The Wing Chun path to combative skills

Chum Kil is the second form/level of Wing Chun. Chum in Cantonese means to search and Kil means a bridge. In Gung Fu, the bridge is referring to the forearms. The loose metaphor of searching the bridge means the ability to close the gap in a combative situation. Here are the things that Chum Kil teaches:

TOOLS

1. Flag Punches - This is the ability to strike with the fist from any angle where ever the hand might be WITHOUT pulling the hand back. This introduces the concept of delivering short power from any direction.
2. Elbow - The ability to strike with the elbows from any angle and more importantly how to strike with short power without relying on the bracing of a wide stance.
3. Forearm - Introduction to forearm power for blocking, redirecting, sticking, and as a weapon to any part of the opponent's body
4. Uppercuts and short hook - the ability to punch around bones and how to deliver short power without large rotation making ones striking much faster without losing power.
5. Kicks - The unique Wing Chun kicks are designed to work with the hands and to be extremely non-telegraphic.

BACK UP SKILLS

1. Shoulder checking - instead of blocking the forearms, the idea of shoulder checking stops punches at their root, especially useful as a preventive measure vs taller attackers.
2. Arm breaks - Chum Kil teaches arm breaks in many angles as an adaptive concept rather than a fixed technique.
3. Counter for counter - This is a training method to enhance one's reflexes. We take all the blocks and hands learn in Sil Lim tau and connect them into an endless flow.
4. Chi Sau - In chum Kil level, we work on this famous Wing Chun training drill which enhances touching reflexes, it contains Wing Chun key strategies. Chi Sau is one of the best drills for one Wing Chun when done correctly and one of the worse drills when done wrong.
5. Lat Sau Jik Chung - In CHum Kil we take this concept that we have learned in Sil Lim Tau and we translate it into a combative context.

ENTRIES

1.  Recovery from wrong Bong Sau - Chum Kil introduces ideas and movements to recover from a bad Bong Sau mistake.
2. Ambush - Chum Kil teaches concepts and the Bong Sau to recover from surprise ambush attacks and how to use one natural inborn reflexes.
3. Countering - In chum Kil we learn how to counter kicks and tackles as a way to drill and use all the footwork that we have to learn from the form.
4. Kicking- in Chum Kil we how to counter hand movements by using our kicks. Also learning how to link our hands with our kicks in the same moment.

This is a very general overview of Chum Kil. Sil Lim Tau teaches the basic shapes, techniques, tools, and concepts and Chum Kil builds on that foundation and shows how to use it in more live and combative applications. In future articles, I will write about each element in more detail.