Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note #182

Ancestor instruction V 詠春祖訓  pt1

Wing Chun Ancestor Instruction V says,  “Practise skill regularly, keep your skill with you at all times 勤練習技不離身.” Any skill we learn from our teacher must practise otherwise  how can we learn? Bruce Lee would practise 500 punches and 500 kicks every day, as well as other techniques and training. This is why his punches and kicks were so fast.

When we study Wing Chun we should practise our forms every day. Tsum Kìuh 尋橋 and Bīu Zī 標指 only take a few minutes but with Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 it depends. We can spend 10 minutes to over an hour. It is up to us and depends on how much time we have. I used to practise four times a day, in the morning for an hour to an hour and a half, at noon for half an hour, sunset for half an hour and in the evenings for an hour. Every day I would practise my Siu Lim Tao for half an hour, plus half an hour of horse stance. All this training helped to build up my Gūng Lihk 功力.

There is a story about a young man who was out for a walk when he saw an old lady rolling an iron rod backwards and forwards, again and again. He was curious and so asked the old lady what she was doing. She replied, “I want to polish the rod down to make a small needle.” The boy was surprised and said, “That’s impossible!” The old lady smiled and replied, “Anything is possible if you constantly work on it.” The young man seemed to understand and when he grew up he became one of the most famous poets in the Tang Dynasty 唐朝. His name was Li Bai 李白.