“Fifty percent of your Kung fu comes from me, fifty percent come from your own hard work.”
Sifu Matt Johnson
martial art
Stuff Sifu Says
“Can I teach you to fight? No I can’t. What I can do is teach you Ving Tsun, give you a toolbox of tools and show you how to use them. Whether or not you can fight is up to you and how much you train. But that has to come from you, not me.”
Sifu Matt Johnson
Stuff Sifu Says
“It all comes down to having good, solid fundamentals.”
Sifu Matt Johnson
Ving Tsun Meets Shakespeare
Sifu Matt and some of the guys went to see Rok Teasley, a student at the academy, perform in MacSith. After the show, Sifu and the students did a little demo for the cast.
It was a great night. The play was wonderful and sharing martial arts info with true enthusiasts was a lot of fun.
We talked about the origins of ving tsun – myths and likely realities.
Red Boat Opera and how ving tsun if applied to MacSith would have made the play way too short by making the fight scenes happen too darn quick!
We also shot a little video, 8 short clips, which you can catch on YouTube.
Thanks so much to Orion Couling, director of MacSith and Rok Teasley for inviting us in. Break a leg you guys!
Advanced Chi Sau Training
Everyone trained hard tonight. Watch it unfold here – some of it in slow motion!
Sunday Ving Tsun Training: Chi Sau Laboratory
Robert and Sifu Matt in a little fun chi sau
Forms + Chi Sau = Ideal Practice Laboratory
It was only the beginning of class and already the arms were flying and the chi sau and laughs were erupting. Robert started it off by asking some questions about differences between the second and third forms and next thing you know, Sifu says,”Okay, let’s take a look in the lab.”
One of the great things about Ving Tsun is that you get to examine everything in your lab of chi sau (sticking hands) practice. Ip Man always used to say that Ving Tsun was a thinking man’s art because practicing made you smarter.
“But I thought you said, we shouldn’t think so much when we chi sau!”
Well yes, Gautam, that’s true but if you think and analyze while you do your forms then give full attention to what you’re sensing in chi sau – it all comes together. The trick is lots of training and training with concentration and focus.
On a side note, look who was in the school today…yes, that’s Theresa Bragado. Glad to have you back Theresa!
Matt Johnson Ving Tsun/Chicago 