I see several in various martial arts magazines, but is there any one that is a stand out, must have? I'm in a Wing Chun deprived area, so video lessons are my only option at the moment.
The subscriber content for the June issue of The Martialist includes an article by Randall "Fury Dragon" Wark, who is himself learning Wing Chun long distance. He moderates a martial art forum here and might be able to help you directly, if you shoot him an e-mail.
Cant say of whos tapes would be better then the others. But can say learning wing chun from video isnt recommended. Chi sao takes 2, and preferably you would be touching hands with someone more skilled at it then you, like a good sifu. I think many things in wing chun are better felt then shown. Also many applications and more importnaly sparring should be a big part of it. But dont HAVE to have a wing chun sifu to spar. and always good to spar outsid eyour kwoon/style against high and lower skilled partners. But nothing like sparring a good teacher to pick up whats what with anything. But good luck anyway, I know Rnady williams have a set, also augusting fong with is randy's sifu i believe.
wing chun is an art that NEEDS to be learned with partners. It was not meant to be done by learning a form and then go in and spar.
BUT...........
if you have no other choice then video's can help you get the basic knowledge that can save you time when you meet with a qualified WC instructor. But most important........ YOU MUST do this with a partner and then top it off with taking a trip... as close as possible to work with a WC instructor.
When I was learning we had a WC school in my town.... but to be honest... it was horrible. So I traveled almost 100 miles away three days a week to train with a more qualified teacher. Since then the distance between my sifu and myself has grown to almost 400 miles now..... but it doesn't stop me from traveling to see him.... or anyone else for that matter.
If you want it bad enough.... you'll do whatever it takes to get it.
I used to practice wing chun until I commenced studying FMA. Having trained with a number of teachers through the years I think i have a good idea of the system.
Go for the tapes of Sifu Randy Williams. He has tapes available through Unique Publicationsd and also ones available in Europe whic are not the same tapes. He offers indepth explainations on the forms and oher aspects of the system. You will not be disappointed.
What did you find out Kaith?
<is also in a Wing chun deprived area, but mine has one school but i dont have time through the week to attend and im not paying $50 an hour for private weekend lessions.
Im a believer in them IF you have had some formal training in the past. I just read and spar and its working for me. The critics also say you cant learn "difficult" arts from books/videos. Yes you can, it takes just as much dedication to read or watch that video and "mimic" what you see, because you are basically mimicing what the instructor is doing at a dojo anyway. Wing Chun, if you want to traditionally chi sao, you almost have to have a WC student. I do a mod. version of chi sao. You have to touch just as in the traditional, but any technique is ok to use. We use full out spar gear with the JKD open finger gloves. So i guess it more like in fighting sparring than chi sao, but trapping is still used often (atleast by me).
So people say i cant call myself a martial artist because i havent had "real training" in a number of years. To those people i say..............fine im a Martialist then.