Wing Chun Vlog 1 - Still Bad at Wing Chun

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JKD was a good start and I really enjoyed starting something new in tai chi, but the whole time there was something eating away at me. Something I had to do. Wing chun was the first martial art I had tried after coming to China and although I enjoyed it I was pretty bad it. For the sake of my ego I had to get back to wing chun so I could learn more and get not bad at it. Or at least…less bad at it. Unfortunately I had forgotten just how bad I was and was quickly reminded upon returning to class.

All joking aside it was good to get back to class and everything came back to me pretty quick. First up was siu nim tao which is wing chun’s first form. I had learned to very different versions before and the version this school does was similar to one of the versions I had learned but not the same.

In addition to the form in that first class we did a sort of reaction drill. It wasn’t chi sau but I felt that it sort of tried to do the same thing by trying to help you feel and react to your opponent. It was maybe a little easier so could be a stepping stone toward chi sau although I’m not sure.

We also worked on some defenses with pak sau. Pak sau isn’t a block I’d practiced too much before so it seemed like a good new thing to try. I picked up a couple of them but one of them had two steps instead of just one and I had a little trouble getting those steps right. All in all though a pretty good first class.

The second class was a little more mixed. Although the drills and techniques we did weren’t bad the class moved at a much more rapid pace. It was taught by a more senior instructor than Monday’s class and he covered a lot more material at a faster clip. Some people might enjoy that but since I’m new I would prefer to do less so I don’t get in over my head.

 

Even though all classes are not created equal I enjoyed my first couple of classes back to wing chun. I’m not any better than I was when I first tried it but it was good to shake off the rust and try to remember some of the stuff I learned.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you on my next trip. Don't forget to click the links below and follow to stay up to date on what I'm doing and where I am and to see all the pictures and videos from my trips.