The trouble with my Wing Chun

[Kung Fu Wang]

Have a chat to your local gym. Even wrestle at an open mat or something. Suss out the guys so you don't get bashed.

This remind me an old saying said that a Taiji guy will spend 10 years inside their Taiji door without stepping out. In modern time, you won't find any swimmer who will spend 10 years on dry land without getting into water.

To learn MA in your MA school and test what you have learned in local MMA gym is the best approach. If you have any problem in MMA gym, your teacher can help you to solve it. When you use this approach, you will not hear your students say, "My style doesn't use hook punch and roundhouse kick". Even if you don't teach hook punch and roundhouse kick, they will pick it up in MMA gym anyway.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I would argue that a MA is not the same as its training methods (NOTE: there are others who would disagree with that statement). A MA can't even walk you to the door. It's the methods used to train in that art that can get you to the door - or can leave you somewhere where you can't yet quite see the door, and don't really know how to get that last mile.

Well put! I really like the way you said that.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

So what I'm hearing is that it does'nt matter where I get my training, but how I actually apply it. So perhaps I should just pick one discipline and learn it like the back of my hand. And then, when I feel I have learned a lot, then incorporate sparring into it.

I want to say that it DOES matter where and with whom you train. Remember that sparring is NOT a fight! Most people, including the vast majority of MA people, have never and will never be in an actual street fight that goes to the end. I don’t recommend you go looking for that, as you may find it. Find a place and style that will give you something useful as well as learning to be able to fight. Try not to worry about effective techniques at first. Focus on good foundations of balance, posture, coordination, and most of all have fun! If you aren’t enjoying your training you will quit anyway. Anyone With 5 years or more will tell you that being sore all the time and missing out on fun stuff with non MA friends and family is a constant sacrifice that no one makes unless they really enjoy it. The people you train with will be like family, except in MA you choose the family you join. Choose them wisely, You will spend a lot more time training with them than you will fighting.