Medium Range Concept

Medium Range Concept

today, we go over how to use the “swinging gate drill” to get us into medium range and also how to use the swinging gate drill in your sensitivity training.

Swinging Gate Drill

Swinging Gate Drill

Swinging Gate drill is a good way to practice when to use the lop sau hand. It also allows you to get alot of repetition. This is a very effective way to deal with a boxer’s parry hand, when they go to defend your punch. I use this alot during sparring, but make sure that [...]

3 Beats in Training

3 Beats in Training

This concept of 3 beats in training, is IMO at the heart of all the bickering in the wing chun community. The younger, faster chunners see wing chun as “offense is the best defense”. but the older chunners see wing chun as “defense is the best offense”. because of these conflicting differences, they argue amongst [...]

Kicking Structure Basics

Kicking Structure Basics

so far, we’ve focused alot on developing the body structure and how to apply it to the upper body. But what about kicking? How do we develop power in our kicks? Guess what, it’s the same as always. Nothing should change, why? because Chinese Boxing is a “concept” based martial art. So whatever applies to [...]

#3 Line of Attack

#3 Line of Attack

the #3 line of attack is something that is very specific to Hawkins Cheung’s method, i have never seen it in any other wing chun method. It’s a very crafty line, and is great when combined with the “jamming” concept and in combination with the #2 line of attack.
But remember that “jamming” can only work [...]

#2 Line Of Attack

#2 Line Of Attack

Hawkins Cheung teaches 3 lines of attack, the first line is the centerline, this is the line that every wing chun practitioner uses and is familiar with. But the 2nd and 3rd lines are usually not part of the wing chun curriculum. These other two lines are very specific to Hawkins Cheung’s method.
The 2nd line [...]

Huen Sau (basics)

Huen Sau (basics)

Huen Sau or circle hand is one of the most repeated movements in siu nim tau, so it must have an important meaning. Developing a strong “front door” is a very important strategy as a Chinese Boxer, by utilizing the Huen Sau let’s a weaker or smaller individual to defend their centerline while maneuvering to [...]

Pak Sau Basketball

Pak Sau Basketball

Today’s video deals with the many different ways to utilize the Pak Sau movement and how to practice it with a partner or with a basketball!
Hawkins Cheung likes using basketball as a way to explain certain concepts and movements. I wanted to share one of his analogies with everyone today to help develop a good [...]

Fuk Sau Drill

Fuk Sau Drill

Fuk Sau can be used in many different ways, today, we will be looking at “catching” a straight punch and absorbing the energy by utilizing the fuk sau movement.
this is a very important drill especially if you are a small frame individual. make sure when you practice this drill to focus on defending your centerline [...]

Facing Drill

Facing Drill

this is a great way to start developing both hands while adhering to the concepts and principles and utilizing triangle footwork. basically, a “moving” siu nim tau with a partner.
in grappling, there is a saying, “position before submission” and IMO wing chun should also be about “position before striking” and not the other way around. [...]

Short Bridge Concept

Short Bridge Concept

this video is about how to handle a Boxer’s hook punch using the “short bridge” concept. It also explains the differences between the “long bridge” and the “short bridge”. it’s a rather long video, but there’s alot of good information here so i didn’t want to edit any of it. think of it more like [...]

Punching Action

Punching Action

Many questions have come up in relation to the straight punch, so i decided to address some of the common mistakes that i see people make and how to correct them. it’s a long video, i didn’t edit any of it, but it’s full of good information for everyone.
it’s 3:30am and i’m too tired to [...]

De La Riva Guard

De La Riva Guard

De La Riva Guard is a versatile position when on your back. Of course, in a self defense situation you don’t want to ever go to the ground, but things happen and when you do fall on your butt, you want to know an advantages and safe way to get back to your feet without [...]

Romanian Deadlift

Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian Deadlift or the Straight Leg Deadlift is a variation of the Standard Deadlift. This particular movement helps to strengthen the “core” area which is the entire “belt” area of your mid section including your lower back. remember that it isn’t about how much weight but the form and full range of motion that [...]

“Shovel” Concept

“Shovel” Concept

In my years of wing chun experience, this “shovel” concept IMO is one of the most important. Hawkins Cheung puts alot of emphasis on this concept, especially if you are a “small frame” individual. this becomes very important when you have to “hold” an opponents pressure.
hopefully you understand now why the “deadlift” and “squat” are [...]

Taking the “Dead” out of “Deadlift”

Taking the “Dead” out of “Deadlift”

Jon explains how to correctly perform the Deadlift exercise without hurting yourself. this is one of my favorite exercises because it involves the entire body and also strengthens the “core” and the “pelvic tilt”, which as you now know, is very important to developing the wing chun structure.
pay attention to the detail of this exercise [...]

Mike’s Tournament

Mike’s Tournament

Mike competes at his first submission grappling tournament at the Grappler’s X held in Long Beach, CA this sunday and takes Silver Medal, great job, Mike!
song is “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire

Chain of Command

Chain of Command

some of you already know that am a Marine Corps Veteran, i did “Search & Rescue”. I also graduated “Honorman” out of bootcamp, which means that i was always put into leadership positions, so they would send me to classes and courses on “how to lead”. it was in one of these courses that they [...]

Controlling Side Mount

Controlling Side Mount

Side Mount, Side Control, Side Position, Keep that Mofo on his Back, whatever you want to call it, is a very dominant position in grappling. what i wanted to convey is how i use many wing chun concepts and apply them to my grappling. to me, this is “chi sau” or sensitivity drills using the [...]

Power Of The Squat

Power Of The Squat

This tutorial keeps growing…
i’ve now included a “Physical Fitness – Exercises” category in the drop down menu. It will pertain to exercises, conditioning, nutrition etc…that i personally follow and that works for me to enhance my martial arts training.
Today’s subject has to do with “how to do the squat movement” correctly, to avoid injury. you [...]

Importance of Body Structure

Importance of Body Structure

Julius is a good friend of mine and what makes him great for this video is that he is not a Wing Chun guy, on the contrary, he is a “brawler” and a grappler, aggressive and very very athletic. I asked him to join us for the video because so many wing chun videos out [...]

Setting The Anchors

Setting The Anchors

developing “rooting” power is a VERY difficult “little idea” to tackle, and can be a very “advanced” concept which also opens up whole new set of “questions”, and to be honest, most instructors don’t have a clear and concise way to teach this concept or don’t fully understand the concept or worse, they contradict themselves [...]

How to Shrimp

How to Shrimp

Knowing how to shrimp is a very important movement, because it is used in many different situations. The concepts of how to shrimp are very similar to the wing chun structure, especially, how the elbows are used to maintain proper body structure.
you can practice this by doing the shrimp movement down the length of a [...]

Responding vs. Reacting

Responding vs. Reacting

this is something that i feel is lacking during wing chun sensitivity training, so i thought i would address it. Make sure that you are going slow enough with your partner so that you can constantly do the “checklist” that i talk about in the video.
find someone, anyone, to train with, there’s no other way [...]

Fuk Sau Basics

Fuk Sau Basics

First of all, please let me know if there are any problems technically with the video quality. Okay, back to the Fuk!
Fuk Sau is often referred to as the “controlling hand”. And if you understand the shape, you can see why they would call it that. Fuk Sau was really challenging to keep on a [...]

Using The “Clock”

Using The “Clock”

When Hawkins Cheung teaches, he rarely ever uses Wing Chun terminology. It never really occurred to me why he didn’t do it until one day he explained himself. He wanted us to find our own “tan sau”, “fook sau” etc…he would say that if i labeled this position and give it a name, you’ll become [...]

Art Of Listening

Art Of Listening

This is one of my favorite clips from the “Kung Fu” series. The reason i like it so much is that it coincides with what makes my “method” of teaching and training unique. My primary goal is to “listen” rather than “talk”.
“listen” meaning developing sensitivity in your training, “talk” is all the punching, kicking, elbows, [...]

intro

intro

Welcome to the website! It’s finally up and running…sort of.
There’s still alot of content that will be added as time moves along. But I wanted to get things rock’n and roll’n. What’s great is that all of you get to experience the changes and growth right along with me.
Just like you though, i will be [...]

You are now watching: Power Of The Squat

This tutorial keeps growing…

i’ve now included a “Physical Fitness – Exercises” category in the drop down menu. It will pertain to exercises, conditioning, nutrition etc…that i personally follow and that works for me to enhance my martial arts training.

Today’s subject has to do with “how to do the squat movement” correctly, to avoid injury. you will also notice many key points that relate directly to the wing chun stance, and i will cover how to avoid common mistakes during stance training.

as i always say, only go as fast as you can maintain perfect form, this means that your first goal is to get “full range of motion” of the squat WITHOUT weight. if you can’t do this, then keep working on the movement and your flexibility. once you can do the squat movement with full range of motion comfortably, then you are ready to add “gradual resistance”. do not start throwing lots of weight that you can’t handle just to impress the girls in the gym and stroke your ego, or you will get hurt.

as with all exercises, make sure to stretch before, in between sets, and after you workout to maintain your flexibility. most importantly…

have fun working out!

oh, and if you’re wondering, the song is by DMX and is called “Right or Wrong”.

52 Responses to “Power Of The Squat”

  1. martin Says:

    Wow! That was helpfull. I have been reglarily practising the Siu Nim tau stand for 20 minutes – more or less on stubbornness on muscle alone – and it gave me the ususl: burning shaking legs, hurting knees – the whole lot. LOL.
    Now I tried this: turning off the leg muscle as you indicated. And voila´half an hour without any of the usual horse(stance)s…t . Thanks a lot.

    Would there be the slightest chances that you are ever considering a europe tour for teaching?
    Oh, and by the way. the soundquality was pristine this time
    :) ))

    have a nice day

    martin

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    Jin Reply:

    yay, glad it’s helped you, and a half hour standing is awesome! keep it up, bro.

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    Jin Reply:

    who knows, Martin, i’d luv to go out there and do a seminar, but, at this time, i have to focus on earning a living, paying the bills, building the website. hopefully one day, i’ll be able to do that. that would roxxx!

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  2. ejay Says:

    thanks, thanks, thanks sifu jin!:)

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    Jin Reply:

    ur welcome!

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  3. michael Says:

    I like this category alot, nice idea and good video.

    thanks jin.

    Michael

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    Jin Reply:

    thanks, Mike, glad you’re enjoying the tutorial, peace!

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  4. holy fuck! Says:

    Holy fuck, Jin is the new Bruce Lee!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!

    :D

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    Jin Reply:

    lol..i’m too old to be the new Bruce Lee..haha. one of you young bucks will have to fill that role for us all! =D

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  5. sobri Says:

    is that a similiar movement to last movement in biu jee? the standing up?

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    Jin Reply:

    no it’s not the same. but the “concepts” are the same as in the siu nim tau form.

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    Jin Reply:

    biu jee form is all about “recovering your structure” once you completely lose it. this video is about never losing your structure in the first place. that’s why i say it has more to do with siu nim tau form than the biu jee form.

    that’s also why many “masters” of wing chun say that the “siu nim tau” form is the most important, because if you never lose your structure, you don’t have to rely on the other forms.

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  6. Ryan Says:

    That is cool. another new way to practise.

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    Jin Reply:

    yay!

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  7. Saj Says:

    HI Jin,

    This has been immensly helpful and the timing iand choice of this video is almost spooky in terms of relevance.

    I now now why my knees have been hurting!

    I now find that the pelvic tilt on the way up helps me lift better. I agree with you totally about ego stroking, at present i find 10kg each side is more than enough to deal with, having incorrectly messed about with 40kg in the gym. Hindsight hey!

    Really thanks you

    Saj

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    Jin Reply:

    Hey Saj, i read your mind! =D keep practicing, keep growing, peace!

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  8. Nikoo033 Says:

    20-30 min to practice the Siu Nim Tao form is good. Praticing it for 1 hour at least, everyday, when one can, as relaxed as possible, that’s even better!

    I know some people that have to pratice just Siu Nim Tao for several month before they even start learning single hand chi sao….. ;)

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    Jin Reply:

    Hawkins Cheung didn’t teach us the second form for about three years. it took me awhile but finally realized why he was doing, which was making us focus on the “quality” of movement rather than just getting through forms.

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    Nikoo033 Reply:

    Yes, that’s what I meant. I know some people that have to practice just Siu Nim Tao for at least one year before being taught the second form…. ;)

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  9. roaringtiger281 Says:

    An excellent lesson Jin on how to do the squat right! The website looks awesome Jin looking forward to more great videos. Definatly nutrition videos would be good to help people so we all have the energy for training. All the best buddy!
    David

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    Jin Reply:

    thanks, David!

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  10. Dallas Says:

    JIn did you mention DMX at the end of this weeks write-up? Please don’t get all ghetto fab-buh-luss up in here, up in here! Next, you’ll be promotin’ http://www.ohellnawl.com

    Love’n it man, love’n it [picture me winking and giving you the finger pistols like Sammy Davis]

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    Jin Reply:

    hahah…nice visual, it’s stuck in my head! =O

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    Jin Reply:

    is that you’re website, Dallas? it’s pretty cool! =D

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  11. Amidat Says:

    Sifu Jin,

    Great video on the squat. I had given up doing the squat cuz of all the pain from doin it wrong. Now I can add it back into my training routine. Thanks a bunch.

    On the stance, when I do it in dojo instead of the horse stance, people look at me funny. My response is “It’s effortless and I can do it all day with no strain or pain”. :)

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    Jin Reply:

    glad the video has helped you, keep it up!

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  12. Ivano Rosati Says:

    What are the muscles called behind and around the pelvic? I have been looking for a good video on Hindu squatting, but the ones I have seen start with your arms then pulled back under your wings then your arms fluidly go down as you squat , but it shows that the squat is done perfectly with a straight back and the person is on his tip toes. and sets off again into an upright position from hi tiptoes…I think yoga does it that way to. I definitely take all of your videos to heart and sometimes to spirit when I can, as I will this one. The reasons for this comment are to familiarize myself with individual comfort levels in Hindu peoples. All cultures are different in some respects when it comes to maintaining body health and all have there own masterful techniques. That is another email though. I just wanted to ask about proper Hindu squats and if your video hits it on the nose. Thanks a bunch Jin.

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    Jin Reply:

    the entire area surrounding and supporting the pelvic, we call the “core”. which includes the abs, lower back and oblique muscles. think of it like a weight belt that powerlifters use around their waist.

    i’m not sure about the yoga squats. but raising to your toes will only compromise your spine and put pressure on your knees.

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  13. Elliot Says:

    hey jin
    thanks for the great video

    i’ve been working on squats, and just tried the way you suggested
    however, i still feel my knees cracking..it only lasts for the first few reps though
    is that technique? or is my knee just abit messed up?
    thanks

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    Jin Reply:

    sounds like you need to stretch your tendons and joints and also make sure to drink plenty of water during your workouts. stretch stretch and more stretch!

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    Elliot Reply:

    thanks jin
    any stretching techniques you’d recommend?

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    Jin Reply:

    let me see what i can put together.

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    Elliot Reply:

    thanks a lot jin =]
    you’re great!

    would love to see more videos coming up

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  14. Mark Says:

    Thanks Sifu. We’ve gotta get you some merchandising to market your brand! Tees, sweats, hoodies, books and DVDs.

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    Jin Reply:

    rofl…put my face on a tee…sweet! =D that would be so scary…and funny..lol

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  15. khenz Says:

    hi, could u do more on physical fitness vids please . i want the increase it for my wc and im thinking about joining the brittish army but i want to be careful as my sifu recommended no weights and some fellow students have suffered back injuries and other problems.

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    Jin Reply:

    i will try my best to get out more videos. peace!

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  16. khenz Says:

    sorry ‘ i want to increase it’

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  17. Jason Hon Says:

    Omg! Thx It really helped me^^

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    Jin Reply:

    glad it’s helped you, peace!

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  18. Alan Says:

    Well done explanation as always!

    i have a question:how can u not tense the leg muscles in the wc stance?
    i mean i can stand relaxing the back leg musces…but never the quadriceps!!!

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    Jin Reply:

    stretch, stretch and more stretch…flexibility is the key to staying relaxed and also control your breathing..and stretch!

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  19. Alan Says:

    i will stretch more and let u know about my progress :)

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  20. Jeremiah Says:

    Thanks a bunch this video helped. I tried doing squats before and I would always end up with my knees and back hurting. i asked around if i was doing it wrong and the reply would usually be because I was fat. but after i tried how you showed us I didnt hurt my back and knees so thank you tons master Jin. I can’t do very much but at least now i can do them right and maybe lose some weight^^. Again thank you

    Jeremiah – Daisuke

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    Jin Reply:

    hey Jeremiah, that’s great! it’s comments like yours that keep me going, keep it up!

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  21. yip man Says:

    hi just wanted to ask did u watch the moview yip man (ip man) and did u like it.and 1 more thing do u think that master yip realy did fight like that?

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    Jin Reply:

    fun movie, just remember that it’s a movie and donnie yen isn’t a wing chun practitioner. but he did a good job portraying Yip Man.

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  22. MarkoUE Says:

    Amazing!
    What you are doing with this website, helping people and teaching the ART is forcing me to become a better person.
    Thanks for inspiring all of us.

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    Jin Reply:

    yay..that’s what it’s all about! =D

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  23. Zoltan Says:

    When i do the sil lim tao the tension is still there on my legs.my legs still feel shaky after only awhile.I did oush out my pelvic and put all my weight on myt heels already but my legs get sore over time.Please help me on this.

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  24. SimpleDude Says:

    very nice, i’ve always wondered how can I “unstress” my knees. because sometimes while doing the SLT my knees starts to hurt like hell >_< and i've already have some knee problems.

    i gonna try that in the future :)

    ty for nice instruction and my knees will thank you too if they could talk

    p.s. nice work, keep it up!!

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    Jin Reply:

    glad it’s helped you! that’s what the tutorial is all about

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