One more punching thread

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Wing Chun
21

Originally posted by stuartm

  1. Make sure you have the correct fist shape. ie sun character fist angled slightly inwards to ensure connection with the bottom 3 knuckles
    Connection of what with the bottom 3 knuckles?
  1. Ensuer that the chain motion is maintained when punching ie as the extended arm returns the rear fist punches over the top.
    Punching over top? That’s more like a bicycle, not a chain.
  1. Make sure elbows are in.
    How far in?
  1. Correct height of punch.
    How high?
  1. Dont lock out and dont be concerened with power - relaxation and structure are most important when learning to punch.
    How does one relax? How does one keep a structure?
  1. Sink your weight properly (lok ma) and ensure your hips are pressed forward so you are punching from the ground with good structure.
    How does having my hips pressed forward enable me to punch from the ground?

The bag also teaches you to penetrate with your punch - to punch ‘through’ the bag.
If I intend to punch a person, should my intention be to punch through the body?

22

“When I punch, should my intention be to punch through the person?”
Yes, you should punch trough the target. But training of punching in the air and punching on the wall bag should make this automatic. When you contact with the target you should make your fist tight and go through it as much as you can. But remember only when you have contact with the target. Making it all the time can put you in a bad situation especially when you miss the target. That’s why I said that you should make your fist tight on contact with the target.

23

If I intend to punch a person, should my intention be to punch through the body?

Intent should be focused inside it.

24

I would say that your distancing should take care of where your punch’s “focus” is. All you need to do is let the fist fly. If you tell yourself that you’re punching through your target, there’s the possibility that you’re training to shove.

-BP-

25

My 2c…

> Connection of what with the bottom 3 knuckles?

I don’t believe in including the bottom (pinky) knuckle unless it naturally falls in there for the basic punch. IMHO, the wrist should be straight with the middle two knuckles aligned with the elbow at the moment of impact.

> Punching over top? That’s more like a bicycle, not a chain.

Agreed. neutral/straight position is best for practice.

> How far in?

Two schools of thought on that. The way I learned, the elbow should ideally be behind the fist on the meridian line (center line), producing an arrow-like effect. Some others align the elbow on the mid-clavicular line producing more of a wedge structure.

> How high?

Neutral position for practice at shoulder height.

> How does one relax? How does one keep a structure?

I’d do some punches slow and relaxed, then try to speed up and keep the same relaxation, then speed up and faat ging with the same relaxation. Build progressively step by step. Relaxation takes time to develop and you have to invest in loss (give up brute force), go slow, and conciously try to involve as little muscle as possible.

>How does having my hips pressed forward enable me to punch from the ground?

IMHO you don’t punch from the ground. That’s a fairly dead punch (the power has already been generated and thus is not as adaptive). I learned with the anology of a hammer and nail. You touch the opponent to ‘set’ the nail, then hit it with your body to hammer it in. Semantically, that’s punching with the ground, but it makes a difference, IMHO, in quality of the punch and ability to change en route if needed. Some place the hips under, some press them forward (though this can have an opposite effect by making weaker structure) and some press all 3 dan tien forward. Depends if you can make your alignment work or not.

> If I intend to punch a person, should my intention be to punch through the body?

Only if you want to push them. Otherwise, punch into them.

Rgds,

RR

26

Rene, does this apply to all martial art?

Some place the hips under, some press them forward (though this can have an opposite effect by making weaker structure) and some press all 3 dan tien forward. Depends if you can make your alignment work or not.

Is thier any other ways of bridging your power, besides the 3 mentioned.
would you elaborate on these, What stances are we talking about, is this only good for wingchun, do these funneling of power occur in the spinning stealstep/cross stance longfist strikes, of styles like hungga,clf,lama…

also could you give me a brief discription, how differant wingchun uses these three actions in a Sun fist strike, from wingchuns stances and footsteps.

27

vt108
VINGTSUNSTUDENT@bigpond.com or you can go through my profile.
regarding saying stance over waist i think a lot of people here might not emphasis the waist as much as we do, so to them stance maybe easier to understand.
besides punching the wall bag does test your stance of which the waist is odviously a huge part.
anyways it would be good to here from you.
vts

28

**** I’m late with the reply…

look for a teacher man. maybe even consider a different style.

I only know of one WC teacher by me, but he’s in Chinatown and it’s too inconvenient for me to be going there, especially while I’m at school. As for different styles, I’ve studied at Isshinryu and Hapkido schools before, but they weren’t what I was looking for really. Alright, so here, all we have at my Uni is shotokan and tkd. No thanks. So for now I’ll stick to videos and kfo :slight_smile:

you’re so into lifting etc then you want to take up wing chun wtf?

Oops, sorry, I forgot that you can’t mix lifting and MA. My bad :smiley:

Iron

29

Weight don’t mix

[B]

quote:

you’re so into lifting etc then you want to take up wing chun wtf?

Oops, sorry, I forgot that you can’t mix lifting and MA. My bad :smiley:

Iron [/B]

I guess no one told this to Sifu Keith Kernsprecht :smiley: He is both powerful and soft. Having been on the receiving end of some of his techniques I can assure you that weight training has in no way hampered his WT. There are several who do both I guess the key is in having a firm idea of what you are trying to accomplish and balancing the two. It can be done but takes more time and effort. On the other hand my Sihing in Germany used to always tell us that the best way to train Wing Tsun was to practice Wing Tsun.

Peace,

Dave

30

"regarding saying stance over waist i think a lot of people here might not emphasis the waist as much as we do, so to them stance maybe easier to understand.
besides punching the wall bag does test your stance of which the waist is odviously a huge part. "

You are right.

31

You’re young, and into strength training, and you want to learn a style that uses minimal muscle power (in general)?

If you box or consider a more external style (than wing chun) then you will see great advantages you have over other stylists/students that do not. You won’t find this in wing chun. I just thought seeing as you’re young, may want to consider a style that you a) Would have an advantage with and b) That you could actually get proper lessons for.

Silly me.

32

Dude don’t take offence :slight_smile: I’m just saying I don’t think anyone should have to choose weightlifting OR kungfu.

Thanks to all who responded. Beware my next questions :slight_smile:

Iron

33

Dude!

What’s mine say…? Sweet!

34

Originally posted by vingtsunstudent
vt108
if i rember from another post you have heard of barry, have you by chance seen his wall bag article over a dozen pages on basic wall bag alone.
vts

I’d like to see that - or any other article he’s written (I’ve seen a couple somewhere on the internet). Assuming it’s meant for public consumption is there anywhere I could get a copy of it mate ?

I know he did have a web site at some time but it never got completed did it ?

35

sorry popsider
i hope that one day all his stuff will be available freely on the web to read but at present unfortunately not.
here is a little bit about him, unfortunately it is in german
http://home.t-online.de/home/kai.hafner/Index.html
vts