Punching air

[PHILBERT]

Whenever I practice, should I fully extend my arms when I punch?

[S.Teebas]

Move them out as far as it is comfortable. But dont lock your elbow or hyperextend.

[vt108]

You should fully extend your arm while punching. At the end of every punch you should feel a snap of the elbow. Be careful to punch correctly because one of a hundred punches can injure your hand.

[rjlohan]

I got the impression that you should maintain some angle in your arm when punching...:confused:

[S.Teebas]

Snap of the elbow????????

[vt108]

"Snap of the elbow????????"

Yes, snap of the elbow.

[Ish]

i try to keep my arms bent slightly, only a couple of degrees but it stops you locking your elbows.

the "snap" doesn't sound too healthy

[TjD]

definately do not snap your elbow! thats asking for hyper extension


the problem which arises is that when you punch, your elbow join moves upward, while your fist is moving forward.

once your arm is extended fully, the momentum from this motion will cause your elbow to continue moving upward, and your forearm to move downward - which can cause some nasty problems :)

when you punch, you want to minimize this effect


peace
travis

[vt108]

"once your arm is extended fully, the momentum from this motion will cause your elbow to continue moving upward, and your forearm to move downward - which can cause some nasty problems "

When arm is extended fully your wrist should be canted so two bottom knuckles make a line with the forearm. When you do it correctly and at the correct moment and you think about your elbow going forward it will not let it go upward. Snap doesn't mean you have to break your elbow or hyperextend it.
This kind of training make your punch more "penetrating". When you think about stopping your punch at the particular moment you can loose a chance in a fight to punch your opponent or at least make a contact with his body so he has something to think about while you are starting your second punch.
I practice this way for some time and I made my punch twice much powerful than before and I never hurt my elbow.

[S.Teebas]

Yes, snap of the elbow.

???? ...doesnt sound good to me! What exactly do you mean by 'snap' how do you snap?

The way i see it the elbow movement should be smooth. Fast (when puching) but smooth....so you get a good flow of attack.

[vt108]

"???? ...doesnt sound good to me! What exactly do you mean by 'snap' how do you snap?

The way i see it the elbow movement should be smooth. Fast (when puching) but smooth....so you get a good flow of attack."

A snap is simply doing a punch to the full extension of the arm so at the end of the punch elbow makes a very fast and dynamic action (which you can hear if somone punches very hard).
I also forgot to write that because punch is comming forward and a little up (punch is comming at a little angle) the forearm is not going downwards as TjD said. This way elbow doesn't go upwards only forwards. This helps to not hurt an elbow.
Of course punch should be very loose until the end of punch. Only at the end of the punch you should make your fist tight.

[Gandolf269]

My Sifu teaches us to extend the arm fully when chain punching in the air. At first I was a little concerned about this because of the reasons mentioned above. But, I haven't really noticed my elbows "snapping" at the end of my punches, maybe because of relaxation. More importantly, I have not experienced any ill effects from training this way.

If you stop your arm at an angle when air punching, aren't you using muscle to stop your punch short; and thus training the wrong muscle memory??

[vt108]

"I haven't really noticed my elbows "snapping" at the end of my punches"

Maybe because your punch is to weak. ;-)

[mun hung]

I am in agreement with vt108 for the most part, except I'm not sure about the snapping sounds.

The elbow should be "pushing" the fist to a full extension upwards to the height of your own mouth. Elbow should not be "popping" upwards, and fists should not be "hammering" downwards in a circle.

[IronFist]

I'm no Wing Chun expert, but I don't think you should be hearing anything in your elbows during a punch...

IronFist

[Gandolf269]

VT108,

Maybe my punches are weak, I'll keep working at it. Or, maybe your arm "snaps" when you fully extend it because your elbow is weak? :D

[Ish]

No one ive seen chain punching has ever had a snapping sound in there elbow, so everyone i know who does wing chun must all have weak punches. it doesnt feel that way on the receiving end tho

[popsider]

We punch to extension - in other words we do not stop the punch in order to protect our elbows - the elbow should not be hurt if you drive from the elbow rather than hammering down. That's basic wing chun in every class I've ever attended - and having moved around a bit I've attended a few.

If that damages your elbow then there should be a lot of older wing chun guys with damaged elbows.