don’t worry tiger, you weren’t rude. i do train my hands in this position, but mostly to get used to the feeling of grabbing and trapping. i haven’t really trained it for any kind of power strike. i believe that the mantis strike which utilizes the back of the hand could do damage if used properly to an area on the face, chin, etc.
To know others is to have knowledge. To know oneself is to be enlightened.
Mantis Conditioning
FierceTiger,
All mantis practitoners dream of being able to plunge their fingers into the soft flesh of their opponents and disembowel them in one stroke. Eagle claw practioners would give anything to be able to crush the bones and dislocate joints and perhaps disembowel their opponents with their fingers. Dragon claw stylist would love to heal the cracking of bones as their opponent’s skull implodes in their vice like grip. Tiger claw artist wouild be thrilled to leave deep scratches on their enemy’s chest and back just like the powerful cat they hope to immitate.
But before we achieve kung fu at it’s highest, raw beginners have to first learn to claw their way through a wet paper bag… and move on from their.
Does this answer you question?
Maximus Maximize!
ego_maximus@hotmail.com
i and i train the digitz
interesting topic, this is my main training focus at this time specifically the conditioning and usage of the traditional mantis claw
i do all sorts of pushups regular, knuckle, fingertip, back of wrist push ups with mantis claw formation for foundational support
i strike iron palm bag with back of wrist and dot it with finger tips…
fingers can be used to poke and scratch, as well as grasp vein and tendons, one must have strong hands and wrist to use it also one can strike with the knuckles…proper positioning is crucial or you can harm yourself…
ask away
I was under the impression that the poke to the eyes using the mantis hand is meant to distract the opponent so that you can do a low attack, if this is the case then the you aren’t expecting the strike to contact the eyes because they will be busy blocking it.
On a side note. Has anyone any knowledge of the One finger Zen hand shape??? It has just struck me that I haven’t seen it in any of the forms I’ve seen, which to be honest isn’t that many.
Anyone???
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=“-1”>quote:</font><HR>
I was under the impression that the poke to the eyes using the mantis hand is meant to distract the opponent so that you can do a low attack, if this is the case then the you aren’t expecting the strike to contact the eyes because they will be busy blocking it. [/quote]
Exaclty, like the the bung bo form ilustrates, but with the “classical” two fingers eye poke, instead of the diu sao.
– Kiasyd
Mantis Claw
Would you all say that the center piece to the mantis system is to develop powerful finger strength by doing push ups, iron hand and chi kung training. Imagine the damage it could cause if not only you can strike at the eyes, but plunge your finger into your enemy’s abdoment.
Remeber that the old kung fu masters must have been able to penetrate armour and other shielding with their bare hands. or catch swords between their fingers.
Maximus Maximize!
ego_maximus@hotmail.com
tang lang man
You have a valid point, we have fighting principles in our system called the cardinal points and the are basically statagies to defeat your opponent, one such is to strike high to open the low area and visa versa. This is I beleive is what you meant by faking or attempting the eye poke to attack low, But I think the start of the thread to was to demise if the mantis hand/finger position was a sincere attack. With only attemting to eye poke your accuaracy will not be perfect or good enough to actually do any damage if and when you do have the opportunity to poke without the opponent having to block. So to attack at the upper gate we must first clairify if indeed the finger is fast or accurate enough.or the hand trainable enough to convince fierce tiger