"So, what's the new dance step you might be doing, Yoshi?"

Yeah, I hear that all the time. Even from people who should know better. You likely do as well, especially if you do footwork for Wing Chun. Wing Chun, or "Chinese Dancing" is really a soft type with a strong philosophical bent to it. The name originally came inside ideograms for "Ever Spring", and it's appropriate. I was obtaining tired of walking with bruises and pulled muscles, and needed to switch to a softer style though I was recovering. I like Kung Fu styles, so learning Wing Chun was like falling off a log. Only with out as significantly falling, or as many punches on the sternum. Whilst the joint locks did remind me I was making a actual martial art. (One piece of suggestions - anybody who says "Hey, permit me show you a joint lock!" is a sadist. Just say "no". Really.) In some ways, Wing Chun is like the early forms exercises you do for Kung Fu, only carried to their logical extreme, rather than used as the fundamentals of the hard style.

What drew me to Wing Chung, aside within the sprained wrist on my principal punching hand, was the fluid footwork that its practitioners had. Well, OK. It was the fluid footwork that I saw in Jet Li's movies, though waiting for the cast to come off. Even so, just from watching the movies, I could see immediate uses for Wing Chun footwork in my repertoire of techniques as soon as my wrist healed. Wing Chun footwork focuses on balance - more so than having a strong kicking style, which can leave you very exposed trying to your circle kick.

In particular, the footwork needs that you just settle in a low stance, but not 1 that is certainly so low that your mobility gets hampered. Now, I know, everybody who does martial arts has heard about this stance, or that stance. And unless you happen to be working in front of a mirror, you'll do the sloppiest stance you can get away with with out your sparring partner kicking you a new one. What I found useful about Wing Chun is how the form drills (San Sik is what they're called) Extremely emphasize fluid motions. Allow me tell you, producing it correct - you are heading to sweat. And also the muscles inside your quads and hams are going to burn...but my word, will be the end result worth it. Those forms come to be second nature, like they are learned by your knees and hips, and you just do them - once the pain has gone away.

Of course, everybody are going to be talking about your new dance steps, but Wing Chun footwork pays for itself nicely - simply because going into it, I've been more conscious of how my bent knees increase my achieve with punches and elbow strikes, and it's been significantly harder to throw me for the mat in Jiu Jitsu. The parts I've had to compensate for during the footwork I've learned were in mobility. It is sometimes possible to "plant" too difficult - which creates it tempting to break stance to give pursuit, specifically when you're flowing from a down block and trying to transition into a kick - at that point, the Wing Chun footwork has to kind of "skip a beat" whilst you move back to a harder Kung Fu kick.

Either way, I'm glad I took the time to study this. It is given me a excellent base to work from, plus a few far more tricks to throw into sparring matches. Particularly fun is after someone makes fun from the dance steps and then comes as much as me and says "How'd you do that, Yoshi?"

Yoshi E Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. He covers the mixed martial arts industry. To your free report on wing chun footwork visit his blog.