What is Innovative Wing Chun?

There are many Wing Chun practitioners today who believe that their system is complete in that it is fully ready for street self-defense. They tend to believe this because Wing Chun is so effective at close range ending most fights within seconds. However, their lack of aptitude against grapplers and armed assailants reflects a problematic actuality. When taken out of their "comfort zone" they lose their skillful edge. Although the system's concepts hold the keys to fully expanding Wing Chun, most practice it with little or no regard to working real world scenarios. They never dream of breaking with tradition or exceeding the methods of their teachers.

A system for today has to work against any attacker, no matter if the fight is standing up or goes to the ground; armed or unarmed. Armando’s innovative system does just that through the influence of scientific, bare-knuckle boxing along with tested Tai Chi influenced Wing Chun concepts, producing sensitized, yet extraordinarily powerful, accurate energy. This system has also been polished off by keeping reality based self-defense thinking at the forefront and adapting a completely compatible anti-grappling and weapons method of which most Wing Chun practitioners possess little if any knowledge.

Innovative Wing Chun is the completed form of the Wing Chun Kung Fu system. It is not traditional in that it is not limited by the unwritten laws of men who have long since lost sight of what really works on the street. It picks up seamlessly where Wing Chun is deficient; or better said where some teachers are deficient, without discarding any of it’s concepts, unlocking its most powerful attributes.

In general, Wing Chun Kung Fu is known as one of the most effective martial arts in the world. It differs from many of today's popular systems, such as Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Kung Fu. These systems block first and then attack. Wing Chun emphasizes self-defense, focusing on methods that allow a block and an attack in the same movement. The system is based on human biomechanics rather than animal movements, using primarily straight line, fast, direct strikes and sophisticated simultaneous blocking and striking techniques, redirecting the force of an opponent rather than attempting to meet a possibly greater force directly. The way the system produces efficient fighters in a relatively short amount of time is by sticking to several core concepts and by paying strict attention to positioning. Much training time is spent cultivating sensitivity or contact reflexes. The student practices guarding various zones about the body and deals with whatever happens to be contacted or touched in that zone. This allows for a minimum of technique with a maximum of application, and for the use of an automatic or subconscious response.

Armando has enhanced Wing Chun by unlocking its concepts and expanding the Wing Chun system, answering modern, realistic scenarios. Other Wing Chun people sometimes call themselves “comprehensive” but in fact many of them lack understanding of the diverse circumstances within real fighting in the 21st century rendering them ineffective when taken outside of their traditional training norm. Innovative Wing Chun is fully developed and most of all it functions in all fighting situations and fighting ranges; standing or on the ground. It is a scientific method designed to work effectively for the individual practitioner without any need for preconceived maneuvers in any given self-defense scenario. This unabridged martial art is a diversified and streamlined self-defense that works in the real world.

Origins and Development

There is a generally accepted legend about a Shaolin nun named Ng Mui, a master of Kung Fu that developed a system effective against men and her friendship with Yim Wing Chun whom she named her kung fu after. There is also a more believable account with some historic documentation of a man named Leung Jan, his Tai Chi roots and his development of Wing Chun by his encounters with European bare-knuckle fighters.

Whatever the true origin, the Wing Chun system has been developed by some very intelligent individuals who took great care in making Wing Chun a highly efficient kung fu and China’s martial arts treasure. As techniques were passed along, the now traditional weapons of the system were incorporated into Wing Chun Kung Fu as well. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, (another name for their horrific communist dictatorship), Wing Chun, like other martial arts, was banned in China and survived only through the persistence of practitioners like Ip Man. The veil of secrecy around the art was finally broken in 1949, when Grandmaster Ip Man brought the style out of communist China into Hong Kong and eventually to the rest of the world.

Leung Sheung had heard about Wing Chun since he was quite young, and in 1949, found out that one of its most famous teachers, Ip Man was currently in Hong Kong. Leung Sheung promptly introduced Lok Yiu and Tsui Sheung-Tin to Ip Man, and the three of them became the first batch of Wing Chun students in Hong Kong. From 1949 until 1978, Leung Sheung remained Ip Man’s most senior student. He trained under Ip intensively and taught Wing Chun until his passing in 1978. Among Leung Sheung’s more well known students are Kenneth Chung, Leung Ting, Jack Ling, Siu Wong, and others. Armando Sainz' lineage descends from Kenneth Chung who best retained Leung Sheung’s methods and most importantly, his unique energy.

Armando’s lineage is distinctive in many ways and extraordinary because each master in the line is a senior student of the previous teacher. More than that, however, Wing Chun’s development went into high gear when insightful individuals began an innovative expansion of this great martial art. Long Bridge Boxing, an advanced form of bare-knuckle boxing, came to our line through the study of the roots of the world’s martial arts. In particular those of Western fighting arts; their development and finally, their compatibility with Wing Chun. Also, an extreme close quarters aspect to the system was developed thereby creating a method that is equally secure in kicking range, boxing range and at very close range. As a result, Sifu Armando has spent much time developing, refining and teaching his western influenced, cutting-edge Wing Chun.

Armando took what he learned and further developed it by studying the internal aspects of Wing Chun via Chen Tai Chi Chuan. He spent two years training with Master Frank Paolillo and studying the essence of Chen Tai Chi; which is realized in its distinctive silk reeling-spiraling power. Armando’s Tai Chi insights coupled with scientific principles, allowed him to reinforce his martial art and to address the grappling issue by developing a complete anti-grappling curriculum using geometry and human biomechanics. This is NOT adding grappling to Wing Chun, rather Armando has unlocked what was already present within the concepts of the system that others didn't see. It is a completely compatible method that has shown itself to be exceptionally effective. This superior method allows you to be able to deal with any person quickly and move on to the next attacker with ease in an almost effortless manner.

Armando also adapted practical weapons to his curriculum. He developed a weapons system that is in tune with the sum and substance of his martial art. This system allows the practitioner to disarm assailants, and use their weapons against them. Also this method pits weapons against each other so that in the trained hands of the practitioner, the self-defense scenario is handled quickly. The bottom line is that Innovative Wing Chun® is an unabridged, up to date martial art that enables the practitioner to be at the ready.

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