Curriculum

Our curriculum is a progressive roadmap designed to build skill through steady, deliberate practice. We prioritize quality and internal mechanics, ensuring each layer of the system is functional before moving to the next.

Level 1: Building the Foundation

Everything begins with Siu Nim Tau 小念頭 (the “Little Idea”). This stage is about reprogramming how you move, learning to relax the shoulders, align the spine, and develop structure rather than relying on muscle. You will start with Stance Training, partner drills like Daan Chi Sau 單黐手 and Laap Sau 拉手, and basic defensive movement like Wut Bou 活步 and Zong Bok 撞膊, to build your first layer of tactile sensitivity and gate awareness.

Level 2: Movement & Bridging

Once the foundation is set, we introduce Chum Kiu 沉橋 (“Sinking the Bridge”). This level moves you from static positions into defensive footwork, side punches, and body rotation. You will begin Pun Sau 盤手 (rolling hands) to manage an opponent’s energy in real-time. We also incorporate the Saa Bau 沙包 (conditioning sand bag) to develop structural power and limb conditioning without sacrificing softness.

Level 3: Offense & Application

Biu Zi (“Thrusting Fingers”) focuses on recovery and offensive techniques, learning how to regain your center when your structure is compromised. Training becomes more fluid here with Biu Ma (stepping) and Gwo Sau, which is free-flowing Chi Sau sparring. This is where your reactions become more instinctive and your ability to apply the system under pressure is tested.

Level 4: The Wooden Dummy

The Muk Yan Jong (Wooden Dummy) is the final piece of the open-hand system. You will work through the 100-technique form originally taught in Hong Kong, using the dummy as an honest partner to refine your angles, footwork, and power delivery. It serves as a tool for deep refinement, polishing the previous three levels into a singular, cohesive skill set.

詠春百手八腳真，
萬化千變求實用。
莫向花巧求美觀，
唯從紮實見真功。

Curriculum FAQ

Q: How long does it take to learn all this?
A: As long as it takes. We don’t measure training based off time, but achievement.

Q: What comes after the dummy?
A: Later stages include 腳法 (Legs Training Practice), 八斬刀 (Knife Set), and 六點半棍 (Stick Set). We do not teach the weapons forms here yet. It takes dedicated practitioners upwards of 15 years or more to truly be ready for the knives, which serve to refine and polish the empty-hand sets. Many schools claiming to teach the Wing Chun knives have invented their own forms according to their own understanding. Others may rush students to them for a sense of “completion”, which does a disservice to the small details and refinements in the system.
I myself do not know the knives yet and am in no rush to learn them.

Q: Why is your dummy only 100 movements? I heard it was supposed to be 108/116/132, are you missing movements?
A: For us, the dummy is 100 hand techniques broken into 10 forms of 10 movements each. Wing Chun also includes 8 kicking methods. Schools that talk about 108, 116, or more movements, simply count the movements differently. Leung Sheung Lineage, in contrast to many other branches, actually preserves some older additional dummy sections that many do not include in their forms, as well as the Goek Jong (Kicking Dummy) movements integrated into the complete form.

A Primer on Wing Chun Training Methodologies:
From the Red Boats to Leung Sheung

Wing Chun isn’t taught the same way everywhere. While the standard three-form system is what most people know today, the architecture of how we train varies wildly across different lineages. To understand why, you have to look back to the roots of the art.

Before the mid-19th century and the era of Wong Wah Bo, Wing Chun was likely practiced as a single, comprehensive long form. Instead of breaking the art into stages, the system was woven into one continuous thread.
Everything changed when the art transitioned onto the Hung Suen (Red Opera Boats).
To make the art highly efficient, the single long form was systematically deconstructed. This evolution gave birth to two distinct training paths:

• The Three Sets: Breaking the system into progressive structural, movement, and recovery concepts.
• San Sik (Separate Techniques): Distilling the art into discrete, modular, and repeatable loops designed to build sensitivity and structure under dynamic load.

Today, different lineages favor different structural vehicles to pass down the system.

• The Single Long Form: Some rare, older branches still teach one massive, all-encompassing form. It preserves the holistic flow of the art, forcing you to understand how transitions and energy interlock without artificial boundaries.
• The Three Sets: The modern standard. The curriculum is divided into Siu Nim Tau (Little Idea), Chum Kiu (Sinking the Bridge), and Biu Zi (Thrusting Fingers). We see this tactic in other branches descending from the methods of Wong Wah Bo, such as the Yuen family and Pan Nam’s Wing Chun.
• The San Sik Method: Rejecting long choreography entirely in favor of a few short, dynamic combinations. It prioritizes direct combat application and rapid reflex building over memorizing forms. This method is also well known in the Yuen family, but most widely associated with the training curriculum in Gulou, where Leung Jan taught only this method.

As Yip Man’s senior-most student in Hong Kong, Leung Sheung was famous for his deep gung lik (developed power) and uncompromising obsession with solid structure. Rather than picking just one historical method, the Leung Sheung lineage synthesizes all three approaches into a complete training system.

• The Three Sets
  Siu Nim Tau, Chum Kiu, and Biu Jee serve as our conceptual framework. This is where we cultivate internal structure, learn spatial awareness, and master emergency principles.
• The 100-Technique Muk Yan Jong
  Our wooden dummy form functions essentially the same as the Long Form of our sister styles like Cho Ga. By stripping away any unnecessary fluff, this 100-technique set forces the practitioner to refine precise angling, body mechanics, and positioning against a solid axis.
• Single & Partner Exercises (Our San Sik)
  This is the functional engine of our training. These modular, repetitive drills bridge the gap between solo forms and live application. By training these san sik loops dynamically with a partner, the theoretical structure of the forms becomes immediate, reactive muscle memory. These include:
  • Dan Chi Sau (單黐手) – Single Sticking Hand training
  • Feeding Hands (餵手), Wut Bou (活步單黐), Laap Sau (拉手), and Zong Bok (拉手撞膊) – Reactive Training
  • Chi Sau (雙黐手) – Double Sticking Hand training
  • Gwo Sau (過手) – Sparring
  • Muk Yan Dan Sik Fan Lin (木人單式訓練) – Single Movement Dummy Practice

Colorado Leung Sheung Tong Wing Chun Student Association
《科羅拉多梁相堂詠春學生會》
is a proud branch of
Worldwide Leung Sheung Tong Wing Chun Confederation
《世界梁相堂 詠春同學總會》