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Hawkins Cheung Inside Kung Fu Interview About Bruce Lee

By Steven Moody May 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

“Before he died, he told me that “jeet kune” meant Pak sao in wing chun or intercepting an opponent’s punch before it landed on you.”
Hawkins Cheung

This is an excellent interview with Hawkins Cheung, an early Ip Man student and close friend and training partner of Bruce Lee.  He was also a “Kung Fu Uncle” to my teacher Greg LeBlanc – he used to come by the Gary Lam house often and answer questions and help with the teaching.  I am especially interested in his frequent references in this article and others to the importance of the”Jeet” concept and developing the timing to enter from outside to inside the fight.  This has also been my experience.  The big question mark is in those first seconds just before the fight kicks off.

This is something covered in a lot of detail by Geoff Thompson, who suggests that you learn how to preempt and sucker punch.  A friend of mine who was in many street fights also emphasized this point.  His advice was basically to gauge your distance, decide when you would hit (if the opponent steps over this line I decide on or if they move), and where you would hit (ideally, triangle on jaw), and then to preemptively attack.  Its best if they don’t see it coming.  This seems to help bring about a knockout – the surprise or perhaps hitting a relaxed target.

The Jeet concept really encompasses all of that but rather than sucker punching, its more like a old-fashioned gunfight.  You get your hands up (a Thompson “fence,” aka hand just over the gun).  As soon as the opponent starts to move (car out of the garage and into the driveway but before it gets on the street, in Greg LeBlanc’s terminology), you attack.  If the line isn’t clear and you contact an arm on the way in (a bridge) you use the Chi Sao reflex to do the appropriate action (Pak, Lap, Tan, Bong) and let their energy go to one side or the other of the centerline,  and then either hit (best), block and hit simultaneously (second best), or block then hit (if you can’t do 1 or 2).

Bruce Lee learned fencing-type footwork to dart in and out of range to handle this conundrum.  Once you develop Wing Chun skills to a certain level, this becomes the main and most difficult thing to learn.  This is timing.

Filed Under: Wing Chun Principles

I Move First

By Steven Moody January 21, 2021 Leave a Comment

“If the opponent does not move, then I do not move.
At the opponent’s slightest move, I move first.”
– Wu Yu-hsiang, 19th Century Chinese sage

Filed Under: Wing Chun Principles

Why We Bong Sau

By Steven Moody October 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

“Basically what the Bong Sau is, is a way of continuing down the centerline, but not with the end of your arm, but with the middle of your arm, so you can once again get back to using the end of your arm.”
Sifu David Peterson

An excellent, very clear explanation of how and why we use the Bong Sau in Wing Chun.  Many thanks to Sifu David Peterson and his student, Sifu Morten Ibsen for posting this primer on the Bong Sau (which as I’ve said, is one of the most misused actions in the Wing Chun repertoire).  The distinction about always going forward (never up or to the side) is critical.  I hurt my shoulder pretty badly making just this mistake for many years.  And once you get the bad habit, even if you become aware of it, its easy to slip when you’re tired or lack focus, and then the damage to your tendons is slow but steady.  Beware!

Filed Under: Wing Chun Principles

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Hi. I'm Steve, a professional researcher. I've studied Chinese martial arts for over 20 years. During that time, I've learned from some of the best teachers in the world (including Greg LeBlanc, Gary Lam, and Bernard Langan). Plus, I've done hundreds of hours of research into fight science. This website contains the best of what I've learned. Contact: steve@snakevscrane.com

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