# sparring vs chi sau



## spatulahunter (Sep 20, 2004)

what do you do more spar or play chi sau?
 I do little sparring but lots of chi sau . Not that i think sparring is bad, i just wanna learn all 3 forms so i know all of the hand movements before i start doing alot of sparring. I feel as if i started doing alot of sparring right now i would use more speed and strength then i would technique. Where in chi sau i can move slower and explore with my partner what we need to do to improve ourselves.
:boxing:


----------



## ed-swckf (Sep 21, 2004)

spatulahunter said:
			
		

> what do you do more spar or play chi sau?
> I do little sparring but lots of chi sau . Not that i think sparring is bad, i just wanna learn all 3 forms so i know all of the hand movements before i start doing alot of sparring. I feel as if i started doing alot of sparring right now i would use more speed and strength then i would technique. Where in chi sau i can move slower and explore with my partner what we need to do to improve ourselves.
> :boxing:


recently i have been doing a lot of gor sau, i do spar also but i always come back to dok sau, or at least a leisurely paced chi sau.  I think when you get to bui tze a healthy ammount of sparing is good as you are dealing with recovery and being off the line.  but if you then go onto the wooden dummy form that all feeds directly back into chi sau.  Sparing is something you'll do for a period and the exposure is great, it doesn't however have the same merits as chi sau.   chi sau is something you'll always come back to and always be a large part of your training in wing chun, so i would so i do more chi sau and will always do more chi sau than i do sparring.


----------



## spatulahunter (Sep 21, 2004)

ed-swckf said:
			
		

> I think when you get to bui tze a healthy ammount of sparing is good as you are dealing with recovery and being off the line.


im not quite there yet, im still working on getting good at chum kiu, although biu looks to be an amazing form and im excited to learn it eventually


----------



## ed-swckf (Sep 22, 2004)

spatulahunter said:
			
		

> im not quite there yet, im still working on getting good at chum kiu, although biu looks to be an amazing form and im excited to learn it eventually


well its great for recovery and will certainly feed back into your chum kui and your sui nim tao, but i remember reading and often hearing this:  If your sui nim tao and chum kui are done correctly you will never need bui tze,  of course you have to account for human error and the like and bui tze will help cover all bases.


----------



## spatulahunter (Sep 24, 2004)

ed-swckf said:
			
		

> well its great for recovery and will certainly feed back into your chum kui and your sui nim tao, but i remember reading and often hearing this:  If your sui nim tao and chum kui are done correctly you will never need bui tze,  of course you have to account for human error and the like and bui tze will help cover all bases.



ive heard that as well, ive also heard that some of the very great wing chun practitioners will spend hours on their sui lim tao.


----------



## ed-swckf (Sep 24, 2004)

spatulahunter said:
			
		

> ive heard that as well, ive also heard that some of the very great wing chun practitioners will spend hours on their sui lim tao.


i would hope all do, i know i train sui nim tao very very hard as well as the other forms.


----------



## spatulahunter (Sep 25, 2004)

ed-swckf said:
			
		

> i would hope all do, i know i train sui nim tao very very hard as well as the other forms.



i mean hours going through it once, very slow slow movements to make sure its all perfect


----------



## ed-swckf (Sep 25, 2004)

spatulahunter said:
			
		

> i mean hours going through it once, very slow slow movements to make sure its all perfect


yeah i know thats what you meant, isn't that what everyone trains to do in there first year?  I mean in the first year our club looks towards getting you doing the form for 30 mins to an hour as well as single leg.


----------



## spatulahunter (Sep 26, 2004)

ed-swckf said:
			
		

> yeah i know thats what you meant, isn't that what everyone trains to do in there first year?  I mean in the first year our club looks towards getting you doing the form for 30 mins to an hour as well as single leg.



Well that is sorta what we do, in class we go through the form in a matter of minutes so the teacher has time to see what us students are doing but we are encouraged to do it at home in  long slow sets


----------



## ed-swckf (Sep 26, 2004)

spatulahunter said:
			
		

> Well that is sorta what we do, in class we go through the form in a matter of minutes so the teacher has time to see what us students are doing but we are encouraged to do it at home in long slow sets


good stuff, yeah we will do the form at club speed for the most part but then once in a while out of the blus will come a long session on form so  if you haven't been training at home you will really suffer in class.


----------



## brothershaw (Oct 31, 2004)

I would say you should probably spend 30% of the amount of time spent on chi sau on sparring. Chi sau is great, and a great exercise but on the odd chance you wind up in a fight it will be closer to sparring than to chi sau unless you get lucky and fight another wing chun guy who wants to settle it with chi sau, lol. 
  Seriusly though in a fight someone will come at you with speed and energy more similiar to a sparring situation so a good amount of time should be devoted to it.


----------



## Flash25 (Oct 31, 2004)

Keep in mind the purpose of both training methods. Chi-sau helps you develop the feeling, and reactions necessary to apply all of your techniques. 

Sparring gets you used to the engagement. Your timing and ability to close the distance between you and your opponent, with control, are honed here.

To put it all in perspective, it takes hours and hours of chi-sau training just to prepare yourself for the split-second you and your opponent make contact. If you have trained your chi-sau correctly, you will react accordingly.

My advice would be to work on your chi-sau daily, or as often as possible, and spar a couple time a week to see exactly how well you can apply your chi-sau reactions in a practical setting.


----------



## Flash25 (Oct 31, 2004)

One note on the Biu-Tze. In Leung Ting Wing Tsun the Biu-Tze requires a lot of control, and should not be attempted unless you have trained chi-sau for a while and are quite competant. Also remember that this form was originally a bit of a secret form and contains some very deadly techniques, that is no joke. People have been known to get hurt because they tried to use a Biu-Tze technique and did not have the proper control.


----------



## Hung Fa Moose (Oct 31, 2004)

Spatula, 

What are your goals/motives for your Wing Chun training? The answer to this will help guide your practices more directly, providing you with some focus.


----------

