As for JowGaWolf movie, was his intention known to you in advance, as in training takedown? Or are you always trying to keep such a horse stance?
I told someone that I wouldn't talk about my fighting style so I will try to frame my answer in a way that is pretty much universal for any Traditional Chinese Martial Art which would include Wing Chun.
was his intention known to you in advance, as in training takedown? The short answer is no. I've only trained using this technique maybe 2 or 3 times total in the same day. 2 of those times consisted of me getting a feel for what I need to do. The 3 time consisted of me asking my Sifu to apply the technique to me. I needed to understand where he was applying the pressure and how he was turning the opponent. So when he did the technique on me I gained a better understanding of what I should do.
When I fight I heavily rely on a lot of sensing. It's difficult to explain but I know for a fact that Wing Chun has it in some of their exercises that serve the same purpose as Tai Chi Push hands. So if you have practiced any of those then you'll have a better idea of what I mean when I say. "When if feel certain pressures on my arm I can sense where that person is weak, what that person is trying to position themselves to do, and how to address it. I know this may seem like the "fake kung fu stuff" to others but that's what happened in that video.
In that particular video I had no idea that he was going to shoot on me.
My first line of defense was to take a stance that would allow me to deal with grappling. Cat stance (which is similar to one of the Wing Chun stances) is no good for grappling. It's good for other things but not for grappling. Here's the secret to stances that I would recommend Traditional Chinese Martial artists to at least give some thought to especially Wing Chun practitioners. This is something that I learned on my own "You can only retreat as far as your rear leg." It doesn't matter what style of fighting a person does this is going to hold true for almost every fighting style no matter the fighting system. Now for Wing Chun practitioners, when you are in your stance see how far you can move backward without first lifting that rear foot. The reason I want you do this is so that you can understand the true distance of your possible retreat when a shoot comes in. Having to lift that rear foot first uses valuable time that could be use to get out of the way. Just give it some thought or even try it out. I'm only suggesting this as a way to understand your current fighting stances. With that said. My first line of defense was my stance.
My second line of defense is the sensing part. This training involves 2 things. The first part is being connected to your opponent and being able to read movement through touch. This is something that Wing Chun does. The 2nd part of sensing is you have to know how it feels when someone shoots on you. For this was the simple part. My Sifu first showed the technique and how it works. Then the students took turns practicing it on each other where one student would simulate the shoot and the other student would become familiar with how to turn. While learning how to turn our body we become aware of how it feels to our arms. So when someone shoots, that similar pressure on arms (sensing) is what triggers the technique. So for me, when shoots feel a certain way on my arm I know what to do based on how it feels.
It wasn't my plan to turn him that way. I wasn't sitting there thinking " if he does this then I'll do this technique." It's more like, "The pressure on my arms feels like this technique so I'll do that technique." In the video I'm actually about to hit him with a hook right before he drops under me. The moment he did that the pressure against my arm made me aware that he was going for the take down.
Or are you always trying to keep such a horse stance?
I move in and out of stances, but if I think someone will try to grapple then I will stick to the more solid horse stance. The height of my stance depends on how tall my opponent is. If I'm not sure about my opponent then I'll take a low horse stance for safety precautions until I can figure if the guy is a grappling threat. Sometimes you can expose a grappler by raising your stance just high enough to look like a good opportunity to for a take down. If they are a grappler then their eyes will light up and you'll feel them focusing on your lower body instead of trying to knock your head off.
Thanks
