The Kung Fu School

My general philosophy on teaching martial arts is that you should avoid teaching endless numbers of specific attack-defend routines. One popular approach is to teach hundreds of “scenarios” in the hope that you cover as many types of attack as possible. I am opposed to this approach. You cannot predict the exact nature of an attack. The Wing Chun (and Tai Chi) fighter is trained to react in accordance with whatever attack (energy) presented without having to have trained the specific scenario. Wing Chun Training starts with the forms and structure, moves through Chi Sao (single and double), and ends in pure San Sao (the Tai Chi road is the same – it just takes several years longer).

I have heard people say Wing Chun Chi Sao is a waste of time, and I have seen people who think that Chi Sao is how you fight in Wing Chun. I have trained with people who took Bruce Lee’s quote “in memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess” to heart and are critical of form and structure. Too much to heart. Such people do not understand the respective roles of the forms and of Chi Sao in Wing Chun. Chi Sao is the bridge between form and structure, and formlessness and freedom.

I start Wing Chun training with teaching basic techniques and then building sets of combinations, drilling these, drilling them some more until the mind is no longer involved, and then forgetting them and create more. This trains the proper structure and develops the ability to respond automatically and chase down an attacker with burst of techniques. The next stage is Chi Sao. Chi Sao develops the “contact reflex” where the student begins to “listen” to the attack. Poon Sao is the next stage of Chi Sao and develops the two-arm bridge, further develops the “contact reflex” in response to various attacks, and develops the various skills associated with the Wing Chun Kuen concepts. Luk Sao and Poon Sao are conceptually similar, except Luk Sao is harder and faster. Luk Sao develops the student’s fighting ability and stretches the student to the next stage, San Sao (Free Fighting). San Sao tests fighting skill and refines the mindset required for no-holds-barred combat. San Sao is not limited to one-on-one fighting. It can and should include two, three or more attachers with knives, sticks and guns. The point once you are trained to “listen” to the energy of an attack you can deal with any type of random attack without having “experienced it before”.

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