The Four Force Principles of Wing Chun

Wing Chun's Four Force Principles are sequential stages for handling the incoming force of your opponent. You can’t do the second stage without doing the first. However, it’s not all or nothing. The degree of skill you can achieve in a latter principle is proportional to the level of accomplishment in the previous principle.

First is, “Free yourself from your own force.”

On a basic level this means to relax. Forms training and stretching exercises to increase range of motion help your body to relax into deeper and more exotic positions so that your body can be comfortable and release excess tension. On another level this means self-nullification. Many fights are avoided by simply keeping your ego in check.

Second is, “Free yourself from your opponent’s force.”

If you have tension in your body, that tension is something that your opponent can resist and use against you.The movements in Wing Chun are specifically designed to offload the force of your opponent. If you try to fight force with force, and your opponent is bigger and stronger than you, they automatically win. It’s more intelligent to give way to their force instead of trying to push back. But the degree to which you can give way to their force is to the degree that you can relax into their attack.

Third is, “Use your opponent’s force against them.”

If you are fighting their force, you’re not using it. An example of this would be our Tan-Da technique, where one arm absorbs the force of their punch and causes our body to turn like they pushed on a revolving door and transfers their force through our other hand to punch them. They have effectively punched themselves!

Fourth and last is, “Add your own force to your opponent’s.”

Once you are using their force against them in a one for one way, you can add more force to the system with devastating results. They’re pushing on you and instead of only yielding and redirecting their force into your punch, you pull their attacking arm with one hand and strike with your own force with your other hand i.e. a Lap-Sau. Another example of this is when they step towards you for an attack, you intercept them with your own punch to a vital target. Instead of them just impailing themselves on your fist, you punch into their forward momentum and the two forces add together like two cars in a head-on collision.

Properly adhering to Wing Chun’s force principles prevents you from wasting energy unnecessarily, preventing you from tiring yourself out in a way that your opponent hasn’t earned. This also allows you to issue incredible striking power quite effortlessly. However, avoiding unnecessary fights by letting go of your ego has to be one of the most important benefits of this method.