Wing Chun Seven Star Footwork

8/10/2019 Wing Chun Seven Star Footwork

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Wing Chun Seven Star Footwork 七星步法

by Michael Tse

When studying Wing Chun Kung Fu 詠春功夫, most people

concentrate on hand techniques and do not consider goodootwork! "o matter how good you are, no matter whattechniques you use, i you only concentrate on handtechniques then your skill will not work when you comeacross someone who has a better skill level or who isstronger than you!

#magine someone punching your ace or chest! # you use

Taan Sau攤手 or $ong Sau膀手, even with %yun Ma 轉馬&turning to the side and pronounced '%oone() you will stilluse a lot o energy as their attack will be very powerul! #

you step back a little, or even better, step a little to the sideto avoid the strike, then you will be able to receive theirenergy better and you will almost not need to use anyenergy yoursel to contact their hand! # we do not step, thenour opponent, who may really want to hurt us, will deinitelybe able to reach our ace or chest!

"o matter what hand we use, or instance Taan Sau 攤手, $ong Sau膀手, *aan Sau耕手,

i we do not move, we are still using strength against strength! +ower that comes goesorward is always stronger than receiving power! ven i we can block it we will still need touse a lot o energy! %ust using %yun Ma is not enough to receive that power easily andeven though we might divert it, the ne-t attack will be even harder as the opponent comesorwards! # we remain on the same spot, whatever techniques we use, we will still get hit!Thereore the best thing to do is step, so good ootwork is very important in Wing Chun!

Some people say 'Wing Chun cannot step back, only step orwards!( # do not know whosaid this or where this concept has come rom! # have never heard o *randmaster #p Man

葉問 saying this and my Siu, *randmaster #p Chun葉準 deinitely does not say that!

When my Siu does Chi Sau黐手 with students he oten steps back! When we are smalland our opponent is bigger and has longer arms than us, how can we not step back i wedo not want to get hit.

/ne o Wing Chun principles is that a straight lineis the shortest distance to attack our opponent! 0nother it to use less strength to overcome morestrength! This is when sot overcomes hard andthis is a high level o martial arts! Stepping backallows us to get a better position and use lessenergy to receive our opponent1s stronger energycoming towards us! #n Chinese history, 234 $C,

Sun $in孫臏 &a amous strategist and relative toSun T5u) pretended to lose to his opponent, +ang

6uan龐涓 by and luring him into a orest at night and then deeating him!

This is a very amous story rom history! Chinese history has many stories like it! Chinese



strategy also uses stepping back as a method to win as do a lot o other Chinese martial

arts! There is a spear technique called '7eturning 8orse Spear 回馬槍” in which youpretend to lose and retreat and suddenly strike back with the spear! This is very hard todeend against! Thereore we have a Chinese saying '9eeated enemy : without another

choice : do not chase them hard窮寇莫追!( This is because when an opponent has noother choice, they will ight back with all they have and so i they turn to run, then be

careul and do not chase them too much in case it is a trap! The best way is wait until theyare e-hausted!

For mysel, # love to train Wing Chun ootwork! #n order to help make training moreorganised, # have arranged all the ootwork in Wing Chun into what # call, 'Wing Chun

Seven Star Footwork 詠春七星步法(! These seven kinds o ootwork will help us in manydierent situations and will make our skill level good so that we can cope with any kind oopponent and situation!

;! %yun Ma 轉馬

%yun &pronounced %une < as in Tune) means turn and Ma means stance! So it meansturning stance! 8ow do we turn the stance. 0ll the turning is done on the heels as our rootis on the heels and power also comes rom the heels! When we turn we turn on the heelsand do not lit up our toes or the ront part o the oot! We turn 4= degrees! We can turn;>? degrees, but the eet only change 4= degrees on both sides, and the rest o thechange is on the body! #deally when an opponent punches at us we turn 4= degrees toavoid the punch! Then we can use Taan Sau, $ong Sau, *aan Sau to counter!

#n each movement we need to learn how to connectthe upper and lower body and hands together tocreate strength and we must also to be able to let go

o any part o the body! When we can connecteverything together, we can be strong or hard! Whenwe use energy everything connects together! Whenwe deend, all the energy, muscles and @ointsconnect together in an attack! When we deend, wecan make any part o the body rela-ed or sot withoutit aecting our centre o gravity or our centreline!

Then the opponent cannot use our own energy to aect us, or e-ample, by pulling us orslapping &+aak) our hand! # we let go so there is no strength, then opponent cannot pullthe whole body! 8oweve, remember no matter how we turn, the distance between the eetmust remain shoulder width and cannot be wider or narrower!

2! Waahng Ma横馬Waahng &pronounced with a low pitched AahhhB sound) means hori5ontal or level bar! Thismeans hori5ontal stance but in this situation it means to move sideways! So when time weare walking in Waahng Ma we walk sideways!

When we are ighting we sometimes need to walk sideways! #t is not really walkingsideways though, it is really walking around with your opponent! We can see this walking

in Tsum Kiu!! For e-ample, our opponent punches with his right hand! We should walkaround to the punching side &ie the right side) o the opponent to avoid the punch and at

the same time get closer to him! /ur position is now on the outside and we are closer toour opponent! This means we can use both hands to attack him whereas he can onlyreach us with the hand he has punched with as his let hand is too ar away andinconvenient or him to reach us! This is the advantage o Waahng Ma when we use it to



walk around the opponent and get the best position to deend ourselves rom!

7emember, when we practise Waahng Ma we should step with the ront oot irst, keepingit as close to the ground as possible and once the oot lands as quickly as possible, weshould drag the back oot into position! We always step orward rom the heel not rom thetoes! The movement should be very quick and once it is inished both eet should be

shoulders width apart!

9uring any stepping movement, while we are moving only one leg is irm and the other ismobile! #t means that only one leg holds your centre o gravity and so this is dangerous!The opponent can use this and make us lose balance! We must thereore move quicklyand make sure the eet are as close to the loor as possible so we do not have a longperiod o time where we are on one leg! /nce we have inished the step, both legs mustbe irm and also in a position where we can move again as quickly as possible and this iswhy there is a shoulder width distance between the two eet!

3! %un Ma"馬

%un &pronounced %un as in Sun) means orwards! So the movement is called Forward Stepand so it is walking orwards! The principles are the same, eet shoulder width apart andthe weight on the back leg! The ront toes should ace orward and the back oot should beturned 4= degrees! $oth heels should be inline! When we walk orward we step with theront oot, toes pointing orward but keeping it close to the ground! We then quickly dragthe back leg orward towards the ront, stopping when the eet are shoulder width apart!

When we are practising we can keep walking, doing do as many steps as we like and weshould keep doing it until it becomes natural and our position is perectly correct! 8aving agood %un Ma will save our energy and allow us to get close to our opponent so we cancontinue to attack! 8ow do we attack. We continue until the opponent is inished! #t is notin a competition where there is a @udge to stop you! Wing Chun Kung Fu is or real ightingin all kind o circumstances!

4! Teui Ma#馬# we have %un Ma or stepping orwards, then we must have Teui &pronounced like Toy)Ma or going backward! 0s # said beore, some people believe that in Wing Chun we onlyever go orward and never go backward! This may work i you are ighting a weakeropponent but not on someone who has a good skill level! Someone who has goodootwork will use our orward energy to deeat us! So stepping back does not mean wehave lost! #n act, it is actually an important strategy to be used when our opponent is

attacking us! We oten need to step back but we should remember that we must not stepback in a straight line because our opponent will be able to come orward and continueattacking us as going orward is always aster than backward!

So we must step a little bit to the side but not too ar away rom our opponent becauseeven though we are stepping back, we are planning to hit back! 0voiding the opponent1sattack in this way will give us a good opportunity to attack, waiting or our opponent toover:commit, use too much energy or leave himsel open! When we move back out oreach o an opponent, most o the time they will continue to attack and use even morepower!

Thereore, we keep stepping back! 8owever, when it comes to their third attack, i wecontinue stepping back in the same way, we will become predictable and then we will be ina weaker position! This is the time to attack back! We can wait until the ourth attack, but





orward we are attacking! We can attack as many times as we want and Faai Ma will helpus move orward very quickly! %ust as we reach our opponent, we start to attackcontinuously, using our orward energy to keep our hitting energy going orward, almost asi we were trying to go through our opponent!

#n the end our opponent will be deeated and lose his balance! When Wing Chun attacks,

we go or the opponent1s centre o gravity and so we knock them down! When anyone iso balance, then any attack they try will be weak or o no use! Faai Ma makes our attacksvery powerul!

We can also do Faai Ma backward when an opponent attacks us! #t is the same as TeuiMa and we step back and making a little sideways angle but not too much! 7emember,when we go backwards, we should not do more than three steps as ater the third step isthe best time to attack!

Whether we go orward or backward using Faai Ma, we need to change the eet to stepwith the let oot and the right oot &or the vice versa)! We do not keep the same leg in the

ront and back as this is too slow! Faai Ma and $ui Ma are the same in this respect weuse the let leg and then the right, but in $iu Ma the irst step is as big as we can and thesecond brings the eet to shoulder width apart! This is the principle o Wing Chun ootworkand we must remember this as this is no other way!With Faai Ma we do not usually walkmore than three steps as with three steps we should be able to get to our opponent and beable to deeat him!

G! %ih 6auh Ma+,馬%ih &pronounced %ee) means mysel and 6auh &pronounced like 6ow to rhyme with Cow)means ree! %ih 6auh Ma literally means 'My Way Free Style Steps(, but we call it FreeStyle Stepping! This is the last method o training ater we have done the other si-! #tmeans we can us %yun Ma, Waahng Ma, %un Ma, Teui Ma, $iu Ma and Faai Ma to step inwhichever direction we want! %ih 6auh Ma is not i-ed we need to be ree to do whicheverstep we want and have control o our ootwork!When we are walking we need to be able to turnlet and right, step orwards or backwards, moveast or slow, step with keeping the same ront andback leg or step using the let and right legs! "omatter what we do we must keep the eet shoulderwidth apart when we complete the step! %ih 6auhMa trains our ootwork to a high level as we can

move in whichever direction we want at the sametime keeping the oot clear and precise!

Many people think that everybody should be able to do this but most people stand in aimbalanced way and do not know where their weight is! 0 lot o people have their eet thewrong distance apart, sometime too wide, sometimes too narrow and the upper body maybe leaning orwards or backwards! Many do not use their heels to turn and walk on theballs o their eet, all kinds o wrong ways!

# you are @ust walking down the street this might be all right, but this kind o walking is veryimbalanced and you can easily trip and hurt yoursel! Today there are many people who

all over when simply walking and when we get older it is even more dangerous i we donot have balance or an understanding o our own body coordination and presence!



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Wing Chun Seven Star Footwork