing Chun Kung Fu.

I'm quite familiar with the Ip Chun/Michael Tse partnership but not so much John Ryans work.


Most of what I've been focused on is the first section of SLT, which Masters Ip and Tse refer to as the Gong Lik section. I haven't been practicing it lately because of the difficulty of learning from books and the concern raised here about builidng bad habits. Again, I appreciate all of the help from everyone here.

What about online sources, I mean you must be trying to 'see' how the set moves right? And forgive the vast amount of expressions this set has throughout the extended Wing Chun family! if you are just beginning this must be a daunting task :(

http://www.youtube.com/user/TseQigongCentre?feature=CAMQwRs%3D
Michael Tses Youtube channel has quite a few clips and he is known more for his Taichi than his Wing Chun in all honesty. As someone else has mentioned, Shaun Rawcliffe was Ip Chuns number one for many many years, and his written works are worth a look too.

But get some feedback from Sifus too!! Share what you're doing privately or publically and I'm sure people who are genuine will try and help you out.

[Samwise85]

What about online sources, I mean you must be trying to 'see' how the set moves right? And forgive the vast amount of expressions this set has throughout the extended Wing Chun family! if you are just beginning this must be a daunting task :(



I have been looking for video to supplement the books so I can get a better idea of how the forms are supposed to look, but it is definitely tough to get the nuances just right without a Sifu there to actually correct it. That being said I do feel like I have a good grasp of the basic theory of Ip Man Wing Chun and did enjoy working on the first section of SLT when I was doing it. I'm hoping to be able to at least sit in on a class here in the next couple of weeks which is really exciting.

[Yoshiyahu]

Studying basic drills like punches and kicks one can do on their own. But doing SLT or any form from a book is going to be **** near impossible if you have never trained WC before. Also Doing it from a video will give you a basic structure...but you need someone else to critique you so you can see your flaws...Because sometime we missed something when we first see it.

As for getting in shape...Most WC doesn't train you to get in shape...Most Wc just trains skill, muscle memory and senstitivity...

What i would suggest is regular routine of the following

-running a mile a five days a week Minium
-pull ups and push ups and sit ups
-wall bag punches
-heavy bag kicks and punches
-jumping rope
-Learning WC Kung conditioning for a specific WC Kwoon your interesting in...But you may need a teacher...

To supplement strenght training i suggest the following

-wrist rollers
-bench press
-body weight exercises


to name a few!


-
Hello all, I am very interested in studying Wing Chun but at the moment I live in central Wyoming and the closest Wing Chun School is 4 hours away in Boulder Colorado. I have picked up a couple of books on SLT and have been working on the form off and on for some months, but really want to get myself into proper shape for a time in which I hope to live near a Wing Chun school. As such I wanted to get in touch with this community about potential workouts to supplement my lone wolf SLT training until I can get into a proper class.


Thanks for the help!