boxers keep shoulders up to protect from getting knocked out. Wing chun keeps shoulders down for various other benefits... Speed, relaxation, etc...
If you get knocked out... Is it worth it?
boxers keep shoulders up to protect from getting knocked out. Wing chun keeps shoulders down for various other benefits... Speed, relaxation, etc...
If you get knocked out... Is it worth it?
S.Teebas
The issue really isn't shoulders up, it is leading with your chin.
That said, boxers don't really "lift" their shoulders, they tuck in their chin.
Keeping your chin up, and by that I mean keeping it and your face in the way they always are, is a very bad habit BUT one that gets taken care of very quickly IF you spar on a regular basis.
It is true that we tend to see too many MA ( not just WC people) fight with their chin up or lead with their face BUT that is simply due to the fact that they don't spar hard contact enough.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
In Muay Thai the chin is down, shoulders shrugged up a bit. It helps hide/protect the jaw, since that is the best target for a knock out.
Keeping a high chin makes the jaw a much easier target, as Sanjuro said, it's the height of the chin that's more important.
I'd like to hear the thoughts of some Wing Chun guys, do some of you keep the chin down in your WC training? Is the raised chin we normally see from WC guys a specific strategy or just a by-product from other aspects of your structure, that could be changed without compromising posture/strategy?
Last edited by Kellen Bassette; 01-06-2015 at 07:11 AM.
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Responding in good faith without claiming to represent all of wing chun.
Wing Chun is an entirely different system from Muay Thai or Western boxing.
In my wc the head is an integral partof the upper body structure and the spine and neck vertebrae
are balanced accrordingly in keeping with gravity.
Yes the chin is a major vuleranable point but so is the neck, the temple, the eyes, the heart etc etc.
Many wc folks dont understand the important details of the dynamics and geometry of the hand structure.
When the proper two hand structure is dynamically applied- with a properly trained wing chun person
is pretty well protected at the chin, the neck, the chest etc.
May be you should not allow your opponent's fists to be able to reach to your chin in the 1st place. With the "rhino guard", your chin can be far away from your opponent's reach. IMO, the chin up or chin down, shoulder up or shoulder down is not the issue. The issue is whether you want to fight in your own territory, or you want to fight in your opponent's territory instead.
When a rhino runs toward you with full speed, you will not be able to hit that rhino's chin and that's for sure.
Last edited by YouKnowWho; 01-06-2015 at 02:32 PM.
http://johnswang.com
More opinion -> more argument
Less opinion -> less argument
No opinion -> no argument
No, not really.
Lifting both shoulders in boxing is a bad habit, increases tension, reduces power speed and response time
Having said that, some guys (Mayweather - Hopkins - Toney for eg) do use variations of the "philly shell" which uses the lead (front) shoulder to deflect punches.
Heres a good breakdown from FMJ himself;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqOJp9Wmayo
As a few of the other poster have said, its chin down that the really want
I think that sometimes people do not realize that some things are not meant to be applied in a static posture.
Take the "X" block. It can be very effective if one employs movement with the technique.
If you just stick your hands out and hold them there you will get hit.
If you run toward your opponent like a crazy person, you can still use it to punch at your opponent's face. But the "punching" is not the purpose for this. The "over extended" is the beauty of the strategy. You move your hands as close to your opponent's head as possible. The moment that your opponent tries to punch you, his hand will leave his guard and his head will be exposed for your head lock. If you move in at that moment, the striking game is over, the grappling game will start.
This strategy may sound like "conservative" from a striker point of view. But from a grappler point of view, it's very aggressive. Your opponent wants to punch your head, you want to lock his head. Both purposes may be similar. The difference is you always have the "rhino guard" to protect your head, but your opponent's punch will always expose his head.
Last edited by YouKnowWho; 01-07-2015 at 10:31 AM.
http://johnswang.com
More opinion -> more argument
Less opinion -> less argument
No opinion -> no argument