Wing Chun - is it really all that?

On youtube my friend showed me a bunch of videos showing Wing Chun Academy shows. Honestly it was reaaal sick; like the grandmaster dude would move his fist 1 inch to punch a guy holding a book, and the guy would fly 6 feet and thru a big board of wood held by two other guys. It was really awesome cuz the grandmaster dude looks like a wimp if u saw him on the street, but he talked about using the opponents force against them and all this crap. My question is that I'm really interested in Wing Chun now, but i dont know if its for real or not. Is Wing Chun a good style of martial art to learn, or is it one of those trend-setter martial arts that every1 wastes their money on?
 
It's a great ma if you find a good enough teacher. I'd definately look into it if it's in your area.
 
I nearly wanted to argue with Leiyunfat just because it's him, butt, WingChun is definately part of the equation and something that you should look into if you really want to understand kungfu. Thenn it's just a matter of discerning family branches and origins and applicative differences and why who does what and where you best fit in and excel.

Nooo problem;).

and no doubt this will likely be anottther post of mine that you 'mysteriously' won't see, but Cheers anyway.

classes are alot of fun at wingchun. go and enjoy yourself.

Blooming tianshi lotus.
 
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Lie Yun Fat, Mate you sound like you've been round the martial arts scene a while, what would you recomend , that works really well as a martial art?

There's lots of people out there, desperately looking for a good martial art, what should they be looking for in a martial art? What have you trained in?
If you could give them some pointers as what to stay clear from , what would it be. I'm sure any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.:)
 
Stay clear from bad teachers and schools not oriented to your goals, that's basically it.

I think that the student superceeds the teacher, the teacher superceeds the school, the school superceeds the style. So in essence, the style is the least pertinent when just going out and looking for a school.

In addition, if the style you're looking for isn't even in your list of options, forget it. Try to get what you can while you can get it...someday opprotunities will present themselves to pursue whatever it was you were originally looking for, but until then, don't dwell on it and try to learn something else.

I have some background in Chinese gong fu, mainly hung ga and choy lei fut, although I am not proficient by any means...unfortunately my area doesn't promote martial arts as much as I hoped, so I tried to get what I could. I've been in the martial arts community for several years, so I try to help people out when they seek advice.

And you, digger? You've been quite the mystery since you showed up.
 
Wing Chun is supposed to be one of the more 'real life' form of Kung-fu. Ie, good for self-defense etc. But then you go on youtube and realize a lot of the schools out there still entertain the whole ideal of skinny guys in tights chopping through bricks like they were butter.

I guess it's like every other TMA, you need to try out a few schools before you choose the one that suits your needs...
 
Many forms

I have been doing 5 Animal Shaolin Kung Fu which has been great. There are a number of different forms. Great physical and mental work out greta if you are in a high stress job (from personal experience)

I had to sstop for a few months and really noticed the difference and couldn't wait to get back.
 
Wing Chun is an ancient form of Chinese martial arts, developed by a female named "Wing Chun." It utilizes in-close fighting techniques, lots of trapping and blocking as opposed to the spectacular "long distance" flying kicks that you see in the movies.

Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun but is not considered to be a true master of it such as Lie Yun Fat, but much of Bruce's Jeet Kwan Do techniques are based on Wing Chun, as well as other techniques he studied or invented on his own.

Whatever form of martial arts you study, it is foremost important to understand its philosophy rather than just the art form.
 
I would say the most important thing is you get out and do SOMETHING.

there is no perfect form, style or discipline. everyone is different and will respond to different things.

why not try a class of a few different styles and see what you like.

I will repeat, there is no perfect form, style or discipline.

the guy who could punch the young man though a board has been training his whole life. I doubt you would find the time in our busy lifestyle to even get 10% of his strength, discipline and chi control.

On the other hand, you have your whole life to train. These guys get stronger as they age. So try this form out, and if you like it, keep it up. If not, try something new.
 
Have you watched Ip Man yet?

Is Wing Chun for real or not?
Good question.
But first I doubt the authenticity of the video you watched. Does sound like crap.
You need to discuss this question you have with a Wing Chun master face to face, then you will see the answer for yourself!!!
 
No mate, not quite

Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li all got their start in that form, so it must be pretty good! :)

Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun for 5 years before he migrated to the US with his parents, his teacher was IP Man.

But NOOOOOOO MATE, Jackie Chan started his martial arts training in a martial art school in Hong Kong, with Sifu Yu Qing, Yuan, his Sifu taught him different style!

Jet Li was trained in Beijing National Wushu League, Donnie Yen (actor of IP Man) was his school mate.

And Donnie Yen practised many different Wushu styles and has been a real action star for over two decades before he even starred as IP Man in the IP Man movie!!!
 
Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun for 5 years before he migrated to the US with his parents, his teacher was IP Man.

But NOOOOOOO MATE, Jackie Chan started his martial arts training in a martial art school in Hong Kong, with Sifu Yu Qing, Yuan, his Sifu taught him different style!

Jet Li was trained in Beijing National Wushu League, Donnie Yen (actor of IP Man) was his school mate.

And Donnie Yen practised many different Wushu styles and has been a real action star for over two decades before he even starred as IP Man in the IP Man movie!!!


Jackie Chan started in the Chinese Opera not MA

Jet Li is Compitition Wushu and Sports Sanda

Donnie Yen's mother is Bow Sim-Mark (now in Boston where Donnie Yen was raised) and I beleive it is she who trained him in the beginning after he immigrated to the US. I do not think he is a school mate of Jet Li.

And yes Bruce Lee was a student of Ip Man
 
I trained at a Wushu school where we learned Contemporary Wushu (what you see in competition like Jet Li did), but our self defense and fighting applications were rooted in Wing Chun. I learned the Sil Lim Tao, which is the first open hand form in Wing Chun.

As everyone has said, Wing Chun emphasizes close combat and trapping. You learn to have "economy of movement" so there is no wasted energy or motion during a confrontation. Fortunately for me, Wing Chun just happened to be an art that worked well and felt very natural to me.

Once you find a school that works for you, no matter what style, the most important thing is to learn everything both academically and physically about your art. When comparing martial arts, I think that it is often the practitioner who knows his/her art the best, not necessarily the style itself that is better.
 
I trained at a Wushu school where we learned Contemporary Wushu (what you see in competition like Jet Li did), but our self defense and fighting applications were rooted in Wing Chun. I learned the Sil Lim Tao, which is the first open hand form in Wing Chun.

As everyone has said, Wing Chun emphasizes close combat and trapping. You learn to have "economy of movement" so there is no wasted energy or motion during a confrontation. Fortunately, Wing Chun just happened to be an art that worked well and felt very natural to me.

Once you find a school that works for you, no matter what style, the most important thing is to learn everything both academically and physically about your art. When comparing martial arts, I think that it is often the practitioner who knows his/her art the best, not necessarily the style itself that is better.
 
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