(Part 2 of 5)
The difficulty in Wing Chun is actually the simplicity in it.
Imagine standing at your kitchen sink washing dishes. You are alone in your own thoughts and then someone sneaks up right behind you and screams really loud. Most people would react by immediately tensing up their entire body. After all the shock of being startled like that would naturally make you tense up completely.
In Wing Chun the art is an internal one, so you don’t have that reflex. Instead, you stay heavy and relaxed. Your forearms are like grass blowing in the wind, almost like feelers. But, your arms are also like concrete with all of your body weight behind it, when your strike makes contact with your opponent. If your strike does not go through or is blocked then you go soft again.
I know, confusing right? That’s what Jin meant when he said he could not teach me a Wing Chun move in a matter of minutes. After that initial conversation I never mentioned his teaching me Wing Chun again. About a year later, Jin asked me if I really wanted to learn wing Chun. He told me that I would have to commit at least three days a week to his teaching me. I was more than excited, and to my knowledge, Brian Dodds and I became his first two formal students.
Jin wasn’t kidding. Everything he told me about Wing Chun was exactly as he said. It is a art that takes tremendous time and patience to learn, but the concept is simple. No fancy moves or tricks, just basic concepts that quite frankly go against your natural instincts. (keep this in mind for later).
More on Wing Chun and Strength Training at www.biomechanix.net
Jon Torerk, CSCS
