Many people take an interest in martial arts for reasons ranging from health, hobby, interest, discipline, fitness, personal development and general cultural interest, but the core essence of all of them is the pursuit of practical and adaptable application.
Gary Lam is very well known and respected in the Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun community, but to other lineages he may need a brief introduction. Gary Lam trained with Master Wong Shun Leung for fifteen years and served as the instructor at Wong’s school for an additional six years. As Wong Shun Leung’s top student, Lam put his Wing Chun skills to test by entering many tournaments and defeating the opposition. He was crowned Hong Kong Full Contact Tournament Champion in 1978-1979. In 1991, his Wing Chun peers in Hong Kong elected him the President of the Hong Kong Wing Chun Society. Fighting Strategy is one of many Lam titles available from Cranes Production and focuses on the plans and tips you need to improve your overall fighting ability—in the ring and on the street.
The DVD “Five Element System” by Sifu Gary Lam is one the two more advanced topic Wing Chun DVDs in Sifu Lam’s growing Wing Chun DVD library (currently numbering fourteen titles). Wing Chun is different than other martial arts in that Wing Chun is concept based instead of technique based. Hence the “Five Element System” DVD covers a lot of theory and is a lengthy DVD at 95 minutes. Although there are some demonstrations of the concepts put forth, this DVD is more of a concept and theory DVD. Certainly the “Five Element System” has enough of the necessary demonstrations to illustrate some concepts, but this DVD is not like a Wing Chun empty-hand form DVD where each technique is followed by a demonstration. Sifu Lam utilizes five elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal in a series of lists and matrices as well as a diagram to fully explain to the viewer a specific concept, how these concepts interrelate, how one element can aid another element, how one element can be used to overcome another element and how the five elements further conceptualize Wing Chun. As an example someone with fast hands (fire) can be overcome with changing (water) or distance (earth). This is not a DVD that will be easily digested in one sitting. There are so many fine points to understand that multiple viewings will likely be necessary for a Wing Chun practitioner to fully realize the content of this DVD and many of the elements are higher level. This DVD is highly recommended for the Wing Chun practitioner who wishes to advance his/her theoretical knowledge of Wing Chun, but is best suited for an advanced Wing Chun practitioner.
What it’s about:
Sifu Eric Orem continues with his interview of Master William Cheung’s street fight exploits and his demonstration of Wing Chun applications for fight situations where there are no rules.
Comments:
Master Cheung talks about his encounters with Hong Kong’s Triad’s or street gangs of the 1950’s. He gives an historic account of the three most powerful gangs during one of China’s most tremulous eras after World War II and how the various gang organizations immigrated throughout the world establishing a network of gang associations in San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as in South East Asia. The Triad or what some have referred to as the Chinese Tong, Master Cheung stated that many of China’s historical figures of government came out of the triad system. One can assume that even today there exist apparent links with members of the Central Committee of the People’s Republic of China. Even though the west has had a tremendous impact on the country’s economic development, traditional customs are still very strong in many of the cities and in the small villages throughout China’s countryside.
What it’s about:
This DVD is the last of a three volume series about street fighting applications of Wing Chun system. In this edition discussion and the application of Wing Chun methods of attack and defense are emphasized in dealing with a Muay Thai martial art Challenger.
Comments:
With the growing popularity of mixed martial arts and Muay Thai boxing, Sifu Eric Orem asks Master William Cheung if he ever had to fight a Muay Thai boxer. Master Cheung shares with the viewer a past encounter he had with Thai boxers in the spring of 1962, while living in Sidney Australia. It seems that during Cheung’s early years, he often had to defend the honor of his friends who were bullied by local tyrants. His friend Howard, in Sidney, was often harassed by some Thai boxers attending the same local college, and he had asked William Cheung, to speak in his behalf and request from these guys if they would just cool it. So a meeting was setup to take care of the situation. Of course Master Cheung was victorious, but he did sustain some injury. This is an interesting story, because at times when your buddies say they will be right behind you, but when the action starts they’re nowhere in sight. I won’t spoil the details of the fight you’ll just have to get the DVD to learn how Cheung dealt with the challenge of facing three Muay Thai Boxers on his own.
What it’s about:
In this three volume DVD series Master William Cheung and his assistant Sifu Eric Orem present the street applications of Wing Chun technique against three popular systems of
martial art. This DVD demonstrates defense and attack methods employed against Choy Li Fut Kung-Fu.
Comments:
This DVD begins with stories told by Master William Cheung, about his early encounters on the street and roof tops in Hong Kong against would be challengers from different stylist of Kung fu. It’s an interesting look into Master Cheung past in how he dealt with fighters of different martial art systems.
Of all of Sifu Lam’s Wing Chun DVDs this DVD “Seminar: Fighting Strategy” is arguably Sifu Lam’s most advanced DVD to date. The DVD is not one that focuses on the actual techniques of Wing Chun, although many ideas do just that, but rather the ideas behind the late Wong Shun Leung’s Wing Chun and fighting. Sifu Wong believes that Wing Chun was concept based rather than technique based. Wong also believed that the better Wing Chun martial artist uses Wing Chun without letting Wing Chun control him/her. To gain the most from the DVD a student should have a solid background in Wing Chun, but some of the concepts presented on the DVD could be used by any martial artist. Sifu Lam covers many concepts and ideas behind fighting and some of those do not necessarily originate with Wing Chun, but most of the ideas presented do. Due to the coverage of a extensive set of ideals, the DVD is lengthy at 1:49:15. Additionally, Sifu Lam himself was both a fighter and trainer and ideas from his experience are also covered. This DVD is recommended for the advanced student, but could also be seen as an investment for the beginning student or fighter.