shotokan / wing chun comparison

[sperki]

I recently won a 15-week intro to Wing Chun package from a local joint. I'm going to be giving it a whirl, but my background is in Shotokan karate. I know what karate is like: short, fast, hard strikes. I picture kung fu as being sort of flowing, almost dance like. I would love some insight from folks in the know so I can prepare myself mentally prior to arrival. Honestly, I'm a little nervous; I'm a pre-middle-aged dude that's always leaned toward Okinawan MA's. But maybe this old dog will learn a new trick.

[tallgeese]

It really depends on what form of Kung Fu you end up in. It's become an even more generic term for fighting arts out of a given country (China in this case) than karate has for the numerous systems out of Japan and Okinawa.

I occasionally worked out with a guy in college that was a Kung Fu stylist and aside from some circular hip work and stepping patters, all of his strikes were very linear and what one might "hard style"

Check out the local flavor and see how it sits with you. If nothing else it will give you an appreciation for arts that are out of the box from your familiar set.

[Wastelander]

Wing Chun, as I understand it, tends to be very focused on fast, close-up striking and joint locks. That said, they also don't seem to hit very hard--it seems to be more focused on blasting an opponent with so many strikes, so fast, that you stun them. WC tends to be labelled as a McDojo art, but I still hold out hope that there are places out there that teach it well.

[sperki]

I'll find out how well they teach it; there's no reason not to use this free certificate. My wife won it at a non-profit forestry event...yep, makes perfect sense to me too. Maybe what I should do is watch a class or two before I dive is myself, just so I have some idea what I'm about to do.

[bushido_man96]

Sitting down to watch a class or two is never a bad idea. You'll get a gist of what is expected, and what you can expect to do. You might even get to see some beginners in there, too. Or, it might appear to be something you don't want to be a part of, and go on your way, as well.

[Uncle Mike]

I trained in Wing Chun for a short time and stopped mostly because of financial reasons. It's not acompetition art, it's strictly for self defense.

I think if it is taught well it can be effective. But you need a good teacher who knows how to make it practical. It depends alot on knowledge of body mechanics. Conditioning is not usually emphasized and if you have to "muscle" a move then you're not doing it right. I've heard it jokingly reffered to as "lazy man's kung-fu".

Like I said, it's a legit art but you need a good teacher. It became so popularized because it was Bruce Lee's first art that a lot of teachers opened schools without really knowing how to apply it. Hopefully this won't be your experience.

I hope you enjoy it.

[spinner12]

This is probably a bit late as the Op posted this back in Oct. Having trained in both Shotokan and Wing Chun it's possible I can tell you a little about the similarities/differences.

Shotokan and Wing Chun favor linear movement, by moving straight into the opponent with aggressive attacks. Both styles favor learning a few techniques and spending a lot of time honing them as oppposed to having a lot of material to be burdened with. A former Shotokan instructor once told me the style was like an M1 rifle. Basic yet works. The same hold true for Wing Chun. It's not a flashy (or flowery) style.

Yet Shotokan relies more on hard power. The stances in Shotokan are deeper and the idea is fewer yet harder punches. Same holds true with the mixture of hard and soft blocks in Shotokan. Wing Chun uses a very upright stance and while the punches can be hard, often stresses a flurry of them. Blocking is largely about trapping, parries and redirection in Wing Chun.

If you like Shotokan for being linear and aggressive you may enjoy Wing Chun too.

[SAAMAG]

I recently won a 15-week intro to Wing Chun package from a local joint. I'm going to be giving it a whirl, but my background is in Shotokan karate. I know what karate is like: short, fast, hard strikes. I picture kung fu as being sort of flowing, almost dance like. I would love some insight from folks in the know so I can prepare myself mentally prior to arrival. Honestly, I'm a little nervous; I'm a pre-middle-aged dude that's always leaned toward Okinawan MA's. But maybe this old dog will learn a new trick.

I've studied wing chun extensively and teach an augmented form of it in my striking system. Depending on the teacher and their understanding / approach it can prove to be very valuable in terms of the core principles you can take with you. Hopefully it's a teacher with real fighting experience, otherwise you're likely going to be wasting your time.

And you're right that generally gung fu today (in China) is more of a dance. "Wushu" is merely a fabricated organization of martial arts created by the chinese government, with only a feint relation to actual martial arts.

Wing Chun however, is directly descended from actual chinese boxing. It CAN be very effective once you understand the core of it's movements and the principles that can make it effective. It is a very close quarter (CQC) type of system, using a core of 3 hand forms as the basis for it's defense (tan, bong, and fook). Each one of these hand forms will do something different. One spreads energy, the other deflects, and the last controls. Tan family techniques are those on the radial part of the arm, Bong on the ulnar side, and fook on the palmer portion.

The strikes are generally going to be the jik chung choi (straight vertical punch) which is similar to the tate tsuki. But there are other punches like the hook punch (kagi tsuki) and the jung lo kuen (shita tsuki).

The training stance is known as Yee gee kim yeung ma--and is very similar to the sanchin dachi. Generally the kicks (gerk) that are used are the front, side, and maybe round kick (geri=gerk), depending on the teacher.

Wing Chun works best, in the pocket so to speak, where you can bridge and punch. Very close quarters. It's basically an asian dirty boxing of sorts. Your goal is to punch, and if something obstructs that punch, you remove the obstruction and punch again. You have to stay relaxed, and flow with the incoming attacks as opposed to receiving them as you would with an uki.

Lots of simultaneous attack and defense (which you'll hear as "da"...like a grabbing pull of the wrist while you punch is a "lap da").

There's waay too much to go over it all...but long story short...you punch chudan/jodan mostly, and kick gedan (waist and below). You will use simultaneous attack and defense and try to position yourself to immobilize them as you attack. You will pull, press, control, jerk, redirect, spread, dart, and all the while hitting and kicking them. It works GREAT in the standing clinch because of this.

Hope that helps.