Hey guys, I'm new here. My name's Aaron and I'm from Ireland, studying under Sifu John O' Riordan.
What do you guys usually do when you can't meet up with anyone in your kwoon to do some light drills/form practise? Most of the guys who train with me are living a good bit away and I can only meet up with one guy once a week at best
Thanks
The training of the reflexes and the development of sensitivity are very important components of Wing Chun , but they are only one piece of the puzzle.
Its no good having great reflexes if you haven't got the stance and structure to back it up , and this is where a lot of solo training at home can help a great deal in maximising your progress.
The first thing you should be doing is practicing your Sil Lum Tao form regularly , performing it as correctly as you can.
Then you might want to devote some time to working on your stance , you can do this by standing stationary in your stance for a certain amount of time , say 10 mins , focus on relaxing your thighs.
While you are doing this it might be a good time to practice your punching , not too fast , concentrate on relaxing the shoulders , driving them out from the elbow , every punch hitting the same spot in the air.
Don't forget to practice your pivoting , have your hands up in the guard or both fists pulled back level with your chest .
Pivot slowly from side to side , going to 45 degrees each side , stay locked in at the waist and keep your hips forward.
Pivoting is a very important supplementary exercise for the stance as it helps you to find your center and also works on your balance.
Next thing you would want to do is work on your mobility whilst remaining in your stance , do this next exercise in your stance and with your guard up.
What I usually do is get my people to take a step forward , then take a step to the right , then take a step back , then take a step to the left.
Now we are back to where we started and we can see that our footsteps have moved to the four corners of an imaginary square.
(keep your body square on and facing the front)
Now just keep going around that square continuously to each corner in a clockwise direction for a few minutes , then reverse the direction and go counter clockwise for the same amount of time.
Then start moving randomly in different directions , forwards and back , side to side , diagonally forwards 45 degrees left and right.
This is pretty basic , but it will stand you in good stead for later on when you learn the more complicated stuff.
Focus on keeping your thighs relaxed and springy , back straight , body weight centered and no leaning.
Lastly you might want to get in front of a mirror and take any of the piercing up or cutting down motions from the form , check first that your wrist is on center , and just continously raise and lower your arm .
What we are working on specifically is the angle of the arm and making sure that we are maintaining that angle through out the raising and lowering motion of the arm.
We should also be striving for a relaxed rotation of the arm from the shoulder joint , raising the arm from the elbow and sinking it from the elbow.
There should be no involvement of the forearm at all , forget the forearm is even there , just think of the elbow.
