Q&A - Wing Chun Kuen from the (BJJ) Guard
Rene Ritchie, February 11th, 2008
I just want to ask, what would a wing chun practioner do while being on the floor in the guard position. Would you rely on chi sao skills? to controll the opponent’s hands or would you rely on grabbing him close to you to avoid getting hit?
Wing Chun Kuen tends not to chase hands.
If you’re being blitzed, you may have to worry about immediate protection, but just like standing, if all you do is engage the hands, eventually the hands will engage your face.
Even if you get good head and arm control, unless you’re in a sanctioned MMA match and hoping for a ref to stand you up, control in and of itself won’t help much (take the edge off a beating, but you’re still stuck there being defensive).
One of the advantages I think WCK has is its power generation, which doesn’t rely on the same methods as some other standing systems, and so you if you’ve spent some time working off your back to adjust to the differences, you can still throw moderately effective stuff up at your opponent, short term (elbows especially).
But, gravity will not be your friend, so trying to strike it it out from the guard is probably not a winning strategy.
Another advantage is bridge structure. To escape, you want to disrupt the opponent’s base, remove their weight, create space, and then get out of there.
So, my own personal idea based on what I know today, would be to get offensive as quickly as possible to change the opponent’s mindset and set up a strong pushing position, get them off balance and their weight off me, get my hips out while maintaining the strong alignment (so they don’t just steam roll me back under them), and get to my feet ready to shoot or hit them (anything offensive) immediately.
What do you mean by a push-based approach?
What I’m referring to is that, for someone in WCK just looking to get familiar with being on the bottom and not training specifically for BJJ, I think pulling someone into you and doing tight closed guard would be more difficult (would require much more work, and would require training BJJ specifically). Pulling yourself up, the opponent down, pulling with under-hooks, pulling with the legs, pulling to sweep, etc. are all excellent in a BJJ context, but for a WCK person who isn’t training BJJ, I think the strategy of pushing weight off, pushing to change angles, pushing to make space, pushing to get up off you back, etc. is easier to learn/realize.
Personally, my first MA was judo, I did judo in college, and I’ve grappled for a few years, so I’m not too uncomfortable on my back (Fedor-style bombs not withstanding…), but this is what I feel is easiest/fastest for a non-grappling WCK person to integrate if they just want to get out of the guard (having someone in their guard) and back up on their feet.
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