Wing Chun at home

[Tnavarro]

Hi there,

There are no gimns near my home, and i want to start in wing chin do you some site/books/videos that can help starting training at home. Some place that shows pics of the sil lim tao forms and the other stages...

And who knows were to find the plans/schem to make a wooden dummy?

Is true that the real wooden dummy must have the arms in the same horizontal line?

Thanks for your time,
Tiago

 

[Katsu Jin Ken]

First off, you have to have an instructure. Dont try and learn at home, you'll just end up forming bad habits, and you could actually set yourself back if/when you get into a WC school. That being said, here are some plans for making a mook jong out of PVC pipe. Not indestructable but it holds up pretty well for the most part.



This is going to be simple and to the point. Questions?
Tools Needed:
*Power drill
*Speedbore 2000 1 1/4"
*Tape measure
*Sharpie marker
*razor
Materials:
(1)*5 foot length of PVC pipe with a diameter of 4" or 6" (hell, even 8" if you can find it.)
(1)*10 foot by 1 inch diameter length of PVC piping
(3)*3/4 inch by 24" steel pipe
(3)*3/4 inch pipe caps
(1)*Epoxy
(1)*Masking tape (Or if you want to be traditional, duct tape)
Construction:
First, you need to get some cardboard. Put it on top of your big piece of pvc piping and trace a circle around the diameter of the piping onto the cardboard. Cut out the circle then use masking tape to tape it on top of the big piece of PVC piping.
Now, you need to make a measuring tool. Take the masking tape, wrap it all the way around the big piece of PVC piping so that the ends overlap some. Now, take the razor and cut the ring of tape in half. Carefully peel the tape off of the PVC. Fold the tape in half. You now have a measuring instrument that is exactly one half of the circumference of the post.
OK, now you need to make a middle reference line on the cardboard circle. Whatever you want to be the front, put a dot with the marker there. Now, get out your masking tape measuring thingy and put one end at the dot, wrap it halfway around the post, and put another dot at the end of your masking tape measuring thingy. Get a ruler and make a straight line from one dot to the other. Next is to make a lines for the arms. Lay your tape measuring thingy flat and with your ruler, mark 3/4 inch from one end. Put that end up to the middle reference line on the cardboard on top of the big PVC post and make a dot where the end of the measurement that you made is. Do that to both sides of the middle reference line. Once you have done that, put one end of the tape on one of the dots, wrap it around the pipe and make another dot at the end of the tape. Draw a line from dot to dot. Repeat for the other dot that you made.
From the middle reference line, use a tape measure to measure down 27 and 1/8 inches. Make a dot, use your masking tape measuring thingy, wrap it around and make another dot. From the arm line to the left of the middle reference line, measure down 10 and 1/2 inches, make a dot, use tape, wrap around, make another dot. From the arm line to the right of the middle reference line measure down 12 inches, make a dot, use tape, wrap around, make another dot. Congratulations, you can now start drilling holes.
This is where the SpeedBor tool comes in. Most of the books that I have read recommend using a hole saw that is 1 and 1/4 inches in diameter. If you don't happen to own one of those, and then try and go out to buy one, you will be surprised at the cost. The SpeedBor is about a quarter of the cost of a hole saw and works just as well. It's commonly used to drill through plastic piping when you are running wiring through your house or other building. Anyway, get the SpeedBor (It costs around 3 bucks) and attach it to your electric drill or drill press. Now, lay the big PVC pipe flat on the ground or if you happen to have a workshop, put it on your bench in a clamp to keep it in place. Make sure that the place that you are going to drill is EXACTLY vertical. When you go to drill, make sure that your drill is EXACTLY perpendicular to the PVC pipe. Now, put the point of the SpeedBor on the dot that you made and drill through! Do that to each and every dot that you made. OK, now it's time to make the arms. Get one of the steel pipes and put a pipe cap on it. Slide the pipe through one of the holes until the pipe caps comes into contact with the PVC of the main post. Now, bend your elbow so your arm is at a ninety degree angle. Put your elbow on top the the steel "arm" right where the steel pipe and the PVC post meet. Where your wrist ends up being on the steel pipe, make a mark. Now, take the steel pipe out of the PVC post and get out the old hacksaw. If you have something that will cut steel better then a hacksaw, by all means use it. Using a hacksaw will take a decent amount of time and a lot of elbow grease (If you have kids, build some "character") Also, you will probably need to get another blade for your hacksaw once you finish cutting all three steel pipes because it really messes up the blade. I used a hacksaw and mine worked out fine. Most people have hacksaws (if you don't, they're cheap) but like I said, if you have something better to cut it with, use it. Now that I have the equipment issues out of the way, take the steel pipe that you made the mark on, take off the pipe cap and place it beside the other two "arms" (make sure that the ends are even beside each other) and make a mark on the other two pipes where you made the mark on the first pipe. Take your hacksaw or other cutting method and cut of the excess pipe.
Now, take one of the steel pipes, put the pipe cap back on and slide it through one of the holes until the pipe cap is stopped by the big PVC post. Carefully measure the distance between the end of the steel pipe and the big PVC post. Get the PVC pipe that you bought for the arms and measure off the measurement that you just took and do that three times so you have three sleeves for your three steel pipes. OK, get out the hacksaw again and cut the PVC pipe where you made the marks. It will much, much, much easier to cut this time around, I promise. Next, get the steel pipes and the duct tape. Remember, duct tape fixes everything. Wrap the duct tape around the steel pipe at the top, in the middle, and near the end of where the PVC sleeve ends. Wrap it thick enough that when you slide the PVC sleeve over the steel pipe, it is really snug. To all the guys out there: think of a tight pair of jeans on a woman with really nice legs and.... Well, lets just leave it at really nice legs. That's what you want to achieve with the duct tape on the steel pipe. To all the women reading this: think how good you look in a tight pair of jeans and achieve the same effect. See, I'm not a chauvinist pig after all! To find that point, wrap some tape on, slide on the PVC sleeve, if it is kind of difficult to get on, you have the right thickness. If the sleeve isn't tight on it, put more tape on it until it is. Do that to each arm.
Well, we have the right length of steel pipe, the sleeve is the right length and we have the pipe wrapped with enough duct tape to make the sleeve a tight fit. Time to get out the epoxy. Apply the epoxy on top of the duct tape then slide the PVC sleeve over the pipe/tape until the top of the sleeve is even with the top of the steel pipe. Do that to each arm.
Slide each of the arms through their holes and THEN screw the pipe caps onto the protruding ends. You now have a completed dummy.
If you want to pad the dummy, the best padding material that you can find is foam pipe insulation that plumbers use to insulate piping. To attach the foam, all you have to do is simply cut the foam to fit the area then wrap it with duct tape.
Mounting the dummy is really a personal thing. To make it easier to mount, put a piece of wood 2 by 4 inside the dummy's body and when you drill through the dummy, the screws will have something to screw into.
Look around on the internet to find different ideas on how to mount it.

 

[Katsu Jin Ken]

also, what city are you in?

 

[bart]

Hello,

If you study on your own, the chances are pretty good that you will miss most of the point of Wing Chun. There are several good instructors who have distance learning programs. You will have to make the trip to begin learning, but it will make all of the difference. The program usally involves you going and studying with them for a few days each year and then you working on what they give you with a study group. Wing Chun is a partner based style and you need other people to work out with. Solo training is just a small part of the whole. Really, I suggest seeking out a distance program. Emin Boztepe, William Cheung, Leung Ting, and others have had great success with their programs.

 

[Katsu Jin Ken]

Eddie Chong, if he has a distance program do that. He is the best IMO, plus he teaches Bak Mei (white eyebrow) as well. Im learning his system of WC, i think its Pan Man and Yip Man lineage, not for sure, lineage mean nothing to me.

 

[spatulahunter]

That being said, here are some plans for making a mook jong out of PVC pipe. Not indestructable but it holds up pretty well for the most part.
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take his word for it, these work really well for an at home dummy and they dont cost much to make, i think we paid a total of 60 dollars to build one and weve been using it for over a year

 

[brothershaw]

Wing chun is definitely a style where even if you had a partner to work with it would be hard for you to get it from books and video, because they cant teach you how certain things are supposed to feel, and you would have to be extremely lucky to pick it up or figure it out on your own. That being said there are other styles where with a partner you would be much easier to self teach yourself to a degree, because they are more just about mechanics, and movements to be learned (very generally speaking).

As a side bar - looking at things in magazines can also be misleading because to an unfamiliar eye they might as well be doing karate. There is so much a still picture can not convey.