VINTAGE - Sil Lim Tau Explained

[@ChangingMan2023]

You should come to Guangzhou and meet up with my Sifu, Wong Nim Yi of Mai Gei Wong Wing Chun. You guys would connect really well.

[@alswedgin9274]

🙏

[@hilohahoma4107]

Yeah I wouldn't call that explaining siu lim tao more like a couple of pointers on 2-3 out of 75 moves of that form lol.

[@johndough8115]

A common WC mistake... is seen here. The spreading of the Fingers, and the Curling of the Thumb. Never do that... as its training a very bad habit, that can cause a lot of problems when you fight for real. Firstly, the most obvious, is the inward curling of the thumb, in front of the palm. If you were to do this while trying to Pak Sao an OPs arm.. your thumb would get Crushed between your palm, and their arm. While you could always say that in a real situation.. you would be more aware, and control it better... the thing is... whatever you are training, tends to come out. So... when you train it wrong, over and over again... you are more likely to accidentally curl your thumb inwards, when you go to use it in sparring, and or, in a real fight. Keep your thumb on the very edge of your hand (bladed), so that its side, is touching the side of your pointer finger, at all times. Next, is the spread fingers issue. If you try to spar against a very experienced, and aggressive fighter... you are likely going to end up making mistakes, and limbs and clothing, are going to collide in odd ways. As such, its likely that the OPs limbs will eventually hit your fingers, and wrench them backwards, hyper-extending them. That, and or getting a direct impact... causing a "Jammed Finger" injury. Another thing that can happen... is clothing getting looped around the fingers, and wrenching them. This could be from the cuff of a pantleg, or the shirt cuff near their wrists. I had to learn the hard way. I used to spar against various fighters, on a regular (every weekend) basis. I ended up suffering at least 2 jammed finger incidents, and 2 or 3 finger hyper-extension injuries. Let me tell you... while the hyper-extensions were painful... the Jammed finger injuries, was the WORST pain that Ive ever suffered, in my whole career. After the finger jams... your eyes water from the over whelming pains. While I tried to keep sparring... merely by using my other arm.. the vibrations from our limbs colliding, went through my body... and right into the jammed finger... making the pains unbearable again. After only like 3 interceptions... I had to stop sparring. It was just way too much pain to deal with. When you practice the form, keep all of your fingers and thumb, together. You dont want to press them tightly with heavy force. Just use barely enough energy.. to keep them together. If you have flexibility issues that require you to use a lot of force to hold them in place: You will want to keep stretching your fingers/thumbs, all throughout the day / night... every day/night... using one hand to flex the other. After enough stretching... your flexibility issues should eventually be solved... allowing you to be more relaxed in your form work. Each individual finger, on its own... is pretty weak. However, when the fingers are all together, they multiply the sum total strength. As such, if a limb crashes into all of your fingers at once (rather than hitting the wristbone), you are much less likely to suffer a hyper extension issue... compared to if only a single finger was Wrenched. Also... the higher level fighters, Love to encounter a fighter, whom has spread fingers. They will quickly reach out and Grasp a loose finger, and then hyper-extend it on purpose, to control you with it (Small joint manipulation / Chi-Na). I also encountered a fighter whom did this to me. He was very good at setting the situation up... so that even a tiny lapse in positional awareness... gave him the opportunity to get a finger lock on me. And finally... the most important part of the 1st form... is the part thats repeated 3x in a row. Its called "Three Prayers to Buddha". Its actually designed to be performed in Slow Motion, like a Tai Chi form. It should take at 30 seconds to fully extend your arm... and 30 seconds to fully retract it.. within that entire section. That will extend the section from 2 to 3 minutes... into 16 minutes. Thats not all, either. In order to gain the Internal Benefits.. you have to do one hours worth of non-stop form work... and repeat that, at least every other day... for several consecutive months. To do this... you simply keep repeating the entire form, at least 4 times in a row, without any rest between each Set. You see... one of the main benefits to slow form work... is the development of "Super Tendons". Tendons that are very flexible + elastic... yet are also Superiorly Strong. In order to be able to stress the tendons enough to develop like this... you have to do very long training sessions... AND... you have to make sure that your entire body is as RELAXED as possible. You need to make sure that you are using almost ZERO muscle strength, for your movements. This lack of muscle force to hold and control your body / limbs... is what puts far more STRESS on the tendons, and other tissues. If you use too much muscle... there wont be enough strain being put on the tendons (and other tissues, like the Fascia). This is why many people whom mildly practice Tai Chi... are often not seeing very good progress / developments... as they too, are often not relaxing enough... not practicing for full hour long sessions, and not practicing enough per each week, month... etc. Realize that Wing Chun, was created by the highest level martial arts technology of its Era... and that technology was, the "Internal Arts" methods. Once you develop the proper Internal Strength.. (instead of just muscular strength), your Wing Chun will reach a whole other level. The other thing is...that the slow motion practice will develop a LOT more benefits than just super-tendons. It would take several pages of text, to describe every benefit. The Entire form is not supposed to be performed slowly. Only the 3 prayers section. This allows the Fast acceleration to keep developing your Quick Twitch muscle fibers... so that you can reach maximum acceleration, and thus max velocity (especially for maximum short range power potentials). And finally... when performing the 3 prayers section... its especially important, to breath very deeply (fully, using both the upper lungs, AND the lower abdomen).. and with constant high air flow rates. This is part of the Qigong method, that will create higher Circulation channels, within your body (and many other benefits). Pace your breath speeds and depth, with your movement speeds, as best as possible. Never hold your breath... and stop using very shallow, and quiet, breaths.

[@masterninja03]

Wow! Well said sir. I appreciate you.

[@johndough8115]

​@@DL_2025_A Im not going to re-watch to find it. I saw it. Its there. And yes, even the side palm, would be an issue, if your thumb was hanging. As for the so called "Tension" comment, its ridiculous. First off, it takes no real tension, to keep your fingers and thumb, together. And even if there was a very minimal amount present.. the amount it might slow you down, would be like a 32nd of a Second. Well worth the fractional delay, to prevent a serious Injury. I pretty much guarantee that you have Never sparred heavy contact against good fighters, from other arts. Let alone, on a frequent Basis. Most people whom practice WC... dont spar, and dont fare well, when they do (unless they are up against a much weaker OP, or a very clueless OP). I also Guarantee, that the original founders of WC... would never have had spread fingers, and a hanging thumb. Almost the same reason, for not having straight legs... while fighting / stepping. Everything has a purpose, and a reason. If you are not maintaining proper form... its like creating a house, without the proper methods + building codes. Under real world stresses... that house could fall apart. Also, to be very clear.. even IF the Thumb was never in front of the palm... but merely Hanging like an "L" shape... its still a problem. It can still manage to get Caught and wrenched backwards... either by the OPs limbs, and or by the OPs clothing... and... as Ive said before... anyone good at grappling, that can seize it before you can do anything about it. Im speaking about these things from real world experience. I used to train anywhere from 4 to +8hrs a day, every day... 365 days a year... for a solid 5 years, before I eased up. I started sparring (outside of school) after my first year in WC. I went to open sparring events at various schools. Made many contacts... and later met up with them, and their martial arts friends as well, for further sparring sessions, cross training, etc. At that time, I was 6ft... but only 150 lbs... and was often taking on fighters that were nearly double my mass and strength class. Make one mistake, and these guys are bashing you, and driving you to the ground, with ease. Getting injured, was pretty much expected... especially in the beginning. I also used to work in a mall arcade, so I would ask various guys that were playing fighting games.. if they did any martial artists... and met some artists that way too. I eventually made so many contacts, that I formed a Private sparring group. We had at least 15 different artists show up for cross training + long sparring sessions... every weekend. Some of these guys were successful competition fighters, that fought regularly, in heavy / full contact events. One of these guys, had learned about 7 different arts.. mostly Chinese arts. He was on a level of functional skills, that FAR surpassed me, and anyone that Id ever met. He was actually the only one to ever manage to Grasp my fingers, and thumb... with Chi-Na techniques... when we sparred heavy contact / full speed. Unlike most people... he could maintain perfect form, under full speed / high stress, heavy contact.. sparring sessions. I too, was no slouch. I could (eventually) also maintain perfect WC form, while in heavy contact sparring sessions. Where as most WC guys, completely fall apart, and end up looking like bad/sloppy kickboxers. Anyway... in my process of developing, and fighting so many different and skilled fighters... I suffered many injuries. Those finger and thumb wrenches, were some of them... and some of the most painful of all of my injuries. Also, while I only used WC in my sparring... I also cross trained in other arts methods. I can throw TKD, Muay Thai, Wushu... kicks, with fantastic speed, power, and accuracy. I can throw excellent boxing strikes. And I also trained shaolin style Iron Body Conditioning, regularly. In addition, I was fit and strong.. from all of my sparring sessions (cardio / endurance), as well as a daily 1hr hardcore, core workout routine. And while I reduced my training after the 5th year... that was basically because, once you reach Masterclass level output... you no longer need to train as long/hard.. as you only need just enough to keep your tools Sharp (maintenance). That wasnt the end of my journey, however. I eventually learned from two other WC schools (several different lineages). As well as kept training + occasionally teaching private students. Learned more about other Chinese arts, like Tai Chi... and further advanced my understanding of WC + advanced my already great + well proven skills. This guy is clearly very skilled. But he seems to be the type, that has rarely sparred much. Being great in drills, is one thing... but carrying that over to heavy contact sparring (against exceptionally skilled fighters)... is taking things to a whole other level. Its also how our Ancient WC ancestors, would have trained... unlike today... where most are too lazy, too unrealistic.. and have way too much "Theory", over actual Experience.

[@johndough8115]

@@DL_2025_B lol. I guarantee Im faster than you will ever be. Speed training drills, are a critical part of developing quick twitch muscle fibers. I actually started at Steve Lee Swifts school. Swift used to be considered one of the fastest WC guys around (debatable). But as Ive grown more experienced, Ive recognized that Swift was often a bit too sloppy, for the mere sake of speed. Sloppy technique = Weakness = Failures. I also fully mastered Inch Power (Fajin). Ive KO'd many fighters from my lead arm, less than 6 inches of travel.. and I never used more than about 15% to do it. Back in the day, when I was training regularly.. I easily had LETHAL level impact potentials, within less than 2 inches of arm travel. The only one out of touch, is you. You clearly are butthurt, and jealous. Too attached to your Ego... to expand beyond what you THINK you know... to even Test it, to see if you are wrong. Like Ive said... it barely takes any effort at all, to keep your fingers together. You are not Tensing your entire hands and arms up. And as far as Tension and Fluidity goes... not only have I done plenty of Chi Sao drills... but Ive also learned + practiced some Tai Chi push hand drills. Ive managed to throw around some very experienced Tai Chi practitioners, at their own game.

[@johndough8115]

@@DL_2025_A You know how I can tell whom is a high level fighter? Those that are not so quick to get into a real fight. Those that have had very hardcore experiences... and have done damages.. as well as have had damages done to them. You see... When you get to a high level, you go beyond Knockout level power.. and get into Crippling / Lethal levels of power. So much power, that it actually Scares you. At that point, you realize... that if YOU are capable of such power... Others are likely just as Capable, if not even more so, than you. The reason why Ive made such a statement about you... is due to your own ignorant words. They are words that reveal your own level of experience. That, and your anger control issues. A high level martial artist, always learns to control their emotions. As when you are in a real fight... you cant be distracted for a mere fraction of a second... due to internal thoughts and emotions. As for the Tai Chi comment... its just more Ignorance. Tai Chi has strikes. In fact, it has the highest level Striking technology within it... called Fajin (explosive power). Its the same power, thats Supposed to be taught in Wing Chun. However, very few WC practitioners, have ever mastered Fajin to such a level. Most struggle to produce reliable KO level forces, from a foot worth of arm travel. When asked to try the same, at 6 inches or less... they have virtually no power at all. This is because most WC practitioners, only every practice their power, from full distance punches (over 1ft of travel). Where as... to master Inch power.. you have to keep reducing the space between your fist, and the hard target. In my case.. a bag filled with about 15 lbs worth of steel bbs... that ended up about 7 inches in thickness. Tai Chi tends to show themselves as only using Palmstrikes. However, they can and do strike + kick, with fists, chops ..etc. The reason why they often use Palms, is mostly for safety.. in their Drills and Demos. Its also why they use explosive PUSH force, rather than IMPACT forces... as they dont want to cause internal ruptures to the person being hit. The main issue with Tai Chi... is not that different from the issues within Wing Chun practitioners: Lazy practitioners, that never spar, have never learned the full arts methods, and have never fully mastered ANY of what they learned. Its a little worse with Tai Chi... because most teachers dont even teach the real combat methods. Also... there really is no such thing as Tai Chi competitions. Thats just modern stupidity. It would be just as stupid, to have Chi Sao competitions. These are just Drills... not something you compete with. And if you think otherwise... that again, reveals your own ignorance about the purposes and proper methods, of doing Chi Sao. Way too many WC dudes, try to use Chi Sao... as if it were a place to Fight each other. That goes against everything the drill is supposed to be doing, and will actually limit your progression.

[@johndough8115]

@@DL_2025_A At 2:32... is the Worst of offenders. The deepest thumb tuck, in the whole video. However.. here are some others: Start with :09. The Thumb is bent 90 degrees at the knuckle, and is Partially in front of the palm. If an OPs arm were to slide along his palm.. it would Catch his thumb, and wrench is backwards. If an OPs forearm were to smash into this hand horizontally, it would also pinch his thumb into his own hand... crushing the thumb. At 1:06 he says push down slowly. This is supposed to be a Fast / Explosive movement. The fast movements, are designed to develop Quick Twitch muscle fibers, and so when done explosively over time, will boost your acceleration and top speed potentials. You should only do the 3 prayers section slowly. At 2:07 - You can see part of his thumb, behind his own palm. At 2:28 - He starts with his thumb bent.. but by 2:29, he moved his thumb backwards out of the way... and makes an individually Hanging Thumb. I think thats more than enough, to note. It is simply a bad habit that he has developed... and may be doing it on a subconscious level. The problem... is that when you are in high stress combat situations... its very easy to accidentally perform this incorrect positioning. And because things will be moving much faster... with much smaller windows of time... you likely wont get your thumb out of the way, in such a short window of time. Even worse... are situations where your eyes didnt detect what transpired... and you only know what happens, when contact has been made. This happens a lot in full speed combat / sparring... because the OPs limbs can move quicker than the Eyes can track. There is also a slight visual processing delay, between the eye signals, and the brain... which has to process the inverted image data. Not only can I make my hands nearly invisible to the eye... I used to have a toe-stabbing kick that was just about as fast. It was non-telegraphic... so it would be able to land on someones throat, and be back on the floor... before the OP knew what even happened. When the OP is capable of that kind of speed... its easy to run into the OPs thumbs, fingers, etc.. before they can adjust things / know what just happened.