Wing Chun is a martial art highly popularized by the recent “Yip Man” movies, starring Donnie Yen. However, the true spread of Wing Chun in America in particular began with martial artist turned movie star, Bruce Lee, at one time a student of Yip Man. During his promotions, he wildly popularized a “secret technique”, the inch punch. The inch punch: Those familiar with it can probably tell you what it’s all about already. Those unfamiliar, however, are often confused about what it is exactly. The inch punch is a 4000 year old Chinese technique that is applied to inflict insane amounts of damage. This statement is false. The inch punch is more of a demonstration, if you will. It’s a concept. First, it’s probably easier to break down the physical aspect of it. Keeping “an inch” away from your target, you punch. That’s the basics of it. There’s no real secret here. The difference here, however, is that instead of punching by extending your arm only, the focus is on connecting your fist to your wrist, your elbow, your shoulder, your hip, your knees, your ankle, and your foot. This concept is called “dynamic power from 6 joints” (Wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle). It may be confusing to many at first, but the concept is to inflict maximum amounts of damage with the least amount of space needed. Don’t get me wrong though. If you apply the same physics to a punch that has a greater distance, your power will be exponentially greater. This is where they myth lies. So many people think that the inch punch is some incredible technique to finish things in one blow. Rather, I see it as a statement. We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t give them an inch because they’ll take a mile.” The statement is especially true for Wing Chun. I’ll beat you with an inch, so don’t you dare give me a mile.