Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu Power Training

In Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu there is a saying "First courage, second power and then technique", this reflects a greater importance put on the willingness to fight and on an ability to make techniques profitable. Power development in Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu is not primarily based on muscular strength but rather on knowledge of body mechanics, joint or tendon strength and using the opponent's own committed power against them. This joint or tendon-based power is termed structural power and is the key to understanding how to transmit power using Ving Chun Kuen footwork and in the old days was one of the inner circle secrets of Ving Chun Kuen. In Ving Chun Kuen power comes from a joint supported alignment with the ground, or is derived from the motion and speed of the body (momentum). Power in Ving Chun Kuen also depends on strong emotion creating an explosive, vicious attack. The type of power used against the target also can be different, usually taking the form either of a penetrating or percussive force. Regardless of the type of power and its implementation, power must be trained and applied in a controlled, automatic and natural way.

Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu was designed to provide a direct and powerful answer to the fast paced and unpredictable realities of hand-to-hand combat. Its system was built on fundamental concepts that can be found at all levels of training, making the outward appearance of its techniques secondary to it's inner structural standards. Sifu Oliver Lee describes the journey of Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu training as going from the simple to the complex and in the end back to the simple again; advanced Ving Chun Kuen develops not from it's outward form but rather from a deepening of the essential concepts, structure and skills.

Ving Chun Kuen Gung Fu not only reflects the qualities of a high standard traditional Chinese martial art, but also adapts as part of the changing modern world of fighting arts.