I’m in a different training groove at the moment. Previously, I had been trying to balance mornings and lunchtimes between my Wing Chun training and working on my websites. What I had been doing was alternating mornings (when I have a full hour and a half to work with) between “doing Wing Chun” and “doing websites”, and whichever activity I did in the morning, I would do the other one at lunch.

So I had something like this:

This was good for Wing Chun, as I got 3 mornings devoted to training, and I could spend an hour and a half (less travelling/changing time) doing it. The problem was that I have a sedentary job that involves me being stuck in front of a computer from 9 to 5:30. Lunchtimes are ideal for getting a real break from sitting down staring at a computer monitor. Having a break halfway through the day where you do some physical exercise is a great way to relieve stress and stop you from going mad.

On the other hand, sitting in front of a computer at lunchtime doing more computer work, when I’ve already done half a day of the same, is a great way to build up stress levels and go stir crazy.

So, I’ve decided to sacrifice my huge morning Wing Chun sessions for working on my websites and I’m now doing my Wing Chun training every lunchtime. In real terms, this reduces my WC training time from one hour to half an hour. That might sound like a big cut, but one of the benefits is that I keep my sanity. Doing an extra hour and a half of computer work before I start my real job and having a physical break at lunchtime feels much better than having the physical break in the morning and then working all the way through.

As for Wing Chun training, 30 minutes every day is not as much as I’d like but it’s more than nothing, and more than a lot of people put in. And it’s consistent, regular training time.

This is turning into a pep talk.

I also work on my dummy on Monday nights, Tuesday nights, alternate Thursday nights and Fridays nights too. These little sessions are maybe 20 minutes to 30 minutes long. Add on to that my Saturday class and I’m looking a little less lazy.

I think “little and often” summarises my training plan at the moment. But there’s a lot to be said for doing a little bit of Wing Chun every day. I think also that the way you train makes a big difference. I’m focusing more than I used too (take, for example, my new method of training Tsum Kiu). I’ve got 5 half hour slots every week. If I decide to practice one different thing in each session, that’s half an hour for each one. I don’t know about you, but 30 minutes of punching practise is enough for me. 30 minutes of leg training is also adequate. So you can actually get a lot done in those 5 slots.

As always, it’s all about structuring your training to get the best use of time. Train smart etc.

That’s right, lunchtime chi sau returns. Over a year ago, I started chi sauing regularly at lunchtime with someone from class. That was a good move as the consistency of training pushed my chi sau skill up.

But then I got injured and had to put that idea in hold. My wing chun partner was fairly busy at the time, so I guess if there was ever a good time to get an inhury, that was it. And of course, over the last year my training has suffered.

But my wing chun friend rang me up and asked if we could do some chi sau today. I was going to go to the gym, but doing a bit of wing chun practise was far more appealing. My shoulder was OK on the whole, but I felt a couple of twinges towards the end. We were chi sauing for a good 30 minutes, which is more than I’ve done for a while.

It’s true that chi sauing with the same partner does get you used to responding in the same way to a particular technique, but the benefits of “getting used” to someone’s style far outweigh the disadvantages of not practising at all! One way that we will avoid falling into the same old routine as far as combinations of techniques goes is by practising techniques and drills learnt in class. The problem with stuff we learn in class is that we hardly ever get a chance to practise it. Then when the next class comes around, we’ve forgotten the technique.

The only thing I’m worried about at this stage is how well my shoulder will hold out. Fortunately for me, my partner’s skill is betetr than last time I chi saued with him and his hands are less heavy. If teh pressure on my shoulder causes it to ache then I’ll just have to work within my limits.

As sigung will be visiting us later this month, I have decided to ditch the weight training and focus on my wing chun. It’s the 2nd November today and sigung is coming on the 22nd so it feel a little like cramming for an exam.

Due to an injury, I haven’t been training as much as I used to, but I’ve had enough of walking on eggshells to protect my injured shoulder. Instead, I’ll just train as normal and when (or if) my shoulder becomes painful I’ll just stop until it feels better. It’ll either get worse enough to be treated or it won’t really be an impediment at all.

Anyway, I’ve devised another training routine. The times I have available to train are in the mornings before work starts for around 20 minutes and lunchtimes for about 30 minutes. The restrictions are that in the morning my muscles are cold so I can’t do anything wildly strenuous, and at lunch I can’t turn properly on the gym floor because my trainers stick. What this means in real terms is that it’s not good to just stay in siu lim tau for 20 minutes in the morning, and I can’t do anything that involves turning (like chum kiu) at lunch.

With that in mind, here’s the drill:

Morning Wing Chun

I can divide my morning training between:

• chum kiu – this is perfect for mornings because I can adapt the intensity to suit how cold or warmed up my body is. The first time I do chum kiu will be much slower and softer than the last time I do it when I’m more warmed up.
• turning
• techniques – kwan sau, gaan sau, bong sau etc

Lunchtime Wing Chun

Because by lunchtime my body is much more warmed up, it can do the following:

• siu lim tau
• leg training. This covers a multitude of sins now, like standing in horse stance, standing on one leg and general stretching.
• striking – punching, chopping, palm strikes etc.
• fist clenching

Since I injured my shoulder last August (it’s still not right) I’ve not trained with the same vigour. In fact, the injury had quite an impact on my training. Pulling my elbows in on the fuk sau when chi sauing really puts pressure on your shoulders (if they’re damaged anyway) and this caused pain. Not being able to chi sau properly and not being able to do siu lim tau as well as I used to (extending the tan sau and fuk sau in the first section hurt), just put me off training altogether. Siu lim tau and chi sau are really integral parts of your wing chun training. “What’s left if I can’t do those?” I thought. Continue Reading

Sifu is really hammering Chum Kiu at the moment. I knew that we were going to be tested on our knowledge at the instructor’s course, but with all this focus on Chum Kiu it seems that this form will feature prominently. This doesn’t bother me because I’ve been practising it like mad.

Today’s Chum Kiu Corrections

Today, sifu noticed the following faults in my form:

• right at the beginning, after the first punch, I’m still getting the wrist rotation wrong. It needs to be done slowly and deliberately so that you can feel the joint strain. One of the benefits of taking the time to do this right is that it strengthens the wrist. Once all fingers are gathered in, snap the fist up.
• the double jam sau at the beginning needs to be slower and more measured. The transition from that to wan lan sau still needs to be snappy, but the jam saus themselves need to be slowed down.
• In turning into the wan lan sau, there are different sections to the movement.  The body turns with the feet when they turn to 45 degrees. The feet stay where they are but the body continues a further 45 degrees (so now you are facing a full 90 degrees from the front). During these two sections, the body sinks into the stance. I need to sink more into my stance.
• Each of the 3 jik jeungs: I’m looping them under the next too flamboyantly. The movement should be minimalistic, like when chain punching. The fist of the last punch comes under the next punch going out, but the ‘looping under’ should not be exaggerated. It’s the same movement with the jik jeungs.
• Bong sau to wan lan sau: when pulling the wu sau back quickly to chamber the fist, my chambered fist needs to be higher up the body. At the moment it’s hanging down too low.
• Interestingly, the part where you rest your fist on one wan lan sau before punching: when you rest the fist, you are not yet facing 90 degrees from the front as above. Instead, it’s onlt 45 degrees. This means that you can rotate the remaining 45 degrees, adding more power to your punch.

I like all these corrections because they keep me focused and motivated. They give me something very specific to work on in my practice sessions. Sifu said I should work on it every day, so now I don’t need to have the mental argument in my head about what to practise in my solitary sessions.

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.

How do you practise Wing Chun with a partner who doesn’t do WIng Chun? And by partner, here I mean my girlfriend. Well, there are simple techniques that are easy for the non-practitioner to pick up. One little routines I’ve practised in the past with Sue is this:

• We stand facing each other in the classic stance where our extended wu saus are touching via the outside of our wrists
• I pak sau her arm out of the way and punch her lights out. Well, I try…
• She pak saus my punch
• Rinse and repeat

Things like pak saus are very easy for people to pick up, whether or not they’ve done martial arts before.

Another exercise we’ve done is as follows:

• We both start in the kwan sau position, our tan saus touching
• I lap sau Sue’s tan sau and thrust my tan sau to Sue’s face
• She has to meet that with her own tan sau or I smudge her make up
• I lap sau her tan sau and we start over again

This is very much a speed exercise which is bad for me because Sue has demonic speed. I can’t understand it, she doesn’t practise this stuff yet I think she’s faster than me!

Here’s one that doesn’t involve any Wing Chun prowess:

• You are blindfolded but your partner is not.
• The ‘seeing’ person gently holds the blindfolded person’s elbow (either one) and starts leading the other person around the room.
• The blindfolded one has to follow the leader. They really have to ‘listen’ to the leader and offer no resistance whatsoever, so that when the leader pushes, they go with it immediately. At no point must the leader use force to push you where they want you to go, and the follower must have no inertia.
• The leader should vary the direction, speed, height etc.
• Oh, and leader? Don’t run your partner into the wall. The argument you had yesterday? That’s all in the past, so be nice.

The above exercises were all stolen from class, but the following one I made up. Its purpose is to increase your sensitivity and reactions.

• Stand face to face hands down by your sides
• Wing Chun person stretch your arm forward to meet the other’s arm which is now also stretching forward. Both arms are still down, but meeting in the middle
• Give the non Wing Chun person the advantage by allowing their hand to be on the inside
• They must try and slap your face with the inside hand, and your outside hand must pak sau it away
• Go as fast as you like!

After around 3 weeks total abstinence from Wing Chun due to a mysterious injury, I’ve started my training again. I usually go to class once a week, twice in a good week, and do 15 minutes training on my own Monday – Friday so a complete stoppage was really hard to take.

This morning I did a quick Siu Lim Tau and Chum Kiu (which I learnt just before I got injured) and it felt good! Thankfully, I could remember Chum Kiu in its entirety, so in that repect I don’t think I’ve lost anything. Obviously, my technique is a bit rusty, and certainly my muscles aren’t as strong as 3 weeks ago, but at least I’m back. All being well, I’m going to try to make all 3 classes this week.

The injury is still there but its symptoms have reduced. There’s some swelling round my left knee (I hate joint injuries) and it hurts when I kneel down but both the swelling and the pain have reduced. I think it might be bursitis. My main concern was the pressure exerted on the knees when doing siu lim tau and also that exerted on them when turning in chum kiu, but my speedy routine this morning didn’t cause any pain. So it’s looking good!

I don’t know how I’ve done this but I’ve got an injured left knee. There was nothing specific I can remember that might have caused it, but there’s a definite tightness around the joint, especially when I squat. It doesn’t hurt and there’s no visible swelling, but I can feel it nonetheless.

Although it causes me no problems I decided not to go to my Wing Chun class tonight. Although this problem is related to my abstaining from Wing Chun, the decision whether or not to train with an injury is common to many disciplines. In this instance, my main fear was that there would be a mammoth leg training session that would cripple me or that when chi sauing I would make a sudden movement and twist it.

Of course there’s the inevitable argument raging in my head:

me: you should go to class, we don’t train legs often. You’ll be alright.

me: but if we do a lot of legwork, I’m either going to have to grin and bear it and risk injuring myself further, or I’m going to sit out. Aside from the mental impact of feeling defeated by that decision, there would be the feeling of loss having paid my $14 for the class, half of which I’m not part of

me: and so on

But…I think it’s important to ere on the side of caution. One of the me’s above is possibly right in saying we don’t train legs often so I could get away with going. But there’s too much to lose if I knacker my knee in completely. I won’t be laughing if I then have to miss a month or so of training. If I can just keep this drama queen hat on a bit longer the risks are just too high!

Anyway, the class started at 20:30 and it’s 20:34 so I’m definitely not going. And just to seal the decision, I’ve had a massive curry for my tea. Not going.

Update: OK, after a little internet research I think I know what the Mystery Injury might be. Water on the knee/bursitis. Stupidly, yesterday I was seeing how far I could push the joint by kneeling on the ground and seeing how far I could sit on my heels. It felt tight, and I shouldn’t have done that. And a couple of days ago in the gym I was doing the same, the idea being that I should try and loosen the joint up. Jeez, I’m a hazard! I think rest, cold compresses and anti-inflammatories are the way to go. Duh, I can’t believe that I’ve gone and aggravated the injury!

I’m trying to improve the strength and flexibility in my legs. I go to the gym every lunch time and Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do cardio exercises (the stair machine at the moment) followed by leg stretches. I spend 15 minutes on the cardio and then around 10 minutes on the stretching. It’s nothing intense, in fact it’s quite a tame routine.

Leg Exercise Torture

A few times at my Wing Chun class the teacher has made us do a gruelling leg work out. This isn’t sifu, this is some other senior who has some kind of compulsive disorder regarding leg torture! He administers the pain in the following ways:

• Gets us to do siu lim tau on one leg. So you stand on one leg with the other raised with thigh parallel to ground while tan/fook sau goes out and then swap legs when you change to jum sau/wu sau. Nasty.
• Stand on one leg with the other raised so that thigh is parallel to floor. Rotate the foot clockwise and then anticlockwise for an eternity. Then rotate the shin in the same fashion for another eternity. Then stretch the whole leg out so that it’s straight. This lasts a bit longer, like an aeon actually.
• A vicious one this: face a pillar and raise your knee until thigh horizontal again or even pointing up a bit and lower leg just pointing down. Extend your leg so that the heel touches the pillar (foot is maybe 45 degrees to the vertical). This is the painful bit. Keep the leg in that position but relax the foot so that the heel moves away from the pillar and then hit the pillar again with the heel. The ball/arch of the foot maintains contact while the heel hits the pillar repeatedly. All this with the leg raised quite high (for me anyway).

He’s fair about it though as he leads the exercise and sets a fine example as he is so supple.

My New Lege Exrecise Routine

These exercises really hurt. But… they hurt because I don’t do any exercise at home or in the gym. So I’ve decided to rectify this by stepping up (ok – by starting) some strength/flexibility training for my legs. It’s laughable at the moment: I stretch as usual (see above) but then I balance on one leg whilst holding out my other leg for a count of 10. The goal is to hold the leg stretched out horizontally but all I can manage at the moment is some patheic angle to the ground!

Jet Lis’s Intensive Workout

Now, this is an inspirational bit of footage. Look at Jet Li around the 10 second mark. That’s the kind of strength and control I want.