In Self-Defense, real self-defenses, not combative sports or contests, The Best Defense is not a good offence. The best defense is not being there.

A good offence is the second best defense; if you’re not there in the first place there’s nothing to defend against. If the best defense is not being there, then the best offence (or counter attack) is simply being there. As Woody Allen said, “80% of success in life is just showing up”. In combat, this means if you are in the right position to counter attack, you may find yourself possibly in your opponent’s blind spot, or at an angle where you can easily knock them off balance, or a position where you can hit them easily while they cannot hit you. Alternately, if your position is poor, even if you hit them with more speed and more power you may still lose if you’re not in the right place at the right time.

In Holistic Kung Fu, this is what we call Positioning.

This is a versatile concept that doesn't just apply to defending against viol...