Originally posted by Matrix
You have to know the natural range of your punch and not reach for a specific target, but rather use your forward energy to drive to the center of mass, and just hit whatever suitable target is presented to you.
Reminds me of the movie Frankenstein…
In my humble, humble, most humble opinion. When attacking one cannot take a defensive attitude. There are a myriad of targets presented in a moments time. All one must do is pick the cherry. And savor the juices.
sabu sez
Which one?
Boris Karloff
or
Mel Brooks-Gene Wilder
Each has its wing chun moments!!
Now Sahboo…
Thar’s a tahmm fer eatin’ an’ a tahmm fer fytennnn, you gotta jus’ mak’ up yer mahnd, sun…
Target.
Imagine a wire going down from the top center of the head to the center between the legs!..:eek: This line is all the time in the center of the body whatever the angle you look at it. This is the target.If you strike at this line ,the target will not turn,it will just absorb the full force of the impact. You hit the center of mass as Matrix said!
Frankenstein was good at that ,I heard!
old john sez
Herr Doktor or his creation. One of those two took my popcorn
or was that Ms. Kahn?
Thanks for the clarification 
Just to clear up my own interest in this thread, I was originally wondering if there are specific points you might at least
avoid so as not to injure your hands.
Hence we return to the wrist trouble.
Idealism vs. Reality
As humans we love limitations and ideals.
Why limit ourselves to the one line? Sometimes we cannot have our Caramel Crunch Cake AND eat it too…
There are other lines as well, and they don’t change according to the Sunshine Girl. It’s as simple as picking the cherry… and feeding it to your elephant…
The Joy of Adrenaline
Originally posted by dedalus
[B]I was originally wondering if there are specific points you might at least
avoid so as not to injure your hands.
Hence we return to the wrist trouble. [/B]
– is that you won’t feel the pain till the party’s over!
My guess is that if you are worrying about your wrists while someone is contemplating your bludgeoning, you are gonna have more than sore wrists when all is said and done.
Re: Idealism vs. Reality
Originally posted by Sabu
As humans we love limitations and ideals.
There is no spoon Sabu!! You will have to find another way to eat your cake.
Martix…I would not say “spinal” as the line is in the center of the body, not the spine that is very close to the surface of the back.
Now for places that should be avoided in punching: I would avoid the head with the exception of the nose area. the hips(very hard!) ,watch the elbows, the rest of the body is O.K.!
I would’nt mind doing hard palms anywhere!
matrix
sorry I was wrong…Old jong is right enuff.
Different strokes for different folks… I would punch or palm- anything- whatever can deliver energy, In a real situation you wont have the luxury of exclusive targets for punches and palms.
I understand what you mean Yuanfen.
This is why I keep the " strike when you should/ don’t strike when you should not" thing in mind!..I think it goes with keeping our head clear and not losing control of ourselves in a fight. I know,in reality is not always so easy to do but, we must strive toward this goal. The idea is to avoid throwing crasy punches driven by fear or lack of control.
old jong
I do have principles in mind and am not talking about lack of control. When there is an opening sometimes the palm is direct and convenient, sometimes the fist..depends. Palm is less susceptible to injury but sometimes a short fist can get in where a palm may not and vice versa.
Yuanfen
I don’t doupt it a second!..I was merely adding something to your comment!
Originally posted by old jong
This is why I keep the " strike when you should/ don’t strike when you should not" thing in mind!..
My truly humble apologies for sounding repetitive… The targets are always there, and as the good sir, Mr. Yuanfen suggested, all you have to do is pick your weapon. But first you have to develop your weapons. Clean them, sharpen them, spit on them, polish them, wax them.
I would rather spit on the opponent- a clean mind in a clean body
you know- the other fella is the dirty rat.
Training
LOL 
Amusing thread. I completely agree with Sabu that in a fight you might be less concerned about the pain of a bony strike, and if you get out of a life-or-death encounter with a broken hand, you’ve done good.
The problem that was originally raised, though, was with wrist injury during training. Why beat your body to hell like that? I’ve seen old taekwondo and karate board-breakers who have virtually fused their knuckles together, and can’t even hold a tea cup as pensioners. What’s the point?
Now palm strikes I like to hear about (as a bagua guy, you understand). We still use the odd punch, and I agree that you can get your knuckles and fingers into some nice, delicate spots, but I’m neither damaging my hands in training nor drilling myself to hit hard targets with my knuckles as a reflex. I think that with assiduous training you can avoid even the broken hand in that dangerous encounter - you just don’t train the reflex to hit the point of the chin with a flat fist.
Perhaps it comes down to the simple fact that I train to hit most anything with a palm, whereas a wing chun fighter trains to hit most anything with a fist.
Hope this doesn’t drag the discussion off topic… I’m really enjoying what you guys have had to say
Re: Training
Originally posted by dedalus
Perhaps it comes down to the simple fact … a wing chun fighter trains to hit most anything with a fist.
Where’d you get that fact?
dedalus
Yes dedalus as Alpha Dog asked- where did you get that idea?/
Some of these net discussions touch on tips of giant icebergs-
wing chun has as many palms as fists and the thread is not about
ALL the goodies in the wing chun arsenal.
On the original thread— if the wing chun fist is done right and the
bones are all aligned. … and if you gradually develop a routine of both air punching and bag tapping with the right kind of dit da jow
your wrist shouldnt hurt unless you have a physiological problem.
I hope that you are punching square on—rather than on pinky etc/