Of Blocks And Steps

Blocks? Steps? What are these? 

SiFu told us something I’d probably heard before, but completely forgot.

In Wing Chun, every step is a kick and every block is an attack.

It’s not easy to grasp when you’ve grown up with movies where people block every single attack (unrealistic) and then take über impressive steps that have extra sound effects.

That might explain why, even though I started training in 2021, I still can’t even „block“ a basic attack SiFu does during chi sao.

My head still thinks in blocks and steps, where there’s nothing but attacks and kicks.

And I still spend too much time overthinking how to block an attack, whereas when I relax and aim for the centerline, not thinking about how I get there, things magically become easier.

This kicks and attacks thing reminded me of something I love about Wing Chun: it helps me get out of my overthinking brain, stay simple and do stuff to see what happens.

If all my brain says is „attack“, I have a faint impression that I can make it work a bit more easily.

Lesson of the day: think in attacks.