Guangzhou Wing Chun

[bulldogg]

Has anyone here done any training with Wing Chun from the Guangzhou line (the Hong Kong and Shaolin versions are for pussies)? In particular the exercise called "sam sing" where you have a three count movement with each arm where you slam your forearms into another person's arms or solid objects. Over time the bone density in the arms becomes extremely dense. Very similar to the training that muay thai fighters do with their shins. The first six months are brutal but there is a 60+ year old man in the group I train with who can move a metal telephone pole with his arms, no bruising, no pain. Practical side is if someone strikes you with a baton, baseball bat, rifle etc. you can block the blow with your forearms with no damage to you.

No gunfu in my AO so... started the muay thai to ward off shin splints, works like the bomb btw. The training is fun, no liability laws means we dont have to sign waivers and release forms before knocking the snot out of each other.

Pads are for pussies.

[EvilCouch]

There's a somewhat famous kung fu guy, whose name complete escapes me, with a ridiculous iron fist training regimen. He's been punching steel for years and when he goes traveling and may or may not have access to a plate of steel to hit, he'll take a bar of steel and slam it into his knuckles a few hundred times.

He can dent steel plates with his punches.

On the down side, his hands have grown extra bone and they look like a kindergartener's clay sculpture. Really cool to see someone adapt their fists to be the strongest in the world, but man those things are really fucking ugly.

Edit:
Yeah, this guy. Master Pan.

Couldn't find a good picture of his hands, but look at his fucking knuckles. Craziness!

[CloakAndDagger]

Has anyone here done any training with Wing Chun from the Guangzhou line (the Hong Kong and Shaolin versions are for pussies)? In particular the exercise called "sam sing" where you have a three count movement with each arm where you slam your forearms into another person's arms or solid objects. Over time the bone density in the arms becomes extremely dense.

Haven't had experience with Guangzhou Wing Chun, but Hung Gar (which is what I have trained in) also uses Sam Sing (translation: "3 Stars"). I would suspect, that if GWC teaches you to block punches and kicks with a similar amount of force to the Sam Sing exercise, that it probably has the stancework to back it up. If that is the case, you probably have found a good school and one of the better varieties of Kung Fu.

Give us a little more info about the types of things it emphasizes, and we can draw some comparisons, even if we don't have direct experience with it.

[bulldogg]

Roger that Cloak and Dagger, it does have a lot of parallels to Hung Ga kyun. The stance is the primary move and does take a bit of work to get used to... "sitting the horse", it looks retarded as hell at first but its fundamentally sound. You make an S out of your body if you were to look at someone doing it correctly from the side. Feet apart with toes turned in, knees bent and together, then you are slightly bent/curved through the thighs and torso so your chest is "caved" and your shoulders are foreward. All the poor posture things my primary teachers yelled at us about but it gives you a reach advantage on punches of about 3 inches from the normal chest out shoulders back stance. It finishes with your arms drawn back tight with your fists positioned at your chest right under your armpits... like cocked pistons.

Next is the punches which also follow a very different move than boxing. The fist moves against the chest to the sternum and then moves straight out snapping, subsequent punches follow the same move with the fist crossing over the bend in the elbow of the retracting arm. Very important in this move is the shoulders NOT moving forward nor the waist turning. Your upper body remains solid but relaxed. This was a real bitch to re-learn having been a boxer but there is no force lost in the impact of the punch. The system is sound.

The next step in the punches is when you rotate the body with the feet rotating but stepping, rotating the torso so the shoulder of the arm you are punching with is moved at your target, punching at the same time, its a devastating punch and increases yoour range by the entire width of your upper body.

The sam sing is done with FULL force. You meet force with force while remaining relaxed and fluid reacting to any opening the poor bastard gives you. The full force but relaxed is a bitch as well but I'm finally getting there.

Biggest difference I've seen with this particular branch of WC is that the Hong Kong strain and the kind being taught in the States is emphasising the stylistic crap. They don't train punches and don't do the sam sing. Their competitions are all about the "look" where here there is an honest to god underground network of guys who get together and they just knock the shit out of each other till someone taps out or is knocked out. Very different emphasis.

My sifu's number one student maintains this site if anyone is interested in a more detail as I am still something of a beginner.

www.wongjunlam.proboards49.com