YouTube Channel

I am starting a YouTube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/InstructorDerek  this is not meant to be a Wing Chun Instructional Channel, I am simply using the available Technology to keep in contact with all of the INCa's, often when there are some sticking points in training it is only when I get Home that I realise a better way to explain things or I remember something that I was told or shown at a similar point in my own training that made it a bit easier for me to go forward, and of course I completely forget before the next training session, so now I can quickly record something and stick it on YouTube. It is also a way for me to keep in touch with Guys that I used to train with that live in different parts of Sydney or even N.S.W. We still talk and ask questions on the Phone but words always fail when it comes to Wing Chun, Pictures make it so much clearer. Because what I post will be in response to something that we were either working on or talking about the segments may not hold up very well if you do not know what we are addressing, so turn up to training.  Or if you are awaiting Surgery to get the couch of your Arse and cannot make training give me a call or an E-mail.

Peripheral Vision

I was talking with someone the other Day and the old Chestnut of Peripheral Vision came up, I do not understand the thinking with many Wing Chun People that they say you defend yourself using Peripheral Vision, this is madness and will certainly fail if you are in Deep Poo. Peripheral Vision is very good and identifying even tiny movement in a wide Field of view, but once the movement is noticed you need to change back to focused Vision to see what was moving, this is what Eagles, Hawks and Army Snipers do, and many years ago when I was taught to shoot Game Birds this is what I was instructed to do, Peripheral Vision spots the movement and then Focused Vision Marks the Target. In Wing Chun I have heard even quite Senior Instructors say "Keep your Eyes on the Chest and pick up the attack with your Peripheral Vision", in a nice friendly session of 4 Corner Defence you may get away with this, but in a Street Encounter when someone pulls a Knife from out of their Jacket you will be going home in a Bag.

Dropping Your Weight in Chum Kiu.

One problem a lot of people suffer from when doing Chum Kiu is that they loose their upright Structure and Vertical Spine, usually they get a bit soft and squashed in the Middle, I have seen this in people that have been training even longer than me, so what is going on, why is it so hard?

I think that as usual the problem is with the Words used to explain what should be done, or rather the understanding of the Words used to explain what should be done. 

Drop your weight!!

What does this really mean?

From my observations most people take it to mean drop your weight to the Floor, or at least into your Feet, and this is were the trouble starts, Chum Kiu is mobile, dropping all your weight into your Feet is not likely to make you move easier, on the contrary it will make it even harder to move, especially Pivoting.

So where do we drop it?

In reality we drop it nowhere in particular, we just drop it.  If you drop a Cup or a Book it may land on the floor, but if there was a Table or something under it you would drop it on the Table or whatever, landing has very little to do with dropping, in fact once the object has landed the drop is over. Once you have dropped your weight into your Feet all you have is heavy Feet.

We need to find a way to allow the things we drop to stay in free fall and not land at all, almost as if there was a string attached to them so that they are both falling and being held in space. Visualising the Concept is so important to moving forward in Wing Chun, if you can visualise it then at some level you understand it.

We are all very different with different powers of imagination, different references that we use in our imagination so it is up to you to film your own Movie, the one you will play to understand the concept, do not blindly accept someone Else's description of events, start from there and then see if you can find a better way to explain it to yourself.

My own movie of this is that my Spine is a Ladder with tens of tiny Rungs, I drop the weight from the top Rung only down to the one below, this begins a Cascade that sends the weight of the lower rung on down to the one below that and so on until my upper body is in my Pelvis. Once my weight is in my Pelvis I imagine that my Pelvis is a Plate and that all of my Body above it are other plates that create a "Stack of Plates", in the "Real World" when you pick up a "Stack of Plates" you only really pick up the "Bottom Plate" you only ever move the "Bottom Plate" and the rest just go along for the ride, at most all we do is make sure that the Stack is kept vertical by monitoring the middle of it.

This is my movie, words are a poor Tool for describing Feelings and it may make no sense to you, but even disagreeing with this will give you somewhere to start.

Motion Defeats Strength! So if in doubt MOVE.

Going Backwards in Training!!

Yesterday one of my Guys was over to train with me and at the conclusion of the evening he told me that he felt he was going backwards with his training. I know the feeling he was experiencing but is it really going backwards?  In the first couple of years of training everything is new, everyday you feel that you have added something to the Tool Box, it is an almost constant addition to your Knowledge Base, people quite wrongly {I.M.O.} think that this is moving forward, advancing, but it is really only collecting. 

The real training does not even start until you try to understand how to use all of this stuff you have collected, and how to relate everything to the "Core Values", it is often at this phase that people give it away, it just becomes "Too Hard" and they tell themselves that they just don"t get it often deciding to go and do B. J. J. instead. The truth is that this phase should be seen as an indication that you are finally beginning to make moves in the right direction, it is only when you start to ask Question's that you realise you do not have the Answers, if you are really lucky you will find that you are not even asking the right Questions and so you begging the search in earnest.

Any Kung fu takes a lot of time and a lot of thinking if you hope to get close to the real "Heart of the Matter", it cannot be achieved by only being involved for 2 hours an evening twice a week, it requires that you involve yourself in some related activity everyday, especially doing the Forms and thinking about what you have learned, and it is only when you start to think about what you have learned that you realise you do not know very much. The reality is that you do know quite a lot, it is just that for some reason in the early years we all think we know a lot more than we do, and if our Ego is driving the Wing Chun Bus this realisation can seem like a minor failure, which of course it is not.

There will be many times through the life of your training when you quite simply need to "GO BACK AND START AGAIN" and this usually reaps huge Rewards in Knowledge, but this does not really mean going back to grade 1 and do the work all over again, it is more that you need to take your Mind back to an earlier place, a place with no preconceptions and no aims of advancement and look at the information with new eyes, and a clear Mind, when you do this often you find that there was "One little thing" that you missed or overlooked that changes everything and propels you farther forwards than you could of ever imagined.

When ever I hit a Plateau I do not sink into a sticky Funk, instead I get excited, a Plateau is a sign that I have collected all the Clues to this section of my training, so instead of loosing momentum I get even more involved, I know that as soon as I digest all of the current information I will be hurled into the next phase of training if I am ready or not...................

Scenario Training

Last night we introduced a Scenario to training, quite simple, you bump into a Guy in a Pub as you are walking past, as you turn to apologise the Guy throws a Haymaker at you, the aim was to start from a non traditional Martial Arts position, from a position of surprise and unreadiness, discover how our body will respond to the surprise and then find how to get to a place to use your training. In theory it was very straight forward, but as always the reality was not what I expected. A lot of the people involved could not / would not start from the not ready position, they were pre-empting the attack, turning with their Guards raised even turning and striking as they did their play act apology, when I stepped in and asked for them to just turn around with their Hands down and no attempt at defence there were complaints that it was not what they would do in this situation, which is ridiculous because it is exactly what everyone would do in this situation.  No matter what type of "Killer Commando Ninja Warrior" you may think you are if you are not expecting violence then you will be surprised when you find it heading your way, and any "Bad Guy" that has decided that you will do quite nice in the role of "Latest Victim" will make absolutely certain that you are not ready for what he is dishing out, that you are in a very bad position and they will aim to keep you there.  Pretending that you can use your training without even the slightest notice is just going to make it even harder to get back on terms when someone has dropped their shit on you, and this should be obvious to everyone.

It is only Ego that has people pretending that they will not be caught like a Bunny in the Headlights, and sometimes it is also lack of confidence in their ability that stops them from starting in second place, but this is where we should spend most of our training time, it is easy to win a fight when everything is set up in your favour, when you are in the best position and the "Bad Guy" shows his Cards way too soon, if we are going to train in this way we may as well prepare to fight one legged Blind People.  If we hope to be able to get out of trouble we must learn how to operate from weak and almost hopeless positions, because this is where the Street Predators that we think we are getting ready for will do everything in their power to put us, find our way back into a position where we can use our training, and then play out your fantasy.

Some people do not understand what "Training" is, if we are training we are attempting to learn something new, we should not be surprised or disheartened if we cannot do it at first, we will be able to do it eventually, and when you are doing things that you can already do you are no longer "Training" you are "Practising".

Creating power in a Punch {Impact Strike}

Where does the Power come from in a Punch {Impact Strike}?

How do we improve the power of our existing Punch {Impact Strike}?

The conventional wisdom dictates that Power is achieved by acceleration, going faster {in Science speak even going slower is referred to as acceleration}, by making our Impact weapon of choice accelerate {increase velocity} into {not through} the Target,

But is this really true? Or is it just a way for people that do not like Physics to explain something that they do not understand?

Because increasing Velocity does not increase Power, despite all the T.V. commercials from the R.T.A.

Speed does not Kill.

 It is the sudden stop that causes the damage.

Sudden almost instant deceleration to Zero.

A lot of people will laugh and say "Yeah I know that", but knowing something and understanding something are completely different, so much so that it is as if you really do not know at all.

Without going into a discussion of the Laws of Motion, for one thing I understand it better than I can explain it and if I am honest my understanding is not exactly World Class, so let us just say that as things increase Velocity they get heavier, and as they slow down they become lighter {a quick example of sorts, if you are driving along in your Car at 60 km and you see a Stop Sign and gently apply the Brakes the Car slides to a gentle stop and actually feels as if it is getting lighter, however if the same Car at the same speed were to slam on the Brakes the Car skids and lurches to a sudden halt and you can feel the weight of the Car actually increasing as it grinds to a stop}, everything that moves gathers momentum, stored Kinetic energy, and as the Velocity increases so does the momentum, and so does the stored Kinetic energy, as the Velocity decreases the Kinetic energy decreases {or is discharged as Heat and Noise as in skidding Tyres in the case of the Emergency Stop}.

Real Power is in the rate of deceleration, the slower the deceleration the weaker the force the faster the deceleration the stronger the force, when a Boxer rolls with a Punch he is actually extending the amount of time it takes for the Punch to be forced to a stop, to be brought to Zero so he is weakening the strength of the Punch that lands on him.

In everyday usage when a guy is just standing still and you Punch him in the Nose, it is the amount of time that it takes his Nose to stop your Punch that creates the Power and not how hard you hit him {also worth thinking about is the fact that you will put a lot more force into the nose of a "Big Guy" than you will a "Small Guy", the "Big Guy's" extra mass will slow your Punch down much rapidly}, added to this when you latch him forward into the same Punch everything happens even quicker, you effectively reduce the time it takes for his Nose to stop your Punch and increase the Power even more.

Acceleration will obviously improve power production, but you need to understand what you are accelerating, when to accelerate it and where you are accelerating it to if it is to be of any real use to you in increasing Power. Because to much acceleration will increase penetration, which is actually extending the time it will take for your Punch to come to Zero, and as such it will decrease Power.

Let us use the Car analogy again, if a Car is travelling at 120km and it runs into a Wooden Fence it will crash right through it, extended penetration, the Car is hardly deformed by the release of the stored energy, picking up significant damage along the way to be sure, but more than likely mostly cosmetic, but when the same Car at the same speed hits a Concrete Wall the front of the Car comes to an instant stop, minimum penetration, but the back of the Car keeps on moving forward crushing the rest of the Car as the stored Kinetic energy looks for release.

When I teach my Guys how to Punch I instruct them to try to sink only 10cm into the Target, and to leave their Hand in the Target as long as possible, this creates the best environment for rapid deceleration to Zero.

This is not meant to be anything more than discussion to inspire you to do your own research, so do not bother correcting the Science, for one thing there is the whole topic of the Vector of the Momentum that is so important and can change all of this, it is just a conversation.

Understanding the Laws of Motion can teach you more about Impact Striking that 20 years of training.

End Game

In an earliert post I asked "What is the End that your Means is leading to?", or to put it another way 


What are you training for? What situation, what event?


You need to think deeply about this, because if you cannot be specific then you are not training for anything in particular, and if your training is so unfocused how do you know if you are on the right track? How will you know what to use when the Wolf jumps out of the Shadows?
Right now use you imagination to create the most likely scenario where you will use your training, visualise the sequence of events and note exactly where your training becomes operational, and of the greatest importance note when and how it finishes.


All conflicts have a beginning or "Opening", a "Middle" and a finish or "End Game", the opening is usually some form of Verbal exchange { although Silent Ambushes do occur they are so rare it is not worth wasting training time on them because if they are done correctly you get no chance to do anything!} , does your training do any more than pay Lip Service to this phase, does it teach you how to navigate this? Do you have any deescalation techniques? Does it show you how to spot the transition to Violence? Does it advocate Preemptive Strikes?


 Most Martial Arts by Default train from after the Antagonist has attacked, training is the kind that goes "He does that so you do this", a lot of this is a type of Social conditioning that wants people to act more responsibly and not just take out anyone that you have an issue with, is it really what we would want to do if given free choice? The Laws of Physics in our Universe make it very clear that "Action is faster than Reaction" but still we train to react. Does your training allow for this?


When you take Piano lessons you are taught how to play the Piano, and as I am sure you know playing Piano is not giving a Concert, to give a concert you need an understanding of Music, sometimes this is innate, sometimes it is gained through research, it is very difficult too teach understanding, it needs to grow.  Millions of people play Piano, very few spend long enough trying to understand Music to give Concerts.


When you take Wing Chun lessons you are learning how to play Wing Chun, playing Wing Chun is not Fighting.


It is outside the Scope of any Martial Arts School to teach people how to fight, they will all disagree but sadly it is a fact, all you will learn are the Tools that you could use in a fight, if you ever get in one and ever learn how to use the Tools. The onus is on you to decide what Tools you will need and to get familiar with how to wield them, no one needs 15 Punches and 21 defences! Find the ones you trust, that you can perform well and make them your own.


If you survive the initial attack then the "He does this and you do that" training can actually work if you trust it, this is the Middle Game, it is rare that more than 2 blows are needed to get to the "End Game", but if you do not have an "End Game" you could be there all day and eventually one of you will get beaten to Death.


Do you train how to finish the Conflict? How to close down your opponent? Do you have an exit strategy?  These things cannot be taught, you can be advised but at the end it comes down to what you think, and your thinking can be changed by what you research. Read up, ask questions.


This post may at first appear to be negative toward M.A. School training, it is not, without the normal School type training you will have absolutely no skills to help you out of trouble, but you need to get your Instructor to address the problems that are distinct to yourself, and not just stay in the Generic Zone.