Alan Orr Sifu - CSL Wing Chun Kuen Brighton Training Camp 2023

 Last weekend (16th/17th September 2023) I attended Alan Orr Sifu's Brighton Training Camp on the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen/Chinese Boxing system.

Although I've trained in this system for over 3 years via some private tuition from UK head rep Aaron Baum and Sifu's excellent Online learning platform for the entire system, this was the first time, barring Zoom sessions, that I had met Alan Orr in person to learn from him, mainly due to the Covid situation and him being unable to fly over from New Zealand for his yearly visit.

I will give a brief run down of what was covered, but far too much and too lengthy to go into much detail as you would have needed to be there to understand fully.

Day 1 we began with a full breakdown of CSL WCK (Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen) empty hand forms, Siu Nim Tau and Chum Kiu. Our forms are more holistic than most and have Qigong attributes interwoven in via breathing focus, opening the joints of the body (7 Bows), mind focus, tendon development and whole connected body structure, linking/delinking etc so this took some time with around 30 in the room to check and correct the feeling, position and connection of peoples form actions.

This first 2-3 hours also involved partner exercises to help test and check the quality and function of many of the actions found within these forms, as Sifu says on a regular basis there are many layers to develop and uncover and with Siu Nim Tau especially being our standing pole internal training this takes daily work , ideally for up to an hour alone to truly benefit from, in a similar way to a boxer that jabs a bag for 5 mins a day isn't going to get anywhere - time and effort as always.

After a short water break we then began to explore some Clinch positions and transitions from two common situations we find in close range fighting and Chi Sao - the partners arm pulled across their body and an attacking hand on the inside of the partners arms .

Sifu, with the help of BJJ black belt and long term student Pete Irving (Itapava BJJ Newcastle) ran through around 10 examples of how to pressure, control the clinch to strike possibilities or takedown and transitions via anatomical handles (wrist/elbow/shoulder/neck/hip/knee etc)

Personably I felt this segment would have been well received in any amateur or professional MMA club as the level of teaching and breakdown was world class, but for our system and approach to Wing Chun, close in during sticking hands or sparring drills, where many Wing Chun approaches, strike and then back away, or just charge forward and reset, we have the option to tie up, clinch, take balance and position all the way to ground control or submission (as would happen in MMA and possibly needed in the street). Sifu did a very good job of explaining the adjustments for a real encounter versus that in a competition fighting one person with a referee and gave examples of each.

We ended Day 1 in live Chi Sao trying to utilise the clinch exercises we had covered that day, and all tired and very hot and sweaty, but smiling left to recover after 6 hours ready for Day 2. 

Day 2 began with the Biu Jee form and similar breakdown depth and exercises to test the actions , I learnt a lot from the first 2 hours and there are significant differences to the other versions of Biu Jee I've trained over the years which all make sense and highlight the depth of quality in this system of Wing Chun, there were certainly many carryovers to the Internal focused Chu Shong Tin method in terms of, not "trying" to elbow, opening the body, sinking and rising at the same time internally , transfer of mass etc. (some nasty aspects in there also such as the ginger shaped fist and phoenix tooth which I still have bruises from even training it lightly and controlled from touching distance!!!) 

The remainder of this second day we worked various higher level entries in Chi Sao which utilised the second form and third form thinking and skills when the more simple idea gets jammed , as is the wheel of progress, eventually these layers come full circle and the skills you acquire from regular training allow the basic entries you first learn to still be successful as skill accumulates and the body awareness improves. Good basics ARE the advanced level!

The last 45 mins or so was Live Chi Sao/Gor Sao and had some intense testing rolls with Sai Jun Mak and Aaron Baum - both long term seniors under Sifu and very skilled, as well as many others who all helped and pushed me to some degree.

I was very happy my student Henry Tsang also attended and got alot of experience under fire from the weekend, these things you cant explain, you need to be there and go through it and like Sifu spoke of at the end "Guys will no doubt say - ahh gutted I wish I was there etc - but they could have been, just chose not to, a year in the planning, £10 a week put away would have more than covered it and family, job etc would have still been there when you got back after 2 days but he said with a wry smile - but its fine, I get it, if you don't want to improve don't come...one guy, Jim made it over from America just for the weekend and another from Holland to experience what was being covered and gain that in person experience 

A very intense but enjoyable and informative weekend  - Alan Orr Sifu is without doubt a world class level teacher and can demonstrate fully what he talks about, he is a hard task master as you would expect having been in the company of high level fighters and masters from other disciplines in stand up and grappling arts and on contact feels like a tree with very soft hands, no doesn't use his size or localised strength, doesn't just push off the ground, doesn't just rely on mechanical alignment - all of which I have read about on forums about him from people who haven't even met him , the one downside is soon he will be back in New Zealand but for now I have plenty to process and try and pass onto my small training group in Suffolk. 

What's been happening and whats to come in 2022

 

Apologies for not updating our blog sooner, I admit I'm not the most computer literate among us and tend to use the more popular social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram for class and lesson updates.

Overall so far 2022 has been an excellent training year, classes are reasonably well attended and everyone is clearly improving their skills and knowledge in the fundamentals of Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen - we have finally got a class of students who are happy training all areas from form and footwork to sticking hands, partner drills, barefist and gloved sparring work or clinch and some have also worked some long pole and wooden dummy drills also....everyone can see and feel more and more how these areas gel together and support each other in our system with our unique body structure methods underpinning everything.

My coach Aaron Baum and his student Sam Rusbridge came up to visit our club in Sudbury, Suffolk in July to hold a  3 to 4 hour training workshop covering form/structure and partner drills/sticking hands/clinch and gloved body sparring.

 Everyone was pushed and pressured enough to test what they had learnt so far, as always robustly but safely and all the students received gradings to reflect their level in CSL Wing Chun and Chinese Boxing to date. A very hot, sweaty but fun time was had all round and all attending left buzzing and wanting more!!

We still offer two main student classes per week - Monday 6pm to 8pm at my Training shed/Garden when space allows and our Wednesday evening venue of The Stevenson Centre Sudbury same times which is the main session new starters begin with when they join us.

As always, we as a club have had alot of people start in the last two years but drift away and fall out of the training habit which has led me to hand out Student Feedback Forms to see if I can more effectively attract new students and retain the ones that clearly love the training but struggle to stay regular students past two months or so and also plan to offer a Womens Self Protection short course in a daytime slot in September at the Stevenson Centre if we get enough interest to make it viable.

Contact me by phone/email for more information or to book a trial Wing Chun class

Paul - 07891 699272 - next.levelenq@yahoo.com 

Private Training with my Coach Aaron Baum

 

Aaron Baum Sihing and Alan Orr Sifu

Just wanted to write a blog post on my recent private training down in Brighton with my CSL Wing Chun Coach Aaron Baum, partly for my reference and also to pay respect to a true legend of a man, which sounds maybe a little over the top considering this was only the second time we have trained together, but anyone who knows him will agree whole heartedly I'm sure.

I arrived in a rainy Brighton via 3.5 hour train journey around lunchtime and met Aaron in an underground parking area at his apartment complex with ample room to train undercover from the conditions.

I'll say at this point that when I first met him almost two years ago in March 2020 (Pre Covid19), I found him very easy to get on with, open minded but clearly knowledgeable but had a clear air, confidence (and nose) of a man who has experienced real fighting.

The occasional Wing Chun forum posts I had read leading upto this had sometimes painted a picture of a bully type figure with MMA fight experience who would rough you up so it took some small element of bravado I guess to some degree to meet up and take boxing gloves and a mouthguard with me but all that first meeting revealed is that in this sad internet age, people judge without knowing far too much and he was not like this at all and coached me safely but robustly in the basics of Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen like we had known each other years.

This lesson we built on that and I now had those two years of Online CSL Wing Chun Course materiel knowledge and testing some of the methods with my students and in daily solo training, which had stood me in good stead but doesn't replace time in the grind in person with someone more skilled like Aaron. 

We began with a light mobility warm up and momentum footwork drills which fire up the 7 bows (arch of foot/ankle/knee/hip/shoulder/elbow/wrist). These drills I had worked before via his Zoom sessions but it was really only today that I began to see the depth and importance of these and how they relate to our Wing Chun body handling.

Aaron then checked and tweaked my Siu Nim Tau and Chum Kiu forms and we covered some stance shifting drills as the turning is quite different from my past Wing Chun training and needed clarification, this was an example of where a good coach can find a method of getting you to feel what the drill is trying to achieve...I was struggling a bit with coordination and feeling the sink press rise and body connection until Aaron handed me his holdall filled with training gear and asked me to do the Chum Kiu turns again...straight away I felt why and how I needed to allow my body to distribute the weight in motion. Simple but gold!!

We then covered a light kicking distance/timing drill dutch kickboxing style (one for one) and layered in some other areas as we went, an excellent way to complete the warm up and something I could take back and introduce in my classes.

Aaron went on to cover close body force and momentum handling work and then we put the mouthguard in and boxing gloves on and worked some body sparring using everything he had introduced in the warm ups, all controlled striking but robust enough to know you had to stay in the game and allow the body to surf the exchange's of force.

He layered in some clinch work to this and the kicking/knees we had covered and explained how to build live drills for learning in an open sparring type format but with limits so focused work gets done and there's no fear or flailing or trying to win, we did this with gloves and bareknuckle as well as isolated clinch games by working for different positions of dominance and reversing them in a constant flow so the working together component is there at first.

Sam Rusbridge and Aaron

Aaron's student Sam came along for last 25 mins or so to meet up in person and train with me for a bit, Sam works closely with Aaron in classes and privately for the last few years and has some solid skills and structure and again was a great, open minded student and good to work with. We did some body sparring, clinch work, how to introduce head shots safely in sparring drills as well as some free Chi Sao with Aaron changing in as the partner every few minutes, coaching all the time.

Overall it was an excellent day out and will certainly be back again soon for more of the same and I would urge anyone to go and see him and train, you wont be disappointed.

I also plan to arrange for him to come to Sudbury and coach a small workshop this Spring/Summer all being well so my students can gain some insight into his way of coaching the system and see what I'm talking about.

Aaron Baum is the Head of CSL Wing Chun UK and can be contacted directly on the details below and holds led Zoom sessions by arrangement and class training in the Lewes Road, Brighton area. 

Ying Hung Wing Chun Kuen is the name given by Sigung Robert Chu to Alan Orr/Aaron Baum as the UK representatives of Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen system taught in their own ways but keeping true to the teachings and training methods of Robert Chu Sigung. 

Return TO the Jedi - Episode 2 "Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen"

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.....well...four months ago anyway, as explained in my previous club update I made a return to Applied Body Mechanics Ving Tsun and the Wong Shun Leung system.

 This was following a two year stint studying and beginning the process of adapting my Wing Chun via Alan Orr and Aaron Baum of the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen family, mainly via his excellent online study courses while putting the lessons into practice with private students and later classes when we were able to in the current Covid19 situation.

All was well and then I began to realise there was a huge amount of depth in their system and admittedly panicked that I would be unable to absorb and pass all of this on effectively and like a security blanket, returned to past training habits.

This is not a post to negatively talk about past training or the politics already rife in WC/VT circles, and Ernie Barrios was excellent in terms of trying to get his thinking and reasoning across to me about the changes he made and why but after a mere four months I had come to the simple conclusion that my Wing Chun views on how the system can be trained and my body handling and coaching had changed too much to return. I always fully agreed with the views and training methods provided by Sifu and Aaron and others in CSL Wing Chun and myself and the students also missed the Chinese Boxing gloved sparring drills and the buzz that provides as well as the carryover into all the other training areas and body structure skills we were developing.

To cut the story short, I exchanged some messages with Alan Orr Sifu about my predicament and he kindly informed me his door was still open if I wanted to return and after discussing the matter with some close students made the decision to cut my ties with the potential learning of ABMVT and set my coordinates for the Dagobah system ...Hahaha (Star Wars reference's ..and if you don't understand shame on you!

The messages of support from other students as well as Sifu and Robert Chu Sigung already welcoming me back to their tight knit family group makes me see what I would have left behind.

The depth available to explore is truly awe inspiring but these layers and details wont or cant be learnt and internalised overnight anyway, so the message is clear, for anyone wanting a solid, fully pressure tested Wing Chun system with something for all there are few if any more complete than what we have here and everyone from part time hobbyist to fully absorbed Wing Chun geek will gain at the very least a very sound foundation of real skill and ability, have fun, get fitter, be taken out of your comfort zone at times but essentially be part of a valuable family unit where we work and grind and grow together.

I'm aiming to meet up with Aaron Baum the CSL UK head representative again within the coming weeks and I've already signed back up to the Alan Orr Wing Chun Academy Online learning platform and have picked the study back up to complement my coaching and solo training. 

We have a great atmosphere in the training sessions, everyone working well with each other to improve, some returning students and new faces as well as the small few that have been a constant for the last 5 years or so. Its a great time to get involved if you're thinking of it now the pandemic situation seems to be easing here in the UK

So enough talk...LETS TRAIN!!! May the Force Flow be with you..always.

Club Training Update

 Just to update members and friends of the club that after some consideration I have made the decision to leave the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun training under Alan Orr and Aaron Baum and return to the Wong Shun Leung training methods that I have explored since 2008.

The Online courses via Alan Orr's Wing Chun Academy website were really pivotal in my understanding and was amazed at their depth of what they have to pass on from Qigong training, iron body conditioning, aspects from the Ip Man, Yuen Kan San and Gu Lao Wing Chun systems on top of the Chinese Boxing syllabus, clinchwork, breathing focus and much much more. I cannot fault the content only the sheer amount of it was too much for myself or any of my current student's to take on board and I felt I couldn't justify what I was teaching under that system which is very different than my 25 years of past experience.

What we have gained from this time is better full body use and handling, a way to safely train gloved sparring drills with Wing Chun theories in mind

Alan was very supportive and understanding on hearing the news and told me the door is always open if needed.

I have been in talks with Ernie Barrios and Ged Kennerk from ABMVT "Applied Body Mechanics Ving Tsun" about returning to train with them again under their coaching guidance and they have both been fantastically open minded and helpful already and we plan to transition me in this direction slowly over the coming months if all works out. 

ABMVT take the blueprint of what Wong Shun Leung left us as a guide and develop and modernise the approach and is a training method not a style or lineage, the full traditional core system of forms, main drills, dummy, pole and knives are taught through the ABMVT filter as well as western boxing style padwork, dynamic footwork, kicking ,clinch and conditioning protocols using geometry and science over Chinese terms -there are no myths, titles, belts, certificates or gradings - just real training for real people.

For me its all good, and its a journey of open minded discovery, learning and growth and I want to develop my coaching alongside my teams personal development - keep it fun but train hard to improve as always. 

We have a great small group of beginning level students currently who are working together and this is what it should be about. As always if any past students or new ones wish to join us get in touch and make it happen.  

Ged Kennerk - ABMVT Manchester

Fast and Furious - Fantasy and Reality

 

Perhaps you're wondering why the title of this post? Well its just how my mind has been operating since restarting classes again following the Covid 19 situation and an influx of past and new students trying out what we teach.

Just as a wide eyed, 17 year old might sit with his mates one evening and watch one of the many "Fast and Furious" franchise films, feel his heart rate rise, get absorbed in the excitement and special effects and state afterwards... "Man, I must start learning to drive so I can do this myself by next year!!!"...they take the steps needed, pry money (lots of it) off nervous yet supportive parents and book themselves in...very shortly the reality hits...

They are not in a high speed chase in a designer sports vehicle with long legged blonde ladies or fit bronzed men depending on their persuasion....they are sitting in a Vauxhall Corsa with Brenda, 58, stuttering around an industrial estate in second gear and struggling to even take that in

In Wing Chun terms people join classes for a variety of reasons from self defence ideologies to self improvement, to confidence issues or a Bruce Lee fixation or simply a hobby that seems different..all are fine and to be expected as we all started for one or all of these reasons but again the reality soon hits that you have to stay fairly static and learn to release tension and relax into the actions and partner exercises you are learning - it is not "Fight Club", nor is it professional MMA or a 6 week self defence immersion money making scheme - you have entered a lifelong process of self discovery, development, higher state of consciousness, solo practice, tolerance, self discipline and a whole host of frustration along the path - it is not just kicking and punching and nothing ever worthwhile happens overnight (kung fu - a skill of time spent and effort)

Just like a new Shaolin disciple who thinks they will be flipping and twirling over buildings and learning 18 new weapons forms  - the reality is they have to sit in a low horse stance for possibly a few years before much else is taught, by then they will have shown they are physically and mentally committed enough to be taught - saying "Nah mate..I just wanna punch and kick stuff" clearly wont flush

In a podcast I listened to the other week the master with over 40 years training stated "If you want to learn a Traditional Japanese system you are looking at 3 hours per day in the Dojo - 5-6 days a week for years, often twice per day...in Traditional Chinese Martial arts being a family type make up they are built around practice forms, dummy, weapon's and solo training that you learn in class or private, take away to work on and then meet up with the club family during the week to practice and keep the family strong (as one of my Chu Shong Tin teachers said for them class is where you have you homework marked and develop the next layer of skill) its not a supermarket where you pick and choose what you like and neglect the other stuff that doesn't appeal.

I'm also fully aware that time is a precious commodity these days, people are busy and stressed and pressured and their hobby takes a back seat so honestly do have empathy for those trying to learn - setting a 10 minute a day training habit is a start - nowhere near enough ideally but better than nothing, attending class as often as possible is also key - out of 168 hours a week if you have such a disorganised life that you cant spare 2 -4 hours something is very wrong or you have to accept that hobbies and martial arts aren't for you - those people certainly wont have Netflix or Facebook as they haven't even got 10 minutes.

So the fantasy and reality title is quite self explanatory - forget the bigger picture and questions of how to deal with the myriad of street attackers which haven't attacked you or anyone you know for the last 15 years or becoming the next Bruce Lee, face the reality with an open mind, work on yourself, strive to be consistent and better than you were last week in your chosen martial practice and many of those questions will be answered by your experience in training - you may even get some Bruce Lee type skills???

Class wise we have a new location on a Wednesday evening at The Stevenson Centre, Sudbury, several new students and returning students as well as some who learn with me privately and the class feel is generally good when we get consistency of attendance - we are working the Siu Nim Tau level of Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun and Chinese Boxing syllabus and I am working through a simple to follow Beginners introduction for new starters to provide a wider look into what's to come and give them at least a spark of that excitement that they probably signed up for.

Learning and training for me has been as consistent as ever (since I started  in the 90's actually as that what I was told is needed)- I do some training daily on top of teaching 4 or 5 sessions a week and this might be running, squats/deadlifts, form and standing practice, wooden dummy, heavy bag rounds, shadow boxing, footwork, weapons on top of online learning via Alan Orr Sifu's courses and aim to get my own private lessons in again when I have the funds from teaching to pay for it - learning never stops.

Why not join us?

Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen - A New Beginning

As of March 2020, with much consideration I made the decision to change our club direction and become part of the "Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun Kuen" family under the guidance and teaching of Sifu's Alan Orr and Aaron Baum.

Before I continue on this line I would like to say that the last two years of part time research, learning and practice of the Chu Shong Tin method has been thoroughly eye opening and has changed my view of how Wing Chun can be approached forever, Sifu's Daniel Parr, Mark Ho and Jon Jones of Sung Wing Chun in Sheffield have some very special, unique skills and teaching methods via their direct contact with GM Chu Shong Tin and had it not been such a difficulty in being able to spend adequate time on a regular basis due the distance and money involved to learn fully what and how they transfer those skills, I may not have chosen to look elsewhere for future guidance in my Wing Chun. Respect always.

Aaron Baum/Alan Orr

After making contact with Sifu Alan Orr via Facebook and booking into his summer seminar in London this June, I also touched based with his CSL UK representative Aaron Baum, who despite many years learning under Sifu had also MMA fight experience using the system and being based in Brighton where I spent most my youth, arranged an afternoon of private tuition to experience first hand what their system has to offer.

I found Aaron to be humble, genuine and easy to talk to as he met me from the station and we went to a local park to train (new experience for me) and for the next two to three hours he covered a broad look at long, mid and close body momentum ranges of combat via barefist and gloved sparring drills, how to load weight into a dynamic body structure by using the 7 bows (springs of the body) and discussed parts of the 6 core elements that the CSL system is known for and how it relates to the training and system as a whole.

With some past experience of training with boxers and competitive Jiu Jitsu/MMA fighters to a smaller extent, I know they have a certain feel about them, and Aaron Baum has that feel, he's done the hard yards and knows his game better than most from real experience as well as an internal ability on contact that I have only ever felt from the Sheffield coaches in a similar way.  

Alan Orr and his BJJ Master Leo Negao

As anyone who has trained under me will know, I am forever open minded and in search of understanding as much about other systems of Wing Chun as I can so not only to benefit my own knowledge and skill base but that of any students and not to get too caught up in a bubble of delusion. All of the Wing Chun has been great and has something to offer and perhaps always something lacking, already what I feel I have unearthed this time round is finally a system that appears to have the elements I have read about and searching for, a system that has been combat tested in the best modern way available in the competitive fighting arena, a mix of traditional and modern training methods, from Shaolin Qigong sets to Chinese boxing sparring and iron shirt conditioning, dummy pole and knives as well as kettlebells, bosu balance balls and medicine balls, a system that utilises the whole body and addresses the clinch, takedown and grappling effectively and overall spends the majority of training time in live training with realism in mind and attainable levels of real skills for all .

Sifu and Aaron Baum, and all the established CSL coaches I've made contact with the last few weeks have been so helpful and welcoming and now just want to move forward and grow myself and the club for the years ahead. I plan on visiting Aaron when possible for private training and some of the other UK based coaches and use Sifu's online learning resource to help adjust to the differences and help me coach when we return to classes again.

Sigung Robert Chu (Sifu of Alan Orr and student of GGM Hawkins Cheung and Kwan Jong Yuen)

Obviously exciting times and some changes ahead when we finally get back to regular classes  following this Covid-19 outbreak which has closed down our options for the time being apart from the solo training Wing Chun also affords us.

Please keep in contact via our Facebook page or message me directly about our classes, or joining our group sessions.

For more information on Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun check out Sifu Alan Orr's webpage

https://www.alanorrwingchunacademy.com/