How Wrestling, TKD, Muay Thai, Aikido, Choy Lay Fut, improved my Ving Tsun.

In my martial arts journey, I have had the experience to interact and train with various discipline, I would like to share a few styles that I have interacted with and offer my experiences with them. (Personal story time)

American Wrestling- My understanding of wrestling was limited to a year of competitive grade school wrestling during my boarding school days. Wrestling educated me about using leverage and leg muscles to drive into your opponent. The various take down methods provided me with an equal appreciation of knowing that if someone is skilled at the art of take downs, trust me, they will take you down. However learning how to counter a take down and getting out of a wrestling hold is as equally important. I spent hours training just to shoot for the leg for take downs and spend an equal amount of hours training on how to avoid the take downs; but even then there wasn’t an instance where I competed where if someone was to take me down, I didn’t go down at all. It just NOT possible. It is delusional to think and overestimate ourselves to think we can never be taken down by someone who is trained in the ground art. We can only better educate ourselves to avoid it as much as possible using the tools in our toolbox and go from there. (P.S.- I can still do a decent half nelson and pin someone, but that’s about it. =P)

Tae Kwon Do- I started my journey with TKD at the US Taekwondo Center Hawaii under Master Lee then continued at Jae Hun Kim Taekwondo Institute in Boston with Master Kim. Like many before me, I had the dream of mixing Ving Tsun hands with TKD kicks so that I could become the next Bruce Lee, I would have achieved that dream but a torn ACL put a full stop to my progress in TKD and dashed my hopes of becoming the next action hero. Needless to say, people tend to dismiss TKD as flashy and too sports oriented, but I recalled an experience years ago where I had gone back to Hawaii and taken part in a light sparring training where we would all line up and spar with the black belts. My Ving Tsun wasn’t good at that time but I was confident my TKD was somewhat presentable. I remember facing off with Master Lee, and performing various round house kicks, sidekicks and spinning back kick, which he deflected with ease; just when I thought to myself, “um…I am not too bad”, a perfectly timed sidekick executed by Master Lee hit my chest pad so hard, I fell backwards couple feet wondering “what the heck was that?” Not only did I got the wind kicked out of me, but I was thinking to myself how did I not see that kick coming? It was then I heard Bruce Lee’s voice saying “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” (No I didn’t actually hear his voice, as that would mean I should give up martial arts and become a speaker to the decease instead.” ) It was then I realized a kick does not have to be flashy to be effective, sometimes a simple kick with right timing, speed and power is all that is needed.

Muay Thai- This happened when I was still training in Ving Tsun and I wanted to see how devastating Muay Thai kicks were compared to TKD kicks. A chance encounter with a Muay Thai practitioner in Hong Kong. We gloved up using either 16 or 18oz boxing gloves, but nevertheless it was a great opportunity for me to understand the devastating power of a Muay Thai Kick. The encounter was fairy straightforward, no fancy head kicks nor was there any elbows, we both hit each other with the boxing gloves, however what was notable was that the Muay Thai kick was targeted towards my thigh repeatedly. At the beginning, I ate it dead on like a trooper and didn’t think much of it until the 2nd round I started feeling slight numbness to my targeted leg. It was then I realized Muay Thai kicks to that leg was to demoralized and knock the confidence out of me. At the same time, slow down my speed to provide them the ability to continue to punish my legs to see how long I can remain standing. As the saying goes “if you can’t stand, you can’t fight” This particular experience taught me the value of always moving my feet and to avoid taking damage to my leg as much as possible. Don’t just stand there thinking you can withstand repeated kicks to your thighs. The sustained damage will affect your performance in the long run.

Aikido- I began my extremely short journey in Aikido in Hawaii but received a personal revaluation when I was hosting for the Kung Fu Quest III series in Japan under Aikido Shinburenseijuku. I first recalled my brief training in Hawaii with various practitioners who were peace officers and understood how they utilize the various controls and wrist locks to subdue their opponents without inflicting too much bodily harm being cited as the main attraction to why many in Hawaii trained in this style. My revaluation of the effectiveness of this skill was during my trip to Japan and exchanging notes with Shirakawa Katsutoshi Shihan. During that time, My Ving Tsun proficiency had reached a level of certain understanding of body mechanics and angles; it was during our engagement that I realized the true beauty of Aikido, which was to end all fight and promote peace. Shirakawa Katsutoshi Shihan’s side stepping angles and wrist lock technique was so precise that at the end of our exchange it made me NOT want to engage anymore, because there was no true purpose of the meaning in the first place. People who says Aikido is ineffective must understand Aikido practitioners have nothing to prove because they are not interested in competition or fights to see who can beat who, they only want to end all conflict in harmony.

Choy Lay Fut- My experience with this particular style happened at my Kung Fu brother, famous Hong Kong Actor Philip Ng’s family Martial Arts School in Chicago, Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association. I had been aware of the power that comes from the Gwai Chui and the Tsop Chui from watching one of their top practitioners compete in full contact fights and never underestimated what the result would be if I was hit dead on by those, thus I didn’t hesitate to pass up on the opportunity to gain some personal knowledge and understanding of the style during a friendly sparring exchange. Throughout the light sparring (no protective equipment), I managed to keep my distance and not overcommit, fully aware that one good hit with power and I could be knocked to the floor seeing tweedy bird flying above my head saying “I told you so.” I was able to understand how my own timing, speed and the ability to attack and defend at the same time was the critical elements in the outcome of the engagement. It wasn’t a black and white answer of straight line vs circular extended movements; if I had entered at the wrong timing, I would have been hit so hard and fast with the Gwai Chui before I could reached my target, if I didn’t anticipate and looked out for the Tsop Chui, my gut would have flew past my backside. The outcome? Straight line doesn’t always beat circular movements and vice versa. Speed, timing, and experience matters more.

So what did all of the above experience mean to me? It helped me understand that every skill I have mentioned above are effective depending on how much training and purpose you have placed behind it. I experience different martial arts/skills because I want to understand and gain knowledge on how to improve my Ving Tsun. I went around in circles and came back to Ving Tsun because it was the skill that I dedicated my passion into and one where I am still continuing to explore and improve upon. Never think a particular skill/ art/ style is useless, it is always the person behind it that matters. How much dedication and time they spend thinking, breathing about it. How they made it become a part of them. Once they have achieved that, the style/art name no longer matters. I build my Martial Arts with Ving Tsun foundation and concept, in the end how I use it is what matters. How I use it can be called Ving Tsun or be called Fist of Fury, it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that it is a reflection of my own abilities.