Wing Chun is a controversial style, and for good reason.  Many of the training methods are ineffective at best.  The prearranged solo forms, which are questionable as training methods in the first place, have illogical orders and stick to the superstition that having 108 moves each is somehow better than 50, 63, or 107.  Routinely, MMA practitioners deride Wing Chun as being a BS system.  This sentiment is understandable, but incorrect.

The concept of simultaneous attack and defense in Wing Chun is excellent, as is controlling the center, the solid structure of the techniques, and basic trapping.  The emphasis on attacking the eyes, throat, and groin is also great for self defense.  But in order to pull any of it off in reality, the training needs to be realistic.  And, some modifications will make Wing Chun safer to apply.  Even still, Wing Chun was not made for the ring.

The lop sao or pull is a great trap to use before kicking your opponent in the groin (following up further if necessary of course).  And the groin kick is very effective.  But you can’t use groin kicks in the ring.  The pak sao or smack is another great trap for self defense, especially when followed by a hack in the neck or finger in the eye, neither of which are allowed in MMA.  You can follow the lop sao or pak sao with punches or palms, but against boxing style structures the “pak sao, punch” or “lop sao, punch” combinations are far less effective.

There are exceptions.  Using a pak sao to create an opening for a punch or two, possibly causing your opponent to cover or retreat, will provide the opportunity for a double lop sao (two handed pull) into knees and elbows against a cover, or a kicking follow up against a retreat.  But due to the unrealistic training in most Wing Chun schools, practitioners are only used to dealing with other Wing Chun stylists…who very often ineffectively stand in one place attempting to block, block, block as a cooperative defense.

In MMA you might see someone opening with a jab-cross combo from boxing, followed by a kick from Thai boxing, followed by a clinch entry and takedown from wrestling, followed by ground techniques from Brazilian jiu jitsu.  They take what’s useful from each style and use various parts where they’re appropriate.  Wing Chun can be used similarly.  An MMA practitioner could use a pak sao trap to increase the likelihood of landing a jab, followed by a cross, then a double lop sao into a knee, etc.  The structure of the “tan sao” can be used to stop a takedown attempt.  The “huen sao” techniques is identical to the initial motion of pummeling or swimming in the clinch.  In self defense, the simultaneous biu sao and punch works very well against most hooks, as does trapping to eye jabs, groin kicks, and throat strikes.

Wing Chun isn’t just BS, and it does have a great deal to offer.  But in order for the strengths to come out, both WC and MMA practitioners need to open their minds and forget about previous prejudices!

I have very little video footage prior to 2000, as I got rid of most of my old video tapes since I had no way to play them. But a week or so ago I happened to come across some old training footage on an external hard drive, of Wing Chun trapping and a bit of early blast training. The training in the clips is not so good, and I thought I’d edit it together and post it as an example of what not to do:

The same video is posted on the Wing Chun page, where more realistic applications of Wing Chun trapping and techniques are demonstrated in both pictures and videos. (I’ve recently updated the Wing Chun page with images of the pak sao, bong sao, and lop sao, and will be adding more images in the near future.)

So what specifically is wrong with the above video? The trapping practice in the first two clips might appear to be somewhat fierce, as I hit my training partner in the solar plexus and face in the second clip. Around the time these videos were recorded (1998), we regularly “sparred” from a Wing Chun reference point using a good bit of trapping. We did train hard back then, but the training was very unrealistic. The primary problem with the type of training shown in the first video clips is that there is no footwork or movement at all. No one is going to fight like that. If you attack someone they are going to move, and if someone attacks you, you are going to move. Standing in place does allow you to use more complex trapping, but you’re going to be at a loss if you ever have to fight or defend yourself for real…which leads me to the third clip of “blast practice”.

In 1999 I was invited to spar with a number of other New Orleans instructors I had never trained with before. I did pretty well attacking with Wing Chun trapping and blasting, interceptions, etc. I was able to back my opponent’s up over and over again. But, I was barely hitting them! Every time I’d enter with a blast, they’d back up and cover. My trapping no longer worked, and I didn’t have the techniques or training to deal with what were often unconventional and unskilled cover ups and retreats. I used this experience to begin working on a comprehensive version of what I called the blast…a continuous, forward pressure assault.

Wing Chun has the straight blast, which is generally taught as a punching only blast. Not only is this insufficient against an opponent who simply uses either a very tight or extended cover, but it can also be easily countered by a beginning boxer, as I explain in this video on Wing Chun trapping. After I had the above mentioned sparring experience, I tried to search out techniques and training that would solve this problem. I attended a seminar with Paul Vunak and took some private classes on RAT (Rapid Assault Tactics) in 2000. Although I loved the RAT concept, I found the specific entry (largely consisting of attempts to elbow incoming punches), pressure/blast (the Wing Chun straight blast), and termination (headbutts, knees, and elbows from the Thai clinch) to be lacking or unrealistic.

The third clip in the above video is basically Paul Vunak’s RAT with a groin kick entry/interception. Like I said, I don’t find it to be ideal against a high pressure, real attack. Additionally, there are better “termination” phase positions than the Thai clinch for the majority of people. So there you have it…the reasons that the training in the above clips is not so good. Fortunately I’ve since come up with much better solutions. We’ve now got great, effective and realistic ways to apply trapping and a comprehensive blast that works. I’ve been using and teaching them for 10 years now, and am 100% positive they work. You can see examples of effective trapping on our Wing Chun page, a couple of examples of the blast here, and detailed explanations of all the techniques and training methods in my self defense eBook.

I’ve added the new video above, along with a page with more explanation here: Wing Chun Trapping.  I think the video turned out well, but may give the impression that I think trapping has less application than I actually do.  In the coming days I’ll add more techniques to the Wing Chun page along with additional applications of trapping.