Publications and Reviews
MAI
- Book Round-up
I have four books in this month’s issue
from two different publishing houses. Neither should be unfamiliar
with regular readers of Martial Arts Illustrated. Off the back of
Geoff Thompson’s breakthrough success in the early 1990s,
Summersdale Publishers have recruited a very impressive stable of
martial arts authors. They almost exclusively deal with the British
“A list” of martial arts instructors, producing both books and DVDs
for them. The topics in martial arts they covered began with modern
self-defence, but have grown to encompass the traditional and
sporting sides too. Their DVD division produced my “Cross Training
in the Martial Arts” series.
HNL Publishing, headed by prolific Martial Arts Illustrated
interviewer, Fiaz Rafiq,
seem to be publishing mainly American work and have a particular
penchant for Jeet Kune
Do, as approved by the Inosanto Academy
of Martial Arts, headed by Bruce Lee’s only certified Jeet Kune Do
instructor, Dan Inosanto. HNL are also responsible for publishing Martial
Art Illustrated’s editor, Bob Sykes’s
first book on his martial arts reminiscences, “The Journey Man”. HNL’s output is small in comparison to Summersdale’s, but appears to be gaining
momentum and has little trouble in recruiting some of the biggest
names on the global stage to produce work for his business.
“Beginning Wing Chun: Why
Wing Chun Works” (Revised Edition) by Alan Gibson – Summersdale
Publishers
Alan Gibson could never be regarded as
idle. Since his inaugural instructional book, “Why Wing Chun
Works”, which was published in 1998, Gibson has produced two
follow-up books, six DVDs and was also featured on two of my “Cross
Training in the Martial Arts” DVDs. “Beginning Wing Chun” is a
heavily revised edition of “Why Wing Chun Works” and is accompanied
by a new DVD of the same name, forming part of Summerdale’s
“Beginning” series. They are Gibson’s fourth book and seventh DVD
respectively. This review only concerns the book.
The most obvious changes in the book are
the far greater number of new photographs and diagrams as well as
archival pictures of Wong Shun Leung, the founder of Alan Gibson’s
particular line of Wing Chun. “Why Wing Chun Works” was a very
text-heavy manual emphasizing principles and concepts over specific
techniques. It was, perhaps, more geared towards the progressive
student and as much an argument for Wing Chun’s effectiveness as it
was an introduction to the martial art. The new edition is clearly
aimed at the martial arts newcomer albeit with Gibson’s pragmatic,
holistic and open-minded slant. He still argues that Wing Chun is a
martial art based on concepts and principles rather than
techniques, but there are far more examples of ways to apply these
principles given throughout the work in a step-by-step format.
There are also more chapters and divisions
within the chapters despite retaining the same number of pages,
159. Sadly “Wing Chun for Life” has been removed only to be
replaced by a single paragraph discussing the spiritual side to
Wing Chun called “Personal Development”. The original piece was a nice
discussion of the translation of the principles guiding the martial
art and how they relate to life. Such points are made in the new
introduction, but it still stands out as the one area the original
book clearly has over its successor and provides a good argument
for the dedicated Wing Chun enthusiast to buy both while the first
is still in print.
Other notable additions to the revised
work are chapters dealing with physical development or
conditioning, impact work on focus pads, the pre-emptive strike
from the “Fence”, fighting practice and reality drills. Although
the book is very clearly directed towards the novice martial arts
student it is interesting to note that this book includes more
emphasis on pressure-testing and also praises the benefits of
martial arts cross training. Another notable shift with the times
is Alan Gibson’s preference for the term “coach” over “instructor”
or “sifu”. This is in common with other
martial arts teachers such as Russell Stutely,
Tommy Thompson and me, who have generally disregarded the
instructor title, as it tends to imply just giving orders rather
than motivating and teaching a proactive mindset. Being a coach
implies that you encourage your students to question, test and seek
answers rather than blindly follow instructions based on tradition.
The objective of all good book revisions,
if done by a still-living author, is to add new information,
update, re-edit and, hopefully, improve upon the previous work. I
am happy to report that Alan Gibson has fulfilled these particular
criteria. It is far more than a beginner’s book on Wing Chun, but a
very well-rounded foundation for the practice of this traditional
martial art in modern times.
“Mind and Body
Metamorphosis” by Dr. Matthew Mills – Summersdale Publishers
I have become very selective over what I
review these days, as my time is tied up in other projects and the
last book I wanted to read, so I thought, was another supposed
exercise revolution based around martial arts movements. Ever since
the martial art Tai Chi Chuan was
marketed to the industrious west on its health benefit alone, many
have seen the potentially lucrative returns that can be reaped
through using martial arts to sell fitness. The cardiovascular
fighting hybrid workouts really began with Boxercise,
which was followed by B-movie star Billy Blanks’s
pioneering Tae Bo that really put aerobic “kickboxing” on the world
stage and was followed by a host of copycat programmes such as
Thai-Box, Thai Bo, Body Combat, Yoga
Boxing and so on. A decade on and I really felt like this ever more
gimmick-laden topic had been exhausted. Nevertheless the author was
someone that pragmatic Wing Chun specialist Alan Gibson had a close
association with, enough for him to write the forward and serve as
editor to the book, and having skimmed through the syllabus I have
to say that, despite my initial reservations, I was intrigued.
In essence, Mind and Body Metamorphosis is
a modern interpretation and simplification of the traditional Shaolin monk training model. Dr Mills has a
strong academic background in modern physiological studies,
including an honours degree, a Masters degree and a PhD from the
Department of Medicine, University College in London, which served
to help curb any scepticism that automatically arises in me
whenever the subject of chi energy and other controversial
alternative medicine-related phenomena crops up. Don’t get me wrong
I keep an open mind and I trained in Shaolin
martial arts and qigong (given one of its alternative spellings of
Chi Kung in Mills’s work) off a disciple
of the Song Shan Shaolin monastery for
several years, but nevertheless I am very watchful over the
quackery and charlatanism that unfortunately crops up all too
frequently when the practice of traditional medicine is promoted.
Mills does not try to convince anyone over the existence of chi
energy. Instead he takes the middle ground and argues for the
obvious benefits that can be seen through focusing a calm mind,
breathing efficiently and progressive physical exercise.
The syllabus is set over a twelve week
period. Each stage of the different yet firmly linked and
overlapping areas of study, Calm Focus, Chi Kung, Stamina and
Muscle Power, are divided up into different colours like a
traditional martial arts belt scheme. This marketing idea is
perhaps the greatest length Mills goes to link martial arts
practices with his system. The book cover makes no connection with
martial arts whatsoever and the whole concept is clearly not geared
towards martial arts students as such. In deed, the weakest point
of the whole book is the section regarding the history of Shaolin martial arts training. The origin of
the martial arts is a matter of hot debate depending on one’s
definition of what constitutes a martial art or whether it was the
monks of the Shaolin temple who developed
“Kung Fu” rather than a case of the soldiers and bandits who
brought it to the temple in the first place, but few historians
believe that Buddha himself, rather than the commonly accepted Bodhidharma, brought the yogic breathing
exercises of India to the monks of China.
One strong selling point of Mills’s syllabus is that it can be trained
virtually anywhere and there are plenty of examples given where you
can adapt exercises, also that you do not require anything but your
own body in order to do it. This is not to say that weights are not
touched upon as a way to progress some of the physical work.
However, for me the most impressive feature of the whole programme
is the emphasis on developing the mind first. Mills dedicates a
good portion of his teaching towards creating a calm focus through
meditation and positive thinking exercises. This is covered first
in the book although it is intended to be executed at the same time
as the Chi Kung exercises.
Mills should be applauded for his
attention to detail on building a good foundation. There are no
throwaway warm-up movements which seem to have plagued most workout
videos and instruction manuals since their inception. Instead
everything has a clear function and goal that naturally leads onto
the next stage of development. Details of each area of training are
given under the uniform headings of Explanation, Performance,
Example, Variations and Benefits. This concise method makes it very
easy to refer to and recall.
The physical training aspects progress on
from Chi Kung through some basic Wing Chun stance-work and solo
drills, and then onto some more dynamic Wu Shu
exercises. Dynamic tension is often met with derision these days.
It is often associated with the days of Charles Atlas and therefore
considered outmoded or old hat. Furthermore many martial arts forms
are sometimes incorrectly taught using dynamic tension – the
opening movements of Wing Chun’s Siu Nim Tau form being a
good example of this. Mills does not make this mistake. Instead he
presents a refreshing perspective on dynamic tension, bringing his
own experienced knowledge of its application in modern sports
training and also making its much needed distinction from isometric
training quite clear. The final stages build up to the very
demanding Muscle Metamorphosis area, which brings the breathing and
dynamic tension training together.
The physical training is, on the whole,
very sound and easy for a non-martial artist to pick up. It also
adds a good dimension to any martial arts training routine. This
can be seen in particular in the chapter on adapting training for
special situations, such as long plane journeys to fend off deep
vein thrombosis. My only criticism would be regarding the aside on
free weight usage. I am not a fan of using free weights to punch
from a standing position. The weight in this instance creates the
wrong resistance for a punch, unless you are training an upward
punch. This is better achieved through doing the punching from your
back or, if you are standing, from a cable machine, where the
resistance is pulling in the correct direction.
Judging by the quote on the back of the
book given by the Honda F1 Racing Team, “Mind and Body Metamorphosis”
has already enjoyed some level of success on the corporate seminar
scene. It already has its own website and with Mills’s
pulling power both in the life coaching sector and through his
twenty years experience in the martial arts, we should be hearing
more about this method in the future with a DVD surely to be soon
in the offing. It certainly knocks down the likes of Tae Bo and
Body Combat on depth alone. Rather than just adding on a series of
increasingly complex and superficial combinations, Mind and Body
Metamorphosis sets itself apart from the majority of fitness
orientated martial arts programmes by building on simple but
effective concepts for all over development.
Changing Lineage:
Evolution Not Revolution
Wing Chun Kung Fu has a
rich and diverse history with several distinct ‘styles’ evolving
over the last 50 years. The
most popular styles can be traced back to the modern father of Wing
Chun – Yip Man. It is Yip Man who is widely
accepted as bringing the art of Wing Chun to a world-wide audience
when he moved from China
to Hong Kong where he began
teaching in the early 1950’s.
Two of Yip Man’s students
– Ip Chun (his son) and Wong Shun Leung –
provide the lineage for two of the most enduring systems taught in
the UK. Ip
Chun’s system, probably the most widely taught and followed, is
characterised by transferring weight to change the practitioners centre of gravity when
pivoting. In contrast, Wong
Shun Leung’s system pivots on the centre of gravity with weight
evenly distributed.
I’m sure most fighting
enthusiasts have considered changing style or even martial art
during the course of their training. It takes guts to move away from a
system where you have gained confidence and endure the steep
learning curve of studying a new martial art. It takes even more bottle to change
style when you are a renowned and respected teacher of a system.
Alan
Gibson – founder of the Wing Chun Federation, Wing Chun teacher of
many years and author of the ‘Why Wing Chun Works’ series of books
and DVDs - did just that. I
caught up with Alan to discuss why he now teaches the Wong Shun
Leung system, the relative merits of this system compared to the Ip Chun variation, and the challenges he faced
at the time, convincing his students to persevere with the new
system.
Q: Why do you think a single
fighting system such as Wing Chun demonstrates several lineages
with such different interpretations of the system?
OK,
there are several reasons for this.
Firstly the teacher’s own style will evolve over time – an
earlier student will be taught different things than a later
student. Secondly, a teacher
is likely to instruct different students with different emphasis
due to their individual needs.
Also,
students interpret what they are taught differently. For example, if two people learn
to play guitar from the same teacher, they would learn notes and
chords the same but the music they produce is completely different.
One student may go off and play rock music, while the other one may
play Jazz.
Finally,
within a given strand of Wing Chun there will still be huge and
obvious differences as there is with Yip Man’s students. This is because Wing Chun is not
a style – it is a set of ideas and principles. Eventually, different lineages
may become unrecognisable as coming from the same system.
Despite
my dislike of Wing Chun politics, I think that the Wing Chun
in-fighting is probably good for the progression of the
system. It keeps it keen and
helps cut away the dead wood.
A bit like the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’.
Q: That’s interesting because some
martial artists are always talking about how there system has been
‘diluted’ over time, but you see it as natural progression.
Yes –
Wing Chun is a progressive style because it is essentially about
stripping away the unnecessary rather than collecting
techniques. It’s kind of
like trying to distil the essence of the original idea. This evolution also means Wing
Chun remains relevant as a fighting art – you don’t have time to
select a technique in the of heat battle.
A good
analogy is to compare the World Cup winning team of 1966 with
Beckham’s boys. If the two
teams played today it would be a total mismatch – the modern team
would play them off the pitch because contemporary training
techniques produce fitter, faster and far more skilled
footballers. I think it is
our duty to continue this evolutionary thinking within the martial
arts fraternity.
Q: What do you see as the major
differences between the two systems?
Bear in
mind there are also many differences within each Wing Chun
style. This makes it
difficult to pin down precisely the differences between say, the Ip Chun and Wong Shun Leung method. I think the differences actually
germinate from the differences in the way that you pivot - the
contrast in pivots means the basic Wing Chun Shapes work in a
fundamentally different way.
When
fighting, the Wong Shun Leung system feels closer, more direct and
with less emphasis on defending and more on attacking. Also, the Ip
Chun system’s power seems more in the wrist and arms, whereas the
Wong Shun Leung system emphasises the elbow and body structure
more. The advantage of this
connected structure is that it ‘feels’ more threatening and
destabilising to the opponent’s stance. This has an immediate, positive
psychological effect over your opponent. The downside (if you think of it
in that way) of the Wong Shun Leung system is that it feels less
‘playful’ and looks less flamboyant than the Ip
Chun system.
Also,
the Wong Shun Leung system has this idea of Lat sau. This relentless springy force
comes from the structure, the arms are
still very relaxed because the force is generated from the legs.
Q: What provided you with the
catalyst to search for alternative interpretation of the Wing Chun
system?
I think
Wing Chun practitioners tend to be inquisitive by nature. I have always been interested in
different interpretations and have always wanted to hone my
personal skill and knowledge as far as I could.
When I
was in Hong Kong, I visited Master
Wan Kam Leung – a student of Wong’s - and
was impressed by his interpretation of Wing Chun. The Wing Chun Federation invited
him to do a seminar in Southampton,
which went really well.
Shortly after this seminar I linked up with David Peterson
in Australia and
other WSL contacts in the UK.
Q: So was the transition to the Wong
Shun Leung system instant or did you take a while to make the leap?
In my
mind it was immediate. To
train my body and habits took considerably longer. In fact, I’m still working at it!
Q: How did your students react when
you decided to teach the Wong Shun Leung system?
Some
were reticent and didn’t want to go through a painful retraining
process – I guess it’s hard to feel like a beginner again. I could see the bigger picture
and knew what I had to do.
You need to be honest and true to what you believe –
changing lineage or martial art isn’t a political act – it’s about
what suits you on a personal level.
Wing Chun is about self-development – not going through the
motions just because someone tells you that you should.
Also,
over time, a class will largely change anyway. Some students stop coming and new
people replace them. It was
quite frustrating at times though: my new students are learning the
Wong Shun Leung way faster than I did myself, because I had so many
habits to change whereas they were clean sheets.
Q: How do you teach a more
‘aggressive’ system and still maintain a cooperative, relaxed class
environment suitable for all ages and sexes as Wing Chun always
advertises itself to be?
I
wouldn’t necessarily call the Wong Shun Leung system
aggressive. Perhaps ‘very
assertive’ would be better.
You can certainly feel the threat and intent but aggression
implies emotion – this is not good because emotion causes tension,
which is detrimental to applying the system effectively.
Any
well-led class will follow the attitude of the teacher and in this respect
you have a moral responsibility – you don’t want a bunch of clones
but you should lead by example.
If a teacher is ignorant, or a bully, some weak people will
follow that bad example. You
have to be strong minded enough to stop bad influences in their
tracks if they creep in, and be open minded enough to be embrace
new ideas which can help you and your class evolve and develop.
Q: So where are you now personally
with your Wing Chun and what is the future for your own development
and teaching?
Well,
I’m currently trying to get a deeper understanding of Wong Shun
Leung’s method to improve my own standards and teaching by training
with 1st generation Wong Shun Leung students. For
example, David Peterson (Wong Shun Leung’s representative in Melbourne) is
coming over regularly to train and give seminars with my classes.
David speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin fluently and is a teacher
by trade so his knowledge (and delivery) is excellent.
In
the future, we will be trying to arrange training and seminars with
other Wong Shun Leung representatives such as Philip Bauer (Germany) and Gary Lam (Los Angeles),
I also like what other progressive Wing Chun systems are doing,
like Alan Orr’s team fighting in the MMA arena.
Q: How does David’s understanding of the Chinese languages
help him explain Wing Chun better?
Good
question – basically, the underlying meaning of Wing Chun
techniques are contained in their names (obviously)! What David’s
understanding of the Chinese languages does is clear up any
misinterpretations. For example, the Wing Chun technique ‘Bong Sau’
is usually translated as ‘Wing Arm’. This is wrong! ‘Bong’ is
simply the name for the upper arm bone. This mistranslation has
caused a fundamental error in the way some people apply the ‘Bong
Sau’ technique – they position the arm with the elbow outside of
the hip in a wing-like shape, thus losing the supporting strength
of the Wing Chun body structure. If you understand that ‘Bong’ just
describes the upper arm bone, this tells us that the technique should
be applied with the elbow pointing towards the opponents
centre of gravity (because the forearm can no longer dominate the
centre line). This correct interpretation also means that ‘Bong
Sau’ is fundamentally an assertive technique – not a defensive one.
Q:
And finally, what about the Wing Chun system in general – do you
see greater crossover/cooperation between the various strands, or a
continuation of the politics and in-fighting?
Both!
The politics and in-fighting will continue because people are always
pulling in different directions which is
tearing various associations apart. On the flip-side of the coin,
better global communications (like the internet) has enabled
cooperation by allowing people to see more easily other people’s
ideas about Wing Chun.
Q:…As well as get their own point
of view across…
Absolutely
– Martial Arts are no longer a closed shop; people are free to pick
and change according to what they see and want. Wing Chun is no
longer a closed family system – more a global phenomenon!
I
think this has also led to more cross-training. For example, I’ve
recently been invited to take seminars for other Wing Chun
organisations and Martial Arts styles such as Karate, Kick Boxing
and Jeet Kuen
Do. In point of fact, I was recently privileged to contribute to
Jamie Clubb’s ‘Cross training 2. The
Anatomy of Hand Strikes’ (Summersdale Productions DVD). Working
alongside luminaries such as Ian Abernethy, Chris Rowen, Matty Evans,
Rick Young and Mo Teague is pure inspiration.
Q:
Evolution not revolution!
Exactly!
The Wing Chun Workman: My Meeting with Sifu
Alan Gibson
By Jamie Clubb
(Martial Arts Illustrated Oct 2005)
"Wing
Chun itself does not need to change, it is just a bunch of ideas,
what matters is how people interpret them" - Alan Gibson
"Alan's
Wing Chun is excellent, his structure and mobility within the Wing
Chun base are superb. His ability to change, flow and freely
exchange is almost a skill in itself, and one that I seemed to be
on the receiving end of a lot. Just when I thought I'd done not too
bad, Alan changed up a gear or adjusted the angle and had me beat
every time. I picked up plenty of tips though, aspects that I knew
I needed to work on Alan guided my through." - Dave Fenton, MYS Wing Chun
Academy
Alan
Gibson always seems to demonstrate a point physically. That was my
early impression of him, as Sifu Dave
Fenton and I began our discussion with the man at his home in Southampton. One thing becomes immediately
apparent; every time Alan makes contact with you can feel a coiled
kinetic energy ready to spring forward. Like all good martial
artists, his art is displayed in his every natural gesture. Using
the raised pelvis pigeon-toed stance, he explains that the motion
of attack must nearly always go forward, driving through using the
legs to generate power rather than from the shoulders and upper
body. This makes his attacks strong - rock solid strong - but never
over committed.
This is
not the first time I've heard these points. Steve Rowe, Russell Stutely and my Muay
Thai Kru all emphasised the importance of
driving through from the ground whilst keeping a good posture. It
is all about taking control of your adversary and keeping control
of yourself. Such comparisons are not rejected by Alan. His
training is all about "Keeping it Real", which is also
the title of one of his instructional DVDs, and if other
reality-based instructors are using these same principles it only
goes to show that the truth remains no matter what your experience
or style. Martial art politics are not an issue with Alan; in fact
he makes a point of avoiding them or cutting them off at the root.
This ranges from handling Wing Chun friends with differing opinions
on teaching methods to running an apolitical self-governing body.
Alan founded "The Wing Chun Federation" in 1990 with the
express purpose of concerning himself solely with the development
of his chosen art and creating a relaxed training atmosphere for
his students.
As I am
sure many of us are aware, there is a lot of pedantic nonsense in
the martial arts world and Wing Chun is no different. Alan - like
all good reality-based instructors - adheres to the common sense
principles of his art rather than arguing over the finer details of
technique. However, he is quite philosophical about the whole
academic melee.
"Different
strands of Wing Chun (Wing Chun, Wing Tsun,
Ving Tsun etc.)
are already unrecognisable enough as the same system. This can
create different problems when different groups try to train and
end up fighting without exchanging ideas. But then is fighting such
a bad thing? If we are training to fight - then we should not be
surprised when fighting is result of comparison."
The
encouragement of a free exchange of ideas can be seen in Alan's
association with reality weapons expert, Steve Tappin,
the founder of Escrima Concepts, who
dropped in for a visit with two Wing Chun sifu
colleagues from Holland,
Benno Westra
and Peter De Vries. Steve prides himself
on running a non-interference politics-free European martial arts
body that encompasses a wide range of different systems. Benno Westra enjoyed
a tactile exchange of ideas with Alan and both seemed to be
reflecting very similar ideas. Benno is
also a big believer in common sense adaptation of Wing Chun. For
example, he was not happy with the emphasis Leung Ting's form of
Wing Chun placed on taking the majority of weight on the back leg.
He found the explanation that it helped safeguard against sweeps to
be inadequate and that it compromised weapons work.
According
to Alan, such arguments over smaller details on stance work have
led to unnecessarily emotional divisions amongst today's Wing Chun
community. Alan's attitude seems to be that when it all comes down
to it Wing Chun is about fighting for survival. He describes the
art as "just a bunch of ideas" and such ideas have
helped his cross-training students better understand their other
martial methods. Looking at the shape of the forms rather than just
getting stuck in set techniques has led to the application of
"unconventional" Wing Chun methods such as guillotine
chokes and hook punches. For example, I later mentioned to Alan I
had observed Benno Westra
gripping the back of the Mook Jong (wooden dummy) during his form like a
wrestler snatches down an opponent's neck. Alan said that this was
just one interpretation and another Sifu
does this motion as if it were a palm strike.
Such
free-minded applications of moves led Dave Fenton to ponder the
time Alan considered it to be appropriate to look outside the
proverbial box. "When someone puts you in one" was
Alan's straight response. Such a philosophy is representative in
Wing Chun's third form, Biu Tze (flying fingers). In his third book on Wing
Chun, Alan explains: "The name is derived from characters
meaning Moon Pointing Finger, and Wong Shun Leung believed it
taught us to 'Look Beyond The Pointing Finger' (see Dave Petersons great book). This is a way of telling
practitioners not to be trapped in the standard rules that they
have been taught in basic training, and to think outside the box
when training or fighting. Many readers will be familiar with the
Bruce Lee quote at the beginning of Enter the Dragon telling the
young lad 'Do not look at the finger or you will miss all that
heavenly glory.' or words to this effect.
The
mystery surrounding Biu Tze stems from the fact that it is often only
taught to loyal students who have shown themselves
to be capable of a high level of development, both through the
system and on a personal level. Frequently Biu
Tze is only taught on a one to one basis
and a student must certainly have absorbed all the concepts from Siu Lim Tao and Chum Kiu,
frequently the dummy form is also considered to apply before the
Third Form. Many of the moves break the Wing Chun rules, coming up
from under the bridge or from the 'wrong side' of the body. Biu Tze form contains
many sophisticated ideas, including ways of minimising ones losses
if you have been hit, injured or made a bad mistake during a fight.
For this reason it is also sometimes known as the emergency or
desperation form. This is one reason for the form not to be shown
too early in a person's training, it is better to learn not to make
mistakes, than to find ways of correcting them after they have been
made. The form is also considered important as it may give clues to
potential weaknesses of the Wing Chun system, although it also
demonstrates how to overcome these problems." The need for
adapting to an environment and progressive training is an inherent
principle in any self-protection instructor's policy.
Alan
embraces this completely and the results can be seen in his
excellent series of DVDs produced by Summersdale Productions.
Scenarios are set up in a variety of different circumstance and
places, going from light to full-contact training very often with
the assistance of his most senior student, Kevin Bell. Using the
fence against aggression and unrehearsed attacks from multiple
opponents are all part of the norm. "Keeping it Real"
even goes as far as showing the failed responses to attacks as well
as the successful ones. Alan is also very mindful of the
deterioration of reality-based training into sports-based sparring:
"If
people want to train for competition, sport or even for
philosophical and religious reasons, then that's fine with me - just
don't come and tell me that it teaches you to fight if you have
never pressure tested. For me the bottom line is fighting, the
personal development comes as a result of attempting to improve
your skill and understanding of a fascinating and - I believe -
greatly misunderstood art. If you try to turn Wing Chun into
anything other than fighting (including competitive sport) then you
blur the clarity of the original idea. Fighting has no rules or
style."
He
later went on to explain how best a student could work to improve
Wing Chun under sparring conditions without compromising the
fighting principle-based structure of the art
"The
person doing Wing Chun should not wear boxing gloves or they will
just end up boxing. You should fight the person - not the style,
someone once said. The problem people encounter, when trying to
achieve this end is that they tend to try to fight from the wrong
range. Wing Chun will work and be immensely strong and relentless
if you are close in (elbow to elbow). Some Wing Chun people seem to
me to be fighting on the boxing trade range - this causes them to
reach in to hit, thus compromising their structure and becoming
very tense and weak in the process. Closing the range down will
never be a problem in real life fighting, but can be more
complicated in a competitive sparring situation. This is why I
think that it's better to set up a controlled 'fight' as opposed to
sparring."
A lot
of this may seem paradoxical - keeping structure of an art but
keeping your mind open to other styles - yet this is what
commonsense training is all about. I asked Dave Fenton, speaking as
an instructor of Wing Chun, for the final word on our meeting with
Alan Gibson: "I am a big fan of Alan's no nonsense approach to
Wing Chun and how he endeavors to make it
a functional modern fighting style; one which when you see it done
by Alan, makes perfect sense and works as it should." I would
like to extend my thanks to all those present on the day of my
meeting with Alan; Dave Fenton of MYS
Wing Chun and Steve Tappin, Benno Westra and
Peter de Vries of Escrima
Concepts for their insight, Kevin Bell and all of Alan's students
for providing some excellent examples of Alan's methods in practice
and last but not to least to Alan's wonderfully supportive wife,
Sarah and their charming daughter Tabitha for putting up with us
lot. For information on Alan Gibson's lessons and seminars please
contact www.wingchun.org.uk Alan Gibson has produced a number of
books and a new series of DVDs for Summersdale publications and productions.
Please click on www.summersdale.com
Black Belt Magazine
Brutally
Honest Review
Improving
Wing Chun: Forms dvd- Alan Gibson
By
Matthew Sylvester
Yet
again Summersdale come to the fore with their quality training DVDs.
Wing Chun is an art that is everywhere and that everyone has heard
of but which most people don't know much about. This DVD both helps
expand this knowledge by a hundredfold whilst enabling the
practitioner to add a valuable training tool to their library.
Assembly
None needed. Yay
Appearance Good use of cameras with nice clean shots
demonstrating the techniques well. Sound quality is good.
Build
Quality Nice use of white
space on the DVD cover. Good cover photo and well labelled spine.
It's in a DVD case as well which means it's well protected from any
accidental damage and won't look out of place amongst the rest of
your collection.
Ease
of use Take out of cover,
insert into DVD. Yet again this is a product that
is so well produced that you could take it to your place of
training and use it for a lesson. Everything is nice and
clear enabling you to learn as much as possible and, being on a
DVD, ensures that you can see the same move time and time again
until you get it right. As with all of Summersdale's
media, the information is presented in bite sized chunks with clear
definitions between subject matter. Good camera work and audio
ensure that the viewer is able to get the most from the DVD without
having to constantly back track. Being able to see the forms from
the front, right and left at 45 degrees is also very helpful as it
covers the movements of the forms very clearly.
Price Once again this is a good product and one
that will be of great value to Wing Chun practitioners. At £14.99
it makes a great pressy.
Criteria
Score Comments
Ease
of assembly 20 None
needed. Yay.
Appearance
16 Nice simple design with
clean camerawork.
Build
quality 20 Proper DVD
case, not some shammy jewel case
Usability
17 If you've got a laptop
you can take it anywhere. Easy watching.
Price
16 Good mid
Total
89 A valuable tool for Wing Chun practitioners.
Copies
of the DVD can be bought from this site or www.summersdale.com.
Martial Arts Illustrated
Summersdale
Productions: The Evolution of Instructional DVD Summersdale first came to the attention of
the martial arts community when Geoff Thompson won critical and
commercial acclaim with his hard-hitting autobiography, "Watch
My Back." Since then the publishing company's name has become
synonymous with respected martial artist authors. The scope of
their catalogue encompasses not only a wide range of combat systems
but also different types of book, from straightforward
instructional manuals to stage plays and even novels. Now this
versatility appears to have been carried over into the newly
established Summersdale Productions DVD titles. Considering that
this is already a well established market and with the recent huge
increase in independent film-makers, many who specialise in martial
arts instructional videos, could this be one bold step too far?
According
to Summersdale Productions' manager Nick Atkinson, moving into the
DVD market was "the next logical step for Summersdale."
They started with twenty-six titles by Geoff Thompson (transferring
his previously released VHS series), six by Iain Abernethy of Bunkai-Jutsu fame and two by Alan Gibson of the
Wing Chun Federation. Forthcoming work includes the "Yin and
Yang of Karate" series of seminars featuring Shihan Chris Rowen
and Sensei Iain Abernethy, as well as nine titles by the renowned
cross-training martial arts instructor, Rick Young, more pragmatic
interpretations of traditional arts with Iain Abernethy's
"Applied Karate" and Alan Gibson's "Improving Wing
Chun" succession of DVDs, and Andy Hopwood's British Free
Fighting Academy film, "Masterclass."
Recently signed work includes a series of Goju
Ryu Karate by Shihan
Chris Rowen and a conversion of twenty of
VMA's best-selling catalogue of videos.
Okay,
so that's what the producers and featured martial artists want us
to know, but what can we expect from a Summersdale DVD once our
hard-earned cash has been spent. I was given four sample DVDs to
view from the range. These included titles by Iain Abernethy, Alan
Gibson and Andy Hopwood.
I am a
big supporter of Iain Abernethy's work and his "Karate's
Grappling Methods" is certainly a very enjoyable accompaniment
to his seminars and books. Iain is a very engaging teacher and the
substance of what he has to say comes across in a manner that is
neither too drawn-out nor too flippant. Alan Gibson's two DVDs
"Wing Chun: A Class of its Own" and "Improving Wing
Chun: Forms" are an introduction to Gibson's interpretation of
the art and a study of all the system's forms respectively. Alan
Gibson embraces a no-nonsense attitude to self-defence and the
principles at the heart of Wing Chun. I have never trained under
Alan Gibson, but his philosophy seems very similar to Dave Fenton's
of the MYS Wing
Chun Academy, which I hugely
respect and believe to be the correct step forward with this
martial art. Dealing with modern self-defence at its raw essence,
Andy Hopwood's "A Master Class" is an almost
documentary-style filming of the British Free
Fighting Academy's 2003 intensive
weekend training course. Having attended one of these excellent
courses, watching the whole weekend unfold again brought a smile to
my face, not to mention a sense of guilty recognition, as I have
noticed how much that weekend has influenced some of the
self-defence drills I now teach in my regular class. So, judging
from this little bunch, the instructors chosen and the base content
of the DVDs are as sound as you can get. However, how well does
Summersdale the respected martial arts publishing veteran transfer
to Summerdale the rookie martial arts DVD production company?
For a
start, there is certainly a keen desire to keep away from a set
production formula. Each DVD is presented as a unique stand-alone
work. Even Alan Gibson's two DVDs contrast a lot in execution.
"Wing Chun: A Class of its Own" provides a variety of
locations and narrative inserts, as Gibson gives a presentation of
the way he teaches Wing Chun. The style is informal but
informative. In comparison "Improving Wing Chun: Forms"
is a shorter more formalized piece presented with strong graphics
and effects.
Nevertheless
I did notice a few small structural similarities between "Wing
Chun: A Masterclass," "Karate's
Grappling Methods" and "A Masterclass."
The narrative inserts in Iain Abernethy and Alan Gibson's DVDs, for
example, are often done outside on location in the UK
taking full advantage of some beautiful scenery. There is also a
tendency to edit in black and white side angle and close-up shots
in a style made popular by MTV's documentaries. Finally the other
routine idea I noticed was ending the DVDs with short interviews
with students asking why they study their particular art.
The
menu pages of the DVDs are imaginative and well-presented. Some of
the disks are packed full of extras, including outtakes, trailers
for other titles by the same instructor and interviews with the
instructor. Overall there is really little I can fault with the
DVDs. They are most definitely a mark above the usual fare, but
given Summersdale's reputation in
publishing, they need to be.
The longer
films don't drag on and there is a conscious effort to keep
sequences and scenes tight. That is not to say that detailed
analysis is not featured. Iain Abernethy's commentary over
slow-motion sequences of two grappling bouts is a particularly nice
touch. Likewise, if I am to take "Improving Wing Chun:
Forms" as an example, the shorter films don't leave you with
the feeling that you've been cheated. There is no padding. They
contain all the necessary meat without superfluous repetitions for those
who haven't mastered their pause and rewind buttons, and awkward
long silences whilst the forms are performed.
There
has been a marked change in the presentation of instructional films
over the past few years and it would appear that Summersdale could
be taking the lead. Each DVD is professionally packaged and
presented. The look of the actual films would not appear out of
place on television, particularly with some of the dramatic
movie-style opening credits and rolling end titles. This has to be
the way forward for instructional DVD. I am happy to say that the
days of runny colours, a maximum of three camera angles, elevator
style musical accompaniment (if any) and emotionless instructors
occupying a few square feet for the entirety of one series of
titles have gone the way of the Beta Max video.
Sweat Magazine
Review
"Gibson
- your writing looks like a drunken spider has crawled out of an
ink pot and wandered over the page."
Not the
most encouraging of statements to be received by a young lad, but
when Alan Gibson was at school his English teacher was close to
despair; his illegible handwriting, imaginative spelling and poor
grammar did not seem to indicate that a literary career was on the
cards.
Alan
says, "I wasn't brilliant at PE either, although I put this
down to the games teacher - he always reminded me of Brian Glover
in the film Kes - as opposed to any lack
of personal ability"
Twenty
seven years later then, Alan's old school teachers might be a
little surprised, to hear that he is now
makes his living as an author and by teaching martial arts! He is
now a professional kung fu teacher - has written three popular
books on Wing Chun ( the style of Chinese
kung fu studied by Bruce Lee), and is currently putting the
finishing touches to a series of instructional DVDs.
The
turn about came when Alan and some friends decided to try martial
art classes as an interesting way to get fit. They went to Karate
initially, and after a period of experimentation, ended up settling
with Wing Chun kung fu, a very logical and well though-out system.
He continued to practice and years later ended up teaching Wing
Chun as a hobby. The huge success of his first book "Why Wing
Chun Works" made Alan realise that it might be possible to
turn his hobby into a career.
Five
years from his first tentative forays as a martial art
professional, Alan has settled comfortably into his niche and now
regularly takes inspirational seminars on Wing Chun and Self
Defence for a diverse array of clients including martial arts
groups, schools, training organisations, county councils and
private companies all over the country.
His new
range of instructional DVDs is due to be unveiled in April, during
the SENI martial arts fair, held at the
NEC in Birmingham.
Wing Chun is safe, fun to practice and you will learn all aspects
of self-protection. The seminars and lessons are designed to
develop assertiveness, awareness and self-confidence, as well as
teaching effective martial skills.
Alan
said of his art, "My objective is to teach kung fu in a relaxed
and accessible manner, with an emphasis on skill and personal
development, rather than aggression and violence. Effective Wing
Chun can be simply learned by commitment and patience. With the
added benefit of intelligence and sensitivity, a high level of
proficiency can be obtained quickly and with ease."
Aside
from the obvious fighting applications, Wing Chun also helps to
maintain a healthy body and mind. Regular practice will loosen the
joints, tone the musculature and improve posture. By the very nature
of the practice a relaxed and focused mind is achieved. This
reduces stress levels and allows the body's natural protection
mechanisms to strengthen.
In
March Alan will be recruiting new students to train in Wing Chun at
the Millbank martial art gymnasium in Northam, Southampton.
Anyone
interested in seminars, lessons or private tuition should contact
Alan Gibson Telephone: 023 8057 2084 email: alan@wingchun.org.uk
For more information on Wing Chun or Alan Gibson visit the Wing
Chun Federation website www.wingchun.org.uk
Combat Magazine
Why
Wing Chun Works Book Review 1. | 
