Here at the frontier, the leaves fall like rain. Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are still two cups at my table.


Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

~ Wu-men ~


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Lights! Camera! Action!

Below is an excerpt from an article posted at Wing Chun Geeks on a tip that might help you improve your training when you are on your own. I have been doing this for some time and find it useful. The full article may be read here.


Our Strange Wing Chun Training Secret

It has been a while since we released an article expressing our views about Wing Chun. When we first started working on Wing Chun Geeks, we made a huge discovery. The solution to most of your Wing Chun training needs is right in your pocket and 95% of the people that read this article will never do anything about it  We have discovered that filming yourself while training will bring your training to a whole new level of analysation.
What is the secret again?…..

It is a camera. A simple handheld device many of us carry around in our pocket.

I’m A Youtube Grandmaster
Many people leave a comment on videos, saying how they dislike them or how their Sifu is better.  Which is fine, it is an open forum that welcomes discussion.   What most people overlook is that they are not necessarily the ones benefiting from the videos. In reality, the person being filmed in the video is the one that benefits the most.
What we mean is, imagine yourself training in front of a mirror.   You see the mistakes you make and you do your best to correct them.  What about the mistakes you miss? If you film yourself with your iPhone or another simple camera, it will open your eyes to a whole new world of problems.  As intelligent Wing Chun people, it is our duty to seek our problems and correct them.  You will be shocked at the minor mistakes you make and the things that need to be tuned up.

Professional fighters do It
Many people in the Wing Chun community are under a spell, believing that just because we do Wing Chun we are somehow better than the rest. Just because Ip Man and Bruce Lee did WC, it does not mean the “magic” was passed from their hands to yours. If professional fighters, such as MMA fighters and boxers, watch videos of themselves training and fighting, why should we be any different?




4 comments:

The Strongest Karate said...

"Just because Ip Man and Bruce Lee did WC, it does not mean the “magic” was passed from their hands to yours."

Ha! Judging from the zealous comments about Lee and Ip that can be found on youtube, I'd say this quote is very much needed.

Rick Matz said...

That's one of the reasons that "lineage" is such a tricky thing. Just because you have a certain lineage, doesn't mean you've picked up the skill and vice versa.

The Strongest Karate said...

Agreed. In academia you almost never hear someone say, "Oh yeah? Well I studied under prof XYZ!", as proof of their educational pedigree. This is because we recognize that just because I attend a class, doesn't mean I learned anything.

So why should we accept that in martial arts?

Paul said...

indeed, dancers trained in front of mirror. A mirror is important for the "simple" exercise of zhan zhang.