Here is what’s going on at chriscollinsACTION.com.

It's all very exciting. Next week, I will be in Stockholm, Sweden, where I will be focusing on giving WingTsun examinations at Sifu Patrik Gavelin’s school, Dynamic VingTchun. We will be conducting gradings from the 1st grade to the Primary Level Technician grade. It's going to be an outstanding week of WingTsun with my friends up north.

After my return to Hong Kong, I will be giving examinations at my own school in Sheung Wan. I will be conducting gradings for the Pekiti Tirsia Kali students as well as my WingTsun students.

Then it's off to Bangkok, Thailand for Benny Chan’s upcoming action movie. Benny Chan is responsible for movies such as: Who am I?, The Police Story and The New Police Story with Jackie Chan, Gen X Cops and Heroic Duo, to name a few. I will also have the pleasure of working with legendary Action Director Nicky Li (Chung Chi Li), who has worked with the likes of Jackie Chan for over 20 years including Rush Hour 1 and 2, Shanghai Noon, the Day after Tomorrow with Dennis Quad and Jake Gyllenhaal, the King of Triads and most recently The Bullet Vanishes. I am off the wall excited to be working with these Legends. I was hired as the action consultant to assist Mr. Li with making a BADASS movie. Keep your eyes peeled for some special appearances by yours truly. HAHA! I will let everyone know details about the movie as I am allowed to divulge it.

After this movie wraps, later on in the year April/May, I will be teamed up again with Chung Chi Li in NanJing, China, where he will be directing Mr. Wu Jin in an epic war movie involving Chinese military and American Special Forces and Japanese Military. If you know your history, it will be like that. Anyways, I will again be working as the action consultant and possibly another special appearance. PS: As long as I do a good job on the current project. Haha!

Anyways, very exciting and very tiring... But we only live once and we should chase our dreams till the dream ends!!!!!

Till next time.

Sifu Chris

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the long absence in terms of blogs. I have not had the time in recent months to sit down and write a decent blog.

What comes to mind immediately is FMA in Hong Kong. I hope you will view this opinion open-minded. At present, the FMA community is weak, scattered and limited. I only hope to build this up strong in Hong Kong and cultivate it into all martial arts practitioners here. The lack of effective FMA in HK is due to a lack of curriculum and methodology. It is my goal to make sure this changes for the future of PTK in Hong Kong. Allow me to clarify my statement.

Let's talk about curriculum. The lack of curriculum comes from a lack of understanding. People try to mix and match different styles of Filipino stick fighting as they have limited experience within one system. False claims and only partial learning. The problem with this is not only individual progression, but mostly in how they are presenting it to their students. I see many students that end up coming over to join me after a few years in another style. The first thing I notice is the inability to perform a correct swing stroke, which translates to no speed, no power, no timing and no precision. These are the key elements in developing yourself in blade combat. It's body mechanics. Failure to do so will only hamper your ability to progress in a given style. Furthermore, without a proper curriculum, the student is unable to bridge his footwork with his swing mechanics. This leaves you unable to move effectively and unable to establish a correct angle for attacking and countering. The beauty of PTK or FMA (as many are familiar with) is its bridge from long range, medium range and close quarter with either a long weapon, short weapon or empty hand. The curriculum should be laid out for the student to understand this. Not in a mesh of “techniques” for students to occupy themselves or to keep them from getting bored.

Second is the methodology. Your instructor must have his own clear methodology that can be passed to his or her students in order for them to develop. The curriculum should be built, based on that methodology. It is a method of learning, a method of teaching and a method of application. For example, this is why we have sub-sets. You could be learning the methods of contradas or the methods of the payong or penastas, you could be learning the methods of long range or medium range or close quarter. However, none of this can be achieved if the student still swings his weapon down at the ground or is easily confused when integrating his or her footwork with the above methods. Or when you switch your weapon grip or the weapon all together.

It should not be a case of the student telling the teacher, “well, what if I do this or can I do that.” You must first be able to master the given curriculum at that time in order for your instructor to progress you into another subset or so called ‘advanced concept’.

Everyone should have the opportunity to spar in learning a martial art of combat system, but that should not be the main emphasis. You should develop good mechanics first. This is your foundation. It sets you up for unlimited growth.

People often misunderstand good mechanics or proper functional movement. So let's break that down.

Good mechanics in your swing for example. When gripping a weapon, the person usually thinks he must grip strong and swing with his hand. However, if you look at the body and where force or power or speed is developed, this is not true. Imagine your shoulders as stabilizers, and your elbow as the driving force. It's evident in all sports and physical movements involving dynamics. If you have ever played baseball, football, tennis or golf. Then you can see the throw or the swing materialize in the same fashion. The hand only holds the weapon or club or bat or ball. The power is generated in the hips and the elbows, while the shoulders stabilize the motion. The legs must be rooted firmly to the ground and the body must move with momentum. That brings me to functional movement. Functional movement is when you are using more than one muscle, tendon or joint to complete an action. Therefore, they must move in sync allowing the body to move efficiently. Speed, power, timing and precision can then be obtained. This is relevant in all aspects of movement. How you hammer a nail, how you surf a wave, how you hit a ball, how you throw a punch and how you swing your blade. If your student is not able to do this, then you should not have him sparring. It's counter productive.

So to be perfectly honest, if you are not clear on this concept and you are a student, I am not interested in your illogical ideas of what you think works and if your instructor is unclear on these concepts, you need to think clearly about who is teaching you. You don’t have to be an athlete to understand and apply these concepts. But it should be clearly evident in how the person moves.

The more I train and the more I teach, I am fascinated by the way in which things are learnt. Whether I am teaching empty hand, blade fighting or firearms, there are no shortcuts and if a person progresses without clarity it will only bring about consistent confusion and therefore internal questions of effectiveness.

It is not the job of the instructor to turn you into a fighter or warrior. This part is up to you, entirely. Our job is to show the correct way to apply through a complete curriculum, methodology and conceptual understanding. What you have inside will determine the outcome. Whether or not you have a fire inside.

This blog can pertain to many different subjects in my life and in yours. However, today i am speaking of the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, a bladed combat system passed to me from a brotherhood of Filipino warriors, whom I am proud to call my family. They showed me a system that is clear and proven effective. I can only hope to continue learning and teaching this magnificent system for many years to come and progress myself and my students from this day to the next.

I hope this blog did not waste your time and you take with it a mindset to thoroughly understand what you learn and take the time to get it right. Whatever endeavor you pursue, I wish you success.

Sifu Chris Collins

It's been a while since my last blog. We have been busy to say the least. Here is what's been going on.

The school has been steadily growing with more students in the WingTsun and Pekiti Tirsia Kali classes. Not to mention the boxing as well. I spent another week in Sweden giving an intensive WingTsun seminar for our friends at Dynamic Ving Tchun school. We have recently brought over Tuhon Rommel Tortal for a 4 day intensive training seminar for my students. We will be bringing Jasper De Ocampo over in April-May timeframe as well. I look to be heading overseas for a few more seminars including Russia this year. I am happy to be receiving more and more students from overseas requesting private lessons in WingTsun at my school in Hong Kong. It really shows how much we are growing since opening the doors to the school.

I managed to get a nice progression chart for the students up on the school board to follow for the next year and a half. This progression chart is for the WingTsun and Kali students. It lets them see where they are going and allows them to set certain goals, which is important.

As of recent, I managed to develop a surefire way of teaching my students the proper way to develop (gwah-sau) in their chisau training as well as FREE FLOW in their stick and knife training. This is very exciting as it is the core principle to these systems of training. Too often, the crossbreed of asian martial arts and western mindset get entangled. It is my personal obsession to make sure I do not allow it to happen in my school. It is important to realize that these systems were not intended to follow a form, because there were no forms. This idea must be experienced, not read on a blog. So, I am afraid I cannot give much more detail than that with my keyboard. It must be face to face.

On the movie scene, I am waiting for an email from a big star (can not be named yet) to either give me the green light or the “see you next time” telephone call for his next movie. If I get the part, I will be able to showcase WingTsun in a very explosive fight scene. I am really looking forward to this if it goes through. Fingers crossed. We have also moved into pre-production on my movie “Malaise”. This project has been back and forth from the shelf and now it seems to be gaining steam as we have locked in investors and are now working with our director to finalize the shoot. Which, if all goes as planned, will shoot during the 2nd quarter of 2012. We already have an amazing author writing the fiction book of “Malaise” and it's reading like a Robert Ludlum thriller. I will keep everyone updated on its progress, all of it.

We have added more videos to the WingTsun and Pekiti Kali pages as visuals are very powerful and show what we are doing. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you in my school.

Sincerely,

Sifu Christopher Collins

ChrisCollinsACTION.com is pleased to be a part of White Collar MMA with City fight Club. I started training its current batch of fighters this past week (October 5th, 2011). I am taking part in coaching the fighters for their first test of skills in the cage, boxing. After a couple months of intense training, the fighters will square off against one another in a chance to make it to the Main Event, hosted by the Venetian Hotel and Casino Macau. After the fighters compete in the boxing segment of the competition, they will then begin training in the grappling discipline. Again, I will train them for a couple months of grappling before they step into the cage and compete against one another for a chance to be part of the main event in the Venetian Hotel and Casino Macau.

Here are some pictures of the boxing class I am currently running for the groups. I also hold regular boxing classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7pm-8pm. No experience necessary. Beginners welcome!!!

Click on the thumbnails below to see the full-scale version of the images:

When you join chriscollinsACTION.com, you will learn WingTsun as it was taught to Sifu Chris Collins at the Leung Ting gym by Grand Master Cheng Chuen Fun and Pekiti-Tirsia Kali as he was taught by Tuhon Rommel Tortal and Mandala Jasper De Ocampo.

Sifu Chris Collins teaching a segment of the Wooden Dummy "Principles of Movement" to a visiting Swedish VingTchun student.

Sifu Chris Collins teaching some of the finer points of Biu Tse.

Iʼm sure some of you are familiar with this slogan. It's a slogan we as “US Marines” live by. When preparing for combat, we follow our 7 Pʼs (prior proper planning prevents pisspoor performance) However, when things change beyond your contingency planning, improvise, adapt and overcome.

Simply said, when going into combat of any type we cannot plan for every known. There will always be flexibility for the unknowns. Certain strategies will not work in different combat situations. Sometimes those strengths will be turned into weaknesses. This is why you must be able to change your strategy and your tactics based on the current developing situation. I guess you are wondering where this is going or where I am going with this topic.

As a martial artist, I am always lulling over situations and tactics. The what ifʼs (how many people, weapons, motivation, surroundings, etc.). This makes me open my mind to conceptual understanding. Any solid fighting system should be based on “concept” rather than technique. Is that person carrying a weapon, am I carrying a weapon? What type of weapon? A knife? A baton? Is there more than one guy? A big guy? It's not to say you start changing your fighting system, itʼs more about knowing that you are training all the time with different ranges, modes, speeds, partners, weapons. It's going to allow you to quickly assimilate what is logical and what is going to get you killed.

As martial artists, we use “MEDIUMS” to develop ourselves for the “REAL” fight. Obviously, we cannot just full-out fight everyday. Especially with a knife. These “MEDIUMS” are, for example, called chisau, tapping, flowing, grappling, sparring. We do them to develop our technique, our timing, our speed, our sensitivity and our awareness, put our senses on high alert.

This is why I spend my time “cross-training” as some people call it. I feel that it keeps me sharp and to the point, after all its always the point. The point at which we begin, the point at which we end, the point at which we transition from wanting to be to being.

If you are reading this blog, you have already watched a short clip of me on the heavy bag. You can find a large number of clips on YouTube of somebody much better than me hitting the bag, I know.  I put it there to make a point, especially if you are a WingTsun practitioner or Pekiti-Tirsia Kali Practitioner. I know you chose these combat systems based on their theoretical, philosophical and scientific approach. So did I and I love it.

However, I believe on a very basic level, boxing is a necessary means of hand to hand combat we must all understand. If you look at 99% of all fighting arts, they all try to resemble boxing in the end (with their hands). It’s a fact. The problem is that many of them will not enter a boxing gym and properly learn how to box. Even on the most basic level. To know what it feels like to have a jab popped in your face or the power of a crushing overhand right. The timing and tempo as well as the unforgiving conditioning needed to perform and well, survive.

That’s my goal at chriscollinsACTION.com, to teach my students with the best of my ability, what it means to really be a functional combatant. When you work through your (techniques) or flow drills or chi-sau or gua-sau, please keep the following in mind, if you really want the science to work for you. You had better operate with intensity, speed, power, precision, timing and aggression. Because when you have an opponent standing in front of you about to bring a full-scale attack your way, he is not going to pause or leave his arms out there for you to grab or parry.

The last importance is that I believe in being capable in all arenas. I train everyday for the chance encounter where my life is on the line, hands or weapons. I also make sure I am able to compete or hold my own in the boxing ring or on the mat or in the cage. Why? Because it makes you that much better. It makes you think about what they are training and how are you going to combat that. How are you going to fight that animal across from you if you are eating McDonalds, rubbing your big belly and talking about theory instead of training. God forbid you move to a new town and there is no WingTsun or Pekiti. Does that mean you are afraid to head to the local boxing gym? I hope not. You should feel confident in any environment and know that the people you meet are just trying to better themselves. They don’t show up to the gym hoping for a kung-fu guy to show up so they can pummel you. It will help sharpen your senses, work your angles and deal with impact. Give it a try, add it to your training and see what results you get. If you have questions regarding this approach This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will be glad to clarify in more details.

The 3 things in the title of this blog post are instrumental to understanding a “fight” or a way to train in preparation for a fight or encounter. It’s crucial when developing yourself entirely, instead of tunnel visioning into being a one-dimensional fighter or forms master.

Many people talk about becoming a complete fighter, meaning taking the 4 Olympic disciplines and forging them into one dynamic fighting method (Taekwondo, boxing, wrestling, judo). However, the real importance is the three things I mentioned above.

FOOTWORK

Having great footwork means you are mobile, that you have control of your body and the ability to direct or re-direct force and power at any given moment. It means you understand how to control angles and use them to enter. Entering is by far the most important aspect to fighting. This is where you bridge the gap between non-contact to contact or long range to medium range. You must be able to control the distance in order to have an effective entry to your opponent. As well as being able to thwart his assault by adjusting the distance to your needs centralized or angular.

THE DRIVE

The “DRIVE” is something only a WingTsun man can understand. It is the ability to maintain pressure and force when transitioning from one attack or counter to another without releasing your drive and forward momentum. Basically staying in and not allowing any freedom. This is the part that takes years to master and without it, you will never be able to flow or perform “LATSAU”. It is in WingTsun that we have the freedom to move without performing drills or one-sided unrealistic continuous actions against a non-moving assailant's arm (that you so often see from other styles). Or you see those with superior physical traits able to control the fight with those traits staying at the medium range going from contact to no-contact continuously throughout the fight, reactions for the hard worker.

BREAK-IN, BREAK-OUT

This is the part that is seldom trained, mostly because practitioners and students are lazy and trust too much in the science of the system than in the reality of combat. Once we use our footwork to gain entry, we maintain our drive in order to keep our opponent stifled and unable to mount an assault. However, the world is not perfect and neither are we. Therefore, we must learn to break in and break out. That means if you are unable to thwart his or her attack you need to break out. Whether you do it centrally or angularly will depend on the circumstance. This will not be attacking the attack as we are taught, but it is an option that is sometimes necessary if we are not able to deliver on time. We may be behind the time or early. This just means we have 3 moments to deal with an attack. Early, on time and late. Because that is reality. So, when you break out you still maintain your momentum (or springy nature) in order to break back in. From here, it is obviously the cycle again of the 3 things I mentioned at the top of this post.

If you do not train in this manner, you will get torn up with tempo and distance breaks that will frustrate you and ultimately become your downfall. Because I will not fight your fight, I will fight my fight. Remember, fighting is about dominating another human being. There is no greater victory than to physically dominate your opponent in a fight. Because no matter what he says, no matter how smart he is, no matter how well he can do something else,  when you dominate in hand-to-hand combat or in weapons combat, all the missing skill sets and imperfections will not be able to hide. That is why we really train. Because you do not want to be dominated and if you do not, then you must dominate, which brings me to “self-defence”. You cannot perform self defence against an attacker unless you are running away from the confrontation. How long can you defend against an aggressive attacker. You cannot, you must attack. If you want to train self defence, then I suggest you go to the nearest track or football field and run 1 mile as fast as you can until you can do it in 4 minutes flat. Your assailant cannot do that, therefore your self defence will be a success guaranteed. However, if you cannot run, you must realise that this person or persons attacking you are attempting to dominate you in a way that will leave you psychologically scarred for life. That is when you make the decision to turn the fight around, to dominate them. That means, you must train with intensity, aggression and continuity. Otherwise you are lying to yourself.

People always try to put a different spin on martial arts in order to make it more acceptable to the public or gain students from different communities. You can still have fun and enjoy the company, but at the end of the day you are trying not to be hit and trying to hit. This again boils down to dominating or being dominated. I choose the first option.

I hope to see you in class soon and I respect your decision to be real with yourself.