strike "visualization"

[TjD]

recently me and one of my kung fu brothers were having a discussion about how the energy of a strike is transferred.

i said it explodes in all directions on contact/penetrates, while he held the view that it travels directly out the fist/palm/whathaveyou in a straight line.

we couldnt figure which was better. i wouldnt want to be hit by his strikes, nor would i want to be hit by mine :D when we do our forms, theres a distinct difference in how they look because of our "visualizations" about how strikes work. while both of our methods work and hurt quite a bit, they do feel/look different.

anyone have any input on what they feel should happen on strike contact?

[Mckind13]

maybe your both correct?

David

[ricksitterly]

i believe that how the energy is transferred depends on how you apply the strike.

for instance, with power punches (aka "knockout punch"), if you drive through the target, pushing through it with the legs/shoulder/hips/whole body / whatever, this probably supports the idea that the energy transfer travels moreso in a straight line ( have you ever seen how someone's head can knock back and tend to keep going in the direction your punch was travelling ... transferring the momentum I suppose).

On the other hand, sometimes you may punch very fast, yet with little drive behind the strike. In these cases, I believe the energy "scatters" and disperses itself all through the target...usually causing the most damage to the surface of what you are hitting ( busted open skin/ broken nose/ etc., but no knock out). In my training its called a "speed punch". Executing it with a very loose, "light" feeling in the arm, it strikes the target's surface and then quickly retracts. Basically, you are moving the arm like a whip, rather than a hammer (like in power punches). Punching like this can definetly harm someone, but I've almost never seen someone (in training) be "knocked back" any distance by one of these...unless by overraction. Anyhow I guess that gives some indication of how the energy is being transferred. You stop directing it as soon as you reach the target's surface, thus leaving it to transfer in any given direction (like ripples in a pond).

Anyways I'm no physicist, it's just a little theory based on experience (from being hit a lot lol). But this would explain why both of your punches look different upon application, as you are both delivering them differently with different intention. Peace trav