Newbie question - Does anyone have experiences in a self-defense situation with Wing Tsun

[krauser]

Does anyone have experiences in a self-defense situation where Wing Tsun was effective.
Wing Tsun is not very common in my country so information is sparse.
I was just wondering if you can share your experiences where you had to defend your self and where Wing Chun was effective or was not?

The local MA community here hates Wing Tsun mostly and favors BJJ - saying WC is not effective and does not work in the real world.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CuongNhuka]

I sort of do. It was really more of a restraining technique though. A girl was mad at me (why is unrelated), so she tried to punch me, I shifted and did a Fok Sao and grabbed her by the wrist. I shifted back and said 'now thats not nice', she swung again and this time I Bong Sao'ed. I ended up doing essentially the double Bong Sao technique from Chum Kiu.

Help any?

 

[almost a ghost]

Yes, Wing Chun works in the "real world" "the streets" and perhaps in outer space.

I've used it in a fight, I stuck to mine lines, managed to trap and lock the opponents left arm and opened up on his face/head with my right hand.

The thing to remember, with any art, is that there are a billion things that contribute to the effectiveness of the art. From the student, to the school to the situation the student is.

 

[qwksilver61]

Yes, a musclehead powered in...I borrowed and fed it back to him. I once was checked by someone who wanted to see how the legs worked,I put my hands behind my back....blocked every kick with my knee and shot right up the middle every time,I wanted to stick his knee to the floor but that would have been too cruel,I did end up butting his gut with my knee.Nothing too extreme or notable

 

[KamonGuy2]

I have had a few fights unfortunately.
I'm pleased to say that I have pulled off successful wing chun palm strikes,chops, punches etc. However, whether it was down to my attackers inexperience or pure luck is not known.

 

[gblnking]

Many years ago I was a devoted member of a “Crap Fu Do” school. I mean this place was so McDojo that I’m surprised that the instructor didn’t ask if we wanted fries and a shake at the end of each punch or kick instead of sounding of with a vigorous KIA. Anyways, after a couple of years I started getting disillusioned (yeah I know. It took me awhile to figure it out) and I found a Wing Chun school. The teacher was athletically gifted, he was quick strong, and precise. It would have been a great place to train but it was so disorganized. He would show up, teach us something, and then leave. Most times he just never was there and left the teaching up to the students. In the few months I trained there I learned various parts of the first two forms mixed in with each other, kicking drills, punching drills, and moving drills. At that time I was used to the regimented training from my other school that I decided to stick with that a while longer and I gave up on the Wing Chun.
Fast forward to a year or so later. I hadn’t been doing any martial art training in quite awhile being disappointed with my previous experiences. One night I was out at a bar with some friends and some guy decided he wanted to become a problem. He walked up to me and started trying to push his way around. He got in my face and I pushed him back He threw a left hook at me. Now at this point my years of training should have kicked in. I should have been doing some pretty awesome Mr. Myagi moves and some killer Chuck Norris kicks, but what I did do was I turned as in Chum Kiu, Bong Soed his punch with my right arm and shot my fingers out as in Siu Nim Toa. My fingers stabbed him in the throat and effectively ended the fight. I want to point this out though. My bong soa wouldn’t be considered the best choice or aesthetically correct but it worked. I didn’t have complete control of the force at which my hand made contact with the guys’ throat and it could have been a lot worse had he been even a little bit closer.
But what gets me the most is the fact that even with years of dedicated training none of those techniques (lack of a better word) flowed from me in a reflex motion. It was the couple of months of unorganized training from Wing Chun.

 

[profesormental]

Greetings.

I've had to use my skills fortunately and unfortunately.

Interestingly enough, Wing Chun doesn't work in the "real" world of SPORTS. It works real well in self defense though... and again, it depends on the individual instructor's approach. Also, against a trained martial artists, it would not be self defense, it would be a duel... which does have different strategies and tactics.

I was fortunate that my Sifu and Si Gung are NY guys that practiced the Wing Chun not only against Wing Chun attacks, but against "street" attack scenarios. Adding to that nice aggressive Chi Sao training and lots of San Da, I guess we were pretty prepared.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Hope that helps.

Juan M. Mercado

 

[krauser]

Now I am posting a reply to my own thread as about 6 moths after I started training I had to use Wing Chun for self defense.
And it worked like a charm.
I was lucky to avoid any punching, but i used everything that my instructor tought me about the psychology of self defense and escapes from holds to staying relaxed.
Great art for self defense on the street - in the rain and when cornered.

 

[mook jong man]

I side slashed a drunk guy in the mouth that ran up behind me and grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to turn me around. I was lucky i wasn't drunk too otherwise i might have got him in the throat and he'd be dead and i'd be doing time in the big house.

No matter what Wing Chun lineage you come from , or other martial art for that matter if you don't train against realistic street style attacks in a aggressive manner then it won't be there for you when you need it .

If it doesn't work for you and you lose , then it wasn't the art that lost , it was you that lost because you did'nt train in a realistic fashion.

 

[dungeonworks]

Does anyone have experiences in a self-defense situation where Wing Tsun was effective.
Wing Tsun is not very common in my country so information is sparse.
I was just wondering if you can share your experiences where you had to defend your self and where Wing Chun was effective or was not?

The local MA community here hates Wing Tsun mostly and favors BJJ - saying WC is not effective and does not work in the real world.

Thanks in advance.

BJJ is a good art too, but in a streetfight, but I would much rather have WC/WT/VT/EBMAS any day on the street. Honestly, if you can, do both arts and see what fits you. There are things you will see in BJJ that will give you insight of where WC could help against such fighters. I am too new at WC to pull much off from it at this time, but I have used Koeikan Karate in a few altercations with good success. Upon reflection of them, I could see where WC could have been much better if I was at a higher level such as that of my Sifu's.....no doubt in my mind.

The more I get into my WC training, the more I assume the WC naysayer's are just being ignorant of what they do not understand. WC from my begginner level understanding and opinion is not an art that will give you instantaneous results or techniques such as karate, BJJ, or even boxing will. In those arts, you learn a catalog of techniques that apply to many situations. In Wing Chun, you learn techniques that are supposed to come reflexively based on your sensitively built from the training designed to ingrain your reactions based on what your opponent gives you. With that, there is a timeframe exclusive to each practitioner as to how fast (or slow) that happens.

Those that dis the art of Wing Chun:

A) Never trained in the art

B) Trained for a short period of time and never became adept in it, therefore discarding it as junk...be it bad instruction or lack of perseverance with a good instructor.

C) Echoing someone else's opinion of the art since it is not widely used in nor designed for sport fighting, namely MMA/UFC type competition. Krav Maga gets this to a lesser degree in some people's opinions I have heard too. Neither are conducive to the rules of fight sports in their pure forms, and this is not to say that cannot be modified and supplemented to do so.

 

[brocklee]

Many years ago I was a devoted member of a “Crap Fu Do” school. I mean this place was so McDojo that I’m surprised that the instructor didn’t ask if we wanted fries and a shake at the end of each punch or kick instead of sounding of with a vigorous KIA. Anyways, after a couple of years I started getting disillusioned (yeah I know. It took me awhile to figure it out) and I found a Wing Chun school. The teacher was athletically gifted, he was quick strong, and precise. It would have been a great place to train but it was so disorganized. He would show up, teach us something, and then leave. Most times he just never was there and left the teaching up to the students. In the few months I trained there I learned various parts of the first two forms mixed in with each other, kicking drills, punching drills, and moving drills. At that time I was used to the regimented training from my other school that I decided to stick with that a while longer and I gave up on the Wing Chun.
Fast forward to a year or so later. I hadn’t been doing any martial art training in quite awhile being disappointed with my previous experiences. One night I was out at a bar with some friends and some guy decided he wanted to become a problem. He walked up to me and started trying to push his way around. He got in my face and I pushed him back He threw a left hook at me. Now at this point my years of training should have kicked in. I should have been doing some pretty awesome Mr. Myagi moves and some killer Chuck Norris kicks, but what I did do was I turned as in Chum Kiu, Bong Soed his punch with my right arm and shot my fingers out as in Siu Nim Toa. My fingers stabbed him in the throat and effectively ended the fight. I want to point this out though. My bong soa wouldn’t be considered the best choice or aesthetically correct but it worked. I didn’t have complete control of the force at which my hand made contact with the guys’ throat and it could have been a lot worse had he been even a little bit closer.
But what gets me the most is the fact that even with years of dedicated training none of those techniques (lack of a better word) flowed from me in a reflex motion. It was the couple of months of unorganized training from Wing Chun.

In order to bong into a fight, you first need to create a bridge or else it ends up being more of a karate type block. lol chuck norris

 

[profesormental]

Greetings.

Now I am posting a reply to my own thread as about 6 moths after I started training I had to use Wing Chun for self defense.
And it worked like a charm.
I was lucky to avoid any punching, but i used everything that my instructor tought me about the psychology of self defense and escapes from holds to staying relaxed.
Great art for self defense on the street - in the rain and when cornered.

Mr. krauser;

I am glad that you are safe and that you have the best convincer there is to answer your question: your own real experience.

So now, if anyone questions or asks about the effectiveness of Wing Chun training, you have undeniable proof of it's effectiveness: yo're alive and well.

It is the ultimate phrase to naysayers:

"Look dude, I'm alive because of my training in Wing Chun and the effort I have put into it. Be respectful and if you have stories of the effectiveness of your training, share them with me! I'm happy that your training worked for you and I commend you on your effort and training to better yourself...

but if you are gonna start disin' the training and dedication and material that saved my life and that of countless others, I respectfully request that you S T F U and talk about something else! Is that fair?"

You can queste me on that. Hope it helps. Again I'm glad that you are safe.

Sincerely,

Juan M. Mercado

 

[qwksilver61]

Hello everyone......Geezer may be able to help me with this one,or someone who practices EBMAS Wing Tzun.....people who strictly train for fighting get a different set of rules,If you do not believe this ask Sifu Emin or anyone who trains as a fighter and not just for practical self defense. As
Sifu Emin said to me;"if you want to train to fight,I will expect much more of you!" anybody else?

 

[krauser]

Thank you all for your feedback.
I started training for the exercise it gives me, but found my passion it the art and have not missed more than 2 training lessons in the 6 months training, 3 days a week.
And I known this is just the beginning of the road.
Cheers.

 

[brocklee]

Hello everyone......Geezer may be able to help me with this one,or someone who practices EBMAS Wing Tzun.....people who strictly train for fighting get a different set of rules,If you do not believe this ask Sifu Emin or anyone who trains as a fighter and not just for practical self defense. As
Sifu Emin said to me;"if you want to train to fight,I will expect much more of you!" anybody else?

Much more out of you? or Much more out of you compared to the rest of the students?

It makes sense. You wouldn't really expect the same determination out of a hobby boxer as you would a champion boxer. Not only would you have to know more....you'd have to train and cover a lot more in much less time to keep fresh on all the moves. I believe the difference between a fighter and a person trained in a self defense is the fighter is always expecting to get into a fight, while the trained person knows how to...they'd rather use it minimally and would probably prefer to avoid confrontation when possible. The fighter would like to meet someone that gives him a run for his money and the other guy hopes the perp is either drunk or very untrained.

 

[qwksilver61]

Don't forget,the rules for ring fighting are different.Stamina is always a good idea....