So, can you learn Wing Chun Online, really? There’s so many online resources for Wing Chun nowadays, how much of it is really going to help someone in an actual fight? After all, Wing Chun is a fighting system, however you dress it up. Is watching videos at home in your pyjamas going to help you when the s”*t hits the fan?!
For a long time I was utterly dubious and of the mind that no, you definitely can’t learn wing chun online. However, as a young man I watched countless hours of martial arts movies. I rewound (when video existed) fight scenes and re-enacted the movements. I watched Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee beat up the “bad guys” thousands of times. And throughout all of the watching, re-enacting and rewatching, I can’t categorically say I didn’t learn anything.
Perhaps it’s a tie then between watching violent films and learning Wing Chun online?! Or, can you learn more from Wing Chun Online?
Can You Learn Wing Chun Online? Or, Is Watching Bruce Lee Better?!
Bruce Lee was of course a student and teacher of Wing Chun. He learned the style from Ip Man and you can definitely see it in his movies. Jackie Chan also knows Wing Chun among many other styles, and, when I found Wing Chun, I knew it was the real deal!
Watching their movies inspired me to learn the martial arts and I was lucky enough to find a good Wing Chun teacher when I was quite young. Before Wing Chun, I had trained in a few other styles, but Wing Chun seemed different. One of the ways Wing Chun is different is the way it is taught.
You learn to move intuitively, through the use of chi sau. Chi sau is a “sticky hands” training exercise in which you link arms with your partner and attempt to break through their defence, without compromising your own. It teaches basic positions, simultaneous counter reactions, reflex and body placement.
Learning the basic hand positions through a video online can be done. Putting them into this sophisticated training exercise is a lot more difficult from a distance. One person with some experience of Wing Chun, can help another beginner learn this drill. Two total novices will likely struggle to make any progress however, if their only resource for learning is online videos. Of course some people are also more able to pick things up than others. Some are naturally better co-ordinated than others, and they will be more able to pick things up from video.
So, Can You Learn Wing Chun From Videos?
The best way to learn Wing Chun is from a bona fide “Sifu” of the art. If you haven’t got one near you, try a charlatan if you have one nearby instead! Charlatan’s are well know in Wing Chun! They masquerade as proper Wing Chun teachers with only a fraction of the knowledge or experience. I jest of course but they are out there and there’s considerably more of them than there are good wing chun teachers. Hence why Wing Chun gets such a bad rap!
But yes a bad Wing Chun class is probably superior to learning Wing Chun alone online! If you can team up with others too, you can use an online resource to learn together. This is a far better idea than learning by yourself. As much as you can learn some Wing Chun alone from videos, don’t expect it to save you if you ever need it in a real fight! To learn any martial art to the point of being able to use it effectively, you’ll need a “live” training partner, years of practice and ideally suitable instructors to help you progress.
What Can You Learn Online?
If you don’t have any of the above, but are still keen to learn something online, there’s ways to do this which will give you the best possible chance.
By order of preference if you can collect any or all of the below, an online training resource will be far more valuable and beneficial to you:
- Find a good Wing Chun School and Sifu
- If not, find A “Charlatan” School – somewhere with “some” experience
- Another Wing Chun student/beginner/novice to train with and learn from
- A training partner with no experience to train with together
- A wooden dummy to train on, using videos as instruction
Of course enthusiasm goes a long way too, so don’t be put off if you don’t have any of these at your fingertips!
You can access a free video series to start learning the first form Siu Lim Tao here.
An online training resource can give you certain aspects of Wing Chun. You can learn positions and movements from videos. You can learn forms and patterns by yourself. You can even learn some basic chi sau drills to perform with a partner. But, it is the partner training which is ultimately necessary to learn a martial art well. Without live training with another person, (and an organised way to train), you are just going through the motions.
Remember also that martial artists train with other students and instructors for a number of years to get proficient at any style. There’s certain things you can learn online of course, and without an instructor, that’s what you should aim to do if you want to learn. But ideally, find yourself a school and turn up to classes!
