does it do anything at all for power, speed, or focus, or is it just a neat party trick?
where’s my beer?
I really don’t know, but it either takes a very focused punch, or a really sloppy fanning punch (I’ve done it both ways…the latter is much easier and it impresses the chicks). Didn’t Mas Oyama practice this? I would think he’s got some punching power, but I’m sure he developed it in other ways (makiwara/tamashiwara).
Jaguar Wong
I usually just blow out the candles. Are there any training that teach you to light a candle w/ punches? 
<TABLE BORDER=“3” CELLSPACING=“1” CELLPADDING=“1”><TR><TD><form><INPUT TYPE=“button” VALUE=" Art Tsai " onClick=“parent.location=‘http://people.we.mediaone.net/arttsai/home.html’”></TD></TR></table></form><HR Width=“97%”>“You fight like you train.” --Motto, USN Fighter Weapon School (TOPGUN)
how do u punch out candles? i wanna try and punch out all my birthday candles this year 
“United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”
Mas Oyama did practice this.
I don’t get mad.
I get stabby.
I tried punching out a candle once but it fought back 
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You’re fu(king up my chi
When I was younger I actually did do this!
After some reflection though, sadly, I suspect it was just wind being blown by my palm instead of “Chi”
I’m currently trying to figure out a way to “choke out” a candle.
Ryu
“One who takes pride in shallow knowledge or understanding is like a monkey who delights in adorning itself with garbage.”
Well the candle I tried to punch out ended up mounting me and doing the ground and pound. Then before I knew it he had me in a rear naked choke and I was gone …
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You’re fu(king up my chi
trad. stylists say its your Chi vibrating from your speeding fist and disrupting the flame, cancelling it out.
But, most stylists nowadays who do it have just found a deceiving, convincing way of putting out the flame by pushing as much air against it as possible and making your punch really really fast.
Who hasn’t done this
The candle thing is soooo stupid in my opinion. It is the withdrawal that puts it out. Wave a candle slow mo back and forth (not to slow mo). It goes out.
Now if you can put out a tire fire…
I’d like to see people punch out flame from a zippo.
<TABLE BORDER=“3” CELLSPACING=“1” CELLPADDING=“1”><TR><TD><form><INPUT TYPE=“button” VALUE=" Art Tsai " onClick=“parent.location=‘http://people.we.mediaone.net/arttsai/home.html’”></TD></TR></table></form><HR Width=“97%”>“You fight like you train.” --Motto, USN Fighter Weapon School (TOPGUN)
It shows something when you can do it from 10 to 20 feet away like some sifu’s I have heard about.Most people can do it from a foot or two if they know how to punch properly
I have never heard anything about your “chi” having anything to do with it. It was used to train throwing a snapping technique properly, the punch comes back twice as fast and if you do that it will extinguish the flame.
Yes, it’s a good tool for developing focus and distance (too close and hot wax is all over the place). but it is not for developing power.
“God gave you a brain, and it annoys Him greatly when you choose not to use it.”
You guys are starting to scare me…
It has absolutely NOTHING to do with qi. Perhaps those who stand still focusing their non-moving punch/palm strike/etc. at the flame envisioning the flame extinguishing under the force of their qi are doing something that deals with qi, but actually punching AT the flame in order to extinguish it deals ONLY with developing the speed of the technique.
In order to “blow out” the candle, you have to push the air ahead of your technique. This means that your technique must move faster than the air can “slide” out from in front of it. In order to do this, you have to strike VERY quickly. (You will notice in no time that punches are easy, but knife hands, spear hands, etc. are MUCH harder to execute successfully due to their smaller surface area, thus requiring a significantly faster strike).
This is an excellent training technique, especially so for internal stylists. It is nearly impossible to consistently put out the flame if you tense the strike AT ALL. In our school, the litmus test is at least 10 out of 10 putting out the flame. If you do 8 and pooch it, start over at 1. 10 out of 10 is the standard. When you can do that, you will find your technique is pretty sharp…
Good training! 
Matt Stone
So you just put a candle on a table at chest height and then punch at it? From how far away do you start?
Iron
Hhmmm
Here we go with another can of worms!!! It all depends on whether or not you’re gonna put it out with external techniques or Internal ones.
Externally you will develop the ability to snap out short range fast punches I guess in order to create vast wind to blow it out. Internally you shouldn’t move an inch or tense your muscles, and you would create the force to put it out internally with Qi. That used to be the test of an Internal Master, an acknowledged act of Yang Lu chan.
When I started candle training I started close so my punch was only about an inch from the flame and then when I was consistant with that I would move back until I could do it from a couple feet away. I’ve also used elbows and backfists to work on this also.
Like someone else said it is very good training to help keep you relaxed because if you get uptight while doing it you can’t. I used to get really tense from trying so hard to get the flame out. It gives good feedback all around
“God gave you a brain, and it annoys Him greatly when you choose not to use it.”
good stuff guys.
i was allot better at doing this about 6 years back.
i built up (or back) to being able to extinguish it from about 3 feet away. maybe a little more but not much. it actually didn’t take all that long to be able to do it either. it’s hard to remember for sure but i think it took me about a month to be able to do from that distance. it wasn’t every time though. i got it about one out of every 5 or 6 tries … sometimes it would take even more tries. you could also divide my successes from that distance by 3 for all the times i cheated and threw out an open handed backfist that stopped with my fist in line with the candle. i ended up stopping because my elbows always felt like hell the following day. i think this is because i didnt know how to punch properly at the time . . i’d over extend.
one thing that bothered me though is all the mention of speed as a requirement. at first it definately was, but when i was albe to extinguish the flame from about 2 feet i could also do so with a fairly slow punch at about a foot away. no cheating … straight verticle fist punch. it wasnt super slow but not even close to being called a fast punch. i’ll mess around with this again, now that i wont destroy my elbows doing so.
it may be a little while before i can give results though. i’m doing it from about 6’ to a foot away again. it also takes me lots of tries because i get frustrated with it real quick which makes me tense. perhaps this will also be a good lesson im patience which i tend to be extremely deficient in.
where’s my beer?
But I heard you can’t wear a long sleeve shirt when you’re doing it because that will create wind. So I guess you gotta do it in a wife beater (for anyone who doesn’t know, a “wife beater” is the kind of shirt that has no sleeves, also called an “A-neck” shirt. It’s kind of like what big guys wear to the gym to lift in)
Iron
I have been doing the past few days just for fun. I thought I was just being dumb, at least thats what my mom said.