Though not strictly related to Wing Chun, with all the furore going on about the Ip Man movie, and with Donnie Yen taking the starring role as Ip Man, here are some details about the Donnie Yen Training Routine. Here is an impressive showcase of not just his training routine, but also his excellent all round martial arts skills. The first half comprises Donnie Yen’s training, whereas the second half is more a showcase of his film roles (and obvious skill). There is also some behind the scenes footage.

As you can see, his training includes:

• boxing
• ground fighting
• cardio work (obviously)
• nunchaku
• bag work

Here is a very informative video that gives some background to Yen’s childhood and introduction to the martial arts by his mother. His mother started his training when he was a mere four years old.

Here is some footage of Ip Chun practising chi sau with Donnie Yen. I’m sure like everyone else, I was trying to gauge Yen’s Wing Chun skill from this footage. It’s hard to do this though as the clip doesn’t reveal much. It’s clear to see that Yen has fast hands, but that must be due to his extensive martial arts experience.

It’s amazing to think that this next clip is 20 years old now! Here Donnie Yen is leading a class on martial arts for the movies, and fight choreography.

Instructor’s Course

With my recent invitation to the instructor’s course comes the feeling it’s time to get serious. I wasn’t exactly slouching before, but I can do more. After the last class I asked sifu what I should focus on in my training away from class and he simply said “the basics”. This means practising:

• siu lim tau
• chum kiu
• the hands. Ensure that the shape of tan sau, bong sau etc is perfect. Perfect. How many times have I been chi sauing only to discover that my tan sau and bong sau had lost all shape. About 2.5 million. You can’t recognise the shapes sometimes!
• the transition between hands. It sounds simple, but even my changing from tan sau to bong sau needs tightening up. By this I mean keeping the shoulders relaxed and stationary, and also pivoting the movement around the wrist only.
• theory. I must admit to not having done much reading about wing chun. I started reading Shaun Rawcliffe’s book, but it was too dry for me and I couldn’t finish it. I will try again with that book, jut not at the moment. On Friday, spurred on by the imminent instructor’s course, I decided to order a book written by my sigung and Ip Chun no less. I can’t wait to get this book! It was available at each class for about 2 years and then I think it just stopped being produced over here in the UK. However, I found some used books on Amazon, so it’s ordered and I’m waiting.
• go to all 3 classes during the week. Usually I got to one class, on a good week I go to two and very rarely I go to three. Often I don’t go to Saturday’s class because I’m too hungover from Friday’s debauched extravagances so this will have to stop!

I’ve recently started doing chi sau with one of the guys in my class in my lunch hour twice a week. Whilst I don’t think this falls into the “basics” category, there is no way I’m going to give this up! Opportunities to chi sau with someone are very much in short supply. The problem is, because I can’t go to the gym at lunchtime on those days, I’ve started going before work. This, of course, means I can’t do any wing chun practice in the morning. What the hell, I’ll adapt.

Sounds like time for a new training timetable. I think I can cover everything in a 1 week cycle.

Week 1

This really is back to basics. I’ll be focusing on SLT and CK, but the things I’ve sacrificed (like turning, developing power, speedwork) I’m sure will be compensated for by the contents of the classes.