Before my recent Wing Chun training regime change, I used to weight train in the gym at lunch. The gym is a 10 – 15 minute drive away, meaning my session could entail as much as a 30 minute drive. Doing a worthwhile weight training session + shower/change time takes my lunch hour well over 60 minutes. To compensate for my lengthy lunch hour, I used to get to work early and make up the time. My new Wing Chun training regime, however, requires that I do an hour of Wing Chun before work so I can’t now get to work early and make up the time.

Busting My Ass

This means the 30 minute Wing Chun workout I’d scheduled for lunch is not going to work. 15 minutes to drive to the gym + 10 minutes getting changed x 2 leaves a pathetic 10 minutes for Wing Chun. It’s crazy busting my ass to do just 10 minutes practice.

I’m English and I said “busting my ass”.

The only alternative is to do Wing Chun at work in my lunch hour. This is a very touchy subject, as I don’t like an audience. My workplace is full of suit wearing office workers. Rounding the corner to see me standing on one leg doing siu lim tau would probably freak someone out.

Put Water Into A Fountain – It Becomes The Fountain

Tentatively, I’m thinking about practising by the water fountain. At lunch, most people go out of the office, so the place will be pretty empty. And the water fountain area is out of site of the two open plan offices it serves. I’ll try it out and see how it goes.

OK I tried it out and it was a disappointing experience. The area is so small that I get in the way when people want to get a glass of water from the fountain. Not to mention the shock on their faces as they come round the corner and see me flailing my arms around like there’s something wrong with me. Despondent. Bruce Lee used to practise in restaurant car parks but I don’t know whether I’ve got the guts to do it in the car park here.

Wing Chun Exercises That Don’t Make You Sweat

An added problem with training at work is that there are no showers here. This means that getting hot and sweaty is not a good idea. Siu lim tau is banned then, as that makes me sweat profusely, as does any energetic exercise. Banned. Also narrowing my options is the fact that I’m wearing a shirt and trousers so anything involving a degree of flexibility is out the window. Another limitation is the lack of space in the water fountain area. Here is a list of exercises I’ve come up with that I think I could do:

• turning (wan lan sau, bong sau, kwan sau).
• fist clenching to outstretched fingers, repeating over and over (good for strengthening the fist).
• footwork. Outdance the water fountain.
• dummy form. It doesn’t take up that much room (about the room needed to house a dummy).

The selection of exercises I can do at work is a cut down version of all the exercises available but I can look at this as an opportunity to focus and perfect.

It’s a real pain in the ass that the gym is so far away.