I KNOW WING CHUN, BUT CAN I FIGHT?

Any Martial Art that teaches their students how to defend is not teaching them how to fight.

This is a question many students ask, and as a result, many schools set out to teach people how to fight with Wing Chun, but this approach is fraught with troublesome issues.

The first cab out of the rank is that Wing Chun does not fight.

This does not mean that we cannot use Wing Chun stylings in a fight, but it is not what the training is all about, and as such, if you use these stylistic motifs in a fight, it is not Wing Chun.

This IDEA can be difficult to understand and get our heads around, especially if we have limited experience with violence.

And it is not helped by internet celebrities using Wing Chun stylings in set-up demonstrations where they effortlessly punish numerous opponents.

History teaches that they come unstuck once they enter the arena with a genuine fighter.

But this is not just a Wing Chun problem.

Any Martial Art that teaches their students how to defend is not teaching them how to fight.

This should be obvious.

It teaches them how to defend because they are being attacked and not because they are involved in a toe-to-toe duel.

It teaches them how to escape violent situations.

Self-defence is not fighting.

In a fight, both sides attack, and attack, and attack.

Watch some tournament fights, no one wins a fight by defending.

This is not all doom and gloom, we just need to understand what we are trying to achieve.

There is a different mindset/attitude between fighting and escaping and it is a mindset/attitude that we unconsciously slip into and not one we consciously choose.

Fighting is two people exchanging blows, this is not what happens in an attack, and it is not what we hope to achieve in a counterattack.

In a violent encounter, which is the scenario that Wing Chun trains for, we are attacked, and our response is initially more in line with sheltering from a storm than defending…

…and then we find a way to turn the tide and unleash our own storm.

There is no exchanging punches, no looking for weakness’, no ducking and weaving, no feinting, and no concern about putting ourselves in a weak position, all hallmarks of fighting.

It is all or nothing and then home.

It is really, really important to think about this, to talk to fellow students to see their thinking on this, especially friends that have experience with combat sports.

Ask your Sifu when, if ever, he has used his Wing Chun, what was the situation?

I have used my Wing Chun on more than one occasion.

And none of them were fights.

If we do not understand when and where we will need the training, how can we make it work?

I will go into this deeper in a future post, meantime, think about this…

It is not the shapes or the moves that define a style.

EVERYONE HAS A PLAN… UNTIL YOU PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE.

MIKE TYSON

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