Surviving Bigger and Stronger Attackers

I was recently asked how we cope with being attacked by bigger and stronger people, (bigger people are naturally more intimidating even if the speed and agility of the smaller person is superior) and can adrenaline enhance your response when attacked? These are not straightforward questions to answer. Wing Chun was designed to enable smaller and weaker people to defeat larger and stronger attackers. Strategy and technique are just part of why Wing Chun works. Your state of mind cultivated in Wing Chun training is the biggest contributing factor in determining the outcome of an attack. Here the idea of Yin and Yang come to mind combined with the Wing Chun idea of taking the centre line (and I mean figuratively not literally). Let me explain…
 
In essence you need some Yin (calm) and some Yang (aggression). You need to walk the mental and emotional middle of the road. You need to be centred you need the observe the Wing Chun centre line. Some States in the United States forbid the police to drive at high-speed after criminals after it was found that high speed chases were associated with police brutality. Research has shown that when your heart rate goes above 150 beats per minute (as often happens when driving at high speed) our higher brain functioning is put on hold while our more primitive emotional brain takes over.

In the case of the police, they were over reacting and their fight or flight or freeze instinct came into play resulting in the use of excessive force. When I read about this I immediately saw how this applies to kungfu (well traditional kungfu). In traditional kungfu we focus as much on training the mind and emotions as we do on training the body. Meditation and qigong lends to developing a state of calmness or centeredness.

Wing Chun differs from other “hard” styles of kungfu in that it includes a sensitivity exercise called chi sao (energy hands) that teach students how to sense where an attacker is hard and where he is soft and to react to what is given (attack) and taken away (retreat). Tai Ji Quan has a similar exercise called tui shou (pushing hands). Typically students begin these exercises in a hard and aggressive manner. After sufficient training the student becomes softer and less aggressive. While the teachers direct instruction is helpful the students learn this best through training with more advanced students who demonstrate that being hard and aggressive does not lead to victory in the chi sao exercise. I can almost hear the mixed martial arts and non-traditional fighters objecting. Chi sao is not how fights really happen. True. Very true. But chi sao is invaluable in teaching students that in order to defeat a stronger and larger attacker one cannot use external force.

While attaining the correct state of mind is vital one must also be able to deliver the offensive or defensive technique effectively (which requires form, structure and footwork) and be able to respond to an attack without thinking (which is why we have applications drills). So you have the right state of mind, you have drilled your forms and stepping and you have practiced forms and applications diligently and yet you find this is not enough. Why? Probably because you adopted the wrong tactic or strategy in executing your technique. You cannot take a bigger attacker head on, nor should you attempt to be more agile and faster than an attacker you could defeat with a straight on attack. Grapplers often like to take the fight to the ground and going to ground is never a good idea. Kick-boxers, well like to kick, so you do not want to try and out kick him. That said, I do not believe that just knowing that you should not try out grapple a grappler or out kick a kick-boxer is enough, you must train against people who use these styles. Training against different types of martial artists is great for learning how to adapt your Wing Chun so it works in different situations but most important of all it develops what I like to call the “been there, done that” feeling which gradually reduces the fear-factor in self defence. Training with other martial artists and even “untrained” people raises awareness and develops a healthy respect for the different types of fighters on the street.

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