Paak Sau

I conducted the first assessment at VTCS on the last day of July.  Those of you who participated had your ability to execute Wing Chun (Ving Tsun) skills put to the test. Which skills were assessed and the level of pressure was determined by your level of experience.

There was a great deal of excitement and anticipation leading up to the event and on the night.  Everyone did very well and should be proud of their progress to date.

Classes are now packed solid with important information that improves your understanding of VT concepts and drills to develop your ability to apply them.

Each class has three elements; fine tuning forms, Pressure Training and Chi Sau.

Forms

I have devoted a portion of each class to honing aspects of each form; at the moment the focus is on each of the Bong Sau actions in Chum Kiu. It is important that you use the time available during “free training” to work on the drills that bring the concepts in the forms to life. This will ensure your forms are as accurate as possible, which in turn gives you the best foundation for developing your Ving Tsun skills. I will continue to work on one aspect of each form per week over the next few weeks.

Pressure Training

Additional aspects of Pressure training will be introduced over the next few weeks and the level of pressure will be incrementally increased.  At the moment your focus should be on improving your execution of the core Paak Sau drill. If you have a mouth-guard be sure to bring it to every class.

Key points for the core Paak Sau drill are:

  • Your stance supports your arms; make sure your stance is active and your hands light;
  • Your stance should be driving you forwards;
  • The punches should be fast, relaxed and springy with penetrating power;
  • The paak sau should be the same as the punch.

See the clip below for a compressed summary of how to do one of the core Paak Sau drills and how it sets your intention for countering straight punches.

Chi Sau

Key points for Chi Sau:

  • Commence chi sau by focusing on perfecting the elements of your rolling, light hands with constant forward intention;
  • Increase the speed and intensity at which you do the drill in the Chi Sau (ii) blog entry below;
  • Improve your timing  and focus on dissipating your partner’s energy; and
  • Continue to reduce the time it takes to respond to entries and counter-attack.