I had a visit from a woman and her daughter who were interested in training and learning Wing Chun. The emphasis at our school is on application and she wanted something which would be realistic in its approach.
Anyhow she liked the class and is supposed to join on Monday. However she did ask an interesting question and that was could she ever use WC while wearing high heeled shoes. She somtimes likes to go out to dinner and dress up and was curious if she could translate any of the footwork over to high heels.
While I mentioned that high heels already disrupt proper body structure and put the body in an unnatural position, the idea of being able to fight in high heels intrigues me. I mean if WC is able to be applied in real life situations, can a woman fight in high heels? What would be some of the attributes she would need to develope?
Since I have no experience in wearing, much less fighting, while wearing high heels I decided to inquire of our female participants to obtain any suggestions or thoughts? Of course to be politically correct in todays socciety I am also open to suggestions from our male members who have some experience to share
had ex with penchant for heels. Though the heels do disrupt their balance, I think more to the point, is that those heels typically come wih restrictive lower half clothing . AS long as she can stand and move easily from foot to foot at various heights, and has a skirt or pants that allow a full range of movement at any height, there shouldn’t be a problem.
i once knew of a ‘man’ woman named candice,who was 6 feet five in his,er,her high heeled shoes and moved like the wind.amazing balance.coupled with the fact that her,er his,er her cabarat used many moves from the martial arts,it was quite a sight.
Good question, It is a big disadvantage to be weaing high heel shoes in a fight. Also it is to fight without shoes on.
Although you can perform dance moves with high heels with balance, fighting in them is a totally different story - because you have an un-cooperative “dance partner” so to speak.
I worked in a corporate environment for a time and spent a fair amount of time in heels. You can become quite comfortable in them but they pretty much negate any quick lateral movements - crucial footwork to fighting.
There’s situations where I’ll choose my clothes carefully. If I know I’ll be walking a ways alone in a city at night, I’ll probably not choose stiletto heels.
you might recommend she carry something to disable or delay an attacker, so she can get those shoes off and get away.
That’s crazy. I remember at one of my past kenpo schools we had to dress in street clothes for some classes. I came in wearing track pants. Other people came in jeans and couldn’t kick anymore. Laf.
Oh, well. I guess I better go get myself a pair of pumps to practise in.
when I envision women fighting in heels, I picture two things - broken shoes and sprained ankles. I read an article years ago where june castro advocated kicking to the eyes groin and solar plexus with the heels. Realistically though, I don’t think it would work too well. like I said, broken shoes and sprained ankles.
Thank you for the responses so far, all have been helpful. Although the one about the “cabarat” by captain opens the door for many more questions
While I agree with the idea of removing the heels, I would still like to explore any “realisitc” methods of fighting while the heels are on the feet. Granted it is the less desirible position but I hate to tell someone that if they are attacked by surprise they are out of luck. Perhaps we could discuss a safe reactive method which would give time for the removal of the heels???
Again I am curious about the attributes needed to be successful.
Anyhow she liked the class and is supposed to join on Monday. However she did ask an interesting question and that was could she ever use WC while wearing high heeled shoes. She somtimes likes to go out to dinner and dress up and was curious if she could translate any of the footwork over to high heels.
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sure, why not?
tell them those Chinese lady in ancient Yim Wing Chun time were having thier feet wrap. WCK works.
and she has a choice of take the shoe off. if she want to be even better:D
she won’t always have the opportunity to remove the shoe and if the chick was a fighter or any type of maer, especially with any experience, she’d likely consider her personal boundaries and skills on it while dressing.
