Interesting Yip Man picture

[jonathan.bluestein]

First time I've seen this one. Found it by accident, looking for something else entirely.

http://news.17173.com/viewpic.htm?url=h ... 2dge31.jpg



I've never seen people of the Yip Man derived lineages practicing with metal rings. Does anyone have more info on this?

[WingTsunChap]

I can't see the picture for some reason, but I think I know the one you are talking about.

I heard that this picture was taken when Yip Man was visiting a Kung Fu friend, and that he put on the rings (his friend's) for the fun of it. I don't know of any Yip Man lineage Wing Chun/Tsun that uses them.

[Teazer]

Yeah, that's the same I'd heard.

[Eric_H]

Use them in Hung Fa Yi WC, never used them in Yip Man WC or heard of a line that did.

I've also heard that this was just a picture GM Yip took w/ a friend, not actual practice.

[WingTsunChap]

Use them in Hung Fa Yi WC, never used them in Yip Man WC or heard of a line that did.

That's interesting. How do you use them? I ask as our energy for tan sau (I can now see the picture) is more forward than up, but I guess some resistance training upward might have some use too. Explain yourself!!

[Eric_H]

Use them in Hung Fa Yi WC, never used them in Yip Man WC or heard of a line that did.

That's interesting. How do you use them? I ask as our energy for tan sau (I can now see the picture) is more forward than up, but I guess some resistance training upward might have some use too. Explain yourself!!

Haha, sure

There's nothing special about it, Iron rings are mainly used as a form of resistance training for some of the motions in the Siu Nim Tao form or to add extra pressure when doing chi gung. Most typically you have them on to train your elbow in sinking/raising/circling motions so you can absorb and bounce the energy back forward. Have to be careful when using them that they don't fly out and hit the back of your hand, too many soft bones in there.

[Adam S]

This is traditional Wing Chun training

[Teazer]

This is traditional Wing Chun training

really?
any particular branch of the wing chun family tree? what does it develop?

[Finny]

I believe the rings are photoshopped on

Could be wrong, but i think i remember seeing that pic, where it's just him doing taan sao, no rings. And they look a bit shopped. And then there's this (same) pic, with twice as many rings:

[TheWhiteTiger]

Hi, sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I came across it whilst searching for something else.

The picture shown is common in Bruce Lee works. The story is that it was Bruce's idea to use metal rings, and GM Yip liked it. I can't comment on whether or not that's true, but you can find this picture and that explanation in the Tao of Kung Fu (not Tao of JKD... at the time of writing BL was still practising his modified WC - Jun Fan Kung Fu) by Bruce Lee.

I believe the picture and that story appear in some of the John Little books on BL too.

Cheers.

[GrahamB]

In 2000 years people will say the Egyptian pyramids never existed and where photoshopped in

Yes, Photoshop will still exist in 2,000 years time. You heard it here first!

[daniel pfister]

So what do people think of the bio-mechanics of YM leaning slightly back as he is in the picture? I generally discourage that kind of thing, especially when using weights.

[D_Glenn]

It's also a little known fact that Yip Man's right forearm was a good 6 inches longer than his left arm, which gave him a slightly bizarre 'Reach Advantage' over his opponents.




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[NoSword]

So what do people think of the bio-mechanics of YM leaning slightly back as he is in the picture? I generally discourage that kind of thing, especially when using weights.

First of all, to my eyes YM is not "leaning" -- he is upright in the sense that his central axis is perpendicular to the ground. He's not off balance. The backward lean in his upper body is compensated for by the tilt in his pelvis. Sort of like how you might slouch in a chair -- the lower body provides the chair while the upper body flops on top of it. The primary difference between this and many wushu postures is his spine is not extended -- it's relaxed and subjected to the compressive force of gravity, like a coiled spring. This exaggerates the natural "S" curve of the spine. Rather than "making himself tall," he's "making himself short." That's a totally different thing from leaning backward off one's base like the Tower of Pisa.

As I've stated elsewhere, I think you have to distinguish between biomechanics for general health and well-being, and biomechanics for martial application. As far as the latter is concerned, I think this posture has some merits -- it can help teach you certain things about relaxed structure and ground connection. As far as the former is concerned, it's not so good.

In order to maintain spinal health, the spine has to be actively extended daily, just as the hips need to be opened and the hamstrings need to be stretched in order to counter entropic forces in the body. Given his longevity, I would hazard a guess that YM did some type of backbends and forward bends, bridges etc. as part of his jibengong routine, separate from practicing his WC. This is a good example of why it's important to separate "kungfu jibengong" from "jibengong of the style," or "biomechanics" from "shenfa." The question is, "biomechanically optimal for what?"

AK

[daniel pfister]

First of all, to my eyes YM is not "leaning" -- he is upright in the sense that his central axis is perpendicular to the ground. He's not off balance. The backward lean in his upper body is compensated for by the tilt in his pelvis.

Of course the lean is compensated for. If a lean isn't compensated somehow then you just fall over. Now what exactly is perpendicular to the ground? I don't see it.