I've been in martial arts 51 years and studying Chen style taiji for 26 years, including with some of the Chen family. This is an outstanding video with great information.
Profound understanding of pressure and centre control. Super high level listening skills and always steps ahead. Seamless flow whilst constantly adapting to change. Microscopic hidden skill. Constantly cutting down the opponents movement options to an inevitable consequence. Amazing insights, as always, Sifu. Thank you 🙏
Truly an illumination of what is often mystified. I've been training martial arts for over 20 years. If I had an instructor like you early on I would be leaps and bounds ahead of where I am now. Grateful to have access to your content, sir.
I think the main issue, is that many modern Wing Chun teachers... are barely teaching ANY Internal Arts methods within it (if at all). They are often teaching it more like a Hard Style... of something similar to Modern Sportized Karate. Ive personally had 3 different WC teachers... and one of my teachers had at least 3 different WC lineage/family branch teachers, himself. He was one of the Rare teachers... that actually revealed... that inside the First Form of Wing Chun... the section that is repeated 3x in a row... is supposed to be done Extremely SLOWLY, like Tai Chi form practice... At least 30 seconds to fully extend the arms, and 30 seconds to fully retract. That section is actually called: "Three Prayers to Buddha", and is supposed to take at least 16 minutes to fully complete. The rest of the form is done at fast / explosive speed... but after you have Completed the entire form... you are NOT DONE yet. You have to repeat the form, another 3 more times.. consecutively, without taking any rests between each Set. This will give you the needed MINIMUM of 1 hour long, worth of training time. Since the bulk of the time spent doing the form... is in the 3 Prayers section... you will be doing a whole hours worth of Internal Development training. What does this accomplish? One of the main benefits, is in Developing "Super-Tendon" strength + density. This cant be done easily, any other way. You learn to use almost no muscular force.. being as relaxed as possible. This causes a LOT more stress on your joints / tendons. But it requires a lot of "Stress-Time" for the body to respond, and actually develop these things, to a much higher level. This is why, in order to develop the tendons this way... you need a minimum of 1hr long sessions, and.. you need to make sure that you are not using mere muscle forces, to maintain yourself. You should just be using the bare minimal amount of muscle, to barely keep your arms and body... from turning to jello, and falling to the floor. Additionally.. most Wing Chun that Ive experienced, is also missing the Proper Qigong + Combat Breathing methods. Many have Incorrectly inserted MMA's far INFERIOR "Teeth Hissing" breathing methods... and its very sad + pathetic. The proper breathing methods, during your Internal Training... will develop your tissues to have MUCH greater Circulation. The tissues can actually swell up a bit, forming a sort of Hydraulic Shielding effect. This is a basic Chinese "Iron-Body" conditioning method. If you are training Iron body without the proper breathing method... you are NOT going to get the same kinds of results. The proper Combat Breath.. can cause you to have a major increase in Output Potentials. Likewise... having Incorrect combat breathing... can cause you to lose over 50% of your output potentials. Ive also heard of fighters passing out... because they were spending too much time holding their breaths, when they were sparring (due to the intense pressure / stresses, which caused them to basically forget to breath enough, when under such stress. In fact, a lot of people.. even when exercising, often Hold their breath... rather than breathing in or out, while performing a Rep). If you want to hear what proper Chinese martial arts breathing sounds like... Watch and Listen to some clips of "Chen Xiaowang fajin". When Grandmaster Chen, of Chen Family Tai Chi... performs his Fajin expressions (explosive power releases)... you will notice the Violent shaking, as well as hear his extremely fast and deep breathing. So... Yes... you are 100% Correct in that saying, that Properly taught Wing Chun... is Supposed to have both External and Internal methods within it. However... again, due to many teaching Wing Chun Incorrectly... missing a Lot or MOST of the Internal Arts methods... then what you have here, is a Double Edged Sword. Both parties being ignorant to the other... and both losing out, because of it. Btw - My former teacher I spoke about earlier... was the only one to make the entire class do a 1hr long form session, several times in our classes. On the external side, we were doing things like 2000 side-pole thrusts. Or punching a heavy bag for 1hour, basically non-stop. Of course, you cant develop internal power, with a few sessions, in-class. I began doing the slow-motion 1hr form work... outside of classes, every other day... for several consecutive months. The process to notable progress... is very slow. However, the benefits that came from doing it... would require several pages worth of Text, to describe it all. It took me and my abilities, to a whole other level. That said... Most modern citizens, are too Skeptical, and too lazy... to even attempt such Training efforts. This is why most schools, have lost the deeper ancient knowledge, and why many of them cant fight for beans anymore. I will add, that to be an effective WC fighter... you 1000% need crazy CORE Strength. Abs of Steel, very strong triceps, good leg strength, and excellent cardio. If you try to make a building out of weak materials... or have a section of the building that is weak in the center... any strong gusts of wind, or an earth-quake... could easily topple that building... from the additional stresses being put into it. Strong Abs are essential, for example... of being able to link your lower body mass, to your upper body mass... as well as serving as a super strong power conductor between the two. Weak abs, tend to lose power, due to absorption (bad conductivity line, from the ground to your fists). Its like having a 1ft center section of rubber, in the middle of a standard 2x4. The rubber allows too much flexing, and absorption. Where as a 100% solid 2x4, is extremely rigid, and structurally sound.
Having trained an internal art along with wing chun, I see a lot of people moving like a wet fish (spaghetti) as you called it. I trained with a lot of tension at the start for strucrure and foundations which then smoothes out as you progress. You are the first person I've heard that also mentions they both go together. I also enjoy hearing the same ideas spoken from.a different point of view. It gives a deeper understanding.
Thankyou for kindly sharing a solid demonstration and an articulate explanation of what internal training is and that we still need the external. I like that you call them obvious skill and hidden skill, it's a very good way of putting it especially for a western mind. I'll be honest and say I went too far down the rabbit hole of internal training and becoming a bit woo woo after doing what I can describe as a very external system of Wing Chun. So naturally it made sense to learn the internal stuff. But now I've realised you need both as a whole for it to work to it's full potential. As you mentioned about Yin Yang early in the video, I think it's really important for any practitioner who's unaware to fully understand this important principle 🙏
We are very grateful that you share your deep knowledge and skill with us and bring light in the training and development of the internal arts / side of wing chun, thank you for your valuable teachings!
I've been a fan for many years and I still think you're the best WC coach I've seen. I've been a disciple in the "WC/WT cults", and kept coming back to just this. Love the "robust" training at the end. Funny to hear all the panting ...and most of it coming from the skinny, young guy!!! Good work.
Thank you. Sinking - releasing tension in the muscles which increase weight and allows the muscles to be ready to move. Stretch the tissue - when muscles move, they contract, if the fibers are stretched, they then cannot contract. Good questions!
Happy joy. Can’t wait. I’ll leave a remark. Awesome. 😎🤟💯I’m always amazed at how candid and Frank these lessons are. Just like the older masters. Good insights. Much respect. 😎💯
The basics are your foundation. The foundation training you should do always! Love the idea of the training and skills developed being layers which we added onto basic skills or training.
Good presentation. Many will say that this will not work against what we call the External styles MMA, Boxing, Muay TaI, and others because in your demonstrations your partner is being compliant. They don't understand that Internal Arts work best against the noncompliant opponent. The noncompliant opponent is unintentionally being compliant. The noncompliant opponent increases their chances of being hurt because the increased speed will increase the forces that they will encounter.
Thank you. Yes, I am lucky that my guys have add hundreds of mma, kickboxing and boxing fights using the skills I teach. So, we have battle tested the art.
In my experience, usually people who claim to do 'internal' version of a martial art are in fantasy land. They've removed the fighting aspects of the art, do only the theory and rehab exercises. They assume nobody else understands these secrets, that it works by magic. They look for explanations why others are wrong, not recognizing when others are doing something right. The concept of internal my sifu (the late Rick Frye) taught was very similar to yours: correct structure and engagement of the core and spine, avoiding kinks in the line. It doesn't increase strength, it reduces wasted potential strength and likelihood of injury. Any high level athlete with a long career has mastered the internal in their own way.
I have about 45 years of Kung Fu including 30+ of Wing Chun and about seven of Wudang arts. also 25 years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I have done some training with a Rickson Gracie second degree over the last year, who articulates and manifests the principles of Rickson's "Invisible Jiu Jitsu" extremely well in a way I had not properly experienced before. The definition of "internal" applied to Kung Fu is slippery and pretty much ineffable, with many self-appointed gatekeepers and vested interests claiming it, unconvincingly. I see so many parallels between the invisible jiu-jitsu I am learning with what you articulate here. Base, Connection/disconnection (link and delink), Weight distribution, distance management, "the middle", inflation/expansion ... I think at the highest levels it becomes much the same thing, many paths up the mountain, see the way clearly you will see it in everything, yadda yadda. FWIW, the Rickson curriculum has a number of "body wiring" drills, which significantly resemble chi sao or push hands. Excellent presentation.
Thank you for taking the time to post. As I am also a black belt in BJJ, I have massive respect for Rickson. So, it is very cool to hear the crossover of skill. Very cool, thanks
@alanorrwingchunacademy1302 Thanks for the reply, I've had some experience with the subject. There is internal skills there is chi and jing but most of the material from " secret internal wing chun " has been taken from other styles and teachers which is OK apart from the lying, for me ultimately besides the egos wanting to be top of the food chain, its all kung fu , I like kung fu and training I will watch this series. Thanks again.
External Wing Chun = what moves you do. The technique you use as you punch, your precision and hand eye coordination Internal Wing Chun = How you move, the amount of your mass you can apply into each movement Both are important but don’t become a slave to either I have to say, I think your understanding of external is incredible, but I don’t think you know internal at all. I’ve trained with some of CST students and when they “turn it on” it’s like the pressure melts away and your touching in immovable post, you’re floating on your feet and any pressure you apply to them comes right back at you. That’s the best way I can explain it and when you look as a bystander you see no change other than the change in the other person right? So you explain it perfectly when you said “hidden skill” but I think it’s extremely difficult to quantify it and I only say that, because while you’re showing us here, I don’t notice the change in your partner that I’ve seen in others etc
@@alanorrwingchunacademy you misunderstand, I am saying I don’t see the same quality in what you’re doing compared to how they do it. I think all your external stuff is top quality and among the best of WC Sifu’s, but I’m telling you you’re definitely not doing what they’re doing when it comes to “internal” I’m not saying it’s bad, just that you’re not doing it. So when it comes to “hidden skill” the visible change should be in your partner, that’s what makes it confusing for the onlooker, they seem to get moved effortlessly, you’re extremely good at demonstrating your control over their balance and which direction to push/pull etc, but you’re not doing what you think you’re doing
You are welcome to an opinion, but it does not mean it is correct or means anything. It is easy to demo on others that are not responding. We train live. I teach my students to internal counter pressures. If someone is tense to move them is easy. I train the guys will skills that can be done in real time, under real pressure. That's the benchmark for us. Most people can't see the skills I have, which is fine.
10:50 Hi Alan is this principle similar to 12:00 of this video below? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B_0ZP5QEdpY.htmlsi=F0WyuD3ZHLDFDudh
What makes this channel think it has any authority to say what internal wing chun is or isn’t? Chu Shong Tin’s student Nima King, both of whom you’re disrespecting among others with your ignorant personal opinions adverse to their teaching and demonstrations! Meet or at least commiserate with Wing Chun practitioners who emphasize this internal aspect, and then make an informed video on the reality of it and not your opinion out of ignorance lest you just expose yourself as one who only knows strength and structure absent of the internal state. 😳🤦🏻♂️🙄/✌️🤲☝️🤔
Why am I disrespecting Nima? I know Nima and he is a good guy. He doesn't call his style Internal Wing Chun, Its CST Wing Chun. I have been to visit his school when I was in HK. Everyone was very friendly. So, I am not sure what you are talking about.
I just had Nima post on my video, He said - This was a great one Alan! Very well put, hidden as you put or invisible as Rickson Cracie puts it is a great way of thinking about the 'internal' aspect of the arts.
@@alanorrwingchunacademy it’s a start I guess, but Nima never trash talks anyone, b littles or says “that’s not wing chun” or there’s no such thing as internal or external! On the contrary Nima has said other ways are okay, there just different! Have Nima back you up in saying “there’s no internal or no difference” and he’ll expose himself as being disingenuous and also disrespectful to his late master Chu Shong Tin! You ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR NEVER GETTING TOGETHER IN PERSON AND CLARIFYING THE REALITY OF “INTERNAL” OR WHATEVER ELSE WING CHUN PRACTITIONERS CLAIM IT TO BE! Instead you all continue to pop shot or trash talk each other(except Nima) as if “your wing chun” concept is the best or authentic. 😳🤦🏻♂️🙄/👌✌️🤲☝️🤔
@@alanorrwingchunacademy look sir, I respect you from the little amount of videos I’ve seen of you! You’re awesome, but please don’t play dumb in acting like you don’t at least imply that “internal” wing chun isn’t real or doesn’t exist! All practitioners who emphasize this “internal” aspect INCLUDING NIMA lest he starts reneging what he says explain that using external muscle strength and tension segments your energy(chi or whatever) whereas training internally opens your joints and connects your fascia etc to have optimal energy power; thus creating a different “engine” as Nima has said! I’m a novice wing chun practitioner myself, stuck in limbo of where and how to proceed because I learned what’s labeled as traditional wing chun kungfu from my brother who’s a black belt under Grand Master Cheung! They even more than you don’t recognize, or whatever place any emphasis whatsoever on internal aspects in training which is adverse to everything Nima or other internal practitioners like John Cognan(another Australian) or John Cohen(please look them up if you don’t know them) teach! That’s awesome if you and Nima are on good terms, I’m not a hater but am a supporter and just “have a dream” that y’all will FINALLY make appearances in person and videos TOGETHER showing the reality of wing chun for the betterment of the art and DO AWAY ONCE AND FOR ALL WITH THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF IT BEING REAL OR FAKE ETC.! Nima should know of my similar pleas on his channel also! Thanks so much for your time if you respond. 👌✌️🤲☝️😉
