Your training regimen

[ArtesMagae]

I think I understand. And I also think I will end my questioning by letting DaveyBoy and brocklee know that I planned on doing those techniques almost like shadow boxing and really trying to condition myself to use the blocks correctly when needed.

Thanks for the replies, Everyone!

 

[DaveyBoy]

Nice dude I like the example.

Thanks mate. Glad it wasn't just me that it made sense to!

 

[DaveyBoy]

I think I understand. And I also think I will end my questioning by letting DaveyBoy and brocklee know that I planned on doing those techniques almost like shadow boxing and really trying to condition myself to use the blocks correctly when needed.

Thanks for the replies, Everyone!

No problem at all. I would be slightly careful about trying to teach yourself to "use the blocks correctly when needed". As my Sifu says - what you see in Wing Chun is not necessarily what you get. By that he means that for any technique somebody is using you also have to account for the energy (force) and its direction that they are applying the technique with, not just the technique you can see. If you condition yourself to use the same response each time they do something, regardless of their energy, you could end up responding inappropriately by fighting force with force, and potentially being hit. Thus it was the thing that you didn't see (the energy being used) that was your undoing. That's a big reason why we're told to be soft in my school - so we can feel the energy and respond appropriately.

Perhaps I have misunderstood you and you won't be conditioning yourself to use specific responses in which case I'm sorry for doing you a disservice. I speak from bitter experience that it takes a long time (and a heck of a lot of frustration) to undo conditioned responses and I didn't want you going down the same path unnecessarily because I didn't bother to write a post! I spent a year, off & on, at my last Wing Chun school. We did lots of drills without partners including learning to turn with a bong sau and block across. I practiced diligently at home in that time as well. Unfortunately that particular response became so ingrained that when I started training under my current Sifu, EVERY time I did a bong sau during chi sau I did the turn & blocked across regardless of what the opponent was doing. Needless to say that my training partners would take full advantage & I got hit a lot (more!) in that time. Took about 8 months of hard training just to break the habit

Anyway, sorry for the long response. Personally, I believe that training at home is about perfecting the actual structure and movement of the techniques that you do. Class/training with a partner is when you learn to apply those techniques properly according to what they do. I can't see a way of conditioning good Wing Chun responses without a partner. However, if anybody knows of some I'd be more than happy to listen as I could definitely do with improving my responses!!

 

[bens85]

At the moment my study and work commitments take up so much time, so unfortunately I don't get to put as much time in as I can to attending classes or even training, especially since I'm still relatively new to Wing Chun (about 4 months now).

I normally attend one saturday class that goes for one and a half hours. During the week, I try at LEAST to do some stretches and sit ups, or if I am not feeling too tired, I'll try to replicate the usual warm up/stretches at the beginning of my class and go through the form, and after that I try my best to recall the punches and kicks I learned from the previous class, but at this stage since I'm still learning them, I'd rather not put too much time into that only to find out that I've been practicing it wrong.

But I am considering jumping to two back to back saturday classes and possibly an extra one and a half hour class during the week if I can manage. Even though everybody laughs at me I take my training very seriously, although I still have a loong way to go.

 

[brocklee]

At the moment my study and work commitments take up so much time, so unfortunately I don't get to put as much time in as I can to attending classes or even training, especially since I'm still relatively new to Wing Chun (about 4 months now).

I normally attend one saturday class that goes for one and a half hours. During the week, I try at LEAST to do some stretches and sit ups, or if I am not feeling too tired, I'll try to replicate the usual warm up/stretches at the beginning of my class and go through the form, and after that I try my best to recall the punches and kicks I learned from the previous class, but at this stage since I'm still learning them, I'd rather not put too much time into that only to find out that I've been practicing it wrong.

But I am considering jumping to two back to back saturday classes and possibly an extra one and a half hour class during the week if I can manage. Even though everybody laughs at me I take my training very seriously, although I still have a loong way to go.

Hrmmm...everyone laughs at you? Might interest you to find another school. Unless yer a clown, which is fine. Sounds like you're doing what you can and joining these forums is another step in the right direction because it shows you're wanting to learn more. Just throw some punches in the mirror and keep throwing them. Start with like 800 or so at first...then graduate to 1000 and then 1500. Once you hit the complete exhaustion point, probably like 500 at first, and your arms feel like they're going to fall off...keep pushing them up there and you're form will start correcting itself. You'll stop using muscles eventually and your punch will be 100%. Build structure too. Find the proper way to get on your horse and hold it for an hour to an hour and a half. Do it when ever your able to. Then stand on one leg, do that for about 45 minutes on each.

Having a very strong structure and proper punch will help you win most fights. It will actually help you with a lot of things in life, other then fighting, too.