A huge staple of Wing Chun is the concept of simultaneous attack and defense. Most often you see this concept used in the Wing Chun system by a person using one arm to defend the opponent’s attack and the other arm to launch their own attack back at the opponent at the same time. This allows you to stay one step ahead of the opponent, who usually throws one attack at a time.
However, one hand defending and one hand attacking at the same time is not the only way, and perhaps not even the best way, to attack and defend simultaneously. In Biu Tze there is the motto, “to counter an attack with an attack”. Wedging through and defending your opponent’s attack while you hit him at the same time, while using only one hand for both tasks, allows you to have a free hand to deal with any of the infinite random things that could happen in a fight. This brings to life the saying, “offense is the best defense”.
It takes some time to train yourself to trust that your attack is good enough to defend the opponent’s attack. Most people instinctively want to block an incoming attack and as a result, they are left playing catch-up while the opponent is launching their second attack. It’s only when you make them have to be on the defensive that you change the flow of the battle and put yourself in an advantageous position.
It takes confidence and courage to go forward into an oncoming attacker, but it starts with intellectually understanding that it’s the best course of action for your own safety. When violence is already being applied onto you, it’s too late to talk your way out of it. The only thing that will stop it at this point is when you start dealing out your own damage to the attacker.
Attack and defense shouldn’t just merely be simultaneous. Your attack is your defense, and your defense is your attack; they are one and the same.
-Sifu Matt
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