Turning, in a normal fighting stance your knees 2 inches a part still give you plenty of room to move and can be held at a fist width as well. We practice deeper however to give us that flexibility and rootedness.
uncanny, infamous and electric
mmmmmmm…well i train twice a day…my first siu nim tao in the morning is in a real tight ygkym like yours red5angel…i spend 25-30 minutes and im wooped…after work i do a slightly wider stance not much but fist and half distance and i spend 45+minutes…i do notice a differance in my root since starting incorporating the smaller framed ygkym though…
there are numerous reasons for going slow…we want our bodies to remember…muscles have memory…neurologicaly slow specific movements are the best initialy..things done the exact same way everytime will get the best results. besides if you cant do something correct one time you wont be able to do it correct 50 times… of cource going slow we are minamizing local muscle usage and can develop our body unity. we also stretch our tendons which must be done slowly. going slow also allows us body awarness so we can develop an internaizedl centerline…and become more aware of our cog. plus going slow will minamize our muscles so we can maximise our structure and nim lik and lead our chi to support our physical motion:D if you believe in chi that is…
r5a - I do the 3 prayers section, and a few other movements, as slowly as possible when alone (if I’m demonstrating, I’ll go faster so as to avoid snores ;). The rest is done as briskly as I can while maintaining proper relaxation, root, path, and power (which some days is none-to-briskly).
But didn’t I ask you first? 8)
Rgds,
RR
Woops! Sorry RR, I missed your question! I do the first subset, probably what you refer to as the three prayers section, for about 10 minutes, and the next two subsets at a relaxed pace that runs anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes tops.
The first section is slow enough that you cant see the hands moving really, driven at the elbow. The rest is relaxed as you say and always with hte energy coming from the elbow and out the fingertips.
Red Angle
Very relevant question. Some people are just NOT happy seeing their skills improve in their own kwoon over time. Having the ability to test yourself against other students and other kwoons is a real test of your wing chun. It shows if your training is effective, and what you need to work on.
I am going to enter a few tournaments this year (you must compete in a tournament to get your blackbelt at my kwoon), but would prefer to join in one of these Gathering that seem to be gaining recognition around the world.
I would enjoy doing some chi Sao with fellow students, watch some forms, and do some light sparring once I got to know and trust the other person.
My aim is to learn, and get better, not protect my Sifu or lineage.
Hey guys, interesting thread 
It’s good to see how other people train I was away form the PC for the weekend so couldn’t reply…
When i train it’s the first third that is done so slowly (up until pak sau and the front palm). That’s what takes up most of the time. It’s hard to make everything clear and relaxed with the energy at the elbow, instead of my wrist or hand. But i’m getting better the more i practise The rest of the form is done at a normal pace. Of course, sometimes i do the last 2 sections over a few times to work on those parts more, as doing 1 more than the others is uneven.
How deep do i go? My knees aren’t a fist width apart, more than that. My stance is relaxed, sunk and balanced, gripping the ground but can still be mobile. Also my attitude is centred. That’s rooted no? (if not then what is???)
Sometimes i just do 1 legged training as well, it’s difficult but feels good
Sabu said: You poor soul… Why?
david
Re: Testing Yourself
Originally posted by red5angel
How do you tell that your Wing Chun is good Wing Chun? Do you sink when you make contact?
Hi Red5Angel,
An experienced person can maintain their horse even if they don’t sink on contact. If you ever get a chance to meet Ken or Ben, you really have to work hard to get them to sink in response even a little bit.
How about SLT? We do it slowly in the Leung sheung Lineage to produce a control over our energy and to develop muscle to help retain our structure when being stressed.
We do the first part slowly to work our centerline and to develop internal power. What do you mean by develop muscle? I think of it more as training the nervous system.
Is the wingchun you practice at even a small fraction of the skill that Yip Man had? Do you think you can get there with what you use now and how you train?
I never met Yip Man, but my skill is about three orders of magnitude diminished compared to Ben Der and Ken Chung. But I think after another 30 years, I’ll be respectable vis-a-vis my teachers.
Regards,
Originally posted by reneritchie
BTW- Pushing on the Tan (or any bridge) can be a neat trick but often times people revert to localized muscle to resist, which, IMHO, defeats the purpose. Push on the body (dead center on sternum) if you’re worried about root.
The purpose of pushing on the Tan sao or any bridging hand is to test not just the root, but the enitre structure. One should be able to resist with the Tan without using localized muscle by using the strength of your horse. What good is “root” if you can’t bring the power from the floor into your hands?
If someone pushes on you Tan, you might be better of cutting or leaking through them.
You might. But the choice should be yours depending on the situation. In any event, your tan sao should not collapse if you have a good connected structure and horse.
Regards,