What Made You Switch?

[Yeti]

Wondering if anyone left a different martial art to start Wing Chun, and then never looked back.

If so, what was your original art, why did you leave it and why did you stay with Wing Chun?

 

[tellner]

With me it was kinda the opposite, so I'll just keep quiet

 

[Yeti]

With me it was kinda the opposite, so I'll just keep quiet

No deal - Spill it! This question works both ways. I'm interested in your thoughts.

 

[tellner]

I had left my then-school because of a training injury that was the result of stupid negiligence on their part. My wife was with a JKD teacher (Rick Faye) who had an extensive Wing Chun background. I started training with a local teacher and was enjoying it well enough.

A couple things bugged me. First was the constant refrain that it was unbeatable as long as your Wing Chun was good enough. Second, my legs couldn't physically do the goat-riding stance. My feet naturally point out at about 90 degrees.

After my wife moved back to the West Coast I found a teacher in another system who was simply head and shoulders above everyone else within a day's drive. He could have been teaching just about anything and I would have dropped what I was doing to train with him.

 

[Yeti]

Wow.
Sounds like you had a bad instructor for sure.
Glad you found a way to keep training though - no matter the style.

 

[Carol]

Wow.
Sounds like you had a bad instructor for sure.
Glad you found a way to keep training though - no matter the style.

Indeed. That was kind of stunning to read. I mean...I certainly have my opinions about training and what I like but an "unbeatable" mantra would get to me as well.

That being said, my school also teaches Wing Chun, and I've watched my teacher just flow from Kali to Silat to Wing Chun and it looks so beautiful the way he does it. I don't train in it myself...I work nights which makes training darn near impossible...but if/when my work schedule changes in the future, I'd love to give WC a try.

 

[EternalSpringtime]

The beauty of Wing Chun lies upon the concept. It's not the idea of being unbeatable, but I think that Wing Chun really neglects the many moves step to perform a single complete attack. I mean that you can do a fast thing that replaces a multi-step technique using the same concepts. For actual combat, it's one of the best. The bad thing in these days is the marketing strategies that some instructors do to gain money. Such as "I am the best fighter". These so-called masters gives the bad reputation by boasting instead of practise and apply.

 

[Si-Je]

My old art failed me horribly, and at a time where I truely needed it to save my life and limb. I was happy enough to throw it away and never look back. I was ready to try something totally different.
I had wanted to take Wing Chun over ten years ago, and I knew that the next art I took would either be WC, Penjak Silat, or Krav Maga. I just found a WC teacher first, much to my delight as WC was my first choice.

 

[Changhfy]

My first art was Tae Kwon Do like alot of people.(you can probably imagine why I switched) It had great workout capabilities, but when I seen the methodology in Wing Chun. It was awe inspiring

TKD was an awesome system but it just wasnt what I was looking for(I trained in TKD for 8 years and about half way through, I found Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Arts in general and fell in love)

Ive studied quite a few Japanese, Korean and Chinese systems but the Chinese systems was truly what intriqued me.

So now Ive trained in Ip Man Ving Tsun, Chi Sim Weng Chun and Hung Fa Yi Wing Chun Kuen and found tremendous attributes in each.


take care,
Zach

 

[Si-Je]

Aikido would be way rad, but can't find a place here.
I think it would make sensitivity eaiser having a background in Aikido.
Ask Segal. lol!
Anyways. My hubbie has been focusing more on my sensitivity training lately. We haven't really worked on it until now that's why I started this thread. Wanted to throw around ideas with folks and points of view.
The other guy that teaches Wing Chun in our area focuses largely on flow drills. We teach the sensitivity.
Now that we've been focusing on sensitivity, I'm finding that we've been really doing it the entire time. It just wasn't really brought to my attention that that's what it was we were training. Seems like I just need to build my confidence in my ability to do the sensitivity. I was thinking like it was a totally new thing, when I've been training it for over three years now anyways.

 

[bcbernam777]

Aikido would be way rad, but can't find a place here.
I think it would make sensitivity eaiser having a background in Aikido.
Ask Segal. lol!
Anyways. My hubbie has been focusing more on my sensitivity training lately. We haven't really worked on it until now that's why I started this thread. Wanted to throw around ideas with folks and points of view.
The other guy that teaches Wing Chun in our area focuses largely on flow drills. We teach the sensitivity.
Now that we've been focusing on sensitivity, I'm finding that we've been really doing it the entire time. It just wasn't really brought to my attention that that's what it was we were training. Seems like I just need to build my confidence in my ability to do the sensitivity. I was thinking like it was a totally new thing, when I've been training it for over three years now anyways.

Akido has a markedly different and far more static energy than Wing Chun

 

[Si-Je]

I don't know how 'static' the energy is with Aikido. Haven't trained it. But they seem to flow the other persons energy and re-direct them where they wish pretty well.
Comparing it to wing chun, only in that similarity.

 

[Mariachi Joe]

I'm actually considering making the jump to Wing Chun. I currently train in Shaolin Kempo Karate.

 

[british12]

I had first started off training in Wing Chun and was really enjoying it but then because of work I couldnt commit to 2 nights a week and had to stop......there was this JKD place that was open 6 nights a week until 10pm.........I could go along whenever I wanted to, so I decided to join.......now I did not have a problem with the art but I definetly had a problem with teh way the academy were teaching it.................it was a lot more expensive than Wing Chun and not as good.........I did not feel my stamina improving in the slightest....................it was a terrible shame as I had convinced myself that it was going to be good........................I was given a yellow belt after completing six weeks but I did not feel it was deserved as I had learnt little.....................I wanted to join another club and was looking at various places.........as it so happened one day I bumped into my old Wing Chun instructor.......it was ironic, I spoke to him and told him I was thinking of coming back but will only be able to do one class per week as opposed to two..........he was ok with this and told me to come back.........I did and havent looked back..............my Wing Chun class once a week is a lot better than this JKD club I could go to for 6 ights a week........and I must stress that its the acedemy I had a problem with not the art...................I feel that This Wing Chun class helps with my stamina and also I learn a lot more.........I can definetly feel my muscles bulging at the end of the class and tahts no joke, lol.

 

[gblnking]

My first experience with Wing Chun was in the Army. I was an infantryman attached to a special operations group as a rifle platoon support. I was witness to 2 occasions when a Special Ops soldier used what I would later find out to be a variation of Wing Chun. After the service I moved back to my home state and joined a TDK style school and was sooooo disappointed in the training. While browsing the phone book I found a Wing Chun school. At first it was a good school. It was similar to what I had seen in the service, it was aggressive and fun. But soon the teacher started missing a class here and there. Eventually he just stopped showing up all together. So I bounced around various arts (mainly TKD and TKD style because that’s all there is in my area) About 10 years later I found a new WC school. The new school’s style had very little similarities in what I witnessed in the Army and in what I trained at the other school. It was a much more “soft” style. There was almost no aggressiveness, virtually no leg work (moving or kicking) and absolutely no technique. It actually became boring.
I work in the manufacturing industry. There is a very fine line between quantity and quality. While trying to maintain the highest degree of quality you still have to ship out to the customer the product that they paid for in a timely manner. I feel this is the same. While trying to teach the highest level of quality that he (my teacher) could he lost something in Wing Chun that I know (because I’ve seen it in action in a real-world situation) is there. It’s an aggressive fighting style. After a disastrous seminar with the founder of the particular style who turned out to be a thug and a bully I moved on to a Muay Thai/BJJ school. The WC school has closed down. I’ve come to the conclusion that WC unto itself isn’t a stand-alone style but more of an addition too. That’s why I believe that so many WC schools teach other things along with it. I.E. Kali, Silat. I find that to this day I still use it’s concepts in my current training. If a school opened up in my area again I would still like to take a few classes a month as an addition to my current training

 

[Si-Je]

check out our website. Hope we're in your area. My husband was Force Recon, and teaches the style your looking for. Agressive, we kick, punch and deflect simoltaneously, and he incorporated the anti-grappling.
http://www.pcmaa.4t.com

 

[Yeti]

I'm actually considering making the jump to Wing Chun. I currently train in Shaolin Kempo Karate.

What's behind the consideration to switch?

 

[Taijiman]

I just took my first class last night. Nothing really dramatic in why I started with Wing Chun, just a combination of a lack of transportation to my main teacher, and too much stress from doing nothing but work and school for the last two years. I thought taking part in a group class starting from the begining in something different would be fun I'm not leaving my old material behind though (chang quan and taiji quan), I still practice that on my own.

 

[Nyrotic]

Hmm, well I'm currently in the process of switching from Shaolin-do Kung Fu to Wing Chun. I guess that Wing Chun, with it's focus on its 3 forms as opposed to learning 900+ forms without really 'learning' them, just appealed to me a lot more. I'm currently learning both arts right now, but eventually plan to switch to WC primarily in the next few months...

...More on this story when we return:uhyeah:

 

[EternalSpringtime]

Hmm, well I'm currently in the process of switching from Shaolin-do Kung Fu to Wing Chun. I guess that Wing Chun, with it's focus on its 3 forms as opposed to learning 900+ forms without really 'learning' them, just appealed to me a lot more. I'm currently learning both arts right now, but eventually plan to switch to WC primarily in the next few months...

...More on this story when we return:uhyeah:

The concept is simplicity, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Human beings are born with basic instincts to react naturally. This natural instinct gets less as we grow and start to use our mind to do things. Wing Chun will depend on the mind when trying to know how a certain concept is used in combat, but when it comes to fighting, thinking what to do is not always the best choice in handling difficulties in the street. It needs lots patience and dedication to be simple and direct. Wish you luck.