Over the years there has been a movement away from traditional martial arts to either “Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)”, or “Reality Based Systems (RBS)”. But now we are starting to see a resurgence in the “Traditional Martial Arts” of Karate, Tai Chi, various form of Kung Fu, traditional Japanese Jujitsu and more.

The question I have to ask is why is there a resurgence? Maybe it is because people are looking to enrich their lives with the culture and traditions found in the traditional systems of martial arts (MMA and RBS have their own culture, a culture more focused on competition or preparing for possible combat), traditional martial arts focus on Budo or WuTe (Martial Virtues), where a martial artist is trying to go beyond perfecting the physical technique, to learning to master the most difficult thing of all, themselves.

Many of us train in Martial Arts for the enjoyment of the art, and never hope or seek out physical confrontation, we prefer to live in peace, and find fulfillment in family, friends and exploring the given traditional martial art that we have found ourselves in. While we may or may not enjoy a fun and friendly sparring session, we find that it is in the journey itself that we find the most challenge.

Sometimes after a difficult day, the nicest thing to do is to go to the dojo and change into your gi, tie your belt and leave the challenges of the day when you bow into the dojo. Where people know you as ‘Steve’ or ‘Bill’ or ‘Sue’, not as the ‘Project Manager’ or ‘Construction Worker’, or ‘Mother of 4 kids’.

When people ask me, ‘Why do you do Wing Chun?’ I say, ‘I do it because I love the art itself, the Chinese culture that I learn, and more importantly the relationship I have with my Sifu (teacher), and my kung fu brothers and sisters.” Funny enough they sometimes retort, “So it’s not because you learn to beat people up?”, in return I answer, “I’ve never learned to beat people up, I only learn how not to beat myself up when I am learning.”

My Wing Chun SiGung, Moy Yat spoke on the “Gung Fu Life”, as does my Wing Chun Sifu Nelson Chan. The greatest skill a martial artist will ever learn, is not how to punch and kick, but how to take what he has learned from his martial arts training, and apply it to everyday life, in our work, families and other relationships. This is where the WuTe or Budo comes into play. This is where learning to find Center is more than a physical place, but also an emotional and even spiritual place.

So take Joy in your Traditional Martial Arts Training. Remember that there is always more to your training than punching and kicking.

It amazes me how much “stuff” is out there in the field of self-defense. Everything from the “Learn in 1 hour and become a Killing Machine” to “Secret Military Kill Squad Self-defense”.

While I will admit up front that I don’t have all the answers when it comes to self-defense, I do think I have a clue. Some of the most forgotten things in self-defense today are the most simplest ones that have been around for centuries.

Let’s get through some basic debunking.

1. Learn to defend yourself in 8 easy lessons! You will not be able to defend yourself in 8 simple lessons. Sorry, not possible. You might learn some cool techniques and some of them may actually work, but unless you continue to train them, you might as well gone to the movies to learn about self-defense. The most scary thing about some of these programs is that when people come out of them, they think they can take on the world. Self-confidence is great, but not having a realistic understanding of your skills is not.
2. Learn Cool techniques!The more complicated the technique, the more likely you are to either forget it, or get killed by it. So don’t get enamored with the cool looking demonstrations (remember those are typically choreographed).
3. You can defeat multiple attackers! What you see in the movies isn’t real. So don’t think you can learn to defend yourself unscathed in a mass attack. The odds are not in your favor, so learning to see it coming and getting out of there is your best strategy, not trying to beat them all into the ground.
4. “Reality Based” / “Combative”  systems are the best systems of self-defense! Even if the system claims it’s “Reality Based”, “Military Combatives”, “Special Forces Training” or whatever, don’t fall for it. I’ve seen some “Combative” systems where some of the techniques WILL get you killed. So be “realistic” and always use your head. Even I know every system has it’s weaknesses. (As a side note: Did you know that the amount of time most military personnel spend on hand-to-hand combatives is actually miniscule compared to their other training (firing range, ordiance, weapons cleaning, bed making, etc). I know two people that served in the military. One of them used to service in the US Army Airborne, and both confirmed to me that the time they spend on hand-to-hand combatives is negligible because they are taught to shoot the enemy at a distance, not try and go toe-to-toe with them. This doesn’t mean that specialized units don’t get more training in hand-to-hand combatives, it’s just that realistically, the majority of the military doesn’t see it a priority.)
5. Techniques only Self-Defense Classes! Any self-defense system that doesn’t tell you the truth about violence (the physical, psychologically and legal) is not a complete self-defense system. It’s great you learned how to “kill a man in 3 easy steps”, but are the odds you’ll be able to do it on an unwilling participant? Let alone can you psychologically kill a man? And what about the legal ramifications afterwards?

And those are only a few of the flaws I see today!

When I teach anything regarding self-defense, the first thing I tell my students is you’re going to get hit. Let’s face it, if you watch UFC, some of the best trained fighters are going toe-to-toe in an organized, rules based fight, and they both get hit. So logic (and personal experience) dictates that in an unorganized, true “no-holds” fight your going to get hit. The same thing goes with the knife.

When I talk about knife defenses, I don’t take the “you’re going to get cut in a knife fight” lightly. Depending on your mental state, you may quickly go into shock seeing your own blood or bleed to death quickly. How many of you have had a paper cut and freaked out? So do you think dealing with a knife in the hands of a guy that wants to kill you will be different? There are so many physiological and psychological things happening to your body when you are dealing with the real event that you never truly know until you are faced with it.

When bodyguarding the first thing I’ve been taught was avoidance if key. If you can see where something might be heading, it’s time for you to change direction. And if you can’t see it, at least be aware of the possible hazards if you continue to travel down that path.

The other thing is to always scrutinize what you are learning. If a technique is being taught as a ‘realistic self-defense move’ really scrutinize it. Find the flaws and consider them. Maybe you have no other choice, and have to use the most crappy technique to help you out of a very bad problem but know what your next problem might be. If the flaws or risks outweigh the benefits, I would consider dropping the technique from your tool set.

You should also know the consequences of your techniques. Know what the worst thing could happen from both ends of the spectrum. Nothing could be worse than thinking you could stun someone but find out with enough adrenaline and force you might accidentally kill or maim him. There is also the other end of the coin, what happens if you don’t fire the technique off properly? Is this guy just going to stand there and just look at you, or have you left yourself very vulnerable for a counterattack.

Know the difference between “traditional techniques”, “attribute development drills/techniques”, and ”practical techniques”. If you know the difference you can appreciate them for what they are, and can recognize when and where you can actually use them.

Pressure test things (safely). Just like testing high-pressure piping, try some of your techniques under a little pressure. If you can’t pull them off under a little pressure, odds are you won’t be able to do them under a lot of pressure either.  Make sure you use appropriate equipment, and have an understanding of stop points if something goes wrong. Nothing sucks more than getting hurt when you didn’t have too.

Carrying weapons. Where do I begin. There are two sides to this. Should you carry a weapon (knife, gun, etc) or not. My first thought is why are you carrying it? Do you live a violent life or live in a violent area? If so, why? The other thing to consider is do you really know how to use the weapon? Here’s a story about this one:

I had a friend who used to carry a ‘tactical folding knife’ with him. I asked him why? He said for protection. I said cool, lets see what you can do with it. So I took him to my instructor’s studio at the time, gave him a wooden dowel (approximately the same length as his tactical knife, and told him to defend himself against me with his ‘knife’. I had headgear, goggles and a groin cup on, I was ‘unarmed’. To make the story short, I rushed him, took the dowel from him then proceeded to ‘stab’ him repeatedly and knock him to the ground and continue to ’stab’ him. After it was all said and done, he learned quickly that he didn’t know what he was doing with the knife, and it would get him killed if someone even had have a clue. Needless to say, he doesn’t carry a knife anymore.

Continuing on about carrying weapons, are you really willing to use them. Now take your ego out of this equation and be honest with yourself. Are you REALLY, REALLY willing to use a weapon on another human being? Knowing that once you cross that line, you can never go back, can you do it? The final thing I have to say about carrying weapons is what do you do if you don’t have your weapons. Say you’re flying, or going to a very formal gathering with security, or better yet going to the beach with nothing more than a bathing suit and towel. Now what? Odds are by carrying a weapon you’ve gotten soft with the best weapon you have, your mind.

Finally, with all those things done, recognize that you need to continually train it, continually re-analyze it, and evolve, as you get older, or develop disabilities or chronic injuries some techniques may not be practical for you to use. And always remember to be humble. Just because you have some training doesn’t mean you are invincible. There are so many variables that happen during a chaotic fight, that your training helps you to put the odds a little better in your favor, but it doesn’t mean you will be the victor, let alone a survivor.

Remember know why you are training, enjoy the training, be safe while training, and be honest about the training & your skill set.

Wing Chun is great for trapping, but I always hear from some that it doesn’t work or they can’t get into trapping range. I think that there is a couple of issues when looking at trapping, mindset, timing, & distance.

Mindset – If you limit yourself into thinking that there is only one way to trap, then you may be missing many opportunities to trap. Or your understanding of it’s use, may also lead to your frustrations. Lets start by defining what a ”trap” is.

What is a trap – Well, a trap as I define it, is anytime I can limit the movement of my opponent (either his arm, leg, body, etc). This is a trap.  When looking at a trap, consider them either in two terms “simple” or “complex” traps. A simple trap is limiting one limb with one limb, a complex trap is when you use one of your limbs to trap (or limit) two or more of his limbs.

How a trap can be used – When using a trap, don’t think of a trap necessarily as a ‘submission’ type technique. Think of a trap as part of a solution to bigger problem. If my objective is to strike someone, but their limbs are in the way, by pinning or limiting the movement of a hand out of the way, I can facility my strike. The other thing to consider is that a trap doesn’t stay permanently. In the ideal world it would, but reality is you may only have a trap for 1 or 2 seconds at a time.

How to get punched in the head while doing a trap – There are a few way to fail at trapping and get yourself punched in the head.  Here are a couple of ways:

1. Forcing the Trap: You are trying to force a trap to happen, and as such you are not listening to what is really going on. This would be the equivilant of having a conversation with someone, but both of you are talk at the same time, and also talking about two totally different subjects.
2. Chasing the Trap: You saw the opportunity but it came a moment to late so you chase after it. This is much like chasing an armbar in BJJ or chasing a weapon disarm in Kali. If you focus on chasing the trap, you will surely miss it, and get a hit at the same time. In Wing Chun there is a saying, “Chase the center not the hand.” In this case, when you chase the trap, you are chasing the hands.
3. Trying to Keep the Trap: This is as bad as chasing the trap. If you managed to trap the hands, you’ve placed a few hits in, but now your opponent has started to find a way out of the trap, and you now start to either Force the Trap or Chase the Trap. In Wing Chun there is another saying, “Accept what comes, Follow what goes, loss of contact strike.” So if you’re trap starts to fall apart, accept it, and continue to flow with what is happening. Just be happy that you were able to get the trap in the first place.
4. Wrong Distance: so you see the possibility of a trap, but you are either too close or too far from your opponent. Trapping occurs at a very specific range. It is located between Boxing and Stand up grappling, somewhere around the clinch but not quite. If you are too far, you’re using the wrong tool at the moment you should be kicking or boxing, if you are too close, you should be looking to clinch or grapple.

When trying to learn trapping, I believe in starting in isolation, so you can see the trap possibilities, but then move to training the trap in chi sau with a partner.

Good luck in your training!

Guest Lecturer – Lester Moy2 (Number 2 Special Student of GrandMaster Moy Yat of New York City)

Lester Moy2 will be discussing the 300 year old culture of Ving Tsun Kung Fu from 1710 to 2010. Helping students to understand the System Design of Ving Tsun in Theory and Practice.

Contact Sifu Nelson Chan for Details. Spaces are limited.

WHEN: Saturday May 29th, 2010
TIME: 12noon to 6:00pm
WHERE: Christian Wushu Fellowship
ADDRESS: 201 Tempo Avenue, Toronto, ON
COST: $100, Special Advance Pricing $90 if paid before May 1st, 2010

SPACES ARE LIMITED TO 30 PEOPLE, so RSVP Today!

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED ($40 non-refundable deposit required).

Some things to ponder while you train your Chum Kiu form from Wing Chun:

Chum Kiu the second form in the Wing Chun system is both simple and complex in theory and in physical application. Chum Kiu moves the Wing Chun practitioner from remaining stationary (Sil Lim Tao), and introduces them to both movement and engaging two new ‘engines’ or ‘power sources’.

While each of the hand positions(bong sau, etc) are found in the Sil Lim tao form individually, it is in Chum Kiu that we learn to put two hand positions together. To give you the analogy that Sil Lim tao is the ‘letters’ in the Wing Chun alphabet, Chum kiu is the formation of letters into words. For example in Sil Lim Tao we are introduced to the hand positions (or letters) of Bong Sau, and of Wu Sau. When found in Chum Kiu, they are put together to form a familiar but different ‘word’. Much like taking the letter ‘a’ and the letter ‘n’ and making the word, ‘an’.

While Students are told to unify their lower and upper bodies together to make a singular unit, it is in Chum Kiu that this is tested and power is put into the system. For many practitioners, this is a ‘re-learning’ experience, or more possibly a ‘refining’ experience. It is during the learning of the Chum Kiu form that Wing Chun practitioners learn to apply the Keun Kuit (Fist saying), “Power comes from ground.” For if the Wing Chun practitioner does not learn to apply this concept, the power they do generate will be limited to muscular tension through the upper body, relying on an inefficient method of power generation. For when Wing Chun practitioners move, their bodies should move with them. Neither the hands or legs should lead the body, but together in harmony following the ‘intent’ or ‘mind’ of the Wing Chun practitioner, following two other Wing Chun keun kuit, “Fist come from Heart” and “Hand and feet go together.”

It is during the training of Chum Kiu, that Wing Chun practitioners also learn to ‘cross the bridge’, this I feel is a better meaning of the form than ‘searching the bridge’. We find that in Chum Kiu, the practitioner never overextends, but moves his (or her) body forward toward the intended target. This movement phase in the Wing Chun training system, is focused and intentioned. It is my thought that the founders of Wing Chun knew that adding movement to early into the system would prevent the Wing Chun practitioner from learning the concepts of Centerline, facing & unification which are found and isolated in Sil Lim tao.

We also find kicking for the first time in the Wing Chun system. Interestingly enough,  of the three empty hands forms (Sil Lim Tao, Chum Kiu and Biu Jee), kicks are only found in the Chum Kiu form. This brings me to ponder what the founding members of Wing Chun knew about kicking. Some studies have shown that it takes a significant amount of hours to become an effective kicker. Maybe this is why in Chum kiu only two kicks are introduced. Both of which can be quickly learned and executed by beginner Wing Chun practitioners. But when allowed to practice for a longer duration, the student gains added power, flexibility and increased balance. Depending on your sources for Wing Chun Keun Kuit, you may find one or both of the following maxims, “9 times out of 10, a kick misses.” and/or “9 times out of 10, a Wing Chun kick does not miss.”

Until Next Time. Keep Training, Keep learning…..