I've recently started to take Wing Chun for a two weeks now but I also have a heavy experience in Muay Thai as well. The reason I left Muay Thai is due to my studies and school. Now that Wing Chun is actually closer to where I live I realized that the punches are effective and it has helped me maintain a slow progress of balance.
I'm really liking this art and I was hoping if I could somehow combine Muay Thai with Wing Chun in my later sparring days. Wing Chun's stances are different as well as the punches and kicks however I feel a certain powerful combination among these two arts.
Compete with others? No, I want to compete with myself and see how two arts can blend into one. I detest boasters and honor the modesty--therefore if there are any answers such as... Jujitsu is the best; then you have proven your idoicy.
One 1/2 years of Muay Thai.
Six months of Karate
Three months of High School Judo
( P.S Thanks to Wing Chun it's teaching me not to be so darn stiff!!!) :D!!!
Is it possible to combine Wing Chun and Muay Thai?
Yes you can as they are also related.In Thailand there is a martial art called Ling Lom(Flying monkey)Very similar stances and hand positions and if you look at the flying Knee climbing down elbow it look like a flying monkey.In the clinch in Muay Thai it`s called neck wrestling and to excel at it you need a lot of sensitivity .The elbow are almost identical and most of the footwork.I`ve been teaching them both since 1994 at
Rey`s Wing Chun/Muay Thai Academy in San Jose,Ca.In closing when you get to a point when you can make your wing chun work then you will see that thier is no limit in your abilty to blend with others.Great traning to you from Sifu/Kru Rey Garcia
Reply:Yes, you can combine them but you firstly must know both martial arts perfectly.
If you want some information about Wing Chun i propose to you the following site http://www.wing-chun.ws Report It
Reply:Of course you can combine them. I believe that's what true martial artists do.
No single martial art form is complete, so it is best to take a Bruce Lee approach and adapt as necessary, pulling movements from all styles you know.
Really, just do whatever feels most natural to you.
Reply:Not only is it possible, it's been done for some time by a longtime instructor of Wing Chun, named Gary Lam. He is my Sifu's Sifu and has been training Thai fighters along with Wing Chun practitioners for decades, having found that the two arts can complement one another well. From what I know of Muay Thai and what I've learned while briefly studying Wing Chun, this is very true. Wing Chun deals with closer range attacks and defenses while Thai fighting has more distance to it.
My personal opinion is that someone proficient in Muay Thai, Wing Chun, and a good grappling style like BJJ would be formidable in MMA ring fighting since they would have the three ranges well-covered. But like I said, that's just my opinion; I haven't had a chance to test my theory on it personally. ;)
Reply:What is your main goal.If it is primarily self defense which 99% of the time are going to involve toe to toe fighting then emphasize WING CHUN in your studies.The best elements of MUAY THAI and best blended with other methods is it's elbow work and leg striking techniques which WING CHUN has plenty of.
If you try to move like a MUAY THAI fighter and use WING CHUN technique you will fail and trying to move from one to the other when someone is throwing flurrys of punches and kicks at you is dangerous.Depending on your opponent decide from the get go to do one or the other not combine both.
Reply:It's simple really.
You have heavy experience in Muay Thai, right? Then what you have to do is learn about the philosophy of "Jeet Kune Do" (Or the like). Jeet Kune Do isn't an art (Some techniques, but it's still more of a philosophy due to the fact that you make the art from what you know), but it's a philosophy of covering all fighting ranges, and throwing out what is useless. "Addition by subtraction" if you will. You could just do that on your own, but you have many choices on which direction you want to go, whether that means subtraction, addition from more styles, switching styles on your opponent to confuse them, et cetera...
If you've taken that much Muay Thai, then you might be able to really analyze how you choose to fight, and whether or not you change your style for different situations (A la the street vs the ring [Not that you have to, but you might]). You should think about what attacks from each style you really like as you progress in Wing Chun, and make your own blend. You might like Muay Thai kicks, but you might like wing chun's philopsophy of knocking your opponent off balance, while keeping straightforward with your balance. Or maybe you like wing chun hand strikes, but you'd like to throw elbows in the middle of your chain punches/flurries.
Good luck.
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I grew up in Hong Kong and have some exposure to Wing Chun(even tho I never formally learnt it) I have been doing muay thai for almost 5 years and am starting to use a muay boran/chaiya stance which is lower and more compact with hands and elbows geared towards my center line, sometimes people mistake me for doing Wing Chun but I guess there are similar concepts to blocking and parrying between wing chun and muay chaiya, as well as the attack angles and distance, both close in and can cut opponents off either directly square from the front or from the side, this gives me alot of options, and if I want to I can immediately change back to regular mt stance to deliver mid range strikes however, kicks from the chaiya stance are very good from close range they are harder to intercept and anticipate, as people above have stated the style you use should depend on the situation and range, it is up to you to work on these styles and make the transition natural, spar alot using both styles and it will all come along nicely,
ReplyDeleteI have been using this style against people who only know the basic mt stance and are not used to fighting in different dimensions, unless they are naturally intelligent fighters and have very good skill they will be hard pressed to counter your rhythm
on a final note, while I do not have any formal training in WC, I am around enough WC practitioners to know the difference between a combination of WC and MT, and a combination of MT and Muay Chaiya, WC and Muay Chaiya are different in that WC is faster and emphasizes more control over the opponent, parrying and counter attacking at the same time, it is more relentless in the sense that once you have an opening you are able to unleash a volley of attacks, therefore I would call this speed and agility with lighter attack
Muay Chaiya has similar angles of attack and defense but is more solid in that attacks are not as fluid or recurring as WC but they deal more damage per strike, grappling and take down also uses more direct force rather than dissipating and transferring energy like in WC, so it depends on how you like to fight, WC and Muay Chaiya are similar forms just one is harder and slower whereas the other is softer faster and more nimble
do you want to end the fight in 1or2 moves(Muay Chaiya) or 5 to 6 moves(in the same amount of time) (Wing Chun) it is up to you to master this style