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What is Chi Gerk?

By Dr. John Crescione

Wing
Chun’s chi gerk, or sticky leg/foot, develops the same sensitivity in
the leg that chi sao does in the hand. Some
branches of Yip Man Wing Chun say it doesn’t exist: “How can you fight on one
leg?” Others say it was always there: “Everything in this system is sticky!”
Some claim to have added it to the curriculum themselves: “The theories were
there, we just had to invent the techniques.” For those who have it in “their”
version, for those who don’t, and for those who are curious, this will be
helpful from a fighting application point of view as well as from a
technique point of view.

First, why?

The main purpose is to break the
opponent’s horse/gate and attack the pole leg, not spin the opponent off
center.
The secondary purpose is to
develop close range kicking skills. The knee should land on the body about a
fist and a half away so that you can kick the chin from chi sao position.
The third purpose is to develop
balance in your pole/support leg.
The fourth purpose is to develop
a sense of feeling in the leg.
The fifth purpose is to develop
intercepting skills, going forward and defending the leg with a leg.

Chi gerk is not going to be as soft or flexible as
chi sao, but the sensitivity concept is still to be trained, as are the
the rules and laws of the hands. The ankle is the wrist, the knee is the
elbow, and the hip is the shoulder. In the ideal position, the knee is about
heart level with a right angle in relationship to the lower leg, with the foot
on the centerline.

Cho kiu gerk occurs when the knee sinks past
horizontal or when the ankle is going backward toward or behind the support
leg’s knee. This is the best time to be swept, opened, or kicked in the body.
It is also the best time to “run” to the other side of the leg or to attack
the pole leg.

Fei gerk occurs when the knee has crossed the center
on either side of the centerline. It is hard to know when the center has been
crossed or opened, to know when you are in a good or bad position. Remember,
everything is upside down. There is also a balance and fatigue factor
involved, unlike when practicing chi sao. Then, when you add the chi
sao component to the game, it becomes much more complex and complicated.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can fight on one leg you can’t.
The reality is that you have one moment of contact and the opponent’s pole leg
should be taken out.

At the proper training levels you will also be using the
hands as well, so standing still and defending on one leg for any length of
time is not practical or possible. Bil Jee level is usually where
“official” chi gerk training starts (at least the way I teach it).

First level consists of the knee raise at close range. The
hands can be in contact at shoulder level with same-side wrist contact,
crossed-hand wrist contact, or no contact. All hand positions should be
trained to get different feelings. There are also two main variations. In
variation #1, Player 1 kicks at Player 2. Player 2 defends by raising the knee
into the center. This is done while stationary. In variation #2, the drill can
be done free form with one person attacking and the other defending, or it can
be done in turns. The pattern for this is one kick attack-defend-counter
kick-counter defense.

Once
you make it live and free form, all kinds of “interesting” things may happen.
How can you use your chi gerk against spin kicks, hook kicks, Thai kicks and
all other non-centerline kicks?

At the second level, we practice the rolling leg, then attacking and
defending the pole leg. At the third level, we practice the rolling leg position (hand contact/non
contact can be the same throughout all levels) with Lut Sao, Jik Chung level
techniques . It is of the utmost importance that the no-hand-contact phase be
trained. The less the player uses hand contact for balance and control, the
more truly developed become the feeling leg and pole leg. This lets the hands feel
where the opponent’s openings are.

In the Wing Chun system we try to develop every body part independently and fully so that when they are
used together, the techniques are actually stronger. From the first to the second
level, the applications of hand with leg techniques are integrated. These
include:

Lop dar with kicking
Tan dar with kicking
Pak dar entry with front kick (In this drill, the leg is put straight down into the center safely while you
enter at the bridge. If the front kick is caught with tan or fook gerk, you must
feel your way down and back to the center.)
Poon sao with kicking and countering
Luk sao with kicking and countering
Random chi sao with kicking and countering
(The wooden man will teach the proper when and how of using hand and foot
techniques.)

Tan gerk is used as a blocking leg and an opening leg. The ankle
is in the centerline, while the knee is at the edge of the body’s gate. In Fook gerk, the
foot is turned inward with the knee and ankle in the same straight line with
the centerline.

In bong gerk, the knee is slightly past the centerline with the
ankle at the edge of the body’s gate. With chi gerk, the reference point and
staying in contact is slightly more important than the (wrist) ankle
position or knee (elbow) position. It is still always center-to-center and
center-to-contact point. More force can be used to open or cross a leg because
balance is now a factor and the body always tries to keep balance before
everything else. (It doesn’t care if you are being punched, swept, or kicked it
wants you to stay on your feet).

Chi gerk training actually starts at Chum Kiu
level. Push horse (Toi Mah) training is feeling through the horse from the
floor up and through, with your bridges. Both partners face each other. They
grab each other’s respective wrists right hand to right hand and left to left
with the elbows in. This is the basic structure pattern. First you learn how to
move your body through your horse (step and shift pattern). Then you learn (push/pull
and enter pattern) to move your body with your horse and arms. The final
stage is generating power from your horse up through your legs,
accompanied by arm power in a refined sensitivity framework (Jull Mah or free
/random pattern).

You are feeling through the horse and either shifting the
leg with the horse, the leg, the arms, or a combination of all three. Once you can feel
through the leg with your body while it’s on the ground, you can now enter the
waters of chi gerk safely. That is why the last technique you learn in Toi Mah
is Bil Mah or Jut Mah, designed to break the lead leg horse balance.

Mook Jong wooden dummies at the Syracuse Wing Chun
Academy.

GERK JONG

At this point in the training, the kicking dummy is introduced. It
is a three poled dummy at 30 degree angles to each other imbedded in the
ground. The jong is used to train multi directional attacks and blocks, as
well as hip
and leg strength and leg toughness in both the attacking and pole leg. The jong was originally 6 poles in the shape of a plum blossom (Ng Mui), named
after the founder of Wing Chun (reputedly an expert at fighting opponents on top
of them at 6-8 feet off the ground). Legend says the ancient wooden men also had knives or stakes
embedded in the ground so when they fell there was an even bigger price to pay. (Wasn’t breaking your neck from the fall bad enough?)

JONG TRAINING

First level
jong training involves the basic kick pattern (this is the most important part of the training on the jong).
It trains the arch (sweep kick), the foot edge (knee kick), and the
bottom of the foot (side kick). Level two training involves leg toughening (you should be using Dit
Da Jow at this point in the training). One or all of the jong posts may be used. There
really is no set sequence for the leg toughening you’re hitting your leg into
hard wood with every position that you know. Here is one sequence:

Tan gerk to
Bong gerk (right leg to right post)
Bong gerk to side kick (to front post)
Backwards sweep with right leg into right post
Step to the outside right of
the front post with your right leg, adjust the left leg into a neutral stance,
and repeat with the left leg on the left leg.

Continue around the jong. If
you have enough jow, it should be applied after every sequence of right and
left legs. When you’re done striking the posts is usually the most convenient
time to apply it liberally. Pay attention and really work it
into the acupuncture points. Jow should be left on for at least one half hour to an hour after you’re done rubbing it in.

Level three training, on top,
requires the use of a five-post dummy (bricks or coffee cans are just as good and
you don’t get hurt when you fall off). This trains balance and attacking into
the center, as well as proper placement of the feet. Once this is mastered, a
nine-post dummy is used and random chi sao is done on top of the nine so the
players have the ability to move around.

Traditionally, the posts were buried in the ground and stabilized with rocks
so that when they were kicked there was at first something solid. It
would then would move like a real leg and you would have to go after it like a
real opponent. The poles can range from 3-6 feet depending on preference.
About one third to one half was buried in the ground before rocks were added
to the holes. The importance of post training is that it controls where the
player puts the leg down. They must remain soft and non-committal with
their energy and they must lift the legs when they move.

Most of Wing Chun training up to this point has kept the legs close to the
ground. This is to ensure that the horse, legs, and hips are trained to stay low
so that you cannot be swept, intercepted, or uprooted when moving.

At this level you are supposed to be in control of your horse, legs, and body
position in order to move them safely and where you choose.

Sifu Crescione is a respected and well-known
Wing Chun Kung Fu teacher. The Martialist is honored to present this
article, his first for this publication. If the Chi Gerk topic is of
interest to you, you may also find Coach Scott Sonnon’s
Leg Fencing videos of interest.
No endorsement by these individuals of each other’s work is implied or should
be construed.

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