How Your Muscles Play A Role In Wing Chun 

This might be the most illuminating video I've seen on not only wing chun but martial arts in general.

I've studied martial arts for over 35 years now, and I have heard a lot of people speak on them. But not once, until this video, have I ever heard someone explain certain core concepts even 1/10th as well as Annie Malaython managed to do. Truly impressive, given that I've been impressed dozens of times before. To eclipse other competent speakers is not easy. In swordplay, there is are concepts called "the weak of the blade" (the section toward the point; usually about 3/4 of the blade) and "the strong of the blade" (the section toward the hand; usually about 1/4 of the blade). You should always attempt to deflect and/or bind with the strong, not the weak - otherwise your opponent can get the better of you, manipulating your blade enough to get in a blow past your defenses. With good body structure, a person can move that ratio where the blade feels weak/strong from 3:1 to 2:1 or even 3:2 in some cases. So much of what Annie was talking about reminds me of what you do in swordplay to make your blade more effective (both offensively and defensively). It is a lesson that I've always applied to my martial arts, but hearing her explain it clarified for me exactly what I've been doing all these years. I'm also reminded of a lesson I never understood until today, from my very first sensei. He said that strikes are loose, but blocks are solid. It never entirely made sense (I was only 11 when I heard it), and he didn't even try to explain what he meant by those words. But seeing Annie talk, it all started to click just a bit. The deflections are a solid body, all the way through. The strikes are done with the chest "empty" and relaxed, even though the muscles required for the strike fully engage. I'd come into such habits organically, but I didn't realize until this video what my first sensei meant.

Extremely informative, she's demystified Tai Ji Quan masters in less than 20 minutes! Thanks for this little gem, Kevin!

That was amazing. We need one of her in every dojo/dojang.

Definitely a shoutout to my favorite and best PT and her willingness to help others get better in basic mobility, rehab and even martial arts 😊

"I don't know wing chun", she said. This lady is the deepest I've seen.

Brilliant video. We need more of these breakdowns, she’s awesome 🤩

This is a great video with tremendous insight from Anne and incredible openness from Kevin! I tried the Tan Sao with the tightening of the opposite ab and it worked great. Then I tried it with just the intention without tightening the ab and it worked just as great. This seemed to confirm the teaching of relaxation, intension, and energy. I will practice forms with muscles engaged to cement my intension and connection, and Chi Sao with relaxation and intension for max sensitivity. Again, I am super grateful for this enlightening video!

Many old school karate teachers will do this with their kata- Sanchin, Tensho,…this is cool to see it come from a modern trainer, almost like it it’s the exact same way it would have been taught generations ago.

I could be wrong, but feel like she is talking about 气沉丹田 but in English

This is really amazing ,and very important that you knock on that door ,as it's totally ambiguous to lots of people & can't put it into action however how many years they have been practising the martial art itself.

Mike, you're awesome!! Just a shout out to you man. You're always taking a beating or doing demonstrations with masters on this channel . Not to downplay Kevin on his own channel, just wanted to give credit where it's due. Much love and respect to you both.

This really matches how I'm being taught as well. Focus on the whole body structure being aligned to be able to take external pressure without being moved. External pressure should be redirected towards the ground, if the whole body structure is aligned properly. Roll shoulder blades back to avoid shoulders going up and elbows 'flying' out. Keep center of gravity more on the lower parts of the body rather than the upper (shoulders and chest). Relax shoulder and arm muscles. Have the upper and lower body moving together as one unit instead of moving separately. I think the main objective of the siu nim tau 小念頭 is to do the inner work and learn to coordinate all the inner parts to move your intention and energy in each move. This is what takes a lot of dedicated time and effort to build. The external movements that can be observed from the outside are just the tip of the iceberg.

Woah! The last 5 years of my training just unlocked

Thanks for this vidéo very interesting for practice correctly

Thanks so much!!! I’ve been applying this and having my dojo realize the importance of how the breath makes stances and forms much stronger. This is awesome!

One of your best videos! Thanks for sharing!

Your channel is really good. Starting Wing Chun now, lots of good info here

Very interesting reminder on how engaging all parts of the body to achieve desired results (power and speed aided by breathing, posture, stance (proper anchoring) and thrusting) otherwise techniques are executed poorly. The problem is avoiding just going through the motions and actually focus on all these areas instinctively (ahh, Sensei and Sifu always drumming the message that is a struggle to remember... one day). Great video.

Immensely informative video.. Thank you for this❤🙏🏻

Great video thanks. 🙏She mentions"breath work" Did she give you any tips or exercises outside of what you have chosen to put in the video?

Awesome video! Thank you

It's amazing to see how she manage to give the same advices to get in the right position as my instructor while she admit herself that she doesn't really know about Wing Chun. It's basicaly a proof of how much it makes sense to me.

Great video very helpful. Thanks

Jack Dempsey's Championship Fighting used the same kind of resistance concept with his "power line" explanation with punching! Very cool video.

Her idea is correct, her method is wrong. The focus is not muscle, but the fascia. Stretching the spine downwards and the focus should start at the lower back and lower half of the body as a beginner. In Chinese the lower back is called the Ming Men. It should be a deliberate relaxed state, not flex. You will hear different terms from different masters. Hang the flesh, or melt into the ground, or a string attached to your head while relaxing downwards, or pull the spine upwards, or tuck in tail bone, or sit into it, or relax the shoulders etc. All trying to describe the active stretching of fascia around the spine to beginners.

Neat how sports medicine supports the art of movement! 🤙

I wonder if she was referring to 'sinking' or 'synching'? If our body is relaxed where it can be relaxed and our core is engaged and we breathe as we perform an action with our feet positioned and our intention focused then perhaps then energy sinks because our intent and our anatomy are both in synch? I don't know. Either way, very cool!

This is awesome! MOAR content like this! Hell, even try different forms from different martial arts! I bet anything could be improved by proper mind-muscle connection and intention behind movement, from soft tai chi through boxing and kicking to stick/knife/sword fighting!

this is wonderful. i looked into stuff like this years ago and am revisiting it now. old time bodybuilders who wrote about muscle control had some idea of this. simple example of intent and using muscles correctly: when doing lop sao, dont picture pull a rope, picture striking backward and down with your elbow. that creates a lot of shock in the opponent and disrupts them. I have shown it this way for over 20 years and it wows people. this is also related to what body builders call the mind muscle connection. great video. wish all MA could teach this sort of thing. it optimizes technique and reduces reliance on pure brawn to do it correctly (or at least have the right outcome). add this to MA and strength training and it is wonderful. Thank you Kevin!

A lot of people don’t have a clue about this 😊 my sifus did ❤ Good job sharing the knowledge

You know what would be great here CGI image with colored or lit up muscles that should be engaged and relaxed when specific techniques are being used 😎

this really reminds me of chu shong tin wing chun that pushed siu lim tau to the limit so the spine could be unlocked to move the whole body together for any action. even the way your video was shot is really similar to the students that recorded their sessions with cst XD

Congratulations for 100k champ ❤

Thank you for sharing. It’s a good video.

Would be interesting to see how she goes with Nima King

Hollow chest is what my Sifu always used to say.

Great video. Yes, the chest must be sufficiently relaxed otherwise breathing is difficult, chi gets stuck etc. How to relax the chest sufficiently on the fly (during chi Sau etc), is a different ball game.

Nim lik , intention and correct postural structure 👍

Soooo, question on that then... I know the punch, the breathing and the "sinking" into the centerline can all go together and that makes use of the hourglass stance in rooting the punch in something solid from your base... so I'm on board with this. The question being, CAN you also do this WITH proper breathing to generate "rising", or "spinning" or even "retreating/advancing" energies? It would seem to me that the breathing for each would change in patterning, movement and even what you're doing vocally during all of it.

Now that's a level of depth and sophistication you don't see from your regular fitness coach. If more personal trainers were like her, we probably wouldn't have needed traditional styles))

Wumei would be very proud.

So, Chi Gong is part of Martial Arts. Why do you think Tai Chi is done in the park with the trees around?? Bong Sao, isn't just a deflection. It is rolling your forearm to roll the incoming force past you. In that moment of touching your opponent, you roll the incoming arm with you and past you. That is why you twist the forearm.

Great video, my family and I have just started Wing Chun. This makes a lot of sense now. Our Sifu is German (I'm in Germany right now) some of the words get lost in translation.

what’s her wing chun lineage?

Six harmonies, three points.

I like Kevin, but the best wing Chun is Xing Yi 😊

the whole video just had me imagining a tree, rooted to the ground. i wonder what sifu francis thinks of this? might be something he does naturally from the many years of training.

The power of Qi Gong

Playing along at home

Really cool.

In terms of internals and Energy wing chun peeps are clueless and lack the proper tools to teach that part... it is hit or miss but mostly miss in Wing Chun

In Mothers form stance, sink into it, not just your hips or your stomach. Your base is a Mountain, and your upper body MUST be the clouds.

As well on the topic of structure and breathing I would love to come share a para-sympathetic breathing class with you guys if you would have me.

what a theatre

without the perspective of women we would not have reached the levels we are now days

So Practice dont make perfect. Perfect practice make perfect. Ok

Energy is the capacity for doing work. Work is the transfer of energy by a force acting on an object as it is displaced. Energy is the force from which the muscle works. She talks about how muscles and bones work. Not magic or supernatural things.

How the get knocked out by a real fighter

learning wing chun from zero...congrats kevin! thx to Annie for the clearly

Good video explaining how to use alignment and internal connections to create stability and power. Annie is very knowledgeable and very good at what she does. I am not a wing chun practitioner. I have over 40 years in studying and teaching classical tai chi. I would love to connect with Annie and work with her. I am certain I could give her a different understanding of movement, connections and energy, and i am sure I could learn from her as well.

Anytime I get asked questions by other students about certain movements in my kung fu class, I wish I knew more about the human anatomy and how the muscles in the body move with those different techniques we use. So this whole lesson about your structure and "sinking" gives me a different perspective on how to look at how we use our body in in martial arts.

Annie is fantastic! Every martial art should teach like this !

Thanks for this vidéo very interesting for practice correctly

That's a basic clue for what we love, I followed, not knowing it, Bruce's path was a lot filled with bodybuilding and I study as a personal trainer too, my actual sabum is now aware of how the muscles work in tkd cos I start it at 23 yo not just be a 18yo and was working for Olympics game's so did kick and jump without aware of any muscles! That's drove me crazy so I did start codify the style ahahah 😂❤❤❤😅

If all the students, whatever their practice times, understood the close relationship between mind and physical, between intention, breathing and movement, they would progress much faster because they know where to focus their intention to have a good quality of training. A principle for any martial discipline!

We can apply same sinking in muay thai also?

Adam Chan talks about similar stuff. This is enlightening.

Thanks.🙏

DUDE! She is teaching you guys the difference between just movement and movement with momentum! Amazing stuff!

Yg paling sulit dari latihan kungfu adalah latihan internal, teknik wingchun sih gampang ditiru dan dipelajari tetapi klo sudah bicara internal akan lain. Kungfu terdiri dari Im Yang System, teknik2 hanyalah YANG system, sedangkan internal ada dalam unsur IM. Klo diliat2 system diatas itu lebih ke arah pengarahan2 internal sama seperti yg sering dijelaskan oleh GGM Chu Song Tin. Mohon diperbaiki jika opini sya salah.

That was fantasticly informative! I feel like this should be a must watch for ANY martial artist. Ive never seen or heard structure explained and demo'd so well. Ty so much!

Great video, very interesting. I can't tell for sure but it looked like the guys Tan Sau at the beginning of the video wasn't on center line, that's very important.

An amazing video that reinforces breathe, strength and connection.

My god I've been waiting for a one stop shop video for structure in martial arts

Very helpful. Reminds me a lot of Jin Young.

it would be cool to see her watch sifu francis do some of these movements as well.

Isn't that card a negative

awesome video man!

This has completely changed my Wing Chun. Thank you so much for posting this, I can feel the differences already.

@MindfulWingChun would find this interesting.

Kevin, how can I study with you and Francis Fong? I mean, where do you guys teach?

Omg....wow, super helpful!

Question what does she mean be sink here? Is it the breath or weight or tension to your abdominal or to the top of the stomach area etc. can you please explain thank you

I love Budo Taijutsu!!!

When you sink you are doing taijiquan