It’s that time again. This question gets asked every like 6 months so I thought I’d beat everyone to it this time 
Everyone’s all like “tense your abs and exhale.” Yay. Let’s make it more fun this time:
Is there a way to take a punch to the stomach without tensing the abs and leaving the abdomen relaxed? This would be way more efficient. Alright. Anyone?
IronFist
Yield
It is not generally one of the most vulnerable areas,generally.
But getting hit to solar plexus or lower dan tien can both result in death,with some other pressure points and nerves too which may result in trouble.
In common sense,having strong muscles will help,but I guess that´s it.
And yes,there has been a conversation or two.
Almost forgot about special training like iron shirt which could help.
learn to relax, yield or hit the punch first 
david
How does relaxing prevent injury to the stomach? I think I’ve heard that stuff like this is discussed by Vladimir Vasiliev, but I haven’t seen any of his videos. Has anyone here?
IronFist
I’ve heard reference to the Iron Shirt techniques, but have no idea what they are… anyone here have any clue about them? What do they do? How effective are they?
There are two types of iron shirt. Let’s classify them loosely as hard and soft.
Hard iron shirt conditions the body to take blows by gradually getting used to taking hits. This is then often followed up with some herbal treatments to help the body take the punishment.
Soft iron shirt works through chi kung to help withstand blows.
Most systems utilise a mixture of both.
I haven’t seen Vladimir Vasiliev’s vid’s, but I have Scott Sonnon’s “Shockability” series which address this and related subjects specifically. IMO excellent stuff.
If you tense up and/or hold your breath, your internal organs are locked in place and take the full impact of any strike. Relax, exhale and yield, and your internal organs move so as to allow the shock to be dissipated.
It works for me. It worked at Scott’s Aussie seminar too, I saw him take UFC competitor Elvis Sinosic’s best punch to the gut fairly easily.
I always think of Bruce Willis’ “Head or Gut?” question in “Last Boy Scout” when this Q comes up.
Hmmm…
We are always told hold hold a little bit of air in…and then exhale it quickly when struck. One way it was explained:
“If you hit a flat bicycle tyre with a hammer, the rim will be damaged. If you have air in the tyre, the strike will be dissipated and the rim will not be damaged.”
It’s a nice analogy.
Yeah, but your body doesn’t have a rim! The bicycle tyre has no organs inside of it. Sorry bud, but it strikes me as a flawed analogy.
You need to protect your frame (bones, muscles, etc.) and your internal organs. A combination of conditioning to take hits through iron shirt work and the abilty to move and yield is best IMO. Take what you can’t avoid, avoid what you can and minimise anything in between.
However, the bike tyre analogy is right in one respect. You need to have air in you that you can expell.
hey anerlich, you wanna let me borrow that tape?
Most of the iron body stuff I’ve seen is hard. You hit yourself in the stomach while the abs are tight, and the breath and chi are “sunk” down into the abdomen/dan tian. I can see how this would apply in a fight, but the abs would still have to be tensed I assume for it to work.
IronFist
from the limited hard qigong training i have done, the abs are not ‘tensed’ in the same way as u would usually think, and the attitude is different. from the training, the dantian and around that area become very dense anyway, so no need to really tense them (like trying to show ur 6-pack or whatever), it’s more relaxed than that. Of course the breathing naturally makes that area stronger, but still more relaxed. Also the attitude is more different - feels more like when the guy hits u, ur actually hitting them with ur stomach (or wherever they hit ya) 
can’t really explain it inwords as i need to train and understand more. I’msure someone with more experience can though
c ya,
david
punches
punching to the solar plexus is done with a corkscrew type punch, 45 degrees as it fits in the hole and the ribs contour the fist.
Usally there are 3 strikes in forms like sarm bo jin and many other arts that strike this area as each strike will weaken the point. You want to hit that spot again and again not once. Does anyone use this type of knowledge with 3 strikes to once point?
cheers
FT:)
STOMACH
Sorry i forgot that YKM and Bak Mei use cotton belly training to absorb strikes. Getting hit in the abs is ok if your ready but i may hit your ribs and hit your abs after that. As a demo its all good to set yourself and get ready.
FT
Describe cotton belly, please.
IronFist
iron fist
Its soft like cotton!
Im not saying getting punched in the guts hurts, but the training helps to absorb the blow rather then take it.
Fiercest Tiger,
on punches,have not heard about that kind of combinations.
I suppose they would not be bad,except for opponents.
I have had the idea that one solid punch to SP has devastating effects.
Hello
I have heard that the nervous system has a protective barrier and the 3rd strike it has no protection. So therefore when there is 3 punches in a form it would be or could be aimed at the same spot as it is weaker in the same spot.
I could be wrong!
FT
Vladimir teaches a few different ways of taking a hit
Tensing abs may work for some shots, but not those penetrating ones. BTW V V also works on dealing with punches that get in. His teacher Mikhail Ryabko does a lot of work in this area too, his punches are something else (iron shirt doesn’t work against them!)