Unlock Your Third Arm With Wing Chun!

Let’s talk about how Wing Chun gives us an extra arm!

In Wing Chun, we are taught to defend against two arms using only one of ours.

Let me explain:

• We can essentially use one arm to block side to side
• We can block then strike
• We can block with a strike

In my examples, notice that we are essentially using one arm to do the job of two. Giving my free arm free reign to strike.

Sometimes though, I get caught up in defending and forget I have another arm. A trick for me is to always pair my blocks with a strike. If one of my arms is defending, my other one better be striking.

The best way to practice this is going back to the fundamentals and reviewing the Tan Da drill. This is one of the first drills I learned, where I had to Tan Sau, Da, and Shift. Essentially doing three things at once. I use this as my template to mix other techniques together to focus on doing multiple things at once. By pairing things together, it makes it easy for my body to remember, adding it to my muscle memory.

By having a three arm mentality, it really gives us a chance to be creative in how we can go about using our techniques. If we focus on using one arm to do two things, it cuts down on redundancies and focuses on efficiencies. Just something to think about 🙂

“I Have Two Hands”

Today I want to share with you a quick mantra that helps me when I overlook one important concept in Wing Chun.

My mantra is “I have two hands”.

During Chi Sao, I am so focused on defending that I forget I have a free hand for striking. The idea is to defend and also strike at the same time. It was the one concept that I was taught early on but I still forget that I have two hands. I get caught up with all the attacks coming at me that I end up in a defensive mode instead of using both my hands to return my opponent’s pressure.

One thing to keep in mind is to not use two hands to do the same thing. Don’t block with two hands and don’t strike with two hands. One should be focused on the blocking and the other should be focused on the striking. I think separating the two is the best way to remember this and to make it a habit!

I have two hands and so do you 🙂