Ive been training in wing chun for 3 ½ years and during this time, I have obtained a good level of skill from the art. However, despite this, I had always had doubts about the power that was behind my straight punches, should I ever find myself having to defend myself in the street. The theory behind a wing chun punch (speed, relaxation, correct body mechanics etc etc…) all made good sense to me, although I have never actually HIT no-one before, and therefore the doubts about my power have always been in the back of my mind.
That was until Saturday night………….
I hit somebody once and virtually knocked him out. He was a bigger lad than me, and I hit him only the once, but he ended up lying face down in the street, besides a big puddle of blood. My wrists and knuckles after the punch felt perfect.
Now Im not bragging about this, because I don’t go around getting into fights. I never have and never will……
But I now realise that boy, my wing chun straight punch IS powerful!!
Originally posted by HAZ A LOT of straight punches in the air – being relaxed, making sure the punch is thrown from the elbow using NO shoulders
Alright, no offence, but anatomically speaking, it is impossible to punch using “no” shoulders. When the arm is raised (out like during a punch) the front deltoids WILL be engaged.
So, do you just mean like… no excess tension in the shoulders?
People always say “don’t use your shoulders when you punch” and I don’t get it:confused:
I think the idea is to just engage enough of the shoulder musculature as necessary to extend and support the arm, with the real power coming from the relaxed use of the shoulder through the forward thrust of the elbow. So I think the saying should be “Don’t use any more shoulder than necessary”. But maybe it is just easier to learn using the idea of no shoulder involvement.
what they mean about not using the shoulders is not that is not used when puching,but you should not lead your punch with your shoulder. if you lead the punch with the shoulder then if someone grabs your arm he can move your stance easily.
So what other art’s use this minimal tension in shoulder, driven by the elbow theory?.
Is this only for the striaght punch and i’m making a bigger deal then it’s worth, like when you do gumsao to the sides, in slt samething?, what about when wing chun does a horizontal elbow smash?.
:rolleyes: