Recorded 14/06/2009
The Muk Yan Jong, the Wooden Man, is the main training aid in Wing Chun Kung Fu after a human training partner. Sticking Hands is the most important part of Wing Chun Kung Fu, and possibly the best training exercise in real martial art; but the Wooden Dummy is the main training aid for when you have no human partner. Wing Chun Kung Fu has 6 forms (katas): 3 empty handed, 2 with weapons, and 1 with the Dummy – Muk Yan Jong.
15:51, 14/06/2009
016: Okay, I've just gone to YouTube, and I've done a search for Wing Chun Dummy. The first is Wing Chun Dummy 116.
034: And straight away we can see a man... opening his stance; from feet together, standing in a good start position. Back straight, legs straight, hands by the side. He bends his knees, and shifts his heels out first, by the looks of it, while bending his back.
1:17: Now even if you're working in a warehouse or a factory, lifting heavy objects, the health and safety specialist will tell you... Bend your knees but don't bend your back; because it compromises your whole body structure, and is generally less stable.
1:40: And then, he seemed to have hopped back up, as he opened his feet into a reasonable position. Still leaning forward a little bit. And then he goes back down, and throws his feet wide apart.
2:08: Now, the knees are about shoulder-width apart; and the feet are a lot wider. The feet should actually be about shoulder-width apart, and the knees should be inside there. So straight away we can see that he's vulnerable to getting kicked between the legs. He's got no defenses between his knees. And if he wants to turn from one side to another he's gonna find it very difficult shifting his body weight above one leg to above the other. He's not gonna be able to pull on his knees for smooth turning, because they're just too wide apart.
2:58: And, he's stretched his right foot. He's almost doing the splits there to be honest. He's leaning over to the right and backwards a bit. And if he...
3:23: If somebody, for example, standing where the dummy is now, wanted to kick his left, the inside of his left leg; he would not be able to stand on his feet because, his rear leg, his rear foot, is not underneath his centre of gravity. His rear foot should be directly underneath the neck, the spine; and he should be essentially sitting on it. I don't know what he's doing here but it is not Wing Chun. Let's move on to the next video.
It's an easy way to learn about real martial art online. Just watch what I watch, as I criticise some videos on YouTube. It's nothing personal against the recipients of my critiques; it's just an easy way for me to generate content for this website, using a cool new tool called Jing!