Do you have a chamber??

[couch]

In Wing Chun, we keep our fists close to our chest in the centre of the body.

In Kempo Karate, we kept our fists at our waist.

I would really like to know what style you train in, and where you keep your hands (either waiting to strike, or in stance training, etc...)

I'm really curious, as I've seen Kung-Fu styles that have their fists at the hips like Karate...

Thanks!

Couch.

[joedoe]

We try to keep our fists in our opponent's face :D

Seriously, we chamber our fists at chest height.

For fighting, we hold our hands in front of the chest, maybe a foot from the body.

[yenhoi]

JKD.

kinda like a mix between wing chun, boxing, and fencing.

my hands end up somewhere between my nose and shoulder, and somewhere between my shoulders, movin around and ****.

[Kristoffer]

like a boxing guard. In applications it is different but always try to pretoect the face/head

[dezhen2001]

Our hands are usually around chest height, on the centre (Wu Sau), not too close to the chest. But basically no chambering, just from wherever they are at the time (in an ideal world) :D

david

[PLCrane]

Pai Lum. In some of our forms and in our ceremonial bow, fists go to chamber. When sitting horse and practicing punches, fist comes back to chamber. I understand that this is useful for training purposes.

In applications, we keep our hands in front of the chest, usually one hand in front of the other when facing off, and when one hand is striking, the other hand is covering something or grabbing and sinking.

The only practical reason I can think of for bringing fist to chamber in an application is to stick your elbow into the guy behind you.

[Buby]

I train in Yau Kung Mun. In our first form and in learning how to punch we chamber our fist. In the first section of our form there is a move called la sau tongue(sp?) which we chamber just below our pecks, but when we punch (gin choi) we chamber to the waist.


PLCrane - The reason for chambering when punching is that you are grabbing your opponent(with the hand that chambers) and pulling him in and punching(with the hand that is free).

The chamber and punch combo is actually a dim mak tech, in which you attack the heart, lung and pericardium meridans.

Take care,
Buby

[PLCrane]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Buby
PLCrane - The reason for chambering when punching is that you are grabbing your opponent(with the hand that chambers) and pulling him in and punching(with the hand that is free).

I was taught not to pull anyone straight in like that. We either sink by pulling/pushing the hand down to a place alongside the hip (below the usual chamber position and a little away from the body), or we turn our own body so that the pull becomes more of a push, still in the direction that the attack was coming, but more away from yourself. I don't know if that's a clear enough explanation.

The chamber and punch combo is actually a dim mak tech, in which you attack the heart, lung and pericardium meridans.

Ah, you do stuff on the inner side of the forearm?
Are you attacking with the holding hand, or holding to attack with the other hand?

[Buby]

"I was taught not to pull anyone straight in like that." - Exactly! I was just trying to give a basic idea.

You catch the outside of the wrist(your palm on his wrist-back hand side), fingers curl on the inside of the arm. You are already attacking the heart, and lungs just by grabbing the wrist. Now depending where you hit with the free hand will dictate how your opp. is effected.

Take care,
Buby

[Daredevil]

Though you can see chamber-like action in Baji's training methods, in actual usage Baji does not chamber strikes. Baji strikes utilize one-inch power and are initiated pretty much from where they happen to be at the moment -- ie. in your face. :)

Another strike follows the last one, from where the hands happen to be until they strike or are intercepted, when you immediately change into another strike. And so it goes.

[Cipher]

I like to stand with one hand some what close to my chin (Whu Sou) the other one slightly bent but straight out in front. I usually lie to change sides from left handed to right handed often.

My other favorite method is a loose boxing/Thai type of stance.


I also like my US pro wrasslin stance were i look like I am in a very tall lazy horse stance with both of my arms flailing out to the side like I am ready to give someone a bear hug:rolleyes: J/K

[SevenStar]

I have 36 chambers... :D

seriously, I prefer a boxing type guard. when I pull my rearhand back, it covers my jaw. I can still snatch an arm back with my hand that high, and I can always pull downwards, should I choose to off balance my opponent that way instead of pulling directly. pulling down sets up breaks better.

[dysContinuum]

Dragon's "chambered" position would be with both fists up with the back of the hand forward. Hands about shoulder height and level with one another. The elbows guard the ribs. There is little or no defense with your hands by your waist, unless, of course you are fast enough :D

[FistOfTheNorthSide]

My teacher teaches from a few systems so i chamber different for each. In Nan Chuan it's up high and in long fist it's down low. When I did american karate it was up high. I did a rare fammilly style Bak Mei Fut Gar for a while and they chambered low even though it was a southern style. That style also had an odd chamber where you hold both fists together knuckles facing palms up just below the navel. In 7 cirlces shaolin it was down low. I generally had it tought to me that chambering taught propper body mechanics and gave you something to do with your other hand. The action of chambering can be used as a block as well and can have other interpretations.

[Buby]

In Yau Kung Mun we only chamber the fist in our first form(second form and on there is no chambering, short power is trained.) and when teaching a beginner how to punch properly.

When we fight we use short power, so our hands guard our centerline (very similar to Pak Mei and Southern Mantis), elbows down, and phoenix eyes ready to go.

Take care,
Buby

[HuangKaiVun]

FistoftheNorthSide, come visit "Huang's Kung Fu Academy" in Chandler (hopefully the corner of Dobson and Warner) in a month or two.

I'll be starting my own school and would love to meet you in person. You really know your stuff and I'm interested in seeing it.


My style doesn't chamber to the side, but it does chamber the way dysContinuum's Dragon style does.

[omegapoint]

Originally posted by SevenStar
I have 36 chambers... :D

Haha, no doubt! Where's RZA?

As for chambering, I was always taught that chambering was for Ti or Okinawan grappling training. It teaches one how to grab and pull (up or down, side-to-side or whatever) your opponent off balance while simultaneously striking. This type of training aids in the execution of standing controls, throws and locks. It is also for overall tendon strengthening and arm flexibility training. As mentioned previously, it also teaches one to throw good reverse elbows, and (not mentioned) linear strikes. Proper tachi kata or stance form, teaches one to brush their elbows close to the body, thereby reducing the chances of winging your punches.

Chambering height can be done from the chest, or at the hip. High chambering trains one differently than low chambering. If you think about it, keeping your hands too high leaves one susceptible to lower torso strikes and leg takedowns. If you bring your arms from a high chamber to an on-guard position, you can visualize this. Chambering at the waist with the fists on line with the ear teaches the novice how to protect the ribs with ones elbows. It also teaches proper fighting posture and balance. I don't want to elaborate, but high chambering with the fists forward, teaches the practitioner to lean forward with their weight which tends to affect their overall balance. I'll leave it at that...

In actual fighting a large percentage of karate, kung fu and other striking styles use a variation of the "invisible wall", or what many mistakenly refer to as a Western Boxing guard. It's interesting to note that BJJ does too. Although the lead hand may be lower, the effectiveness of this "wedge" is the same.

Chambering is for non-contact training not actual confrontation. Everyone should understand this. Peace....