If you’re considering training in Wing Chun, you’ve probably wondering “is Wing Chun effective”? In the context of MMA or sporting competition, it is not as effective as some boxing or grappling arts. This is perhaps why Wing Chun is given such a bad rap by some. But that’s because there’s no safe way to practise against a non-compliant opponent. You would break the knees, gouge the eyes or crush the windpipe at the first opportunity, in an actual street situation where more is at stake. Doing anything less when the opportunity presents itself is not practical. Doing less would give your attacker an opportunity to regroup, and it would remove the element of surprise.
In a sports situation, Wing Chun’s effectiveness is limited to only a few techniques. Eye strikes, knee and groin kicks and attacks to other vital areas are out of bounds in a sport context. Fast hand combinations, pulls (laps) and block removals (pak sau) techniques are largely redundant with (boxing or MMA) gloves on which limits sensitivity and dexterity of many trapping and pulling hand techniques in Wing Chun’s arsenal.
Is Wing Chun Effective?
Wing Chun is a concept based Martial Art which is based around two fundamental principles:
- Economy Of Motion
- Minimum Movement
Wing Chun’s “system” seeks to impart information to the student which is useful in fighting. This is learned through hand contact, sensitivity and reflex action. The “art” itself could be seen more as a concept, rather than a fighting style. In training you are seeking to learn “flinch” responses which become instant and automatic. When an attack comes in you react instantaneously due to this automatic response.
This is one of Wing Chun’s greatest assets and Wing Chun will take advantage of an over commitment to launch a counterstrike which is decisive – the aim being to dissolve an attack and end the fight in the shortest possible time. This is done through strikes to vulnerable parts of the body: eyes, a locked leg, the groin, throat and so on.
Wing Chun has another “ace” up its sleeve too, which is its instantaneous counter attacks. While many arts will have a “beat” between block and counter, Wing Chun’s counters are simultaneous with the defence.
Most Wing Chun students are not looking to become MMA fighters, but are looking for a self defence system which works. Wing Chun fits the bill for many who would rather not fight, but want to arm themselves with something should they need it.
Wing Chun’s Advantage
Like any Martial Art, Wing Chun has its limits and its weak point is ground fighting. Although a good WIng Chun practitioner should be able to avoid going to ground. Gracie Ju Jitsu is known to dominate the MMA competitions because ground fighting is its strength. But Ju Jitsu would be less useful in a standing situation. Against multiple attackers you certainly wouldn’t want to go to the ground.
Wing Chun is a concept based martial art which means during training you are learning principles and techniques which can give you the edge in a fight, should it happen. But no martial art is a guarantee you won’t be knocked to the floor in a surprise attack, or when you are tired or inebriated.
Wing Chun is an effective martial art in a certain context, like all the others. Its advantage is speed, instantaneous attack and defence and power generated from relaxation and using body mass. Wing Chun doesn’t kick above the waist as this is seen as an over commitment and most of Wing Chun’s training is in the standing position, which is where it excels as a martial art. Because Wing Chun is practiced in an upright position, using mostly hand techniques, it makes it suitable for older adults.
Many of our students come from a martial arts background of other arts, such as taekwondo or karate.
Learn more about our classes here.
From The Grandmaster Tony Leung.
“ 别跟我说你功夫有多能打，师傅有多厉害门派有多深奥。功夫，两个字：一横一竖，错了，躺着喽，站着的才有资格讲话”
“ Don’t tell me how effective a fighting system is your Kung Fu, how great is your Master , how philosophical is your lineage . Kung Fu, two words, one horizontal and one vertical , one wrong move , and you stay down. Only the one that remained standing can have the right to speak.”
Is Wing Chun Good?
When I first started learning Wing Chun, I was lucky enough to find a Wing Chun teacher who had direct contact with Grandmaster Ip Man. He was one of only 13 instructors who represented Grandmaster Ip Chun at the time. I later moved cities and looked for another teacher.
What I found was very disappointing. Nowhere was the Wing Chun of such high quality. Like many arts, the system is only as good as the teacher and over the years I found various schools who claimed to teach Wing Chun but were woefully under-skilled and under-qualified. Sometimes relatively new students went off to start their own schools too, much to the disappointment of my teacher.
This has created a problem for genuine Wing Chun. The lowering of standards has meant Wing Chun has got a bad rap. Wing Chun is good yes. But not all Wing Chun is good. You need to do your homework and find a genuine school with routes to original teaching and make sure you find a high quality instructor.
Summary
At its heart, Wing Chun is a system which is designed for fight or flight situation. It’s for street fighting, not sport. It uses devastating knee kicks and eye strikes and is grounded in its main principles of economy of motion and minimum movement.
Don’t do something flamboyant when a swift strike to the eyes or knee will do! This means that Wing Chun is perfect for the street as a self defence system which should only be used when absolutely necessary because it has devastating consequences.
Wing Chun’s strength is its sneaky simultaneous attack and defence movements and close range in-fighting tactics which are learned through the practice of chi sau. This is perfect for an attacker in the street. Wing Chun trains reflexes to react automatically to an attack, simultaneously countering. It’s fast and useful in a fight. Wing Chun trains the simplest and quickest way to disable an attacker in a single beat.
