Kenneth Chung

You don't always have to strike high. This exposes you to low hits.

Many people have no rooting. The stance is weak, not sunken. The knees should be in. You should feel like you are melting into the ground. You can practice for a lifetime but if your stance is poor you will have wasted all of your effort. If you meet the right Wing Chun guy, you will be in big trouble.

Don't act before you know what is going on. You must feel what is happening first. People act before they feel. Random flurries won't work. You can't just rely on speed.

The head should not be forward. Keep the head back or it will get hit and it also brings the whole posture down to stiffen up the hands. Keep the head up and rely on your touch.

Many students use too much force. Remember, Wing Chun is a ladies style and therefore brutal energy or brute strength should not be used. We are all getting older, some day you can no longer rely on your muscular strength. The speed and power approach is limited. You can only take that approach so far. I have yet to see a limit in the soft approach.

It is important to connect the hands with the feet. Many people get shoved back instead of being able to neutralize the force by absorbing it or by turning the stance. Stance training, such as stepping and turning is very important.

When the opponent retreats, don't just stand there. You must come forward. If you stand there you will get kicked.

Most people's hitting is too tense and relies too much on muscle power. Yip Man was 120 pounds and five feet four inches tall. He had a very heavy but relaxed hitting power. When you feel my force you will feel it is very soft but yet it is very substantial. It has a bite which you cannot ignore. The force doesn't come from tensing, it doesn't come from speed.

The shoulders should not come forward. They should stay back. Practice the first set slowly in the mirror and watch that the shoulders stay back.

Face the opponent square and hit down the centerline. Face the opponent properly first before you hit.

Don't chase the opponent's hands. Just hit the central axis of the opponent.

Flowery movements are not good in Wing Chun. Simple connected movements will do.

Sore shoulders come from trying to fight against energy. You should not lift the Bong sau, it should spiral forward with minimal shoulder use.

Try to use the concept of neutralizing force along the tangent of a circle. The circle can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

Many people apply their energy at the wrong moment. Try to feel when is the best time to apply your energy. Try to feel when the opponent's energy starts up.

Don't push the force away. When nearly all students apply the Pak sau, the Bong sau, the Fook sau, the PoPai, they are pushing the force away. They are scared of the force, they want to get rid of that force. Instead you should accept that force, welcome that force. The principle in Wing Chun is "Receive what comes." Receive means to really accept it, don't push it away.

When you are studying Wing Chun, don't think about weight lifting, about tournament competition, about self defense, about the other styles. This is going off the Wing Chun path. Your training will take much longer if you do. First pack in the proper Wing Chun concepts. Get the Wing Chun skill, then think about self defense.

Most people's fighting is too fast for them to realize what is going on. They should feel what is going on first. Don't just move in random ways. Every action in Wing Chun should produce a result. Don't just play with hands (Wong Shun Leung also told us: don't just play with hands).

Most students (in our club) are too tense. You have to constantly remind yourself to relax. The tense way cannot work. You will get tired and it will fail against strength.

It will take 1/2 of a year to change from your old habits to new habits. Changing habits starts with having the proper concept in your mind.

The sets or forms should be performed slower and softer. The first set should take 20 minutes to perform. More is of no benefit. When the Tan sau comes out, you should not see it visibly move. Similarly when the Fook sau goes back, you should not see it visibly move.

Use "wet noodle" energy, not brutal energy.

Proper standing and turning will develop muscles which you have not so far developed. These are around the knee area. Without these muscles, your stance will be weak. The slow first set Tan sau, Fook sau sequence also develops muscles around the elbow area which you cannot see. The Wing Chun power is hidden from view. We do not want large bicep muscles. Repetition is the the key.

Try to relax, slow down, be soft. Find out what is going on.

Position comes first by training the form accurately. Without proper position your hitting accuracy will be off and your power transfer will be reduced. Without proper position, you cannot neutralize force. Without proper position, you will be off balanced. Proper position comes from performing the first set accurately in front of a mirror. Sensitivity to force comes next. This comes over a long period of time from slow sticking hands practice. Timing comes next. Power comes last. Speed comes before power.

In fighting, don't trade punches with your opponent, worry about your defense first.

Always travel the shortest distance which is the straight center line. The opponent can start first but we get there sooner.

With age your body deteriorates. You cannot rely on muscle power. You must rely on position and sensitivity. Every opponent has weak points. You must find the weak points. A larger opponent does not have the advantage with position and sensitivity.

With protection, the larger opponent will win. Brute force methods have the advantage in this case. For Wing Chun, it is more fair on the street with no protection. The smaller person cannot have a good chance against a larger opponent with protection. Wing Chun is sneaky. It uses the surprise element.

You cannot just rush into a kick. If he can kick you, you can kick him. If he can punch you, you can punch him. When he lifts the leg to kick, you can lift the leg to kick his supporting leg or groin or shin area. Then step in.

You should hit through the person's body, not aim for the surface. It is where the energy is applied that makes the difference. A chop to the shoulder is different than a palm hit to the front of the body. It takes 20 pounds of force to smash a nose. A small person cannot play around but must hit seriously.

If you are lazy, you won't learn much. If you are too greedy and want too much, you will also stop your progress.

If the attack is not committed, then don't react. With a committed punch or kick, you can react and win because the opponent cannot recover. The centerline path will get you there before him.

Don't look at your hands. Feel what is going on. Don't look down.

In Wing Chun we do not talk in terms of Chi or internal energy or in terms of isotonic or isometric exercise.

It doesn't matter who learned from who in the Wing Chun world. What matters is how much training you have put in. How good is your skill?

With the external method of training Wing Chun, you will reach your limit very fast. You can train for ten years, then all of a sudden, someone with one years training can match your skill. You will wonder what happened to those nine years?

"I learned from Leung Sheung from 1962 to 1967, for 5 years. Then again from 1968 to 1972 for another 5 years. Leung Sheung always pushed the soft way. At first many of us did not appreciate his words. It takes a long time to realize the proper way. Words cannot adequately describe the way. You have to feel it before you can understand. " Kenneth Chung ( Ken does pure Wing Chun but has had experience with some of the top people in Chen style Tai Chi. This experience convinced him even more that he is on the right track.)

Remember Wing Chun stresses the soft touch. It is a woman's style. Yip Man was a small man but none could touch him. Leung Sheung was a large man so why should he learn from a small man? Wing Chun is not an externally powerful style. Don't think power, speed and beautiful form. We don't want the pumping iron kind of energy. We acquire energy through the soft touch. In Wing Chun you cannot see the muscles that are developed. Bicep muscle build up is not required.

In Wing Chun we are always ready to fight. We do not need to warm up, take off our glasses and get into a strong fighting pose.

Whether you can defend yourself depends on who your opponent is. First pack in your Wing Chun skill, then worry about defense.

Ken said he still has to repeat the same advice to his students even after ten years. The students get pressured by outside forces (martial arts, movies, articles) to drift away from the Wing Chun path. They have to be constantly reminded of the same thing over and over again like a broken record. Ken said the soft touch works. Plant this seed in your head.

It is very difficult to break down an existing structure. If you come to Wing Chun from another martial art, it is very difficult to change you. It is easier to build a structure from the ground up (someone who knows nothing) than to break down your old habits, your old prejudices. It takes at least two years to build a proper foundation. It takes six months of effort to break a two year habit.

Ken said the first set of Wing Chun looks stupid to others but it is very good martial art. After 15 minutes of proper first set training, you should feel very warm.