# What Made You Switch?



## Yeti (Jan 29, 2007)

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?


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## tellner (Jan 29, 2007)

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


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## Yeti (Jan 30, 2007)

tellner said:


> 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.


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## tellner (Jan 31, 2007)

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.


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## Yeti (Jan 31, 2007)

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


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## Carol (Jan 31, 2007)

Yeti said:


> 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.


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## EternalSpringtime (Jan 31, 2007)

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.


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## Si-Je (Feb 6, 2007)

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.


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## Changhfy (Feb 15, 2007)

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


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## Si-Je (Feb 16, 2007)

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.


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## bcbernam777 (Feb 17, 2007)

Si-Je said:


> 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.
> ...


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


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## Si-Je (Feb 27, 2007)

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.


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## Mariachi Joe (Feb 27, 2007)

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


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## british12 (Feb 28, 2007)

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.


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## gblnking (Mar 2, 2007)

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


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## Si-Je (Mar 4, 2007)

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


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## Yeti (Mar 6, 2007)

Mariachi Joe said:


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


What's behind the consideration to switch?


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## Taijiman (Mar 27, 2007)

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.


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## Nyrotic (Apr 27, 2007)

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:


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## EternalSpringtime (Apr 28, 2007)

Nyrotic said:


> 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.


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## Nobody (May 8, 2007)

I still do my old arts of Hsing Yi, Bagua, Taichi just added wing chung.  To say it changed my overall approach to each of the others, how i simplify the movements in like Bagua now is different, though it has more of a Shui Jow style for its throws than Wing Chung.  Hsing Yi an Wing Chung physically feel like the very same art when i do them.  I do not know which had influence on which but it is very aperant they had been connected somehow.  Hsing Yi stance in essence the same stances as Wing Chung, the axe effect or metal in Hsing Yi the same.  There must have been alot that crossed over way back when between them.


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## larry (May 8, 2007)

In all martial arts you use the mind to learn the techniques.  As you develop in practice, the body begins to instinctively know and automatically react without first thinking.  That is the first goal.  I personally switched from other interests to wing chun after seeing it used to easily beat an opponent in a fight.  But meeting his teacher,  and then becoming his si-dai in that family,  was what changed my life.  A good teacher and "family" are almost more important than the art you are learning.  When you feel that you belong where you are,  then stay.  LL


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## Nobody (May 11, 2007)

larry said:
			
		

> A good teacher and "family" are almost more important than the art you are learning. When you feel that you belong where you are, then stay. LL


 
Agree that is it exactly, even with the some 500 hundred mile between me an the people i use to train with they are going to always be family.


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## Zenaphobe (May 20, 2007)

I did a couple years of Hung Gar and felt like it was more "art" than "martial" the way the sifu was teaching it. 

I learned the first two hand forms Gung Gee Bok Fu Kuen and Fu Hok Suen Yen Kuen and the staff and broad sword forms, along with a couple two person drills and felt like I was being drowned in learning movments but not in application or fighting principals.

I really became discouraged when the Si Gung came to the school and began correcting the things we had been taught.  I figured that if my Sifu couldn't remember all these forms correctly, then how will I ever do it.

Aside from that, there were the continual demonstrations and lion dancing we were encouraged to participate in.  I am not much of an exibitionist and these were just sources of immense stress for me.

So, I left there and began looking around for another school and didn't want was being offered in the area, like Tae Kwan Do and Karate.  I tried out a Systema Russian MA school, but they were too pricey for my budget.

After a lot waiting and looking I fianally came across a Wing Tsun teacher in this area and tried a sample class today.

I believe this is the type of system that I have been looking for and I plan to dedicate my self to mastering it.

Zen


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## tenth1 (May 30, 2007)

i started training aikido about 4 years ago but time and money became difficult to find so i stopped training, then i started to get fat and out of shape so looked for a good school of ma to train in, happily i found a wing chun teacher practicly on my doorstep and began training with him, that was six months ago and i am loving its concepts and hard training and really feel that it is more easily applicable than a lot of other things i have trained in. in short wing chun has been the best thing that ever happened to me!!


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## roninsensei (May 30, 2007)

Ive been doing Martial artd for going on thirty years now. I started with kempo then jujutsu then Aikido then Daito ryu, but my punching and kicking was alway sub par so a friend recomended wing chun. My punching and kicking have dramatically improved I trained for three years in wing chun but it is not the end all. Aikido is O.K. but if your interested I would look for a yoshinkan school, Aikikai tends to be to hippie in the U.S.


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## Kensai (Jun 5, 2007)

I'd trained in Karate as a child, for a few years, then later on in my late teens, I spent several years doing ju-jitsu. I just felt that I was learning very robotic movements, some of which I felt were too complex to condition into my automatic reflexes. I'd heard about Wing Chun, and its simplicity, and decided upon checking it out.

My class, whereby admittedly I've not trained now in over 8 months, my work shifts have changed, and being a dad to a new born has kicked the crud out of my energy levels, I'm getting to the point where I can go back. For me, the simplicity, the aggression and directness of it, combined with a very hard edged approach to training (occassional bare knuckle, full speed training, contact made, get on with it approach). Combined within a 2 hour class, we'd do around 20 minutes of nasty aerobic, basic fitness building work. It's truly amazing how many sloooow, good form press-ups you can fit in, along with stomach crunches, running, and chain punches you can do in that short period of time, just to get you warmed up for the rest of the class. You can see why I've not had the energy/inclination to go. There's only so many sleepless nights you can have before you're totally drained. 

I also felt much more at home with the CMA too. They have a bad press sometimes for a variety of reasons, but I found the informal training approach combined with obvious results too much to ignore. For me, having done other arts originating from a certain island off the coast of mainland China, I found the bowing constantly and silent atmosphere of the training hall to be offputting, so that was another reason why I changed over. I agree to an extent that WC is something that would generally be the kind of art/system to complement another. And for that reason, I'm hoping to start sun style tai chi very soon. Just my tuppence.


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