UKC

Hi folks
In a bid too learn something new I've decided to try and teach myself wing chun I'm currently building my own dummy and just wanted to know if anyone has any insight on the effect on your wrists and hands obviously it's quite abusive to those areas but will it affect it long term. As I love climbing more than anything else I do I'd prefer not to permantly affect it does anyone have any first hand knowledge ?

In reply to Kassius:

Never had any wrist/hand issues, but I joined a club and the physical element of the training often left me destroyed and would struggle to train both k/fu and climbing effectively without one suffering for the other. Climbing won...as always.

In reply to Kassius:

I did a year of wing chun way back but never progressed to the wooden dummy but did lots of sticking hands. I don't think it's meant to be "abusive" to your wrists as the whole philosophy is to move gracefully. It's not like muay thai where they kill the nerves in their shin so they can kick harder and feel less pain. I think the only thing that will stop you climbing is a pulley or overtraining injury from...climbing.

In reply to Kassius:

I never had any hand or wrist issues and trained in Wing Chun some years ago. The main contact was on the forearms for blocking, though I am quite sweaty so this helped avoid chaffing. I would recommend a club if you can find a good one locally, not least because I find external motivation more encouraging than my own, and it was a really good workout. If you need a recommendation I would ask Sifu John at York Wing Chun if he knows someone near you.

http://www.yorkwingchun.co.uk/about.html

Good luck.

In reply to Morgan Woods:


Spot on. Wing Chun is all about speed and sensitivity. One shouldn't be crushing hands on the dummy.

Also, if you want to learn Wing Chun... DON'T start with the dummy!!! Took me 2 years before I was allowed to progress to that. Start with Su Lim Toa... it's not really something to learn on your own though. Join a club as you really need people to train sticky hands with.

In reply to Kassius:

I'm not sure about Wing Chun specifically but I cross train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It leaves me quite battered from the full on sparring but find it benefits my climbing in other ways such as increased motivation, flexibility and training variety. The climbing grip strength helps my BJJ too.

I'd second the points about joining a club, though. Training on your own is fine if you aren't really bothered about progression but training with others and learning from an experienced coach who you gel with are important aspects of training in the martial arts and learning any system especially something complex like Wing Chun.

Good luck and have fun.

In reply to Kassius:

My limited striking experience is from JKD rather than WT (my main sport being judo), but that should not make much of a difference. IMO the dummy is a rather advanced training tool, probably doing more harm than good if you don´t know exactly what you are doing. The advice to join a club is good, and I would even recommend going for a different martial art if there was no WT club in your area rather than try and learn it from a book. Training in a club is much more fun, anyway.

CB

In reply to Kassius:

Judo will give you tremendous grip strength and core strength,and cardio vascular strength..Tai Chi,with a teacher who realises it's a MARTIAL art,superior to Wing Chun. Go Ju Ryu karate will also get you incredibly fit.Refer to Andy Barker at Sheffield dojo for advice.He did the first ascent of Nosferatu at Burbage.

In reply to paul mitchell:

But bear in mind that with tai chi, it takes a VERY long time to become effective, compared to most martial arts.

In reply to Kassius:

Thanks for all the input gents I've found a local club and will be attending tomorrow evening.
Best regards