Wing Chun Buffalo

My Wing Chun lineage had an international conference and all I got was a polo shirt. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

A very interesting episode. The Wing Chun connection is when they talk about striking with bare knuckles versus gloved hands.

Podcast #985: The Secret World of Bare-Knuckle Boxing Have you ever noticed the guy in a fighting stance on the Art of Manliness logo? That’s not just some random symbol; it’s an actual dude: John L. Sullivan, the greatest bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century. While most people think bare-knuckle boxing came to an end during Sullivan’s era, in ...

Saturday we worked on "seung kune" and "paw joint jick lawk" as applied to breaking the opponent's structure. What to know what that means? Join the class.

A great student quote from class today...
"We are committed to our structure"

Who can relate?

TikTok · Renzo Rage 323.3K likes, 2521 comments. “ ”

August 1st -3rd is the Leung Sheung Wing Chun International Conference.

The link below has information on the event and on how to register.

https://alanngai5.wixsite.com/lslc-conf-2024?fbclid=IwAR2kap9XiILGCZJvDumYUMFQkZ_f0o2R6qqQNrBuxVIv_0j-1F4849kF6VU

Home | Leung Sheung Wing Ch Save the date for the first Leung Sheung Wing Chun International Conference on August 1-3, 2024. This is a special opportunity for students of Leung Sheung Wing Chun to fully experience something unique. Leung Sheung Wing Chun practitioners from Hong Kong to the coasts of America and beyond will exc...

The article is a little long but has some gems about training. Especially after the workshop with Ken and how he views weapons training in Wing Chun.

"When people train with bamboo swords and protective equipment, weaker or technically inept swordsmen can attack with full force, without fear [of injury] and it is difficult to foretell who will prevail... This method of training causes a distorted view of the bout". This could have been written today in one of the many internet discussions regarding sparring (in this specific case, kenjutsu sparring), but it was actually composed by Nakanishi Chūzō of the Ono-ha Ittō Ryū more than 200 years ago in an exchange of letters with another master regarding the usage of bamboo swords and protective gear.

Today in the Bujinkan, where we have a rather unique treasure of a collection of ancient Japanese martial arts, people still argue about how to practice. The question of how to implement a progression of non-compliancy and unscripted attacks is a valid one, but before doing that people should take a step backwards and look at how they practice the basics. Note, I didn't say that people should practice the basics, because most people at least THINK that they spend a considerable amount of time working on their foundation. But the real question here is how, and what.

Let's consider bojutsu for a moment. In a "basic" technique such as ashi barai starting from Gedan no Kamae, you have a whole swiss army knife of tools and aspects to practice - IF you have been transmitted the correct form and IF you dig and experiment enough in your own daily solo practice.

Some people look at the movement and think that the purpose of this "basic" is to strike or sweep the opponents leg with the bō. And this, as a single technique, can be repeated many times in order to make it a part of your repertoire, and then it can even be utilised in a sparring context with padded weapons. If you are faster than your opponent and use good timing you can land the attack successfully and gain confidence in your skills.

However, this kind of practice is driven by the effectiveness (i.e. hitting or sweeping the opponents leg) instead of the development that the true form is meant to have on your body.

You can break down the form of the technique in many ways - the way you place the weight on one leg or the other, how slow or how fast you do it, and how low your hips are in relation to these aspects... these will all determine what kind of stress and training you will put on, for example, your tendons, inner or superficial muscles.

Just as the way your hands move along the bō, together with the angles and positioning of your elbows and wrists, will determine not just how visible the technique is and how your opponent will be able to read it, but also how you can practice the attack connecting it to other techniques.

With this kind of practice as the foundation, you can then apply the movements in a sparring context as a continuation of the experimentation, to see how you can improve and what you need to work on to be able to land the attack in an unscripted environment. But most importantly, it will lead you further and in the practice and will help develop the correct body structure of the ryū.

Practicing like this, digging deep in every movement, is an essential part of the art and of course is the same no matter if you have a weapon in your hands or if the hands are your weapons.

Just practicing slow or fast, with or without resistance from the opponent, in itself is literally worthless (in the context of learning a martial art such as the ones we have in the Bujinkan) if the form is wrong, and if basic essential principles are missing from the movements. If you practice slowly against a punch with wrong and unrealistic timing (i.e. the opponent strikes and you walk slow circles around him) then it is just as much a dead end in the context of these ryū as if you smack each other senseless in sparring.

Today, the dojo hosted its first workshop on the use of the Wing Chun wooden man” courtesy of Sifu Mark Stoddard. A lot of new insights on how to move your body effectively with its structure versus relying on muscles for effectiveness. Highly recommend local martial artists sign up for the next one. Space is limited and this is a game changer.

Thank you to all the participants of last Saturday's Wooden Dummy Concepts Workshop. I appreciate the attention you gave, great questions and hard work. I enjoyed working with all of you.
Train well be well my friends.

https://youtu.be/-HrNMWqYazQ?si=Vu2oxEqd4WFbIQZp

鍾萬年《降龍一百手》Sifu Ken Chung Wing Chun Chisao Demo

Wing Chun Buffalo presents

Wooden Dummy Concepts Workshop

Saturday October 21st, 2023
1:00 to 4:00

Mizuchi Dojo
60 East Spring St
Williamsville NY14221

Space is limited to 6 participants!

The workshop is geared towards martial artists of all styles. It will cover why the wooden dummy is an essential training tool for Wing Chun Kung Fu and how to get the greatest benefits from it.

Reserve your place now.

The cost is $30
Cash or check to Wing Chun Buffalo
PayPal to [email protected]
Payment due by October 8th, 2023

For more information or questions contact Sifu Mark at
[email protected]
716 208 9181 (text or leave voicemail)
Facebook and YouTube @ Wing Chun Buffalo

Why train Wing Chun Kung Fu?

When trying to decide which martial art to study many factors have an influence. The practical concerns like the school location relative to your home and work, the costs, the ambient of the school and personality of the instructor. Then there is the style itself. Most if not all of these factors and more have to fit your personality.

So, why train in Wing Chun Kung Fu?

"Wing Chun is a simple concept but with sophisticated application." - Sifu Kenneth Chung

It’s challenging and fun. Wing Chun is a concept or principle based art meaning that the strategy and techniques are based on concepts as the apply to the situation in the moment. It is not formulaic as in if the attacker does A, you counter with technique 27.

"Work with the result you get, not the one you want." - Sifu Mark Lynn

Along with the simple strategic concepts the movement system is simple. The more you understand and practice the combination of the two give you a lot of adaptability and improvisation.

And you don’t have to be super flexible or strong. Wing Chun is designed with the idea that you are smaller and weaker than your training partner or opponent.

"Not greedy, not afraid." - Wing Chun proverb

Everyone progresses at their own pace with the idea you make incremental improvements. You want to be a little better than you were yesterday. This humble, workmanlike approach allows the big jumps forward to happen in their own time.

What facilitates a steady progress is that Wing Chun is a compact system. It only has 3 empty hand forms, 2 weapons and a wooden dummy form and a handful of formal training drills. Wing Chun has depth over breadth. The training is traditional but the compactness makes it ideal for our modern lives.

Wing Chun training is mostly low impact, it actually wants to build up your joints strength.
It will improve your leg strength, balance, posture and confidence. It fosters body awareness, relaxation, ease of movement and calmness.

If any of the above seems in contradiction to an effective and efficient martial art, it is. Part of the fun of learning Wing Chun is discovering how a seeming contradiction is a benefit to optimizing its application.

Come and try it.

Contact me to set up your appointment for a free introduction and class.

[email protected]
716 208 9181