Wing Chun Academy of Thailand

WING CHUN LESSONS

SIU LIM TAO

SECTION ONE

Movement 6 and 7 introduces you to Wing Chun's Gates concept. [Refer to the Gates/Flanks section of LECTURE I for more details on the Gates concept. Here's a quick summary of what it is about.
Gates, as the word defines is a movable barrier that closes a gap in a fence or wall. In the old days, it meant a defensive structure for an opening in a castle or city wall. When I speak of WC gates, I speak of physical and invisible gates, formed by your limbs. Your body is the castle (or fortress) that houses the king, the commander, the general, or whoever is in charge. The walls and the gates keep intruders from the castle. That is their function. Thus WC creates gates and invisible walls for your defense. The walls and gates are not enough to keep intruders away. You need guards posted there. Your limbs act as soldiers to guard their posts. They must ensure that the walls and gates are not penetrated.
I use castles, swords, horses, bows and arrows, and etc., to explain the WC system because Chinese pugilism is based on ancient Chinese warfare. I cannot quite relate martial art to modern warfare because of today's use of missiles, computers, electronics, satellite, etc. In today's warfare, destroying the White House or eliminating the President will not end the U.S. However, destroying the castle and/or the king in an ancient battle guaranteed the end of that kingdom. Similarly, in hand-to-hand combat, knocking out the opponent will declare you the winner, and ruler of your opponent.
Hand-to-hand combat is the oldest and most primitive form of warfare. Strategy did not come into effect until government began to organize warfare. Originally, warfare borrowed fighting strategy from hand-to-hand combat. Later, when organized warfare became sophisticated, hand-to-hand combat borrowed strategy from organized warfare. Thus, the two forms of warfare are very similar. There is something to be said about ancient warfare. Today, Sun Tsu's book, The Art of War, written several hundred years ago, is still considered the Bible of warfare. It is even used for corporate warfare in the West.
Before I explain how the gates are setup in the WC system, let me draw you a picture that you can relate to: Think of your body as a castle, and your limbs as gates. For your security, you will want to have at least two sets of walls. You will have an outer wall and an inner wall. In reality, the walls are invisible. They are your line-of-defense, your borders, parameters, or limitations, as you wish to call them. Your limbs, which act as walls are also your defense and offense mechanism (soldiers). Because the limbs are mobile, WC calls them "gates" instead of "walls." This is significant. Walls are stationary. So, your limbs cannot act as walls. Gates are mobile, so your limbs can act as gates. However, when your limbs take the role of fighting soldiers, they must ensure that the gates are kept closed. Soldiers must fight from their posts. Leaving the posts allows enemy entry into the castle through the opened gates.
Castle gates have another function; that is, when necessary, to trap or enclose the enemy within its boundaries. Gates are closed most of the time to keep intruders away. Occasionally, they open to lure the enemy in. Once in, they are ambushed and destroyed.
Your body, like a castle, has several floors. The region from the ground to your knees represent the first (ground) floor. The second floor extends from the knees to the lower pelvis, where the thighs meet. The third floor is from the lower pelvis to the shoulders. However, there is a mezzanine on this floor, located in your mid-section, at about where your solar plexus is, or at about where your elbows are when they are turned inward toward your body's centerline. The top floor, where the commander resides, is represented by the region above your shoulders; i.e. your neck and head.
If you recall the look of a castle from the movies, or one you have visited in Europe, you will remember that there are usually platforms (balconies), surrounded by battlements on each floor (or some floors). Guards are posted there to secure that floor. Similarly, you will post guards on each floor of your body. Your leg, from knee to ground represents guards for the first floor. Your thigh, from lower pelvis to knee represents guards for the second floor. Your forearm, in a lowered position, from elbow to wrist, represents guards for the lower mezzanine of the third floor. The forearm, in a raised position, from elbow to wrist, represents guards for the upper mezzanine of the third floor. Your hand, from wrist to finger tips, represents the royal guards for the top floor, where the headquarter is located. It is vital that the guards know and remain in their posts. Royal guards do not run down to the ground floor to defend the ground gates, nor should the ground force run up to guard the headquarter. Makes sense?
Note that Movement 6 and 7 are primarily defensive moves, so I will speak mostly about defense in this section, and discuss about offense when offensive moves come up. Also, note that I will use the wrist as a point of measure when describing the length of the forearm for guard use. However, the guard can extend to the middle edge (or center palm) of the hand. It just makes writing easier to use one word "wrist" than "half way up the hand's edge" or "center of the front and back palm". So, for now, I will use "wrist" as a point of measure until it becomes critical to use the edge or palm of the hand.

Movement 6 shows you where your Middle-Low (Third Floor-Lower Mezzanine) front and rear gates are located, and where you should post your guards. Viewing the finished position of Movement 6 from the side, you can determine where the front and rear gates are located. Where your wrists crosses in this position, represents the front Low gate (Third Floor-Lower Mezzanine). It should be no less (but not much more) than one foot-length from your lower abdomen. Your elbow position represents the rear Middle gate. (It also represents the top of the Middle-Low gate, and the base of the Middle-High gate. I'll explain more later.) It should be no less than (but not much more) than one fist length away from your body. Viewing the finished position of Movement 6 from the front, you can determine the height (or the post area for the guards) of the Middle-Low gates (Third Floor-Lower Mezzanine). The base of the gate is formed by the invisible horizontal line (parallel to the ground) drawn through the wrists' crossing. The top part of the gate is formed by the invisible horizontal line (parallel to the ground) drawn at the height of your elbows. Movement 6, shown in Fig 6 through 6b represents the path or area where your Middle-Low gate guards should be posted and allowed to maneuver; i.e., from the top to the bottom of the Middle-Low gate.

Movement 7 shows you where your Middle-High (Third Floor-Upper Mezzanine) front and rear gates are located, and where you should post your guards. Viewing the finished position of Movement 7 from the side, you can determine where the front and rear gates are located. Where your wrists crosses in front, represents the front Middle-High gate (Third Floor-Upper Mezzanine). The gate's distance from chest and shoulders is determined by the amount of elbow-bend. It should open enough to form 90-degree angle or more, between your upper-arm and forearm. It should not open to 180 degrees. Your elbow position represents the rear Middle gate. It should be one to two fist-length from your chest. Viewing the finished position of Movement 7 from the front, you can determine the height of the Middle-High gates (Third Floor). The base of the gate is formed by the invisible horizontal line (parallel to the ground) drawn at the height of your elbows.. The top part of the gate is formed by the invisible horizontal line (parallel to the ground) drawn through the wrists' crossing (about shoulder height).
Although I seem to have repeated myself in the two paragraphs above, it was intended. You may think that once the front and rear gates are determined in Movement 6, there is no need to show them again in Movement 7. Good thinking; however, in this case, you are wrong. The Middle-Low front and rear gates are different from the Middle-High gates.
If you were to build a defense wall around your fortress, you would ideally build it as far from the fortress as you practically can. In Wing Chun, you create the defense wall with your limbs. For the Middle-High gates (front and rear) you can extend them as far as your arms can stretch. However, it is not practical. Your arms, fully stretched, are being used only for defense. There is no striking power at all. It's like having your defense and offense teams stand in the same line. The defense line must be behind the offense. Your hands should be used mainly for offense. Your wrists, forearms,elbows and forearms should be used mainly for defense. However, as in games that involve defense and offense, the two switch roles only when absolutely necessary. In other words, if the opponent's offense team has penetrated your first line of defense, you may need your offense team to back up and help the defense team. Similarly, if your offense team has penetrated the opponent's first line of defense, you may need your defense team to come forward and help penetrate the second line of defense or attack the fortress.
If you remember how a castle or a U.S. cavalry post was built, you'd know that the walls were not build too far away from the building. If they were, the communication between the commanders and the post guards would be slow and problematic. Similarly, when you have your defense stretched too far, your reaction would be slow. This is why your elbows should be bent so that your wrists are not too far away from your body. You should also have a rear (inner) gate with soldiers posted there. There is no need for the front-line defense team to defend the rear unless absolutely necessary. There is no sense in bringing your hand or wrist back to defend your rear gate when your arm and elbows can do the job more quickly and efficiently.
So, for the Middle-High gate, the best distance to place your front line of defense is where your wrists end when you have your upper-arm and forearms stretched 90 to 135 degrees. The rear gate in this position should be one to two fist-length from your body. This position will keep a fist (coming from the same side as the defending arm) from penetrating the area between your shoulder and elbow, on the upper side of your bent arm (Third Floor-Upper Mezzanine). [ILLUSTRATION REQUIRED] It will also prevent attacks coming straight towards the area below the bent elbow arm (Third Floor-Lower Mezzanine). [ILLUSTRATION REQUIRED]

Although you can build your Middle-High (Third Floor-Upper Mezzanine) gate fairly far, as shown in Movement 7, your are limited to how far you can build your front and rear Middle-Low gates (Third-Floor Lower Mezzanine), shown in Movement 6. If you were to build your the Middle-Low gate farther away from your abdomen than shown in Figure 11, you will end up raising the base of the gate. This is because your arms, at the other end, are attached to the shoulder sockets. So, the more you push your hands forward, the more your arms will rotate upwards. You will then have created an opening for attacks to come through between the base of the Middle-High gate and the top of the Middle-Low gate.
I bet you are confused. Read the above paragraphs over and over, and you will be enlightened. Simplified ... the Middle-High gates, front and rear can be built farther than the Middle-Low front and rear gates. Preferably so. Thus, when performing Movement 7 after executing Movement 6, you are asked to raise your wrists (gates) at an narrow angular path, to end up farther away from the perpendicular gates formed by Movement 6. You may raise your wrists along the perpendicular plane formed by Movement 6, but that should be the limit. Do not bring the wrists (gates) closer to your body than that. I will explain the reasons why shortly.

As mentioned before, Siu Lim Tao teaches you your limitations. Movement 6 shows you how far and high you can build your front and rear Middle-Low gates. When an attack is targeted to this region, your hand and forearm travel to the top of the Middle-Low gate, and then down along the centerline. This movement pretty well takes care of any attacks along this line. Wing Chun style, as mentioned in one of the lectures, does not attack specific points, nor defends against specific-point attacks, as that will take some pretty sharp aiming for attacks, and accurate predictions for defense. Yes, you ought to focus your attack and defense, but to focus on one point is a difficult task. It's like commanding every soldier of yours to attack the enemy headquarter only, or getting them to defend your headquarter only. If you specifically aimed for the tip of your opponent's nose, you will find it difficult to hit it because it is minute and extremely mobile. In focusing on one point, you miss out on chances of hitting other available targets. Wing Chun system teaches its practitioners to attack the opponent's centerline, and defend his own centerline. It certainly should be easier to focus and follow a moving line than a moving point. It should also be easier to defend your centerline than specific points. (Will go more into that later.)
Movement 6 shows you the optimum position for your arm when it is positioned low. Why should the wrists be a foot's distance away from your abdomen? That is very obvious; but then it may not be for the very new learner. The foot distance is the minimum you will need to stop a foot-attack from penetrating your gate. As mentioned earlier, you don't want your hand much farther than this distance as it will raise the bottom of your Middle-Low gate. Now, that I've explained the obvious, here's comes the hidden reason for Movement 6.
A foot's distance from your body is a rough measure of where your lower gate should be. What is more important to determine is the angle your arm should be against your body; i.e., the degree of rotation of your arm in your shoulder socket. As mentioned before, there is a power range in every action. WC forms show you how to achieve the optimum power range. When your arm is extended forward, you are vulnerable to either a downward and/or straight-line force (parallel to ground) against it. Movement 6 helps you determine what is the best angle to position your arm to resist both, downward and straight-line force.
If you look at the illustrations below [ILLUSTRATIONS REQUIRED] and do some experiments, you will soon discover the optimum angle of resistance, which just happens to be about one foot-length away from your abdomen.
Looking at the sideview of Movement 6 finished position, demonstrated by our cyborg friend, you will see that his arms are rotated about 20 degrees; i.e., when using the arm's ball-and-socket for angle axis, and the arm hanging-down position as zero degree. At 20 to 25 degree angle, you are able to exert force, not only downward, but forward as well. It will also allow you to resist pressure from the top; more so than if the arm was raised higher.
You can try the following experiments with a partner: Experiment 1: If you have a partner, face him, shoulder to shoulder, about one arm's length apart. Step your left foot forward, one normal walking width. Ask your partner to step back his right foot one normal walking width. (This part of the experiment is just to let you brace yourselves to the ground.) Both of you should still be at arm's length. Raise your right arm 90 degrees (i.e., your shoulder height), with your palm (can be opened or closed) facing down. Ask your friend to use the left hand (can be the right) to rest on your wrist or back palm, and gradually pull downward. Try to resist the pull-down. You will see that it doesn't take much force for your partner to bring your arm down. This is because you are using only your thin tendons and rotational arm-and-shoulder muscles to resist your partner's biceps, triceps, and earth's gravitational forces.
Experiment 2: Repeat Experiment 1, but have your partner continue the pull-down as far as he can go. You continue resisting the pull-down. Your resistance until the 20 degree angle position has been upward. However, when you reach the 20 degree point, you can convert the direction of resistance to a forward direction, against your partner. You will suddenly have this added strength to push your partner back. This is because, at this position, you are able to use your bigger triceps, back muscles and opposite gravity force. This experiment also goes back to the concept of using indirect force to divert an incoming one, like the side-swiping analogy I used with cars earlier on.
Experiment 3: Same standing positions. Position your right arm less than 20 degrees, say about 15. Ask your partner to push down or forward at the back of your palm or wrist. You resist, upward or downward. Here, you are a wimp again. Nah, nah, nah, nah, naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Okay, readers with no partners ... tsk, tsk ... Lonely Hearts Club Band, you can do the following experiments. Although not exact, will give you a rough idea of what I mean.
Experiment A: Stand in front of a wall (preferably a post) at arm's length. The toes of your feet should line up parallel to the wall/post base. Raise your right arm from a hanging position to 45 degrees. Now move yourself forward until the edge of your right hand is pressed against the wall/post. (In this experiment, you cannot test your resistance at 90 degree arm position but starting at 45 degrees). If you are against a post, step your right foot forward past the post while continuing the right hand pressure. If you are using a wall, just lean your upper body forward. You will find that you are unable to hold up against the wall/post. Your arms will either collapse down, or you will feel a lot of strain on your right shoulder joint.
Experiment B: Repeat Experiment A; however, angle your arm 20 degrees instead. You will find that you are able to resist, and lean against the wall/post with one hand.
Movement 6 by no means is showing you how to block a middle-to-low attack with both hands crossed. This move shows you where to place your Middle-Low gate securely, and where to post your guards. Certainly, you can use one arm/hand to block a middle-low attack (soldiers fending off attack). There is no need for two arms/hands (eastern and western guards) to fend one line of attack. Now, you are asking, "Why not break Movement 6 in two parts, showing one hand movement at a time?" Good question. I'll explain that when I finish analyzing Movement 7. In the mean time, I want you to think about it.

Movement 7 introduces you to your Middle-High gates. As mentioned earlier, it should be no farther back than your Middle-Low gates. It should preferably be farther away from your body (fortress) than the Middle-Low gates. Your upper and lower arms should form 90 degree angle or more. Why? Experiment time!
Those with a partner, try the following: Experiment 1: Position yourselves like you did in Experiment 1 for Middle-Low gate. First, let your arms hang down fully. Next, lift your right arm from your side to form 45 degree angle. Then, turn your palm upwards and bend your right elbow to form 90 degrees with your upper and lower arms. Now, bend in a little more, to reduce the angle to 70 degrees. In this position, ask your partner to push the back of your wrist or forearm. Try resisting the push. Your partner should be able to bend your arm back farther quite easily. This is because your partner is using his shoulder, triceps, back and leg muscles against your elbow tendons, and biceps, which are designed for contraction, not extension. You will notice that your biceps harden when trying to resist from this position, indicating that they are being used. In this angle, your triceps, which are designed for extension, play a very little role in resisting. Experiment 2: Repeat Experiment 1 with your arms angled 90 degrees. Here, you will get the support of your triceps, shoulders, back and leg muscles. You should have good resistance here. You may even be able to move your partner when you walk forward. Experiment 3: Repeat the above experiments using more than 90 degree angle. When your partner pushes your forearm, do not try to open your arm angle anymore, or push your forearm downward. Just maintain the angle (say 120 degrees), keeping the arms and shoulders relaxed, and use your legs, pelvis, back muscles and triceps to push FORWARD. To your amazement, you should find it easy to move your partner back even if he were twice your size.[PROVIDE ILLUSTRATIONS OR VIDEO].
Those of you with no partners can do the above experiments using a wall or post. Since you don't have a partner to push against your wrist, you can either bend your hand so the wrist contacts the wall/post, or form a fist and brace your right hand knuckles against the wall/post. Then, do like you did with the Middle-Low gate experiment; i.e. walk or lean against the wall/post at different arm-angle formations.
As you will see, bending your arm more than 90 degrees makes you vulnerable. If you reverse your roles with your partner, you will also notice that his forearm, under 90 degrees, is more exposed; meaning that more area of the forearm is visible. This allows you to easily make contact with his forearm to push it. The more his forearm slope towards you, the less you will see it, and the less chances you will have to push it. (Those of you with no partner can look at the visibility of a forearm, at various angles, by standing in front of a mirror, and forming the angles yourself.)
Practitioners of other styles may not see the value of this concept because they do not consider the concept of gates. They will ask, "Why push one's arm?" They never had to. This is because they do not see your arms as gates, nor do they see their's as gates. They are snipers and just think about hitting your head, and are not concerned with what is in front of the head. Wing Chun practitioners form invisible walls (bullet proof glass). Snipers see your head but not the invisible wall. They aim and shoot your head, but the bullet does not go through. WC practitioners, on the other hand, see the opponent's arms as gates. When opened, will slip in, and make a close kill. If the gates are closed, they will find a way to open it, and slip in. If partially opened, they will barge in. So, you as a WC practitioner, must keep your gates closed at all times. When you bend your arms incorrectly, you will have opened your gates fully or partially.
Movement 7 also covers the Top Floor of your castle. Your wrists raised to shoulder height covers the top of Third Floor. Your hands cover everything above your shoulders. They are the royal guards. They are highly trained, so should be posted on the Top Floor, and remain there most of the time. Only under special circumstances and emergency cases should they go one floor down to assist the Third Floor guards. Even so, they should return to post as soon as possible. Similarly, only under special circumstances should the Third Floor guards leave their posts to go to the Top Floor to assist the royal guards. Almost under no circumstances should the royal guards run down two floors to assist the Ground Floor guards. Leaving the king unguarded, and distant endangers the king's life. Royal guards must stay close to the king even if the Ground Floor guards have been immobilized. Losing the king loses the war. Similarly, the Ground Floor guards, must fight from their posts and not run up to the Third Floor to protect the king. Their sole purpose is to keep the enemy from entering past the ground gates. Leaving the Ground Floor post to come up brings the enemy force closer to the king.
Movement 7 requires you to keep your fingers in contact with each other. I see many WC practitioners failing to do that-- even instructors in books. Every open palm-hand in Wing Chun should be done with fingers closely connected.
During a heated argument amongst generals in court, Confucius threw a chopstick on the table they were seated. He asked one of them to break it. Of course, it snapped easily. Then he threw a bunch of chopsticks on the table, and asked the same general to bunch them together and break them. The generals got the point, and I'm sure you have also.
As the saying goes, "United we stand. Divided we fall." Your fingers spread open are weak individually. Martial artists with broken fingers will verify what I'm saying. Attached together, they are strong, and can be used as a spearhead.
When you understand Qigong, you will also know that spreading the fingers, breaks up the Qi, therefore weakens the Qi power. United fingers concentrates the Qi power.
The other common errors learners and veterans make is over-relaxing the open palm-hand. In Siu Lim Tao, you will learn the difference between active-relaxed state and inactive-dead state. Your body and limbs must always be in an active relaxed state. This means that you are aware of your Qi, that it is flowing, ready to change path, and ready to explode. You must be particularly aware of your limb that is in contact with your opponent's. If not, it is in inactive-dead state.
In Wing Chun, an active-relaxed open-hand is flat; the fingers are straightened and attached together. An inactive-dead open hand is cupped; the fingers are bent and spread opened. This should be applicable for most martial art styles. Taiji is one of the few styles that requires you to cup your open-hand a little, bend the fingers a little, and spread the fingers a little open. This is because the style is based strongly on circular force versus Wing Chun's principle of using linear force mainly. In general, Taiji system concentrates on Qi more than Wing Chun system does. Because of that, Taiji practitioners are more aware of their Qi than other martial artists. Taiji style requires their practitioners to be more relaxed than WC practitioners. In other words, their active-relaxed level is lower than required in the WC system. Therefore, Taiji system requires their practitioners to cup their hand, bend and open their fingers when in open-palm position; however, they are fully aware of their Qi in their hand in this position, and can use it effectively.
WC practitioners should keep their open-palms flat, straight and fingers attached. WC style requires that the Qi in your arm/hand is constantly flowing straight and forward from the rear to the front. Your arm/hand, and the Qi it contains, is reaching out to your opponent (the soldiers are marching forward). What stops it going further is your opponent's arm/hand or any other part of his body (preferably his face). The Qi should not be in a stale state (soldiers are asleep or dead). If so, it is susceptible to ambush and conquest. In order to keep the Qi active and alive, it must be in a relaxed and alert state. It must keep on moving forward (marching) when not in battle. It must be relaxed to preserve its strength for battle. It must not run (charge) unnecessarily, and tire itself out.
Try this experiment. Turn your hand so that the inside palm is facing you. Relax your hand until your palm is cupped, and your fingers are bent. Now, quickly straightened out your fingers, and flatten the palm (without tensing the hand). How does the palm feel in the two states? If you are sensitive enough, you should feel the energy in your hand shooting forward when your palm and fingers are straightened. It should be as if your palm was suddenly awakened.
Try another experiment. Start off like you did with the first experiment. Now, instead of straightening your palm and fingers out, just bend your thumb and cock it back. Voila! If you were relaxed, the thumb action should have straightened your palm and fingers out. This is just the way we are built. When the thumb goes back, the fingers go forward.
As you recall, one of the instructions in Movement 6 and 7 (for that matter, even Movement 1) requires you to keep your bent-thumbs to the edge of the first finger. This action ensure that your fingers and palms are flat and straight. There is another good reason for the bent-thumb at the edge of the first finger which I will explain when I get into the Tan movement a little later on.
When your palm is cupped, the Qi circles in your palm. Wing Chun style wants you to keep your palm and fingers straight and pointing at your opponent. It's like pointing your sword, arrow or a gun at the opponent. You are already in the aiming position. You just need to release the ballistic, instead of cocking, aiming and then firing.
Movement 7 is not a cross block, same as noted in Movement 6. Before going into the deep explanation, let me complete the subject of Gates. We've covered Middle-Low gates, Middle-High gates, and High Gates, which covered the Third Floor and Top Floor of our castle. What about the Second Floor, and the Ground Floor? While these floors are not topics of discussion for Movement 6 and 7, I will touch on it briefly for the very curious ones.
Your Ground gate and guards, which is represented by your leg, from the feet to your knee, takes care of attacks to the ground floor of your fortress. Generally, your opponent will attack this gate with his ground soldiers, i.e. his leg, from feet to knee. WC style does not see it fit to send the Third and Top Floor guards to fend the ground gate; meaning, blocking the leg, with the arm and hand, unless the ground soldiers reaches the Third and Top Floors. The Second Floor gate and guards stem from the knee to lower pelvis height. Note that the top of the Second Floor gate is also the base of your Third Floor gate. The Second Floor gate should not be higher than the base of your Third Floor gate. This is because you can lift your thighs comfortably, easily and quickly to this height. Any higher requires extra muscles and effort, which will slow the thigh movement and disturb your balance. The Third Floor soldiers can easily defend this area as shown in movement 6, so there is no need for the Second Floor soldiers to come to this area. Note that your groin is located on the Second Floor (lower than the pelvis and thigh joint). Thus, you use your Second Floor soldiers (Thighs) to protect those sensitive guys; not the Third Floor soldiers (arms and hands).
I would like to point out that I refer to the upper torso as the Third Floor with a mezzanine floor (rather than two full floors) because, the torso is one whole unit. Every floor represents one vertical body unit. The Third Floor is divided into two parts (thus the mezzanine) because you have two sets of guards (your upper-arms and forearms). The rear guards (upper-arms) protect the mezzanine floor (from solar plexus to neck); the front guards are free to go up and down the main and mezzanine floors (neck to waist) of Third Floor. The front guards are also free to move to the rear or to the top floor (headquarters).

Movement 8 is basically a repetition of Movement 2, pulling the elbows back, which I've discussed thoroughly; except on why two arms are used. This is the big contradiction the "reset" theorists see against the pull explanation. Why would you use two hands to pull your opponent. The opponent would just come crashing into you in that case. The back-elbow-hit theorists don't have much to say about why two elbows are used to hit back. If they think a double strike would be more effective than one, they're wrong. The double-elbow strike is limited to the use of rotation muscles on the shoulder/arm joints, while a single elbow strike would allow one to twist the torso to add more power.

Now, let's discuss the double arm actions of Siu Lim Tao, as shown in Movement 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8.
Let's use the example of the big bozo who wants to mess with you. Say you are 65kg (about 150lbs), and he's 85kg (190lbs). He's 30% heavier than you. You seem to have little chance of wrestling him. However, if he does not know how to apply his weight and strength effectively, and you do, you can put him down.
The human body is constructed in such a way that all parts of our body are attached to each other one way or another. The brain is the central station where everything is connect to. The spine branches out of the brain. A network of nerves connect to the brain and spine. The main skeleton is attached to the spine. Ligaments connect other bones to the main frame. Tendons connect main muscles to the skeleton and bones. (Not to go off track, I will only cover the musculoskeletal, and nervous system of human anatomy.) All parts of our body make up a unit called the human body. However, in order for the human unit to be mobile, it needs parts of its body to be semi-detached. Thus, you have joints that are detached from the main frame, but held together by ligaments, tendons and muscles.
Say we carve a huge timber in the shape of the big bozo out of a very dense wood that weigh 85kg when finished. Say we only carve the shape of his head and his upper limbs, and leave his legs partially carved like sculptors do, so it is able to stand on the floor (as a block unit).
If you, the 65kg person, try pushing, pulling, or lifting the wooden bozo's arm, you would not budge it, nor the whole unit. This is because you are pushing an 85kg unit, which is 30% heavier than your weight.
Let's cut the wooden bozo's arm out at the shoulders, and carve the arm like that of a human, and carve the shoulder socket like that of a human, and reattach the arm using some strong rubber cords, and make it mobile like that of a human. Now, you should not have much difficulty moving the arm. You no longer are pushing, pulling or lifting 85kg, but a unit weighing about 5kg only. However, pushing, pulling, or lifting the arm still does not move the rest of the unit.
Say we created separate part at the shoulder, and called it the shoulder-blade. We can now move this unit back by pushing the dummy's arm against it. Now we're able to move another part of the wooden bozo.
Say we cut the wooden bozo at the waist, and reattach the upper torso to the lower torso (pelvis) using strong rubber cords, allowing the upper torso to turn about 45 degrees each side like a human. Here, you should be able to turn the wooden bozo's upper torso back either side by pushing or pulling the arm. Get the picture?
So, the more joints you create on the wooden bozo, the more easily you will be able to move it. When the wooden bozo is cut up to as many units as a human being, he becomes susceptible to your control. So, when you face an 85kg human bozo, it is no different.
Having this information in mind, you should realize that you, as a 65kg weakling, are more susceptible to the bozo's control (because you are smaller) if you are broken up like him. To ensure that you have more control over him than he over you, you must minimize your body's disassembly. You can achieve that through awareness of your body. We can assemble and disassemble our bodily units using our mind and knowledge of physical science.
One of the main difference between the human and animals is our ability to stand (walk and run) on two legs. Our brain is constantly adjusting our bodies to balance ourselves on our legs. It computes our body units to form one unit during motion.
If we took our wooden bozo, cut it up and joined the parts like a human, it would be difficult to make it stand still, let alone walk. With all of today's the advance technology, we're unable to create a robot that can walk like a human. The robot or the wooden bozo cannot walk because of the lack of a human type brain. Anyhow, if one spent a lot of time stacking the different structures of the disjointed wooden bozo, he will succeed in making the dummy stand. When it is in this state, you can say, in a sense, that it has become one unit. Similarly, when our skeleton is not twisted, and all parts of our body are directly linked, we become one unit.
If you can imagine your body built like a moving mechanism with notches and pins, two body parts become one when one's notch clicks onto the other's pin. When the parts move and disengage from each other momentarily (from one click to the other), they become separate units. At this point, the units become susceptible to disassembly.
So, as a small person (mechanism) you must unit all parts of your body to maximize your force. Inversely, you must disjoint a part to minimize your opponent's force against you, as a whole unit. This part may be confusing because we're on the subject of unity, and I'm suddenly switching to the subject of disunity (as something positive). I won't go into it too much at this point, but will give you a little taste of it now.
In the example of the wooden bozo, when we created a shoulder-blade for him, and was able to push it back using his arm, we were able to do so because his arm was one unit, and the should cap was not. Now if we broke the arm into more joints, creating an elbow and wrist for the wooden dummy, we'd have difficulty moving the shoulder-blade, as the arm is no longer a direct extension of the shoulder-blade. Pulling, pushing or lifting the dummy's hand will move the hand at the wrist, and/or the forearm to the elbow joint, and/or the upper-arm to the shoulder joint. The only way to move the shoulder-blade is to align the units directly against each other in a straight line to recreate the arm into one unit.
Knowing this, when a live bozo tries to push, pull or lift you using your arm, you just disassemble one or two of your arm units, and he'll be pushing, pulling or lifting only one or two of those units ... not your shoulder-blade or any other part of your body.
Now, what's all this to do with the double action I began talking about? The double action in Siu Lim Tao ensures that your torsos are united; that your shoulders are squared, and your pelvis is squared. Squared? Squared to what?
If you are looking at yourself in the mirror, riding the WC horse, your front shoulder points should meet your reflected front shoulder points perpendicularly. The four shoulder points should form a horizontal rectangle. Similarly, your front left and right pelvis points should meet the reflected points to form a horizontal rectangle. Not only that, your shoulder points and your pelvis points should form a vertical rectangle. Your back shoulder points and your back left and right pelvis points should form a vertical rectangle. The eight points--2 front shoulder points, 2 back shoulder points, 2 front pelvis points, 2 back pelvis points--should form a vertical rectangular box.
Why do you need to be squared? (I use the word "squared" to mean "right-angled" since "rectangled" is not in the dictionary.) The corners of a box are strong when they are right-angled. More or less, they become collapsible. Similarly, when your body is squared, you are strong. If not, you are collapsible. So, your body should be horizontally and vertically squared.
Boxes are made square or rectangular for this reason. If you opened the top and bottom of a cardboard box, it will collapse more easily if pressure is applied against a corner from an angle. This is because the box is four sided instead of six. The six-sided unit is broken down to four. The base and/or the top, which acted as reinforcements, not longer are there to with stand the pressure.
Your shoulders are the top lid of the box. Your pelvis is the middle part of the box. Your feet are the base of the box. At this point, I'm on the topic of double action of Movements 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8, which deals with the upper torso, so won't get too deeply on the lower torso and legs now. However, I should mention that the knees', the heels'. and toes' points (any point you choose) for the WC horse should be squared; meaning that the knee, heel, and toe points should match those reflected in the mirror at a rectangle.
If the box, opened at the top and bottom is flushed against a wall, and you pushed directly against the corners, at right angle, the box will not collapse. This means that the corners are still strong when pressure is applied directly even if the top and base are not supporting.
So, it is important that you keep as many parts of your body squared, even if you cannot do them all. If your legs are not squared, at least keep the pelvis and/or shoulders squared. The more you are broken up, the more you are susceptible to, collapsing.
If you were to push one corner of the open top and bottom cardboard box that is flushed against the wall at an angle, it will resist to a point before collapsing. When the box is no longer squared, it is a parallelogram. If you push the corner from right angle, or any angle, it will collapse easily, even if the top and bottom were attached.
If you have been doing Wing Chun for sometime, and doing the hit and run business, you haven't quite understood Wing Chun. If you have been backing up or side stepping attacks, you're not quite doing Wing Chun either. I'm sure I've got some furs flushed up when saying that, especially about side stepping, which seems to be a favorite amongst many WC practitioners. As far as I'm concerned, WC side swipes ... not side steps. I'll get to that when discussing Chum Kiu and shifting horse.
Buildings are constructed with frames that are squared. To ensure additional strength, as in earthquake proof buildings, angular (ideally 45-degree) braces are built across the right angled corners. In Wing Chun, we often use our limbs as cross braces to support our structure, and/or against another.
What's all this to do with the double actions shown in Siu Lim Tao? I love this part! It's like Sherlock Holmes doing his final shpill ... jabber, jabber ... yak, yak ... to conclude who the murderer is.
If you were to do Movement 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8 singularly, you will most likely twist your upper torso, and/or twist the lower torso, and/or lean the shoulder (which is doing the action) forward, thus breaking up your body unity. Da, da! I shouldn't even say "most likely" because I know you definitely will. That's the most common error new and veteran WC practitioners do when doing single-side action. Siu Lim Tao goes into single-side after Movement 8, i.e., Movement 9 and 10--Introduction to the Wing Chun Punch. Without fail, every new student pushes the shoulder forward, and/or twists the torso forward doing them. After doing the punches (left and right), Siu Lim Tao teaches you to use the Tan Movement singularly. Again, without fail, shoulder and torso go forward. You will notice this even amongst long time WC practitioners. For this reason, Siu Lim Tao was designed to use double actions in the first movements, to drill into the newcomers the principle and habit of keeping the shoulder and pelvis points squared. SQUARED! SQUARED!SQUARED!
If you are a veteran WC practitioner, and have never considered about squaring, and have done well without it, you may want to consider it. It is a good time for change. Knowing and being aware of squareness, you will deal with your opponents differently. You will recognize when one is not squared and take advantage of it. You will know to square up when your opponent is overpowering you. Being aware of your structure helps you know when you are squared or and when you are not. It helps you un-square (yield) at will when necessary. If you are a small person, it is vital to keep your structure squared to give you the power necessary to control someone bigger. If you are a big person, and find a smaller person in control of you, you are too rigid. You will need to learn to break up the part that is in contact with your opponent.
Let me give you some examples that you can experiment with a partner to demonstrate the effectiveness of squaring:
In Movement 1 (Double-Tan), if you keep your structure squared, and your partner pulled one of your arms, your upper and lower torso will move together with the arm as one unit, which will force the leg on the side of the pulled arm to step forward. Because you begin as one unit, you go forward as one, and end up as one. Your structure still remains strong for defense; not only that, you can take advantage of the pull and force the puller back (if he is properly squared), or jam him (if he's not properly squared) with your forward movement. Note that if your partner squares himself properly, and he weighs more than you, you will neither move him back nor jam him, you will just come to a stop at a certain point. However, you will still be one unit, and so will he.
If one of your arm and shoulder stick out more than the other (you are not squared). If your partner pulls it, your arm and shoulder will go first, your head follows, your upper torso next, your lower torso after, and your leg just tries to stop you from falling forward. You are no longer in control. While you are busy trying to assemble yourself, your partner will have already pounded your head a couple of times.
When your arm and shoulder sticks out forward, you have broken one corner of your box structure. You are not only susceptible to loss of body control in a forward movement, but also in a backward movement (like the corner of a non-right-angled box). This means ... if you tried to force your opponent back or jam him in this position, and if he is squared up, your shoulder and arm will go back instead, even when you move your torso and legs forward. You get jammed instead.
This brings me to the subject of Movement 3, Pulling Elbows Back, and why it's done with double side. Once again, it is important to be squared when using one side to pull. It is very easy for someone to break up the body unit when executing a pull. Most people think of the hand as the power generator when pulling. As soon as your mind focuses on the hand, you disconnect the link from the back to the shoulder, to the upper-arm, to the elbow, to the forearm, to the wrist, and then the hand. The pull should be generated from the rear, as your weight and center of gravity is there to support the pull. So, when one generates a pulling using the hand, the brain subconsciously tries to relink the joints, and complete the job using the back. Since the pull began with the hand, the linking works inversely; i.e., hand to wrist to forearm to elbow to shoulder to back, and THEN, back to front again to complete the pull, using the rear generator. This causes your back muscles to over react and try to compensate the time lag, which is seen typically by the action of leaning the head and shoulder back before restarting the pull.
So, when your partner pulls you, and doesn't stay squared, he is using only one (two or three separate) small unit(s) of his body. He is most vulnerable at this point. You can step forward and jam him. Without a square frame, even if he managed to pull you a distance ... because he doesn't have his shoulder squared, you can move in as one larger unit and jam his un-squared shoulder, and the arm on that side of the shoulder against his upper torso, and/or knock his balance off; that goes for any size person. No matter how much bigger your partner is, if he is not squared, he is pulling you with a 5kg unit (arm). When you move in squared (at least the upper and lower torsos, and the pulled arm that is attached to the shoulder, as one unit), you are bulldozing his arm and shoulder with perhaps 40kg of the 65kg that you weigh as a whole unit. The 40kg unit of course overpowers the 5kg unit.
If you are the puller, you must ensure that your shoulders are squared first. To ensure additional strength in your frame, you must square your shoulders to your pelvis points. As mentioned before about the WC horse in Movement 4 and 5, your legs and feet must be secured firmly to the ground. When you begin the pull, do not pull back the shoulder (of the pulling arm). In doing so, you are no longer squared. This action breaks the shoulder away from your upper frame. Do not twist your upper torso either. If you do, you will twist your vertical rectangular frame. Although you can turn your upper and lower torsos together, thus keeping the rectangular frame intact, it is not recommended for the beginner. An experienced practitioner can turn the two torsos timely without breaking up the two units, but a beginner will surely fail. It is vital that beginners first understand and feel the difference between being united and being disunited. This is why Movement 3 (repeated in Movement 8) requires you to use two arms to pull, to ensure your squareness. These movements also teach the beginners to use the proper muscles and arm angle to accomplish the most effective pull from a squared position. Movement 3 includes the use of gravity (sinking). Although Movement 8 doesn't include the sink, it teaches you to pull from an already grounded position. Later on, in the second form--Chum Kiu--you will learn how to use your torsos to add turbo-supercharger to the pull.
It is vital to keep your upper and lower torsos intact as one rectangular unit, especially for beginners. When you become an experienced WC practitioner, you can intentionally break it up under certain circumstances. You will know how to move the Qi and generate power from newly formed units. You are expected to deal with unusual circumstances, and confront veteran fighters who know how to break your balance and unity. The third form--Biu Jee--teaches you how to get out of difficult situations. It teaches you advance offensive movements with built-in escape hatches.
Before getting all excited over Chum Kiu and Biu Jee, you must master Siu Lim Tao. Believe me, you will never master Wing Chun if you don't master SLT. Don't consider SLT as something boring to quickly get over with. I, for one, consider SLT the most exciting and important form of the three. I won't have as much to write about CK and BJ as I do for SLT. As you see, I have already written so much on just 8 movements of SLT. It is so important to establish the basics and principles of a style right from the beginning. Too many students have skimmed over SLT, and have become poor representatives of this beautiful and masterful art. So, don't join them. Learn SLT right!
Back to more principles studies:
The whole of Siu Lim Tao form is done in one horse position. What else is it trying to teach you, but to train you on squaring. Horizontally, we're joined from skull to neck, to upper torso frame, to pelvis, to thighs, to calves, to feet, to toes and joints. Additionally, shoulders join the upper-arm, to lower arm, to hand, fingers and joints. Vertically, we're divided in halves. We've got two halved brain, our spine divides the upper torso and pelvis in half. The pelvis hold legs on each side. As you see, we have divisible parts to work with. Like everything else, when disassemble a unit, the structure is no longer strong or big. When assembled, the unit, consisting of the same parts, become strong and big.
As a beginner, you must concern yourself with maintaining structural unity. When you are experienced, you are aware of the structure of your body, and that of your opponent's, and utilize the information to your advantage.
WC veterans who hunch have not understood the concept of squareness. They are breaking their upper torso into two parts. I'm sure you've seen cardboard boxes that cracked on one side (two vertical lines) in the middle (or below) under heavy pressure from the top. That's what the structure of the hunch guys look like. Once your break your vertical rectangular structure, you easily buckle under pressure from the top. You can sit your 85kg ass on top of an empty 0.50kg box, as long as the all none of the lines have not been broken. As long as the lines are intact, the box is squared, and can withstand pressure. However, if you pick a box that has any line broken, it will crush under your weight.
WC veterans who twist their upper and lower torsos separately, also have not understood the concept of squareness. They are like a box whose four vertical lines are broken. If you sat on it, it would crush down in a twisting manner. Like a box, you can end up with one, two, three or four vertical lines broken in the way you posture yourself. Also like a box, your horizontal lines could be broken in the way you level your shoulders, pelvis, and knees.
Siu Lim Tao trains the horse and the rider to square themselves. Movement 4 and 5 begins training your horse to square. Movement 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8, trains the rider to square.
Movement 6 actually shows you how to do the Gan movement singularly and squarely. The double action ensures squareness of your upper torso. Whether you are doing the left or right Gan singularly or doing them both the same time, it doesn't change the way a Gan is executed. However, beginners doing it singularly will surely drop the shoulder (of the action side). You don't need to work on the single action yet, because you will do it at the end of the Siu Lim Tao form. By that time, you are expected to understand about squaring, and execute the Gan movement singularly and squarely.
Movement 7, beside showing you your Middle-High and High gates, is also showing you how to execute the Tan Movement from the Gan position. Wing Chun teaches you not to affix yourself in one position, especially when you have sent your guards away from their posts. You must return them as soon as possible. When you execute Movement 6, Gan movement, your upper gates (Third Floor Mezzanine and Top Floor) are exposed. Thus, Movement 7 follows to cover the upper gates. Many WC practitioners understand this, but never question why this finished Tan position doesn't look like the usual Tan.
The Tan Movement, ideally should finish with the edge of your forearm (that is aligned to your pinky-finger), flushes to your vertical centerline plane. Movement 7 shows you a different Tan. You will notice that if you drop one arm down from the crossed-arm position of Movement 7, you will be looking at one arm in Tan position. However, it is not in the ideal position that I had just described. The pinky-finger side of the forearm is not flushed to your vertical centerline plane; i.e., Your elbow is not aligned to the centerline of your body.
Although the Tan Movement can be used in various situations, it is most effective, and commonly used against a straight-line hand/fist attack, using your arm that's adjacent to the side of the attack. For this situation, it is vital to keep your Tan forearm flushed along the centerline plane, which will allow you to defend against a straight-line penetration using either edge of the forearm. [ILLUSTRATION REQUIRED] Because the root of the attacking arm is at the shoulder joint, the straight-line attack actually comes at an angle. By keeping your arm flushed to the centerline plane, mathematically, when it crosses path with the angular attack, it will divert the attack farther out (like the car example I gave on side-swiping). So, if your forearm is not flushed to the centerline plane (i.e., your elbow is not aligned to your body's centerline, the angular attack is given room for penetration. Thus, Movement 7 Tan would be vulnerable for defense against a hand/fist attack originating from the same side. [ILLUSTRATION REQUIRED]
Second most common and effective usage of the Tan Movement is to intercept and/or redirect a straight-line hand/fist attack, using your opposite arm. Wing Chun system does not believe intercepting an attack perpendicularly. It looks at it as a "hit or miss" method. It requires critical timing to cross an attack at 90 degrees. This type of "block" contacts the attacking limb at one point. If you execute the block a little too early or late, you're a goner. However, if you moved in at an angle to intercept an attack, you will cross its path at many possible and actual points. The narrower the angle of interception, the more possibility and actual contact you will make with the attacking limb. So, although you can intercept an arm-attack using your opposite Tan arm in the usual position (flushed to your centerline plane), you will have more success angling your arm (as in Movement 7) along the path of the attacking arm.
Note that when executing the Tan using the opposite arm, the forearm does not travel laterally like a Karate block. The Tan still moves in a straight line, along the path of the forearm. It may not even be necessary to create the angle using your arm; it can be done by shifting your torsos. In other words, you could be in the ideal Tan position (forearm flushed to your centerline plane), and turn your torsos towards the Tan side. You will achieve the same thing. However, the two methods are executed one way or the other, depending on the situation.
[ILLUSTRATION]

Movement 8 repeats the double-pulling elbows back action, except that it does not require you to sink farther. Here you are learning to pull from your horse position, thus relying on your biceps, rotating, and back muscles. You are still relying on gravity, but this time, from an already anchored (to the center of the earth) position. Movement 3 required you to drop your anchor to the center of the earth as you were in a standing upright position. In real life situation, you may be riding your horse high, so will need to drop yourself lower to secure the pull. You may also be in a low riding position, so need not lower yourself farther to secure the pull. Siu Lim Tao trains you for both situations.