Originally Posted by
Ali. R
This may vary from different wing chun families
1. Tan-sao: The shoulders of the tan-sao should always stay or be rounded. The elbows should be/stay chummed out (sink naturally to lowest point without losing good structure). The palm of the tan-sao should line up with your solar plexus /breast plate and sometimes lower. The thumb should remain tucked to use the natural tendon energy (ging-lik-sao). Start off with the thumb relaxed, the more pressure you get, the tighter the thumb becomes, but keep the rest of the arm relaxed, it also helps to support the strength of the tan-sao structure with a minimum use of muscles as long as the elbows have chum and continue to have forward energy and maintain the correct line that the structure is occupying.
2. Bong-Sao: Since the bong-sao is on the same side as the tan-sao and also working in the same cycle, it only seems natural to use the wrist as an axle as you move from tan-sao to bong-sao. As you change from tan-sao to bong-sao the elbow rolls up and the thumb releases from its tuck, all of the fingers relax except for the pinky while the palm faces your opponent. Do not stretch out the pinky, instead line it up with the forearm naturally and remember to keep the other fingers relaxed. While using this technique (pinky and fingers) the natural tendon use of the bong-sao will naturally come to life. This way you can stay fairly soft in developing your chi-sao approach with minimum use of muscles. As you use the bong in the cycle, the movement will resemble a drill bit rotating from the wrist. Using the forward energy from the elbow as it moves into place (natural energy only, no force).
3. Low-Fook: The structure of the low-fook is similar to that of the tan-sao except the fingers are pointed down naturally. With the fingers pointed down the pinky side of the forearm feeds the centerline. The fingers should be dipped straight downward and the shoulders should be/stay rounded. If the elbow is chummed out, and you give slightly forward energy on your fook-sao (forward elbow energy) and as long as you hold the proper line theory, the pinky side of the forearm should jam, wedge or slice any offensive attacks. Always use the simplest approach possible.
4. High-Fook: The high-fook is the same as the low-fook but you are defending lines going to higher gates. Therefore with the high-fook you can mainly control a high offensive line just by keeping the pinky side of the forearm cutting into the structure of your chi-sao partner and keeping fingers of the fook-sao dipped and relaxed at all times (pointing towards to the ground) still using forward elbow energy.
Reply With Quote