Nothing Beats Good ol' Straight Punches: A Body Experience/Experiment

An experience that I have discovered recently, has prompted me to write a piece of article long-due to the WC site.

Nothing beats the good ol' straight punches

- prep work:

don't go straight punching cold turkey: it bites. shoulder roll, arm circle are all good warm-ups

- relaxed motion:
almost like hitting the suspended punching bag boxing style. but straighter.
lossen the wrist - treat the fist like it belongs to a puppet.

- calm, focused spirit:
calm-focus-calm-focus loop.
if practicing in semi-public place, avoid being self-conscious.

- thoughts
follow the spirit
micro-adjust



Individual physique can be drastically different, but here is how I did it:

- relaxed motion:

start slow, and increase speed steadily. connect the fist's push motion with the pull motion together. don't extend the punch, simply let it reach as far as it can without effort.
don't push your shoulders inward just to match the center line, but rather focus on the elbow and fix the shoulder.
lossen the wrist

- calm, focused spirit:

calm-focus-calm-focus loop.
if practicing in semi-public place, avoid being self-conscious.

- thoughts

follow the spirit/will
micro-adjust

on focused sparring

be specific and patient.

have you ever played the turn-based Startegy and/or RPG games? each person/character takes turn. Same with two man sparring,one move at a time.

people that have practiced before:
@ stuart @ charles

an exercise for stronger palm

two hands pushing against a wall, in bow stance. Two hands distance shoulder width apart.

pak laap round house

When the opponent punches left, you must do an outside pak with right hand and turn your body.
The opponent will punch right hand, you must laap and round house at the same time.

REMEMBER, the single handed LAAP of the first king is never a pull.  This laap starts as if it were a tan sau, but uses the hand (and ring and pinky fingers) to bring the punch to the shoulder line.

ALSO if your opponent fails to throw the second punch, your turned body is in an excellent position to fire your left hand

pak tan jut biu drill

-- by Derrick Ho

Hero		Image		Villain
left	right		left	right
	outside pak		punch sternum
	outside tan			punch sternum
	outside jut		punch solar plexus
outside pak	inside cross biu  (brow line)			punch face
chambers back	chambers back		chambers back	chambers back
outside pak				punch sternum
outside tan			punch sternum
outside jut				punch solar plexus
inside cross biu  (brow line)	outside pak		punch face
chambers back	chambers back		chambers back	chambers back

You should be able to drill this from the top to bottom and repeat.

The biu sau travels down the center but the opponent might punch YOU at the same time.

The pak that happens simultaneously  is there to cover the punch just in case.  that way the villian 

never wins. 

but if the villian wants to win.... then he must....

[below is a variation]

Hero		Image		Villain
left	right		left	right
	outside pak		punch sternum
	outside tan			punch sternum
	outside jut		punch solar plexus
outside pak	inside cross biu  (brow line)		outside pak	inside cross palm
chambers back	chambers back		outside push elbow	inside laap (with turn)
outside pak				punch sternum
outside tan			punch sternum
outside jut				punch solar plexus
inside cross biu  (brow line)	outside pak		inside cross palm	outside pak
chambers back	chambers back		inside laap (with turn)	outside push elbow

Wing Chun SECRET?

The secret is:

"Idea" of WC in SLT

I was testing out TST's theory on idea: that it happens before we realize it, then you have reached the point of understanding SLT.
For one thing, I don't believe such great thing can only happen to one form in WC, or even only in WC. But for what I know, I can only try it with the forms I know of : Sam Bai Fut

In SBF, the 5th movement sequence is tan-jam-biu.

don't lose sight of forests for the tree - basic skill in wing chun

Yesterday I went on CMAC's fb wall and posted

"I have a window of half/one hour to practice wing chun, anyone interested? i won't hurt you :)
an hour anytime between Now - 6
meet me at Rivera library."


To my surprise, it immediately had an respondent. He has a bigger frame than I am, seems very sturdy* as well. We went to the yard next to the library and practiced for some rounds. Indeed, my guess was right: very sturdy, tends to sink to a horse, which makes an easy target for wingchun practitioner. 
However, we had a good fight and we both learned a lot so let me write something about what I re-discovered to be something I need to work on:

Don't lose sight of forest [and get punched] for the tree

jip sau

The jip sau is a move that combines tok sau and pak sau into one.
look at this video to see what it looks like statically

http://youtu.be/q2kcYZJPsLU?t=2m20s

This movement is introduced to you in the Chum Kiu form and I believe that it is much more effective then that outside double lop sau.  The only difference between the outside double lop sau and the jip sau is that the hand latter grabs the inside wrist.

ok, now for a dynamic application of the jip sau.  Remember, there are other uses for it and this is just one example.

http://youtu.be/ZoU6vJx4Qhw

Body structure Chi Sau

Most Wing chun schools will start chi sau by squaring you up with a partner.  No footwork.  YOu simply try to hit your opponent and try to stop it by blocking or sticking.
After all these years I have come to believe that it is better to learn from the inside out.

Tier 0: forward pressure

square up with your partner.  

use both hands and make contact at the wrists. 

One guy starts as double inside jaum sau and the other compliments it with a double fook sau.  

The collision should be like how a base ball is caught by a catchers mitt.  

roll the arms like most wing churners do.  

give each other forward power.  

The point is to push your opponent back. 

In this exercise just give each other forward pressure and adjust your hands as needed.  If something gets tired go ahead and change your hand (inside to outside; outside to inside).  After a few moments of this exercise, stand apart and relax.  Then start over.

Do not chase his arms, chase his center.  The double jaum say should enter with palms together like a prayer.

tier 1: pressure release
repeat tier 0 except now you may use footwork.  When your opponent pushes you may step and turn to the side.  even though you turn, you should still be applying forward pressure.  Do not lean back and turn.  push forward and turn.

This would be a good time to mention how close you need to be to your opponent.  You need to be close enough to  place your palm on the back on his head. failing to meet this constraint is bad for your heart.

-----------------
chi sau exercies
-----------------

fook sau controls tan sau penetration.

Bong sau deflects fook sau's advances.

jaum sau falls on bong sau.

tau sau catches jaum sau.

huen sau drops jaum sau.

-----------------

tier 2: forward pressure with chi sau
do tier 0 but add the chi sau exercises above.  beginners do one hand at a time.  Advanced people figure out a way to do them with both hands at the same time.

tier 3: pressure release with chi sau
do tier 1  tier 2  hybrid.....yeah, I think you can figure this one out.

tier 4: roll punch step back jut
When you roll, randomly punch to the body.
if they are punching from the inside, step back and jut sau.  Return to squared up position.
*Puncher will probably need to step in to the punch*

If they are punching from the outside, step in and "block the bright sunlight".  (It's like a really high bong sau.  wrist higher then elbow.  palm facing your opponents face).

tier :  Free style chi sau (refer to articles about free style techniques)
Start squared up, forward pressure.  Roll the arms and hit whenever. Don't wanna get hit? then you better block.

** Never hit your opponents head with a closed fist.  Doing so is disrespectful **
** Closed fist may be done to the body, but open fist is recommended ""

proper form: Lap sau direction

Lap sau:
Never pull the opponent towards your self.  They will crash into you with an elbow, shoulder or knee.  And they can also just kick you in the nuts.  This is why it is very important to move them away from your body.  Pulling away from your body serves two important purposes:
1) It redirects your opponents attacks  away from yourself
2) it “makes him wrong”--When you turn them it opens them up for attack.

Recall the siu lim tao.  the part where you do the double fak sau.  That is the direction the lap saw should go.  however, unlike the fak sau, you must in addition, grab and pull down to the earth.  You pull them away from their center of gravity.

Watch Alan Orr do the lap sau. He does not pull towards himself.
http://youtu.be/PhownwwVHdA?t=4m15s

Watch Ron Kong show you why it is bad to pull them towards yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYXKPfv9DZQ

Theory: 6 ways to finish your opponent

There are 6 desired ends.  These 6 positions will make your victorious.  A good fighter will be able to make use of all 6 of them, but not necessarily at once.

1) Knock out
 => hit a pressure point and make them collapse
2) pulling out of root
 => When they stretch themselves thinly, pull them so they hit a wall or trip
3) pushing out of root/ taking their position
 => step btwn their legs and push them back so they hit a wall or trip
4) closing
 => hold them they have no room to hit you back
5) make them not facing you
=>  turn their body so their sternum is facing away from your own
6) chin na
 => twist their joints until they cry

Theory: wing chun trap

The wing chun trap has to do with getting your opponent to move in a predictable way.

If you were to pak the first punch you have a good idea of when the second punch will be coming.  The second punch comes after the first punch with withdrawn.  You have to feel this happening.

The hand is quicker then the eye, so you can't rely on it to predict the next punch.

Any non- committed block does not require the wing chun trap.  The non-committed block is at the fore front of the wing chun trap.  It is there to sense when the opportunity reveals itself.  Once inside the trap, it is best to switch to a committed movement so you can finish your opponent.

Proper form: double handed lap sau

There are two versions of double handed lap sau: inside and out side.

Inside/outside only applies to the hand soft gripping the wrist.  The other hand can either grab the elbow or it can cut it.

That makes 4 different permutations of the double handed lap sau.

First lets talk about grabbing the elbow.  look at your own wrist and lightly pinch it with your free hand.  note how skinny it is.  slide up your arm towards your shoulder.  You will notice that it will get fat.  Once you've passed your elbow, it will get skinny .  This area is where you will grab the elbow.  you will be grabbing this area with your thumb and index finger.


if your opponent punches you with his right hand.  You will use your left hand to grab the elbow and your right hand to grab the wrist.  You may grab the wrist from the outside or the inside.  It all depends on where the hand was prior.


The four permutations
    |     elbow       |      wrist     |
1) cutting hand and outside lap
2) cutting hand and inside lap
3) elbow grab and outside lap
4) elbow grab and inside lap

The double handed lap sau is a committed movement.  It is best to use this when the wing chun trap has been set off.

Proper form: Lap Sau single hand

There are two type of lap sau and these two different types have two different purposes.

The first version and the most common version uses a soft grip.  The soft grip does not hold tightly nor does it "pull" the opponent.  Its purpose is to guide and control the opponents punch.

The second version is less common and it uses a tight grip.  The tight grip is meant to pull the opponent and make them move.  It can also be used as a precursor to chin na (which is something not covered in this post).  Most beginners will interpret the lap sau as this version and will be blind to the differences between the first and second version.

What the novice will experience is frustration because they simply can't tightly grip on to their opponents wrist.  Let this be a lesson to you.  When your opponent throws a fast punch you MUST use a soft grip.

When your car is driving really fast, the correct way to stop the vehicle is to press on the break softly and adjust the pressure as the car slows down.  The wrong way to stop a car is to SLAM on the breaks.  Your car would begin to slide on the road and you will wonder why the car isn't stopping. (Cars these days have anti lock braking to prevent this skidding, but that is beside the point)

The analogy is very similar to what happens when you try to grab a super fast punch with a super hard grip: it will end up sliding in your hand.  (especially if you decided to add a pull to it.)

ok, lets go back to the soft grip so i can tell you about the technical aspects of how you do it.  In the soft grip , you only use two fingers:  ring and pinkie.
1)When the opponent punches, you first make contact with the blade of your hand.
2) Rotate your hand so that you can grab your opponents wrist with just those two fingers.
3) Guide the punch to the shoulder gate.  The elbow should still be one fist distance in away from the chest, just like the tan sau.

The soft grip lap sau is good because it is uncommitted.  The wing chun man must stay uncommitted until the situation falls in his favor.  When does it fall in his favor?  It happens when you are able to draw your opponent into the wing chun trap.  The trap enables the user to predict the opponents next movement.  More on this in another post.

Now after the soft grip lap sau has been successful, and the battle falls in the hero's favor, you may use a tight grip.  HAVE i mentioned that we are only talking about single handed lap sau?

Ok, now for the technical elaboration of the tight grip lap sau.
1) initially you already have the pinkie and the ring finger latched on to the opponents wrist.
2) continue to tighten one finger at a time around the wrist in this order:
 pinkie-> ring -> middle -> index-> thumb
3) pull outwards.  Do not pull it close to your body.  The pull is best done when your opponent is about to throw a punch with the free hand.  Reason being is that he will tighten his body to deliver the punch and that will turn his body into a lever.

double handed lap sau will be covered in another post.

in conclusion, a soft grip lap sau is used when the punch is flying at you really fast.  A right grip lap sau is useful when the punch has already been slowed down.  The slow down can be you or your opponents intervention.

passing the guard

Wing chun people are suppose to be experts of fighting short ranged.  The video below is quite good as it shows very smooth transitions from a cross hand position to the point of contact.

Grabbing the inside of your opponents elbow is a very effective way to move your opponent.  I never knew how to actually apply it in a live situation.  The video demonstrates one way to do it at 2:49

http://youtu.be/EzmY0pYIeKY

Huen sau smooth rotation

This movement goes in this sequence:

tan --> huen --> wu/pak

The rigid way to do this is to lead with the wrist.

to make it more smooth and flowing, you can lead with the finger tips.
Imagine your finger tips is the head of the snake.  The head leads the way
and the body follows.  Your finger tips lead the way and the hand follows.

Proper form

They say that “practice makes perfect” but it is a misnomer.  Its actually “Perfect Practice that makes the master.”  That means that if you want to get good at something you have to practice it correctly.

In this passage I will talk about what I consider proper form.  These rules are not absolute and I encourage all who read this to do their own research to find the truth that works for the individual.  These tips might not work for everyone, but hopefully they will help most.

STRIKING

Palm striking --

Another misnomer.  You don’t hit with the whole palm.  Doing so will make the attack weaker and it increases the chance that you will hyper-extend your wrist.  The correct description of a palm strike would be to “Carpus strike with the palm side”

Fak Sau --

Same idea as palm striking except you use the “blade” side of the hand.  A common misconception is to use the blade of the hand to hit.  This “blade” is the metacarpal that extends to your pinky.  If you hit with this area, your pinky knuckle will dig itself into the hand.  This metacarpal is very soft so you should not hit things with it.  In the middle of the blade is a nerve.  If it is struck, you will feel the buzz. The correct description of a Fak Sau would be to “Carpus strike with the blade side”

Power generation --  

This section is about the common goal that all striking tries to reach.  You hear time and time again that your punches need to be soft and then hard at the moment of impact and then soft again.  And in the wing chun world you will hear time and time again that you should NOT use your shoulder muscles to punch.  These two things are true.  If you violate either of these you are not punching correctly.  This info about power generation is not something I learned from any teacher.  It comes from self experimentation and paying attention to how the strike feels.

Whenever you throw a punch there will be a certain amount of recoil when the punch finishes.  The goal is to minimize that recoil.  If you punch too stiff, the power will recoil to your head and possible give you a headache.  This is most common when you punch the air.  it happens when you try to pull back the punch before the energy is released from your hand.  When you strike the air, you want the energy to extend outside of your body.  The recoil should stay in your hand.  If you are doing it correctly, it should vibrate your hand and minimal recoil should affect your body.  Another side-effect of striking correctly, is that it will “spring” back.  this means that you don’t have to strike and then pull back.  Its like a yo-yo that is rolled out and rolls back up with the same momentum.

As a quick analogy, picture a whip and a steel bar.  If you hit a tree with that steel bar, the vibration will travel to your hand and back to your body.  This vibration can make your lose grip of your weapon.  A whip on the other hand flings out and smacks the tree.  Pieces of bark fly off.  As soon as the tip whips the target your arm is in position to throw another attack with the whip.  With the whip, you do not feel the recoil at all.  All of your strikes should maintain this “whip” attribute.

Your shoulders should not be used to deliver the power of the strike.  They should be used to aim your punch and nothing more.  Your triceps should be the ones delivering the punch.  Your biceps would be the spring that brings your hand back to defense.  If you follow these tips then you should be able to punch faster and longer.

KICKING
Kicking is the same as striking with your arms.  The quadriceps will be used like the triceps.  The hamstrings will spring back like biceps.  The heel will be used like the palm side of the carpus.


BLOCKING
Do not block.  There are very few occasions where wing chun will block.  Most of the time, it will parry and deflect the attack.  Blocking means that you stop the momentum of the attack.  Don’t stop it.  Ride that momentum so you can use it against your opponent.

bong sau -- Align your wrist to your shoulder.  Align your finger tips to your center line.  You do not want to align your wrist to your centerline.  If it does then your bong has been been defeated and no longer has the leverage to do anything except break.  the wrist must be between the centerline and the shoulder.  

Try this experiment.  Align the wrist to your shoulder and do bong sau.  Ask a friend to lower your arm.  Alternatively you can use a ten pound weight.  Next try placing your wrist  in the centerline.  Ask your friend to lower your arm.  next try aligning your wrist to the opposite shoulder and ask your friend to lower your arm.  Which one is more stable?  Which one hurts?

Also:  Take a look at this link.  Its a weight lifting demo I know.  But doesn’t the posture look a lot like  bong sau?
http://youtu.be/IhZLB48kluc

huen sau coat hanger

I had always thought that huen sau was about using your hand to push the attack away from the center line.  I thought that when my hook hand would turn, the pinkie side would “push” it out.  Unfortunately, this is wrong.  
Lets start with an analogy.  A hanger -- the one that you can put your nice shirts on.  The hanger has a hook that used to hold on to a bar.  This is meant for holding downward forces.  When used in this way, the hangar can handle quite a lot of weight.  But what if you were to twist it while it was on the bar?  The hanger isn’t meant to handle twisting forces, so the hook will start to bend.  This bending would also happen to your hand.  Your bendy hand probably won’t be able to push the attackers punch out.
By the way, did I mention that I’ve never been able to  do a huen sau with that twisting movement?  Under pressure, it has become more of  tiny gan sau rather than a twist.  This means that you push down and slightly out.
Your huen sau should be used like a coat hanger.  Your wrist will push it down.  But the huen sau should be used like a hook that will ALSO pull the punch down.  This almost sounds like fook sau.  What makes it less fook-sau-like is the rotation of the forearm.  You do pull down like a fook sau, but towards the end you rotate it so that your fingers point down to the floor.  

At this point, you can give lower palm strike.  BUT you have ALSO give a head strike.  You have two options and the choice depends on what your opponent does.

• If your opponent resists you then strike his lower rib
• If your opponent doesn’t resist, there is a chance that he would go for a head strike the moment you go for a low strike.  In this scenario, your safest option is you strike the head.  Take the center and force him to the outside.

Lastly....if you try to lower your opponents arm, but can’t move it you will have to side step to change the angle of entry.  If you are using your right arm on top of his left arm.  You side step to the left instead of trying to lower.  You will still have to turn the fingers to point to the floor.  Once you establish the position strike/push his lower body.  You don’t have to worry about him striking your head;  The side step makes you too far away from his left arm.  The exception to this rule is if your opponent copies your footwork and body positioning.

Chi Sau

-- By Derrick
[The default rolling set up will have the left hand on the inside the right hand on the outside.]

1. [BONG ]If they punch from the outside you can bong sau and then use lan sau to pin the punching arm’s elbow to  your opponents body.  Place your lan sau hand on your opponents elbow for full coverage.  Simutaniously use fook sau to pull the other arm.  turn 45 degree.
1. A variation of the above:  Same thing except if they don’t punch, you may step in in order to create the pin.
2. [TAN] the hero uses tan to open the door then uses the same hand to strike.  The villian fook sau the strike downward and toward his oblique.  Village uses that same hand to strike the belly.  Hero uses lower bong sau then lap da inside running hand.
3. [DA sau] hero’s outside hand pushes the villain’s inside hand and pins in on the villians outside arm.  Hero does running hand with free arm.
1. Variation of the above:  Hero uses inside hand to pak the villain's inside hand.  At the same time, the hero must use his elbow to pin the villian’s outside hand.  Hero’s free hand will punch.
4. [forward GUM]  Hero’s inside hand goes to the outside.  Both of heros hands grab both of the villian’s wrists.  Hero uses left hand to pin villains wrist.  hero uses left elbow to pin villan elbow.  Hero uses right hand to pull villan wrist toward him.
5. [lop]  hero uses R fook to pull down villain L tan sau.  Hero right hand trades places with his left bong.  He can lop DA.
1. variation:   Instead of lop da, you can lan sau into him like a Ram
6. [tan] Hero uses R hand to punch low.  Villian uses left bong to deflect.  Hero right hand trades places with his left bong.  side step-tan da -step in.
7. [downward forward GUM]  Heros left hand goes to the outside.  downward forward double gum the top of  villain’s elbow.
1. If the villian pushes up, it will be difficult for him to escape.  The secret is for the villian to go down and to the outside.  Maybe with running hand or double fook.

Earth From - wooden Dummy

Earth form
--Derrick Ho

1. Pray up -- both wu sau hands together like praying.  push up from under, between the left and right arms.
2. snake -- leading with the finger tips make a small circle up and out
3. double tok sau -- push up 45 degrees away from yourself
4. L huen - R huen - L Huen - R huen
5. L short palm strike - R fook down
6. R short palm strike - L fook down
7. L short palm strike - R fook down
8. Wind up to the right
9. high low gan sau 3x --turn 45 degrees
10. wind up to the right
11. high wu low bong 3x -- after the high wu, slide it into a lop.  turn 45 degrees
12. inside pak da 3x -- side step to give your arm room btwn the upper arms.  Strike with horizontal palm strike.  The pak hits the inner arm then moves down to the middle arm
13. double jut sau -- center and square yourself back up to the  dummy.  Bring your arms down and then around to the outside then over the two arms.  Then do the double jut sau.
14. inside double tan sau -- turn 45 degree to the left.  move arms from outside inside from under.  Then do the tan.
15. R hand back palm
16. R hand inside lop - L hand jaum sau  -- this is like an arm bar
17. L hand gum then fak
18. L hand inside lop
19. R hand tok --  the inner fore arm touches the underside of the dummy arm.   The same arm the the L hand is grabbing
20. R Jaum --  june ma the left.  Left hand releases arm and r hand drives forward
21. R hand gum then fak
22. wind up on the right
23. R Jaum the inside L hook the middle arm -- turn 45 degree to the left
24. R chop belly -- square up to the dummy
25. L Jaum the inside R  hook the middle arm -- turn 45 degrees to the right
26. L chop belly -- square up to the dummy
27. R side pak middle arm - L inside pak
28. L side pak middle arm - R inside pak
29. R side pak middle arm - L outside huen then palm strike -- turn 45
30. L side pak middle arm - R inside pak
31. R side pak middle arm - L inside pak
32. L side pak middle arm - R outside huen then palm strike -- turn 45
33. wind up on the right
34. high wu and low bong -- turn left 45 degrees.  wu grabs arm
35. R tan L touch middle-- side step to the L and make cat stance.  all weight on L leg.  Imagine that the transition from high wu to the middle represents a grab and lower of the opponents arm.  The tan would block the punch your opponent would throw.
36. double side palm to belly -- step in to the dummy.  your leg must touch dummy leg
37. wind up to the left
38. High wu and low bong -- turn right 45 degrees.  wu grabs arm.  Step in to reach it.  
39. L tan R touch middle-- side step to the R and make cat stance.  all weight on R leg.  Imagine that the transition from high wu to the middle represents a grab and lower of the opponents arm.  The tan would block the punch your opponent would throw.
40. double side palm to belly -- step in to the dummy.  your leg must touch dummy leg