Category: FIST LOGIC

In Daoism, Peach Wood Swords are a symbol of a person that is trying to cut away the bonds that tie them to the world of men…

If we can introduce an element of play to our training there is a greater chance that we will more frequently and more thoughtfully, engage in that training, and of course, more chance that we will learn and benefit from that training.

In Wing Chun Kuen, which as we know is a FIST ART, the Dummy, the Pole and the Knives are examples of such play.

They are theatre.

Their purpose is not to teach us how to use a weapon, but it is to teach us how to better understand, and by extension use, our empty hand skills.

To get the most from this playful training we should avoid thinking that it is the weapons we are learning.

And at all times try to see through the dance and observe the movements of the Body, and relate all moves back to the Sil Lim Tao.

WHY WE SHOULD ALL PLAY THE KNIFE FORM.

If we are talking about developing a working Martial Art that we can depend on to get the job done we should all be working with the Baat Cham Dao { Knives} Form.

Wing Chun was developed by Dr Leung Jan as a method to improve an already existing skill set.

To that end, the first three Forms are all about building a structure and studying the concepts, with very little that translates easily to applying Wing Chun to an attacker.

The Dummy, the Pole, and the Knives take the information delivered in the first three forms and make suggestions as to how we could combine them.

The dummy is mostly about understanding how to accept force, the Pole is mostly about how to issue Force, but the Knives show us how to move around while being active while potentially issuing and accepting force.

The Knife Form is the only Wing Chun Form that has anything remotely comparable to actual fighting moves.

Where it gets confusing is that the moves are for use in Empty Hand fighting.

Working on and with the Knives is still predominately defensive but that’s O.K. because Wing Chun IS predominantly defensive.

We cannot counter-attack until we are under attack, ergo, counter-attacking is defensive.

The length, weight, and balance of the Baat Cham Dao, which are truly dreadful from the perspective of a useable weapon, make it easy for us to be aware of multiple body connections while doing moves that are, like the moves of the Dummy Form, essentially Chi Sau.

The footwork in the Baat Cham Dao Form is out of Chum Kiu and Biu Gee and is presented in such a way that introduces sinking, rising, twisting, lunging, forwards movement, backward movement, sideways movement and oblique movement, that effortlessly links all of the work from the first three forms in a clear and concise fashion.

If we can resist the fantasy of thinking that we are using genuine weapons and allow the Knives to simply be a training tool, a feedback device, the Baat Cham Dao Form can lead to a dynamic understanding of Wing Chun.

Many of my seniors tried to tell me that the weapons were real, my Sifu even wrote a book on them, interestingly in his book my Sifu uses the moves with a squash racquet against an attacker.

But with regrd to them being genuine weapons one question they all struggled with was…

…If the Knives were added to the system as genuine weapons training it must be obvious that at that time and place, there was a very real need for weapons over empty hands.

If this is the case why are they introduced so late in the training?

Surely, they would be taught from the beginning if they were needed?

Think about that.

Taking a fist to a knife fight is no better than taking a knife to a gunfight.

Because the Baat Cham Dao is not a genuine fighting knife/sword we can replace it with any similar length and weighted implement and get all of the above elements and benefits from the work.

And the benefits are massive.

I know that when you look around YouTube you can see all manner of madness being performed with the Baat Cham Dao, but these are shifty people that are trying to sell something to naive shoppers, we really should know better.

On Youtube there are even people kicking while using the Baat Cham Dao, what is that about?

If we are kicking at an attacker we are outside of knife/sword range and as such if my opponent is unarmed I should close the gap and use the knife/sword, that is why we have it.

Alternatively, if the opponent is armed and out of knife/sword range as we try to kick they will chop our leg off.

The thing about common sense is that it is not very common.

The knife/sword moves in the Form are the moves we make in our ‘empty hand’ applications, the knives allow us to make a better mental connection to the correct alignment.

The treasure is found by practicing dynamic coordinated movements.

To keep this video inside everyone’s attention span I have not gone into the pure movement side of the Baart Cham Dao, I will do a separate video later in the week.

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Back in the early days of the internet, I would seek out and gobble up any books I could find on Wing Chun.

I came across a book called ‘Conversations with Wing Chun Masters’ or something along those lines, it was compiled by an American so there were no inherent translation issues, unfortunately, I have long since lost it.

One such conversation was with a student of Ip Man that was also his nephew, a family member, who claimed that it was Ip Man himself that created the Baat Cham Dao Form and that he was almost coerced into it by his students.

In the early days of his teaching, sometime around 1950-51, Ip Man was reported to have had two Peach Wood Swords on the wall where he taught, which his students pestered him to teach them how to use.

Ip Man resisted because he claimed the Swords were fragile, somewhere along the line one of his students managed to copy the Swords and had a few pairs made from aluminium and presented them to Sifu Ip, upon which he created what we now know as the Baat Cham Dao Form.

There is nothing untoward in this, many Masters create their own Forms in their own Schools, and at that time nobody could have predicted how popular Wing Chun would become.

The nephew also said that Sifu Ip used the knives to explain the Ba Gua, something that during the mid-1950s came to be viewed as old-fashioned, mystic superstition and was dropped, but the Baat Cham Dao themselves remained in the system.

What always gave this story credence for me is that it was widely known that Ip Man considered himself a Daoist Gentleman.

In Daoism, Peach Wood Swords are a symbol of a person that is trying to cut away the bonds that tie them to the world of men and free themselves to walk a more spiritual path.

The Ba Gua is a Daoist tool that explores the connection to the 8 elements that make up the Chinese Spiritual Universe.

Baat Chm Dao translates to 8 cutting knives/swords, and the movement set comprises 8 directions.

WHEN IN TROUBLE…

THE ONLY WRONG MOVE…

IS NOT TO MOVE.

THE ‘D’ MAN.

It is the IDEA of how a spring works that we are after and not any specific mechanisms.

In training, we will focus on a certain aspect or concept, such as Springy Force, and describe it in a certain way, but the ultimate learning objective is to see how it works with everything we do all of the time.

Wing Chun is a multi-layered system, and like any system for it to work correctly and effectively every part of the system must interact with every other part of the system.

If just one part does not work then the whole system breaks down.

It is not practical or in fact useful to think along the lines of ‘this does that’ as all aspects can be used in numerous different ways, everything we do, every shape, every posture, and every action can be used for defence or attack, and as such requires us to be able to see things through a different lens in training and yet the learning objective is to combine both visions into a new and unique version of itself.

Although when working on and through Chum Kiu we explore Wing Chun’s defensive IDEAS this does not mean that Chum Kiu is exclusively defensive.

And when working on and through Biu Gee we explore Wing Chun attacking IDEAS it does not mean Biu Gee is exclusively concerned with attacking.

This is just a teaching protocol, a linear progression that is easier to navigate and understand than trying to explain the circular, multi-layered reality that is Wing Chun in an application.

As we all know if we are using Wing Chun to its optimal we are using simultaneous attack and defence and to be expected we are using both sets of IDEAS, both attack and defence, both Chum Kiu and Biu Gee.

Chum Kiu and Biu Gee are multi-faceted, the IDEAS and actions are many layers deep and while we may approach the IDEAS in a single-minded way the outcome we are after is a dynamic, constantly mobile combination of all the things introduced in both Forms.

Like a Lego set that moves in cycles of construction, de-construction and re-construction, the combinations are restricted only by our level of understanding and creativity.

To be expected this is also the case with Springy Force.

It is the IDEA of how a spring works that we are after and not any specific mechanisms.

The more we can understand about springs the more we understand about Springy force.

At times this can be a little confusing as we introduce explanations to fill out the IDEA, explanations that may in isolation look contradictory.

Finding comparable examples of the central IDEAS of Wing Chun in the real world can help us get a quicker understanding of what might appear to be vague concepts.

I think that most of us have an IDEA of the function of a car’s shock absorbers and how they can be adjusted to affect the height and quality of the ride, this is usually a function or quality based upon the stroke length.

As an analogy we can look at the tension in our body, be it intentional or residual, as creating a change to the stroke length and a change to the overall action of the Shock absorber.

A shorter stroke length is returns force harder and quicker, while a longer stroke length returns force softer and slower.

If you do not have this understanding ask Dr Google.

Power is described as the result of energy spent over time, the less time spent releasing a set amount of energy creates more power than the same amount of energy spent over a longer time period.

With the shock absorber the shorter stroke results in a harder result than the longer stroke.

The way we strike is a perfect example of a short stroke issuing more power.

As always the purpose of these videos is to help you all dig deep into the theory side of this thing we do, and of course, to hopefully inspire those of you that fell away during covid to come back to training, you know who you are and I know you still clock the videos.

While it is essential to understand the theories if we wish to be competent at Wing Chun, and watching these videos and reading the post will most certainly help, nothing beats the feedback that comes from supervised training and touching hands with your Wing Chun brothers.

 “Tomorrow’s victory is today’s practice.”

Chris Bradford

Something to be aware of is that Springy Force is the reaction and not the action, we do not consciously try to create Springy Force.

Movement and Springy Force.

Everything we do, whether we are issuing force or accepting force, automatically, as a by-product of the Laws of Newtonian Physics, invokes return force.

Return Force in Kung Fu speak, is named Springy Force, but we can substitute return force if it makes things clearer.

It would make sense for us to develop a deeper understanding of why and how this happens in direct relationship to and influenced by Wing Chun. 

Springy Force is the Kung Fu layman’s term for Newton’s Third Law of Motion.

‘Every action creates a reaction of the same magnitude in the opposite direction’.

Just like a spring, hence Springy Force.

Something to be aware of is that Springy Force is the reaction and not the action, we do not consciously try to create Springy Force.

If we push something, or something pushes us, it is Springy Force that pushes back.

If we pull something or something pulls us it is Springy Force that pulls back.

It is however perfectly reasonable to train our actions with the desired outcome being the condition that brings about the activation of Springy Force.

In this way, we can anticipate the activation of Springy Force upon contact, even build it into our intention, but we are never truly in control of it or overtly involving it.

This is head-spin stuff.

The overall effectiveness of Springy Force will always be influenced by the quality of our connection with the antagonist, and to physical alignment.

The application of Springy Force in a genuine situation will be somewhat random, it is influenced much more by the action of the agitator than by our own actions.

The best vehicle to explore and set up the optimal condition for Springy Force to happen is controlled, organised, conscious movement.  

In other words, the best training protocol for this is Forms training, with the Pole being my go-to Form if time is restricted.

Every move we make should either be of compression or release [not expansion].

This is more a drill than traditional ‘Forms’ training with the goal of being aware of the different phases of movement.

Absolute stillness should be avoided and awareness should be focused on the transition phase of compression to release and release to compression.

In a genuine situation, compression will often be brought about by making contact or moving to anticipate making contact with an incoming force. 

In Forms analysis training, we deliberately set up the compression to give us context.

The only reason we create compression is to empower the release phase, the Springy Force, and not to affect our training partner.

Coordinating all movement from the perspective of the creation of ‘Springy Force’ compression and the release of the ‘Springy Force’ we have compressed, is an important aspect of all of our movement sets.

Especially for transitioning to a practical application or the issuing of force.

All of this type of training is about being aware of the thought behind the action and the relationship between each of them, with training this can become automatic where the thought alone triggers the action associated with that thought.

This is how Springy Force is activated.

We cannot feel our own Springy Force, we can only feel our training partner’s Force pressing on us.

Terms we use to describe this, such as “constant forwards pressure” lead us to think that it is an active pressure when it is a passive pressure.

To understand Springy Force it needs to be felt, to be experienced, no video can ever get close.

Interestingly, once we understand the condition to bring Springy Force into being, and its vital role in our defensive philosophy, returning their own force to them, doing the opposite is how we maximise impact, we prevent our Force from being returned to us.

I will make a video of this aspect the next time I am with the senior students.

IN A VIOLENT SITUATION,

THE ONLY WRONG MOVE,

IS NOT TO MOVE.

How can we describe something when we do not even know if it will happen?

Hi Guys,

I am struggling a bit to find the best way to open this post, to find the right opening words and right feeling, so if it starts to come off a bit scattered or weird just stick it out, I am sure it will make sense by the finish.

Q…Is it possible to know if we have chosen the best Martial Art to get us out of a future, unknown situation, that we hope will not even happen.

A…As counter-intuitive as it may sound the answer is yes we can, and we can describe this situation with at least 90% accuracy.

This is what I mean about it may sound a bit weird.

How can we describe something that we do not even know if it will happen?

Every Martial Art is a specific solution to a specific problem.

So if we can describe the very things that Wing Chun is optimal to deal with, what it says on the box so to speak, we are describing the situation it is best suited to solve.

If this situation does not match the situation we fear we may end up in perhaps we have made a poor choice of Martial Art.

For us this is Wing Chun, but it applies to all Martial Arts.

In what situation is Wing Chun optimal?

If we are considering a situation that puts us in harm’s way, we only want what is optimal, any other choice brings a greater chance of failure.

WING CHUN KUEN.  

A COUNTER-ATTACKING, CONCEPT-DRIVEN, FIST-FIGHTING STYLE.

If we can unpack this description it shows us the type of situation we are preparing for, and just as importantly what we are not preparing for.

COUNTER-ATTACKING… By definition, we cannot be counter-attacking unless we are, first of all, under attack from an outside party.  We cannot be considered to be counter-attacking if we instigate the confrontation, Wing Chun is not intended for any kind of ‘Mano a Mano’ confrontation. We can dig into this a bit later.

CONCEPT DRIVEN… The ‘CORE’ learning objective is to understand the ‘CONCEPTS’ or ‘PHILOSOPHY’ of the style, the Forms, Chi Sau, and techniques are there to highlight or relate physical actions to the philosophy.  This is why it is so hard to say what is or what is not Wing Chun by simply observing a persons actions. We can dig into this a bit later.

FIST FIGHTING STYLE… Wing Chun is predominantly, but not exclusively, a hand-striking style.

Wing Chun does use kicks, knees, elbows, and even head-butts, but these are the exceptions and not the rule.  We can dig into this a bit later.

On first look, the situation Wing Chun will be optimal in is a surprise attack, something like a mugging, or an unexpected, violent turn in a difference of opinion that we did not really anticipate.

The level of surprise that we encounter will determine our chances of survival, if the surprise is absolute, if we do not see the attack coming, we have zero chance of success.

What can we do to lessen any chances of absolute surprise?

Sadly, nothing, that is why it is a surprise, however, we can increase our chances by not sleepwalking in dangerous places.

Awareness, but not hyper-vigilance, can prevent most surprises.

As short as this post is there is a lot to think about so I will leave it here to sink in, I will break everything down later on and hopefully you guys can bring things into training so we can flesh it out in a way that everyone can relate to.

If we train for what happens most,

we will be ready for most of what happens.

The Forms are nothing more than a loose collection of mnemonics, aids to memory.

For a very long time, I struggled to work on the Wing Chun FORMS.

I would get angry because so many of the moves in the FORM were just plain wrong, even by Wing Chun’s own metrics and I felt that I was being asked to accept something that I knew to be flawed.

How and when did things change?

Things changed once I realised that it just did not matter.

For some unknown reason, I thought that the FORMS were a complete and finished pattern that I needed to copy immaculately and that somehow I could not understand them if I did not do them perfectly.

This is not the case.

The Forms are nothing more than a loose collection of mnemonics, aids to memory.

Realising that it was not the content, the shapes or the moves that I was trying to learn changed the game.

The content of the FORMS was just a way to access the process.

Once I understood the process, the non-physical aspect, and the IDEA theory, I revisited the previous work and set out to correct the mistakes.

It was with untold delight that I discovered that the mistakes were really quite minor and concluded that they may have been included deliberately as a kind of hidden test and that the needed correction was already there, in the Theory of the IDEA.

I wrote about this some time ago in the post ‘Hidden in plain sight’, here is a LINK if we need to refresh your memory.

At that time I only saw Biu Gee in this way, but it is everywhere.

How could it not be?

Once the body has been developed in this way everything we do becomes Wing Chun.

I know from my own experience that it is difficult to see how just doing FORMS can make somebody a more effective fighter.

This was my default position for a very long time, in fact, it is why as a young man I stopped training in Hsing Yi Chuan and Baguazahng, both Kung Fu styles that share a central focus on FORMS.

This began to change once I began training in Wing Chun Kung Fu back in the early 1990s.

The first stage of Wing Chun training, the first 12 – 24 months,  is approximately 80% practical techniques and physical self-defence applications,15% theory, and only 5% FORM work.

This allows students to feel that they are learning ‘Real Stuff’ for use in ‘Real Fights’ without any need to understand what is going on under the hood.

After around 2 years of this type of training, everybody that applies themselves to the work has a skill set that can get them out of just about any kind of trouble, this is an observable fact.

More importantly, everybody that does this training believes that they have a skill set that can get them out of trouble, if we believe, we will accept, and by accepting we will choose to use what we have practiced if we find ourselves in a bad situation, and yes it will and does work.

Many students give it away at this point having achieved their primary goal and do not stay to study what makes Wing Chun work and how to improve it.

This is what Chum Kiu and Biu Gee do, they help us understand the why of it all, there is nothing new, once we understand Chum Kiu and Biu Gee we can look back and see that we had been using these tools since day #1.

From here on in the trajectory is lifelong continued improvement.

Chum Kiu introduces us to Wing Chun’s thinking on how to accept and redirect incoming force, in short, our defence, while Biu Gee introduces us to Wing Chun’s thinking on how to issue force, in short, our attack.

From the first day when we performed our first Tarn Da {Tarn Sau and punch}, we were influenced and informed by both Chum Kiu {Tarn Sau} and Biu Gee {Vertical Punch}.

To describe Wing Chun in as simple a way as possible, when someone throws a strike at us, we move it out of the way and hit them at the same time.

An oversimplification to be sure, but it also covers every situation we may face, be it a kick, a punch, or even a weapon, move it out of the way and counter-attack at the same time.

Developing the shape and the alignment of a structure that can intercept incoming force without buckling under pressure is the prime objective of Chum Kiu.

Developing the shape and alignment of a structure that can transfer accelerating body mass to a chosen target without the need for excess effort or strength is the prime objective of Biu Gee.

There are many secondary objectives that we can explore and discover in both Chum Kiu and Biu Gee, but our first goal should be to achieve competence with the prime objective.

It can be a challenge for all of us to deliberately choose simplified solutions to solve what we think are complicated problems, but when we consider that one of the central pillars of Wing Chun’s Fist Logic is simplicity, this approach is more than just far-sighted, it becomes necessary.

There is an often unnoticed benefit to FORMS training.

It allows us to divorce the training from ‘real-time’ fighting.

If we look at our primate relatives, the Chimpanzee or the Gorilla, we can observe them fighting in very human-looking ways.

Who taught these guys how to fight?

No one, it is innate, as it is with us.

Training is not about learning how to fight, it is about learning how to be better at fighting.

How to develop a body that is better suited to fighting.

The Shaolin Monks knew this and styled at least two of their training sets,  Hóu Quán (猴拳, monkey fist),  and Baiyuan Tongbei Quan 白猿通背拳,  White Ape Connected Arms boxing, after the way Monkeys fight.

Chum Kiu and Biu Gee allow us to continually improve the condition and coordination of our body to take our basic fighting skills to another, much higher level.

Once the body has been developed in this way everything we do becomes Wing Chun.

Learn the form, but seek the formless.

Learn it all, then forget it all.

Learn The Way, then find your own way.

The Silent Monk

Martial Arts do not teach us how to fight.

Firstly, Gong Hei Fat Choy.

Secondly, Happy Birthday to us, 13 today, hip, hip hooray.

On with the show.

I have been in and around Martial Arts since 1960, which is a very long time in any currency.

I started with competitive styles and then moved to the more personal development styles.

But for me, it has always been about the work.

The skill set.

It still is, even as my body begins to let me down, perhaps even more so, now that my body is starting to let me down.

What have I learned that I think is worth passing on?

Martial Arts do not teach us how to fight.

After 60+ years I know this inside and out.

Yet still, I do the work.

Helio Grace, the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is quoted as saying “Learn to fight like an old man, because one day you will be”.

Perhaps he meant “Learn how to not fight like an old man does not fight”

But that type of advertising does not fill dojo’s.

We will be closed for 2 weeks or around that so here is something to keep you awake at nights.

Although we say we realise that Humans are part of a bigger family.

A family of primates along with Orangutangs, Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Bonobos, collectively known as the Great Apes.

We somehow think that we will act differently when placed under survival stress.

Without training, we will not act any differently.

I can almost hear the ghost of Grouch Marx saying…

… The difference between an Ape and a Man is that an Ape knows that it is an Ape.

THE “D” MAN, posing as Groucho.

In a world where too much Wing Chun is not enough, we all gave more.

This Saturday just past turned into a monster training session, the guys were all right up for it and I really felt the vibe.

The training was as the training is, but we all dug deep, so deep that I had way too much video footage.

I have cut the video up into 3 chunks so that you guys can watch one over coffee or what have you, and then tomorrow and the next day.

In a world where too much Wing Chun is not enough, we all gave more.

For tribe members that did not make it Saturday bring it in with you next time you train.

If your plan is to watch one a day then I suggest starting with the last video we shot, “The last 10 minutes” it was more a chat than training but it was tasty.

Most of the training that we improve from takes place between our ears, without it, there is nothing, so train every day.

Warriors don’t raise to the level of expectations, they fall to the level of their training.”

Archilochus

Because if we ever do get into a fight, it will be on that bridge.

This post is only 6 or so months old so hopefully, it is not totally forgotten, it pretty much applies to what we have all been exploring this past week, albeit through different methods.

Everything will work to a certain extent, and everything will fail to a certain extent.

It is about 3 things.

Understanding how our body works

Understanding our ‘FIST LOGIC’.

And… Understanding how to build a bridge between the two.

Because if we ever do get into a fight, it will be on that bridge.

We are not people learning Wing Chun, we are people using WingChun to learn about ourselves.

There is a joke here in Oz. 

“What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back”?

A stick.

Asking “will my Martial Art work” is a little bit like asking will this stick work?

It will.

But only if you know how to use it, and are willing to use it.

If we do not align our training with hitting someone, and hitting them really hard, we have the wrong stick.

At the end of the day, everything we do is about hitting people, and not about defense.

The moral of this tale is knowing the right stick.

STABILISATION THROUGH COMPRESSION AND ORGANISATION.

Biu Gee introduces us to stabilisation through compression and organisation of the body, mostly, but not only, through ‘Core Winding’.

The various but sometimes subtle rotations of Biu Gee are intended to induce spontaneous martial Innovation’.

How can we approach this work to gain an understanding of these Concepts?

We should use something, anything we use frequently, and have a very natural feeling for, in my case, it is the Knife Hand.

Learn the shape of the Knife Hand.

Learn the shape of the transition from defense to attack and how this action creates and stores kinetic energy.

The best place to explore this is in the Biu Gee Form not in free play.

Any movement in the Form that extends into the ‘Hit Zone’ can be regarded as a Knife Hand, or if you prefer a punch mechanism.

By now you should all be aware that I believe that when training doing all of the Form slows your understanding down.

The best approach is to repeat the segments that can transition from a defensive {Chum Kiu} posture to an extension, be it Knife Hand, finger Jab, or Punch, they all use the same mechanism.

 The next step, take it into active play, in Chi Sau steer your partner out of his zone and into yours, this will simulate taking the Position of Dominance in a real fight.

How did you achieve it?

Did you push?

Did you pull?

Check it out.

C.K. shift left, B.G. upper body pivot to the floating ribs, do not let the feet dissolve the torsion.

In general, most Wing Chun practice does not improve overall movement, the information is there, but it is veiled in subtle inferences that are not openly discussed, it is the whole ‘Secret Information’ aspect of Biu Gee.

However, if you have good movement and agility, when you play the Biu Gee Form they will stick out like Dog’s Do Dah’s, here is a link to some good info on movement from outside of Wing Chun.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy,

and great things in that which is small. 

LAO TZU