Pai Mei : Kill Bill Vol. 2 - Hand Conditioning?

[KWUsCRD]

I have a quick question...

In Kill Bill Vol. 2 when Uma Thurman is training with Pai Mei, (Lui), and he sets her up with the hand conditioning board, where she keeps her fist extended finger lengths away and punches the board, what is that, if anything?

I saw that about 12 months ago at an Asian restuarant. One of the cooks was doing it using a wood pillar. One of the big square ones that hold up the roof. About a foot and a half thick both ways.

He was hitting it hard and quick. I mean hard... and quick. Far from the first time hes done it and much more then something to kill time doing. I took note of it but never said anything.

Anyways, what is that? Is it real conditioning? Is it conditioning at all? Where does it come from? Any information on it at all?

Thanks in advance, and respectfully yours,

Knowledge Wisdom and Understanding
Self Control, Respect and Discipline

[Kristoffer]

I'm not familliar with all methods of conditioning but when I train punches from that short distace it's to develop 'short power'. You know like 'one inch punch'. Explosiveness. However I mostly do it with a training partner and take turns and hit solar plexus with it. Open hand strikes (palm) is also used.

I've trained breaking and conditioning for about 3 years and I hit logs of wood (about 30 pounders), trees and cement/bricks regulary. I'm concentrating on stone breaking now (nature stones) and can breake stones that are ca 6 cm thick without much hassle. It's hard to do it on a first strike though, and somethimes it takes hundreds of strikes to get one. (all rocks are very different in structure etc. Some are solid as hell, nearly impossible)

Hitting a piece of wood like this is to make you feel less pain when you strike. It's controversial and some say it can damage your hand. If your taught right there shouldn't be a problem. I would never do this on my own without proper guidence first. To hit something solid with full power and speed without hesitation is a mind thing. To go past those mental barriers that say you'll hurt yourself. Breaking/conditioning is painfull but it teaches you to go beyond limits, builds streangt and explosive power in movement

[GLW]

The scenes you are referring to are Tarantino's homage to one of the Shaw Brother's classics. There were a couple of old 1970's/1980's movies out of Hong Kong that dealt with Wing chun. In one, the student is sent to learn Wing Chun to deal with a guy who killed his family and teacher.

He is set up to punch through a board. He draws back and goes through it. The teacher then moves him up right next to it and he starts... It includes the chopsticks scene where he can barely eat.

There is another one with - if memory serves - Leung Jian...and the training includes being closed up in a wooden room the size of an elevator...then when he can punch out of that...smaller and smaller.

Most of volume 2 were homages to old Hong Kong movies like that.

[Nick]

^Could you find the names of the movies? I'd like to watch them.^

Later...

[GLW]

I would suggest a google search. It COULD be a Golden Harvest Movie as well..

Anyway, I saw the two movies originally in Chinese with subtitles back when they first made it over to the US...real film at a theater and all that.

They may or may not have been made onto a dvd/vcd.

[Ray Pina]

They are on DVD and I think its simple named Wing Chun. One guy goes to study Mantis, too, right? Where the guy has him standing over the well doing something that I forget and hitting all kinds of home made dummies.

Anyway, you can train short power without hitting anything. Have a friend hold out his arm and lock it. Stand next to him, place your palm at about his elbow and shove it. Try to do it without louding.

The key is to do it from contact. This is a good skill to have when defending the shoot and grappling already. If you can touch the side of the head/neck/chin you can shock it. Don't think KO power (though it can be), think bothering you power to set you up for good punching.

This is something I focused on for about a year and a half. Of course, more full-body power can be added.... guess it's never enough.

[GLW]

That was one of the movies...the other was about Leung Jian...it had the table fights and small room stuff...

Both fun movies for their time.

[Vyvial]

prodigal son and descendant of wing chun

[Ray Pina]

That's it: Descendant of Wing Chun.

I just bought a Return of the Flying Gullitien DVD which bragged of "now released" and "remastered."

I thought it was the original where the guy dreams up the umbrella weapon.... I mus have been 8 or 9 years old when I saw that.

Is the original out?

[Ray Pina]

Found it! Just ordered it off Amazon for $5 .... can't wait. I remember it being kidn of slow action but a standout, one of a kind flick.

I got rid of all my tapes (about 20 classics) when my ex took the VCR. I need to also get Kid with the Golden arm on DVD.

Also, I remember this one flick as a kid where there was a big tournament where the guys had to climb up this big structure that had knives as the steps on the ladder. Can anyone name that tune?

[KWUsCRD]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm also glad to find out I'm apparently not the only one addicted to Kung Fu movies.

[David Jamieson]

short power is not about "distance", it's about "time".

so, you can have long power from a short distance too, or falling/dropping power.

It is about the amount of time you issue the energy/jing

anyway, having said that, i would not rely on a QT movie regardless of the coolness as a way of training. lol
Fun to watch, useless as a serious training methoid and probably if you look back on theh cook and then look at the movie, you will see two completely different methods with two completely different approaches and you have to know that the cook likely filled some pre-requisites before doing the strikes to the wood.

cheers

[red5angel]

It's not Descendant of Wingchun you guys are talking about. I have both movies at home. The one your talking about has three shaolinmonks who are sent off to study with certain southern art masters to go back and defeat three northern art masters. One guy learns wingchun, one guy learns Mantis and one guy learns some sort of staff form.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005NFZ2/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/104-3157954-1333526?v=glance


Invincible Shaolin.

[Ray Pina]

Yes, yes, that's the one!:)

Though Descendants of Wing Chun, I had that one, too! though forget the plot. Didn;t it have a monk sitting in meditation with a bunch of candles around him? Now I remember it. Guy spies the teacher teaching and learns and practices on the dummy afterwards, then something, something, something, goes with the monk to fight on a grassy hill on the end.

I'm rebuilding my collection smarter this time and only getting classics as to not have dozens of tapes that I never watch or have watched so many times I can't stand to watch them any more and even my girlfriend can dub them and gets annoyed.

So far I have 5 Deadly of course, Crouching, Master Killer (which I'm bored with already ... out of the Shaolin mode), Kill Bill and now Master of the Flying Guillotine. Flying Guillotine is on its way I need to get another Kid w/Golden Arm. I love that cop character and the Toad character.

Can anyone else list some flicks with those guys? Some must haves that I can't recall? Those two are my ol' time favorite characters..... ooh, what's the one where the guy trains his students and says he'll be ready when he can take his opium pipe from his hand while fighting one handed?

[MasterKiller]

No kung fu DVD collection is complete without Hero. While it's mostly wire-fu, that movie is great.