Being Aggressive

[dragontounge2]

You are all so content in your skills. But none of you can truly see your shortcomings until you achive true proficiency and can witness true skill.

[rogue]

Hate interrupt the love fest but...

R5, if one half step back is OK, wouldn't 2 or more half steps also be OK? If I can maintain structure with one half step I should be able to maintain it using several. I've never seen Carl fight so take this with a grain of salt, but it sounds as if he's making statements/proclamations based on situations always being advantageous to his way of fighting, or at least being in a ready position. One thing I've found is that things seldom go that way.

[yuanfen]

Rogue sez:One thing I've found is that things seldom go that way
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What the other fella is doing is always an important variable.
Hence, I am generally skeptical of a single technique fits all kind of advice. If something is a few inches off- an entirely different response may be in order.

[red5angel]

Rogue - As far as I know it does not matter the situation really, the idea is that if you have to take more then that half step you are in trouble and regaining your root will be almost impossible. you take more then that and your opponent is getting ready to destroy you.
The half step is to go from the wing chun stance to the back stance. If you use more steps then this, especially if your opponent has real solid skills, you will become disconnected and have no power. They will be in control.





Yuanfen, we are done talking, your facts are half right and half wrong and I have no real need to argue the point with someone roughly 40 years my senior.

[yuanfen]

Jedi Knight- no problem. Go in peace. Regarding the parting shot on "age". Yoda assures me- matters not. click, click, click

[churn-ging]

the idea is that if you have to take more then that half step you are in trouble and regaining your root will be almost impossible. you take more then that and your opponent is getting ready to destroy you.

I will have to say that this idea really depends on what your hands are doing. If your structure is collapased and you need to take a half step back to regain it but don't move your hands forward, then your opponent can still come in towards your center again and collapse your structure. Same with one step back or two steps back.

But, if your structure is collapsed and you take a half step back and you move your hands forward to regain your structure, then you will be able to intercept your opponents forward advance on you and prevent him from coming in towards you center to collapse you again. This will work with one step back or two steps back.

[anerlich]

You are all so content in your skills. But none of you can truly see your shortcomings until you achive true proficiency and can witness true skill.

A problem that can be solved this weekend if you take red5angel's advice and go to Carl's seminar!

I doubt that I will EVER be "content in my skills".

[anerlich]

red5angel says to Yuanfen:

You still insist on being a virtual sifu teaching the blind masses how they should act and what it is they should be saying?

look who's talking.

[anerlich]

Also what's Carls opinion on backing up 5/8 of a step?

Real men only back up 3/8 of a step

[Rill]

Stepping back -
I believe the saying goes something like 'for every step you take back, you should take two forwards'. Stepping back more than half a step does not implicitly mean you will lose your structure, sometimes you are required to step back for whatever reason, willingly or not. Specifying an exact distance, even in a general situation, is not correct because it's always going to depend on the person involved, and the situation they're in. Perhaps, red5angel, you could ask Carl to elaborate on this statement in the seminar.

red5angel -

most of this forum is used to kiss each others repsective behinds "Oh your wingchun is wonderful, although I wouldnt do it THAT WAY, it must work for you and thats ok."

I don't think you're paying attention very well. Go read some of the more contentious threads and you might change your mind. The forum is for an exchange of ideas, we can't demonstrate things here because of the nature of the forum - if we could, things might be a little easier and clear cut as to what works and what doesn't. Instead, we have to keep our minds open and accept that our lineage and Sifu's may not be 100% correct 100% of the time, or may not have all the answers to what we need to know. Don't mistake this for fawning.

I put a few post on here about who it is I train with and then post on some ideas we use to train and you guys get all offended and upset? I challenge your ideas of how you do things and you get upset?

No, it's just because you have this annoying way of hero-worshipping Carl, and none of us wants to hear it. We could all sit here and post things about how good our Sifu's and Sigung's are, how many certifications they have, what form they're studying and who they've touched hands with, and we'd probably all look like we did when we were younger going on about how my dad could kick your dads butt - childish. There's no need for it and it's a waste of time to have to trawl through such posts looking for the grain of content.

There are a couple that are mor ethen useless in thier dribble, although I wont name names Alpha dog and Yuanfen, that would be impolite right?

Personally, I have found some of yuanfen and Alpha Dogs replies to be most helpful. Heck, I've even found Anerlich's replies to be helpful at times . And no, it's not impolite to name names, it's impolite to say person X sucks because they're of Y lineage and since your lineage is not Y then they're wrong. Likewise, it's impolite to say that because you visited yuanfen's classes (regardless of how many you took) that he sucks - whether you think he does or not, three years is not enough time to know it, and there's no call for it on the forum.

Well, I am confident my wingchun is better then yours. Yep I said it, wanna know why? Because all wing chun is not created equal sorry to break it to you guys. As I have said before most of it is crap.

To put it bluntly, this is just plain arrogant. We all experience the stage of 'my WC is the best in the world and the rest of you suck!', but after a little while you come to appreciate that there are more lineages, and more teachers than you know of. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, red5angel. Until you have visited the vast majority of schools internationally, then perhaps it would be prudent to hold your tongue on the state of WC skill that exists outside of your Sigung's teachings. There were four senior students of Yip Man, and simply because your lineage has its root at one of them does not mean that what you are being taught is unfiltered, or that the other lineages no longer exist.

I have already put the challenge out to come check it and make an informed decision of your own

Honestly, if I could afford to jetset over and visit the seminar, then I would, but since I'm in another country I can't. Feel free to come visit my school sometime though, and we'll play. Perhaps if you expose yourself to other lineages outside your area then you'll mellow out some and realise what the rest of us have come to.


DISCLAIMER
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The message you have just read is not intended to slight or defame any WC practioner, regardless of lineage or skill. If you think it does, grow up. Warranty void if removed.

[straight blast]

We all experience the stage of 'my WC is the best in the world and the rest of you suck!', but after a little while you come to appreciate that there are more lineages, and more teachers than you know of.

How true. The only difference here is most of us don't put a public record of our infatuations and draw attention to them. R5A your enthusiasm is to be admired, your Sifu worship isn't. In a little while you'll be quaking down inside that you wrote yourself down as a blind follower. But the follies of youth are precisely that, and are to be enjoyed. Just hope you don't lose faith in the system when your Sifu screws up or does something that really pi$$es you off and you realise he's as human as the next guy. Or even worse for the cultish following mindset, gets his ass kicked some day.

Enjoy your training as an individual learning Wing Chun. Don't be a puppy forever

[anerlich]

I've even found Anerlich's replies to be helpful at times

Well, I'm glad one of us got something useful out of the interaction.

[red5angel]

Worship guys? Really? Do you really believe this? The guys amazing, and the reason I am learning from him is because he is good, the best I have seen. this doesnt recquire worship, I am not a religious man.

Anerlich, I find many of your comments to be helpful or atleast insightful.

Anyone else use this half step method?

[Merryprankster]

Red,

Would it help any if I told you you're overzealous? Not that my opinion is any more valid, but it sometimes helps to hear it from an "outside source."

Let me explain it this way: You know those fundamentalist, evangelical christians who hound people at the mall? You're one of them, only with WC. It doesn't mean I don't like you. It doesn't mean you're not a good guy. It doesn't mean that you don't have real substance or good knowledge. It just means that people would rather get on with their business of having discussions about something without being told they're wrong, and that you're/Carl's right, constantly.

It's very annoying to be told that you have the "truth," and everybody else who doesn't do it your way is wrong. I'm painting in broad brush strokes here, so don't get bogged down in the weeds--I'm sure there are specific instances in which that is not true, but generally speaking, it's an accurate assessment.

Here is the structure of most of your threads:

You: "What do you guys think of this idea?"
Others: "Well, we think this, but here are some other ideas too."
You: "Ah, see, those are wrong."
Others: "Well that's what I was taught."
You: "You were taught poorly. I don't think your Sifu knows as much as Carl. If he/she did, you would have learned this..."

I agree there is good and bad anything--heck, there's good and bad pizza, right? But proselytizing (sp) to the world doesn't help anybody. You don't get your point across, and they don't care to listen--in fact, they just walk by FASTER.

It just makes them wish you'd pick a different mall to hang out it.

Trust me--it's worship. You might not be religious, but you've got some hero worship going on... words like preaching, proselytizing, and evangelical all fit because you are "here to bring the 'truth.'" Even if you're RIGHT, it's not your responsibility to spread the good news.

You lack even the motive of saving others from hell in this instance .... so take a breather and think for a minute. You've got a LOT of people telling you exactly the same thing... and they ain't all wrong.

Hey, I'm sure some of the people on this whole board think I'm overzealous, but I don't run around saying "This is the way and this is the man who teaches it." I advocate a few basic ideas and as far as I'm concerned anybody, regardless of style or creed, who does those things--spars hard and does so outside their style on a regular basis, is going to be fine. I don't say "You must learn to fight MY way because it's RIGHT, and if you don't recognize that, then you are doing it wrong..."

[old jong]

red5angel.
Are you in that picture?