The drills and exercises of Wing Chun Kung Fu are all designed to give the student all the required elements a Wing Chun practitioner needs to help develop their mind, body and spirit, whether it’s fitness, balance, coordination, flexibility or sparring.
A Wing Chun student is given techniques during their training which are given in the form of a drill, which is to be worked on a consistent basis so that the information is installed into their bodies forming muscle memory, meaning that like blinking and breathing the student reacts without thinking about what they are doing to defend themselves.
Here is a list of some of the Wing Chun Drills and Exercises you as a student of Wing Chun Kung Fu will come across.
Wing Chun Drills (Solo Training)
The first drill the student will come across is Wing Chun’s first form called Siu Nim tao, this form is split into 8 sentences and each sentence is practiced in every class allowing you the student to gain a greater understanding of each shape and build muscle memory.
Moving on from the forms, we come to our footwork; whether it’s basic or advanced footwork, the student is introduced to a new step or a sequence of steps every class.
Hand and Coordination drills – 16 Point Hand Drill, 12 Basic Shapes, Mun sau Wu Sau, 8 Kicks of Wing Chun and Centre Line Punching(Chain Punching). These Wing Chun drills and sequences of movements are designed to help you as a student build muscle memory, flow with the movements, and are drilled until you can do them without any thought. These Wing Chun Drills can be combined so that you as a student can gain a more in-depth understanding of Wing Chun.
These Wing Chun drills are solo drills and can be practiced anywhere.
Applied Wing Chun Drills Lat Sao (Attack and Defend Partner Training)
The first time a Wing Chun student is introduced to the applied side of our Wing Chun Drills they will come across our little game which is called Lat Sao. Within this drill the student will learn to attack and defend with whatever your fellow Wing Chun Practitioner throws at you and within this drill you as the student will work through the 12 fighting programs. Also within this element you will learn a variety of different drills designed to give you the art of flowing.
Applied Wing Chun Drills Chi Sao (Sticky Hands)
Once the applied side of Wing Chun drills has been introduced the student will move onto what is considered the most important aspect of Wing Chun; Dan Chi Sao, the art of sticking to an attackers wrist or forearm.
This particular drill is first introduced as a single handed variation with you and your training partner, this drill is designed so that you as student can gain greater understanding of pressure from your training partner and your goal is to redirect this, maintain wrist to wrist contact thus keeping the distance between each other the same. Dan Chi Sao can be worked diagonally or parallel.
Once you have reached a certain grade or level of knowledge you will be introduced to Wing Chun Drills of Chi Sao wrist to wrist contact of both hands.
As your knowledge of Wing Chun grows you’ll find yourself creating your own drills, looping back and forth through everything you have learnt from your Lat Sao and Chi Sao Programs.