Yes, hand techniques and kicks are fun but without a solid foundation in footwork, you could end up on the ground quicker than you think! The Wing Tsun footwork is the reason behind your early training in the first form is so important and should not be ignored. The proper foot alignment and tension must be addressed.

Wing Tsun (and other martial arts) get their power from the ground! If you want to maintain your balance in a self-defense situation, especially while delivering a strike, you must have correct body structure and foot contact with the ground. In Wing Tsun kung-fu, the toes point inward and so do your knees. This dynamic tension between your knees must be maintained during the forms practice so that you can protect yourself from a kick coming to your groin or inside your leg, your knee or your thigh. The practice to build your inner thigh muscles gives you balance. This is a muscle group that is often ignored in other training or your daily life! This action on the part of your inner thigh muscles also protects you from attacks and grapples to the lower body.

Constant practice of the turning stance and associated footwork gives you a friendly sticking-to-the-floor habit which aids tremendously in balance. If you do not have a focus on this sticking-to-the-floor habit (or “muscle memory”), you will lack the delivery of power in your punches, palm strikes, elbows and even kicks. If your center of gravity /energy resides high in your chest, it is tantamount to being somewhat weightless with no legs to stand on! If you were weightless like NASA astronauts in the space station, and you push or strike the side walls of the station, you would just push yourself away instead of delivering power against the wall. This has also been shown in training of astronauts in aircraft simulations when training those astronauts for zero G they will encounter in the space station.

This attention to the stance is what gives the Wing Tsun stance its stability in preference to very low, horse-riding stances of other styles. The upright stance allows a defender to protect the head as opposed to a low stance which was originally designed for the carrying of heavy weapons such as halberds, swords, or spears. In those situations, there is much less concern for leaving the head area exposed since then you have a long weapon in your hands! This is quite evident when you learn the 8 ½ foot long pole of the Wing Tsun weapons!

Si-fu Keith Sonnenberg