Chi Sau (vi) Gaan Sau

Training sessions over the last few weeks have covered three distinct aspects of the WSLVT skill set with an emphasis on speed and power:

• Chi Sau (core chi sau skills)
• Striking and mobility (pad, mitt work, 50-50 drills and responses to out of range attacks etc)
• Regaining squareness (when pushed or grabbed)

The common thread through training has been to build an instinctive response to any attempt to hit or control you. The ‘instinctive response’ I am referring to is to strike your attacker at the very moment they attempt to accost you and to flow to the next best option if your strike does not land immediately.  When your actions are instinctive they don’t require thought, you eliminate the delay that occurs when your brain has to process what’s taking place for you to consciously make a decision about what to do. In short you develop very fast responses that interrupt the attempt to hurt you, which is exactly what you need if find yourself a real self-defence situation.

For the next few weeks Ving Tsun training will continue to be structured in this way. Each session will commence with Chi Sau, striving to improve and perfect core chi sau skills; ‘rolling’, responding to an attack down the centre & responding to an attack down the outside. As these core skills improve the way we approach chi sau training will progress to focus on alternative responses and adjustments to the attacks, such as the Gaan sau entry featured in this blog entry.  See the clip embedded below for an explanation of the Gaan sau entry and a counter to it.

I introduced a fifty-fifty (50-50) drill in March. The first time we worked through this exercise the feedback was loud and clear. It is a valuable training exercise that helps you develop the ability to read an opponent’s movements and see openings as they occur. This type of training also gives you the chance to self-assess your responses and structures, ultimately developing faster reflexes and movements. These types of exercises will continue to be a part of training for some time to come with other variations to be added in future.