Wing Chun’s Wooden Dummy Form – 7 Variations


1. Chu Shong-tin (徐尚田)


2. Randy Williams


3. William Cheung (張卓興)


4. Austin Goh


5. Wong Shun Leung (黃淳樑)


6. Edmund Fong


7. Nenad Koviljac

Wing Chun wooden dummy

The muk yan jong, Wing Chun’s signature training tool, is not a worthy fighting opponent. It never executes a defensive maneuver, or runs away from your attacks. It never hits back. Basically, it just stands there, jiggling around every so often.

There is only one way to lose a “fight” against the wooden dummy, and that is to abandon Wing Chun standards while you are using it.

The five basic guidelines for Wing Chun posture are:

Rephrased for direct relevance to the dummy form:

  • Do not stare at your own hands.
  • Do not lean on, or into the dummy.
  • Do not stand on tiptoe to hit the dummy’s “head”.
  • Do not forget your stance, footwork and whole-body unity while striking the dummy.

Wikipedia’s advice notwithstanding, observing these points will not guarantee that you win every fight. It will guarantee you avoid undermining yourself, by attempting to use Wing Chun strategy and techniques with an inappropriate body structure.

Wing Chun: Not an art for punishing logs
Although the muk yan jong is just a fancy wooden log, it somehow manages to outsmart some martial artists. Such fellows “straight blast” their dummies with maximum strength and speed, and the dummy responds by shaking violently, pretending to give positive feedback to these indecent liberties. In revenge, the dummy offers no lessons in relaxation, alignment or flow—all important points when battling something other than a log.

Considering these points and your own experience, which of the form demonstrations above do you think is best?

31 comments

  1. thank you very much for this videos..
    it’s very intersting..and it need a lot of time to train about this technics..

  2. You’re welcome. Some may balk at watching seven different videos of the same (two-minute) form, but I found them fascinating.

  3. I think the topic of diffusion in martial arts, how they change as they are handed down through different teachers is an interesting one.

    The classical Japanese martial arts (koryu) are very strict about how a martial art is taught and handed down to each generation, but in other instances, it seems that once one has mastered an art, they almost can’t help but to reinvent it as an expression of themselves and their own understanding.

  4. Thank you for making the effort to post these variations. These videos are more useful than most people may think, in understanding the differences and the commonality of Wing Chun.

    Which is a positive thing to do, and great for research in Wing Chun.

  5. You say: “Considering these points and your own experience, which of the form demonstrations above do you think is best?”
    I can’t see your point. One can’t tell wich one is the best, even though they’re a bit different in execution, you can’t tell this one is better than the other. Different, means not it is bad, or wrong. And if you are so against wooden dummy, stop using it! Stop using the wooden dummy and your problems will be solved!

    Seriously, if this is what you understand by “personal development”, I would say you’re subdeveloped.

  6. Christopher,
    I am for using the wooden dummy, and against abusing the wooden dummy. And yes, we can tell which forms are better with respect to the WC guidelines listed above. I do not repeat those guidelines because they were taught by Yip Man and Leung Sheung, although they were; I cite them because they are sensible.

    Any damn fool can hit a jong. Not everyone can build Wing Chun skill with it.

  7. Pingback: Martial Arts News 3.1.09 « Striking Thoughts

  8. And here it was my understanding the wooden man always wins…

  9. the wooden man is a very good shape maker for your technique and a very good show off tool for your students, use it!

  10. Wing Chun is a dead art from the past, useless except for unsuspecting goons and bullies, but any form of martial arts training can catch them off guard. That’s why Bruce abandoned Wing Chun, after coming to North America, seeing the size and strength of the guilo (whiteman). So slap that dummy, Flow with the forms and fool yourself that your skills are combat ready. Try to tan sau or bong sau when Brock Lesnar is charging towards you, Ha Ha! that wouldn’t be pretty.

  11. In his notes Bruce Lee listed pros and cons for Wing Chun. His assertions make the claim that he abandoned it seem as absurd and misinformed as it actually is. His system after coming to America is noted by Bruce himself to be a combination of Wing Chun, Fencing and Boxing. This is hardly abandoning WC. Too bad you don’t know what you are talking about “They call me Bruce” Why not use your real name or are coward comments your thing?

    Without steroids and growth hormones Brock Lesnar would be a joke. And your right, he isn’t pretty.

  12. It’s good to see theirs still competant people in the world. Josh young, no one could have typed truer words. They call you Bruce is someone who doesn’t know shit abut wing chun much less bruce lee. And Grandmaster William Cheungs form is what SIfu Nenad is doing. Technically there’s less than 7 different types

  13. Hey there. My boyfriend is big into jeet kune do and wants a wooden wing chun dummy for christmas. I have no idea where to buy one or what kind to get. Do you have any suggestions on a certain brand or anything?

  14. Wooden dummies can cost $1000 or more! There are cheaper PVC plastic versions, but they get less respect. Some models have “heads” and others do not. In short, I’m not sure this is a good candidate for a surprise gift.

  17. Wing Chun is great, JKD is great, and I feel they are great together. The many forms of Wing Chun I have seen put both the lead fist+ defense in front.
    If one practices the speed with it, it will work well.
    Any style would, but Wing Chun fights as one, using an attack as a defense. JKD helps by putting the lead fist even closer.
    Question is, can you write your name on your opponents forehead before he can land a punch? Then Wing Chun, or JKD will work for you.

  18. @They called me bruce God created living things with brains and the lesser version with an IQ of a room temperature… You. In this case ask Brock Lesnar to go head on with a 10 tonne Mack truck. He wouldn’t be pretty either. Every MA will tell you to use your brain (in your case, none) to fight, not go head on with some one 3 times the size.

    The difference between you and a wooden dummy is none. You are actually both.. a wood and dummy.

  20. I have to say Wing Chun can be very effective is used correctly. And yes, we have to use our logic before we decide to fight. There is nothing wrong with learning different styles of martial arts. This allows you to adapt to certain fighting styles, so you have less chance of losing a fight. I currently learn Bei Shaolin Kung Fu and love it. A lot of the forms we use are very similar to Wing Chun.

  21. I am a Martial Art Junkie a Seattle native. I grew up watching the Green Hornet and Bruce Lee. I trained in the Seattle Jun Fan school and later went to HK to train and research the root. I learned the dummy form in the 80’s then had it refined by Ip Chun in the 90’s then Siu Yuk Men. They call me Bruce was a movie about a Korean guy who came to L.A. It was a comedy from the 80’s. I sent a copy of it to my old Take Your Do instructor. Regarding the dummy. The dummy helps harden your arms so if you have to engage an opponent your forearms are like knives. Most kung fu systems have a dummy form or arm conditioning drills. It also helps one to adapt and move from the outer to inside gates and back. A must have item for the serious martial artist.

  22. I think that wing chun is amazing and who are we to say otherwise… IF wing chun dummy’s have worked for others than i would say that they are amazing in what you can benefit in. 🙂

  23. Any art is the expression of spirit. Not ego. That being said, forms are good to begin with, but the expression of spirit (God), especially in real life combat is key. The wing chun dummy “will help” body conditioning, technique, and flow, but it is not the expression of spirit in itself. No training tool, form, or technique is Art in itself. One must reach deep within and express the invisible spirit, that is art, power, wisdom, and love. A martial artist should first be an Artist, free and creative. Be One with all and the same as nothing. http://www.inwardarticles.ws

  25. It is sad to see some of these “masters” rise or lean into the dummy when they do po pai or double palms to the head of the dummy.

    I always say to these fellows who post their fast hitting dummy videos…”The dummy doesn’t move so why are you trying to out speed it?” Every single one of them have no idea what I am talking about. So they continue to lean and hit and jump around as if the log was a real person trying to outsmart them. Poor fellows.

  26. I just finished installing my dummy…it took four days to build the stand from scratch and put it up. The specs are per Sifu Kenneth Cheung’s recommendations (from Raven Studios) – it was $1300 but it is very high quality and will last a lifetime.

    And soon…Elvis Presley legs will visit me every day. (Probably nobody knows what this means, except for Leung Sheung WC students learning from Ken).

  27. I practice judo and feel that wing chun actually goes well with it. i am in the process of building a wooden man and i feel that these vidios give me a basis to advance my art. for now im just using my punching bag and some of the wing chun forms that i have found on-line.

  28. I study Wing Chun ip association by Sifu Keith Worfel is that greatest martial arts. I have also study Chinese Kempo and kick boxing.

  29. This is my first time leaving a commit. I must say I am looking for more knowledge of Wing Chun. I have been studying this form of Kong Fu for several months now. About four(4) months. I am getting better. The more I learn the more confident I become.

  30. I’ve been looking *everywhere* for what the characters mean on the wooden dummy! I know it is in the movie “The Legend is Born-Ip Man”. Please, someone, tell me. 🙁

  31. I like Wing Chun.
    It was invented by a Nun.
    A woman made it to show that it isn’t about big your wooden dummy is, but rather how you use it.
    I’m sure a Nun had no intention to make Wing Chun so people can talk about it as though they deserve credit for creating it. She made it. Not us.
    She made it to be used usefully not to talk about it uselessly.
    I for one decide to use it usefully and rather than become the very person who forcefully inspired her to create such an art to save herself. JKD or whatever doesn’t matter to me. I think the Nun would say her style is the “Style of Nun” 😉
    Hehehe. Have fun Nuns and Monks of the Mook Jong Dummy.

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