What do YOU like about Wing Chun?

[stuff]

What do you guys like about WC. Why did you decide to take up wing chun and not some other MA?

[old jong]

This is a martial art that can be practiced at any age if the health is good enough.It is not necessary to be athletic or even faster than most to be "good" in it.The normal human being can benefit from it's training.It is also very effective.It is not the only art with these advantages but I feel good doing it and it fits me!

[gnugear]

I like the idea of a martial art where you improve with age rather than lose skill.

[stuff]

I dont know what it is for me, but the more I learn the more I love it. Everyday my hunger for knowledge grows. I guess I just love everything about it.

[anerlich]

What do you guys like about WC

The fact that it is a MA which relies on skills and attributes which can be developed to a high level by any healthy individual, e.g. sensitivity, leverage, strategy, rather than on those in which genetics plays a major part, like strength, flexibility, speed. Also it is a structurally efficient and structurally fast system. However, where this is concerned, Wing Chun is not the only game in town.

Why did you decide to take up wing chun and not some other MA?

I didn't take it up *instead* of anything. I took up MA because I met and befriended a guy at work who happened to be one of the best and most experienced martial artists in town. He has taught, since 1969, and still teaches, a synthesis of Wing Chun, Choy Li Fut and Northern Sil Lum as well as black beit ranks in Goju Ryu Karate and Jiu Jitsu gained before he switched to CMA. Unlike many in the CMA game, he cultivated friendly relationships and trained and shared information with martial artists from all systems. He impressed on me the fact that there is no ultimate martial art, they all have advantages and disadvantages, situations where they work well and situations where they work less well. As far as stylistic purity goes, I was lost from the start

I moved cities and was fairly unimpressed with most of what I saw after my first instructor spoiled me rotten as regards quality instruction. I did Xingyi and Bagua for five years but eventually left as my relationship with the instructor deteriorated due to a growing disenchantment with his character and teaching practices.

I looked around again for the best CMA teacher I could find, by now there was a new guy in town. He taught Wing Chun, but the style was of little consequence, I was far more interested in the Sifu's abilities as fighter and teacher, both of which were as good as any I've seen. And he's not a WC purist either, as the last quote in my sig demonstrates. BJJ and the FMA-style weapons we do are too interesting and effective to spurn for some notion of stylistic purity, and I'm having too much fun doing them. And IMO they have bigger areas of commonality and synergy than many purists of any of the individual styles would like to admit.

[Mr. Bao]

I wanted to study wing chun because my boy hood idol, Bruce Lee practiced it. As I matured as realized that I can never be Bruce Lee. However, wing chun simply makes sense to me and its philosophies and its combative principles fits my disposition.


Bao

[IronFist]

Mr. Bao, welcome to KFO.

I was initially drawn to Wing Chun cuz I thought the dummy looked cool. That's all I knew about Wing Chun. Then, as I learned more, I started to realize that it's a pretty logical system that doesn't rely on complex techniques.

And cuz when I was younger and I studiend Isshinryu we used a vertical fist so, even though it's delivered differently, I still knew how cool that was

I've never formally studied a system that uses a horizontal fist, now that I think about it.

IronFist

[yuanfen]

My choice of wing chun was at the end of a very careful search-
sometimes in careful observation and sometimes by practical exposure to other arts and actual "experience". (Various striking,
grappling, throwing, breaking and weapons arts). I saw early on that good wing chun smoothly incorporates all those functions in training the wing chun reflexes of individuals.

[yuanfen]

Since you are in Tucson... back in 1976--- I checked up on Shotokan(Koyama), Judo(Houck senior-east side YMCA), TKD( two Kims- both on Speedway), Wado Ryu(Otska's Norvelle at UA),...
among others. The above were very good at what they did.
There were also boxing and wrestling clubs at UA's Bear Down gym back then and an aikidoist on Speedway who has since passed away. There was good boxing in Tucson...the late beto Martinez, PAL etc.

[S.Teebas]

What do you guys like about WC.

Its interesting, have fun going to class, feel a sense of accomplishment as I progress, good for health.

Why did you decide to take up wing chun and not some other MA?

Well it was my second MA, did kyokoshinkai karate for about a year...but felt the style wasn’t for me (although I respect the school a lot).

Researched a lot of styles and visited a lot of schools in my area. The WC one impressed me with its theory and one of the instructors really blew my mind with his level of control and devastatingly aggressive, yet relaxed fighting method. He offered to do some 'light sparing' and to this day I have never felt as helpless as he unleashed a storm of attacks at me (of course never making a full contact strikes) But latching, punching and kicking all at the same time... contorting my body. making it move in 3 opposite directions all at once, and so fast my brain could not exactly comprehend what was happening...all I could tell for sure was that I was getting my ass kicked!! This was an eye opener of a moment that I really knew nothing about fighting.

I knew I had to learn what this guy knew. so I trained and am still training. Basically I was most impressed with its overwhelming attacks. This was at first, but now I do for different reasons (I think the 'I want to kick ass' attitude is really detrimental to progressing in MA)

[stuartm]

The most practical style i have learnt, relatively quick to learn, logical and above all, Chi Sau - the most fascinating and addictive martial arts drill i have ever encountered. More importantly, Chi Sau also builds student confidence like no other drill i have seen or used.

Stuart

[{i^(]

I had taken a job wherein I was going to houses to determine whether to send mentally ill persons back to the hospital or not. You know, they were skipping meds, doing drugs, etc. I wanted something that worked for getting me out of corners.

[Dave Farmer]

I think that Wing Chun found me, rather than an informed choice.

I'd always enjoyed martial arts movies, boxed as a kid but never really had any intentions of training.

Just after leaving school, a friend said he was going to a 'kung fu' class and would I come along as he didn't want to be the newbie on his own.

I tagged along, and three months later he had quit and I'm still training nearly 17 years later.

It's just a never ending journey that has so much in terms martial and life skills.

I honestly can never see myself stopping training Wing Chun while I'm still physically capable.

Regards

Dave F

[Tersio]

Its logical, no unnecesary movements and you feel that you're doing something that works.

[Matrix]

Originally posted by Dave Farmer
I think that Wing Chun found me, rather than an informed choice.

Dave,

You are indeed a lucky man. I went through several other martial arts before I found Wing Chun. They weren't a total waste of time, but thinking of all that time where I could have been studying Wing Chun can bring me down.

Matrix