Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note #161

Ordinary

In martial arts we need a certain amount of strength and power. In Wing Chun this comes from the legs. We develop a strong root during Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 by training on two legs and also on one leg.  This is how we develop our power.  We do not need to do a lot of other physical training such as running, push ups, sit ups, etc.  If we look at my Sigong 師公, Ip Man葉問, and my Sifu 師父, Ip Chun 葉準,  we can see they are not muscular men,  but they have reached a very high level in the original Wing Chun skill. Being too muscular can actually slow down our development of Wing Chun.

Remember that Wing Chun was created by a woman, and women are not as physically strong as men. Therefore we just need to be an ordinary size. It is hard to believe that we need to be an ordinary size, not a very muscular person, to be good in Wing Chun and a good fighter. It is true, normally if two people fight together the bigger and stronger will win, but Wing Chun goes the other way. In nature there is always another way, this is a principle of Yin and Yang, so there is always another way or even many other ways. Throughout history there are examples of a smaller army defeating a bigger army. This is the Wing Chun principle, use less energy, use the position and your opponent’s energy to find their weakness and win the fight! This is Wing Chun. However, it takes time to reach this level and I would say there are not many masters in the world who have reached it.