The 12-month Intermediate Course furthers the principles from the previous classes by expounding the concepts found in Establishing Bridges Form, or “Chum Kiu,” in Cantonese.

Whereas the Novice Course focuses on increasing punching power through the hands, the Intermediate Course increases power by adding legwork through both mobile stances and kicking. Wing Chun is unique in that the mechanics for all kicks are the same as those for the punch. In addition, the unarmed Wing Chun system has only one stance, but like the punch, there are several variations of that stance to adapt to different circumstances. Finally, because of the mobile stances, some new directions and pressures for the punch are available, and the Intermediate Course teaches students to coordinate the two hands by tying them into stance movement.

Wing Chun recognizes that during a fight, hands or legs will collide. The Intermediate Course shows students how to move into positions that will allow them to turn those collisions into bridges that can be manipulated and used for openings to strike more effectively. With bridging as a springboard, the boxing, grappling and throwing aspects of fighting explored in the Novice Course are expanded in the Intermediate Course, and to those aspects are added entering, kicking, and trapping.

Sparring in the Intermediate Course is greatly expanded from the simple forms of the Novice Course. In the most prominent form of sparring both partners always utilize two hands (right to left and left to right) at the same time. This sparring drill, known as Poon Sao, teaches students to maintain their defensive structure with two hands while identifying and striking through openings in their partner’s structure. A second sparring drill, Laup Sao, teaches how to make grappling easier and what to do to avoid a grapple. A third sparring drill, Quan Sao, shows how to pin and how to escape from pins. A fourth drill sparring brings the students in and out of elbow range. Then there are two bridging drills, Fauk Sao and Pauk-Ta that teach what to do when the hands are straight across and when they’re crossed. Finally, there are some bridging drills for legs, collectively known as Chi Gerk. These teach how to defend against kicks with legs, and how to turn the collision to your advantage.

All of these drills are coupled with stance movement to teach students to use movement to avoid bigger, stronger attackers and to apply more force in their attacks.