mook jong man
Senior Master
What techniques does your lineage employ to deal with punches coming directly from the side of you.
For instance just to simplify the scenario we will say it is a Karate type punch to the head or the ribs or indeed any straight punch.
You don't have time to square up using the Chum Kiu thrust kick or time to step so that you are facing the attacker.
We basically used about one of three different hand techniques in conjunction with a low or medium side kick .
Bear in mind that this side kick is not a traditional part of the Wing Chun system but was added by my Sifu because it is a practical kick and easier for lower grades to do than the Chum Kiu kick which they would not learn for several years until they got up to the stage of learning Chum Kiu.
Say for example we read the punch as being aimed for our head , we swing our guard across to the side , and then we do three things simultaneously.
Our nearest arm raises up a Dai Sau underneath the punch and deflects it aiming to make contact at his upper forearm close to the wrist. It doesn't matter what arm he punches with , the Dai sau will deflect either , it just means that against one of his arms it will contact on the outside and on the other it will make contact on the inside of his arm.
Our other hand comes down to guard our ribcage just as though you have done a big parry (Pak Sau) down to your ribs. At the same time as you are doing these two hand movements throw out a low side kick to his knee or shin.
This serves the purpose of striking him while you deflect his punch with your arm and also keeps him from getting into range with his punch just in case you have made a mistake in your deflection.
If the attackers punch is directed low to our ribcage area then we swing our guard across to the side , then we do three moves simultaneously again , with our nearest arm we cut down on his forearm close to his wrist ( just till your forearm is slightly lower than parallel to the floor).
Our other hand comes across like a big parry (pak sau ) to guard the side of our head , at the same time as you do these hand movements throw out a side kick to his knee or shin .
Its important when you do the kick that it is in keeping with the Wing Chun principle of directness and economy of movement which means your heel goes straight from your stance to the target.
Also in regards to the hand positions all you have to remember is that one hand is defending high and the other hand is guarding low or one hand is defending low while the other hand is guarding high.
The third technique is limited to deflecting against only a head punch and can only be used against the outside of his arm. So it would be your right arm vs. his right arm or your left vs. his left.
In this technique the kick is not simultaneous.
We are using our own centre line punch as a counter punch to deflect his straight punch to our head.
As soon as you have deflected and made contact with your punch , bring your punch back into angle and drop your Fook Sau down on his arm , grabbing it .
As you do a short and sudden latch on his punching arm , throw a side kick with your heel up into his rib cage which will be open. Make sure you bring your spare hand across to guard the side of your head.
The way you would drill the first two techniques would be to have your partner positioned directly at the side of you out of punching range so that he has to step in. Start off slowly deflecting high and low punches in sequence then later on against random high or low punches. Make sure you get that side kick out as soon as he comes into range.
It goes with out saying that if in a real situation after you have completed these techniques from the side that you should square up a.s.a.p and be ready to follow up as needed.
For instance just to simplify the scenario we will say it is a Karate type punch to the head or the ribs or indeed any straight punch.
You don't have time to square up using the Chum Kiu thrust kick or time to step so that you are facing the attacker.
We basically used about one of three different hand techniques in conjunction with a low or medium side kick .
Bear in mind that this side kick is not a traditional part of the Wing Chun system but was added by my Sifu because it is a practical kick and easier for lower grades to do than the Chum Kiu kick which they would not learn for several years until they got up to the stage of learning Chum Kiu.
Say for example we read the punch as being aimed for our head , we swing our guard across to the side , and then we do three things simultaneously.
Our nearest arm raises up a Dai Sau underneath the punch and deflects it aiming to make contact at his upper forearm close to the wrist. It doesn't matter what arm he punches with , the Dai sau will deflect either , it just means that against one of his arms it will contact on the outside and on the other it will make contact on the inside of his arm.
Our other hand comes down to guard our ribcage just as though you have done a big parry (Pak Sau) down to your ribs. At the same time as you are doing these two hand movements throw out a low side kick to his knee or shin.
This serves the purpose of striking him while you deflect his punch with your arm and also keeps him from getting into range with his punch just in case you have made a mistake in your deflection.
If the attackers punch is directed low to our ribcage area then we swing our guard across to the side , then we do three moves simultaneously again , with our nearest arm we cut down on his forearm close to his wrist ( just till your forearm is slightly lower than parallel to the floor).
Our other hand comes across like a big parry (pak sau ) to guard the side of our head , at the same time as you do these hand movements throw out a side kick to his knee or shin .
Its important when you do the kick that it is in keeping with the Wing Chun principle of directness and economy of movement which means your heel goes straight from your stance to the target.
Also in regards to the hand positions all you have to remember is that one hand is defending high and the other hand is guarding low or one hand is defending low while the other hand is guarding high.
The third technique is limited to deflecting against only a head punch and can only be used against the outside of his arm. So it would be your right arm vs. his right arm or your left vs. his left.
In this technique the kick is not simultaneous.
We are using our own centre line punch as a counter punch to deflect his straight punch to our head.
As soon as you have deflected and made contact with your punch , bring your punch back into angle and drop your Fook Sau down on his arm , grabbing it .
As you do a short and sudden latch on his punching arm , throw a side kick with your heel up into his rib cage which will be open. Make sure you bring your spare hand across to guard the side of your head.
The way you would drill the first two techniques would be to have your partner positioned directly at the side of you out of punching range so that he has to step in. Start off slowly deflecting high and low punches in sequence then later on against random high or low punches. Make sure you get that side kick out as soon as he comes into range.
It goes with out saying that if in a real situation after you have completed these techniques from the side that you should square up a.s.a.p and be ready to follow up as needed.
