Is Wing Chun For a Beginner?

[Matousek]

If you have not already guessed, I am a complete beginner to Martial Arts.

 

For the last year, I have been throwing knives, messing around with the bo and practicing some archery.

 

I have also been practicing the "Cat Stance" and a few basic kicks.

 

I have been looking up information on many different martial arts and I have heard that Wing Chun is a fairly effective yet good beginner Martial Art.Is this true?

 

Also please post the names (and authors) of any books about Wing

 

Chun. Technical Information,History,Philosophy and "Moves" and or anything else!

 

Thank You for reading my post!

[cross]

All martial arts are designed for beginners. You progress from the level you are already at. So wing chun is good for beginners, just like its good for advanced students.

[manuelito]

matousek,

 

are you trying to learn on your own? if so bad idea with any style. wing chun is great imo for all skill levels. if you have a wing chun school near you go check it out. it may or may not be for you so it is always best to see it in action. try a search for wing chun books,videos, etc. there is so much info out there you will find something i am sure.

[Matousek]

I was mostly looking for History and Philosophy.

[wing chun kuen man]

Matousek,

 

First of all let me say that take Manuelito´s advise and go and check out a Wing Chun school in person and of course don´t even think about training Wing Chun on your own. It is best to train with a qualified and legitimate sifu/instructor who belongs to an authentic lineage.

 

Also avoid "new and improved" Wing Chun schools, whenever possible, because a lot of the times this is a marketing term that means that the original system has been adulterated, i.e. techniques have been taken out or modified for the sake of standardization of classes and simplification of the system. This could also mean that things, that do not fit within the concepts of Wing Chun have been added to "enrich" the system (or the pockets of the "inventors", who our counting on attracting more students because of their "improvements").

 

As for books, I consider Yuen Kay-San Wing Chun Kuen, History and Foundations an excellent book. Author is Rene Ritchie.

 

Good Luck

 

Wing Chun Kuen Man

[47MartialMan]

All martial arts are designed for beginners. You progress from the level you are already at. So wing chun is good for beginners, just like its good for advanced students.

 

I have to agree. One has to "begin" somewhere.

[stonecrusher69]

Leung Ting Book simple called Wing Tsun Kuen is a good book.It has the frist two forms in it and some appliciations.

[busling]

When I started Wing Chun the only martial experience I had was about 5 classes of Judo about 8 years ago. I found the experience of learning Wing Chun exciting and worthwhile. I now have a good foundation of skills that will serve me well.

 

The basics of Wing Chun are straight forward, so I found it easy enough to get started. Initially the footwork was a little tricky but in about 8 lessons I was feeling comfortable with it.

[47MartialMan]

I guess it also depends on the instructor

[battousai16]

i think drunken monkey said it best with "learn first or learn last". i found wing chun so radically different from anything i'd done before that i really wish i'd learned it first, as it would have been much easier to learn wing chun and then cross over, rather than the HRD to wing chun i'm at now. it really is quite astonishing how pitiful i am at WC, and i think a lot of that would have been avoided had i picked up wing chun first. it's just so.... different, that i'd say if you're going to learn it, learning it first would be ideal.