Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note #159

Turn the Front Foot

I have also see many people step forwards with their front foot turned to the side, in the same way does in Jyun Ma 轉馬. This means that when they step it is like doing Waahng Maah 橫馬. However this means the body is facing to the side and so we cannot walk very quickly. With our position like this the knees, ankle and toes are too stiff, when we need to move forwards we need to move forward quickly. In three Kingdoms Period Strategist Guo Jia郭嘉 said, “The best army is a fast army兵貴神速.”  When we need to attack we must move quickly, of course we also need to be safe so that is why the weight is still more on the back leg except for the split second where the front leg lands and the back leg moves up. Because we move quickly the opponent cannot move away fast enough and so once we catch them we can control and attack them. So the proper way to step forwards is with the front toes pointing the way you are stepping and the front heel and back heel must be in line.  When we lift up the front foot we need to keep it close to the floor and then quickly drag the back foot along to match the front foot so that the feet are always shoulder width apart.  This is the proper Juen Maah進馬.

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