1. Randy Williams
2. Chu Shong-tin (徐尚田)
3. William Cheung (張卓興)
4. Austin Goh
5. Wong Shun Leung (黃淳樑)
6. Edmund Fong
7. Nenad Koviljac
The muk yan jong, Wing Chun’s signature training tool, is not a worthy fighting opponent. It never executes a defensive maneuver, or runs away from your attacks. It never hits back. Basically, it just stands there, jiggling around every so often.
There is only one way to lose a “fight” against the wooden dummy, and that is to abandon Wing Chun standards while you are using it.
The five basic guidelines for Wing Chun posture are:
- kim sut – Press the hips and knees together
- lok ma – Sink the horse stance
- ting yu – Hold the spine straight
- dung tao – Raise the crown of the head
- mai jiang – Draw the elbows inward and forward
Rephrased for direct relevance to the dummy form:
- Do not stare at your own hands.
- Do not lean on, or into the dummy.
- Do not stand on tiptoe to hit the dummy’s “head”.
- Do not forget your stance, footwork and whole-body unity while striking the dummy.
Wikipedia’s advice notwithstanding, observing these points will not guarantee that you win every fight. It will guarantee you avoid undermining yourself, by attempting to use Wing Chun strategy and techniques with an inappropriate body structure.
Wing Chun: Not an art for punishing logs
Although the muk yan jong is just a fancy wooden log, it somehow manages to outsmart some martial artists. Such fellows “straight blast” their dummies with maximum strength and speed, and the dummy responds by shaking violently, pretending to give positive feedback to these indecent liberties. In revenge, the dummy offers no lessons in relaxation, alignment or flow—all important points when battling something other than a log.
Considering these points and your own experience, which of the form demonstrations above do you think is best?
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14 responses so far ↓
1
karateka
// Jan 15, 2009
thank you very much for this videos..
it’s very intersting..and it need a lot of time to train about this technics..
2
Chris
// Jan 15, 2009
You’re welcome. Some may balk at watching seven different videos of the same (two-minute) form, but I found them fascinating.
3
Rick Matz
// Jan 15, 2009
I think the topic of diffusion in martial arts, how they change as they are handed down through different teachers is an interesting one.
The classical Japanese martial arts (koryu) are very strict about how a martial art is taught and handed down to each generation, but in other instances, it seems that once one has mastered an art, they almost can’t help but to reinvent it as an expression of themselves and their own understanding.
4
London Wing Chun Academy
// Jan 23, 2009
Thank you for making the effort to post these variations. These videos are more useful than most people may think, in understanding the differences and the commonality of Wing Chun.
Which is a positive thing to do, and great for research in Wing Chun.
5
Christopher
// Jan 29, 2009
You say: “Considering these points and your own experience, which of the form demonstrations above do you think is best?”
I can’t see your point. One can’t tell wich one is the best, even though they’re a bit different in execution, you can’t tell this one is better than the other. Different, means not it is bad, or wrong. And if you are so against wooden dummy, stop using it! Stop using the wooden dummy and your problems will be solved!
Seriously, if this is what you understand by “personal development”, I would say you’re subdeveloped.
6
Chris
// Jan 29, 2009
Christopher,
I am for using the wooden dummy, and against abusing the wooden dummy. And yes, we can tell which forms are better with respect to the WC guidelines listed above. I do not repeat those guidelines because they were taught by Yip Man and Leung Sheung, although they were; I cite them because they are sensible.
Any damn fool can hit a jong. Not everyone can build Wing Chun skill with it.
7
joshuahyoung
// Mar 1, 2009
And here it was my understanding the wooden man always wins…
8
martin barnett
// Jun 2, 2009
the wooden man is a very good shape maker for your technique and a very good show off tool for your students, use it!
9
They call me Bruce
// Aug 16, 2009
Wing Chun is a dead art from the past, useless except for unsuspecting goons and bullies, but any form of martial arts training can catch them off guard. That’s why Bruce abandoned Wing Chun, after coming to North America, seeing the size and strength of the guilo (whiteman). So slap that dummy, Flow with the forms and fool yourself that your skills are combat ready. Try to tan sau or bong sau when Brock Lesnar is charging towards you, Ha Ha! that wouldn’t be pretty.
10
josh young
// Aug 16, 2009
In his notes Bruce Lee listed pros and cons for Wing Chun. His assertions make the claim that he abandoned it seem as absurd and misinformed as it actually is. His system after coming to America is noted by Bruce himself to be a combination of Wing Chun, Fencing and Boxing. This is hardly abandoning WC. Too bad you don’t know what you are talking about “They call me Bruce” Why not use your real name or are coward comments your thing?
Without steroids and growth hormones Brock Lesnar would be a joke. And your right, he isn’t pretty.
11
joe Z
// Oct 17, 2009
It’s good to see theirs still competant people in the world. Josh young, no one could have typed truer words. They call you Bruce is someone who doesn’t know shit abut wing chun much less bruce lee. And Grandmaster William Cheungs form is what SIfu Nenad is doing. Technically there’s less than 7 different types
12
Melanie
// Nov 21, 2009
Hey there. My boyfriend is big into jeet kune do and wants a wooden wing chun dummy for christmas. I have no idea where to buy one or what kind to get. Do you have any suggestions on a certain brand or anything?
13
Chris
// Nov 21, 2009
Wooden dummies can cost $1000 or more! There are cheaper PVC plastic versions, but they get less respect. Some models have “heads” and others do not. In short, I’m not sure this is a good candidate for a surprise gift.
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