Developing short power

[_William_]

Hello everyone,

Would anyone like to share their methods for developing short power. Any information or thoughts on how to most effectively strike from close distance(or any distance for that matter) would be much appreciated.

Here is what I am doing currently: I do plenty of work on the dummy, pivoting from the Siu Lim Tao stance to the Chum Kiu stance and punching, and also practicing coordinating forward stepping with striking.

[roza]

Hi William ,
I will describe my way :
1st :there is no long movement to give the power ,so it must be replaced by coordination of structure + using whole bodyweight the correct way.
2nd :it must be done explosively by all the parts of structure from the current position to one point in one movement.
3rd :realize ,where the short power is developed - hips ,Tan tien.
4th :know the conditions for leading the power from this point to target - correct breathing ,propper tension before,when,after.
5th :to be able to develope short power is different from to be able to use it - work on both.

As the short power is a little bit higher level ,must be based on good basics - even to prevent physic. harm.

For me one of the best ways is WCH Tan Huen kuen- wooden ring form ,to get the feeling of explosion and than work on it.Must be tested time by time ,to be sure that all parts of structure are working the correct way - and I think dummy is the right one for it.

So ,its how I understand it now.
Looking forward for other replies.
Roza

[Mr Punch]

Wall bag wall bag wall bag heavy bag.

Later, clinch work/close chi sao.

More details later.

[KPM]

Do a search in this forum for "short power" and "inch power." We had a pretty long discussion about this not long ago.

Keith

[Ho Chun]

[QUOTE=roza]Hi William ,
I will describe my way :
1st :there is no long movement to give the power ,so it must be replaced by coordination of structure + using whole bodyweight the correct way.
2nd :it must be done explosively by all the parts of structure from the current position to one point in one movement.
3rd :realize ,where the short power is developed - hips ,Tan tien.
4th :know the conditions for leading the power from this point to target - correct breathing ,propper tension before,when,after.
5th :to be able to develope short power is different from to be able to use it - work on both.


This is very well put. Roza, has described it perfectly. I'm not a Wing Chun man, but when I saw this thread I had to read.
Iron Palm training has helped me in developing short power.
http://www.noweightsworkout.com/exercises/streaming/
Click on "short break"

[David Jamieson]

short power and long power. IMportant things to know:

1. It is about time, not space
2. you already have the fundamentals of each.

short power is the force generated by abrupt push or strike to a surface. THat energy that is transferred is deemed "short" because it is onlt expended for a short time. you can develop it through heavy bag work and alignment correction to increase it.

long power is also about time, not space, and is a sustained output of energies.
Something like a choking lock is using long power. Or driving someone back into a wall and sticking to them is long power as well.

Chi sao and wrestling are good tools for developing long power. BUt general strength development and rooting will also help cultivate this power in you over time.

[roza]

Hi David ,
many people - many ways ,and I respect yours.
But ,as I ve been taught and by my experience ,its about space for me now ,not about time ,because when I use long power I do it in the possible shortest time too.
It seems to me ,that when you described short power ,it was more description of consequence ,not the way ,how to generate it.
I think ,there are no specific technics to be done with short power only ,and no technics to be done using long power only.For example ,elbow lock could be done with short one sometimes - to break the joint ,and with the long one too - to get the control of opponents stability and go on with grappling -just example ,as I said.
The most important thing I see in ability of binding both kinds of power together during series of movements ,and having the correct rythm of it - which must be based on experience from correct exercises.
By the way - chisao is good tool for learning ,how to release short power - at least to feel the difference between releasing short power from free construction and against pressure.
What I totaly agree with is importance of rooting ,mentioned by you.
Respect
Poza

[KPM]

Coordinated and proper use of the Kua, transmitted in a wave-like fashion thru the torso and arms, emitted in a whip-like fashion at the point of the strike. You can think of it as a whip.....the lower body is the handle, the kua is the junction of the handle and the braided portion, the torso and upper arms are the braided portion, the forearms/hands are the popper. Read the previous thread on this. :)

Keith

[Mr Punch]

I would say:

slow close chain punching on a wall bag in ygykm relaxing the hand completely for impact (letting the structure fold into itself in a naturally strong fist)

same again from approx the length of your fingers, again letting them fold in naturally

same again turning

speed it up.

Then repeat the process on the heavy bag. You don't want it to swing, you want it to crumple, or ideally (if you can do this hard and correctly there's no way of knowing...!) hardly move at all... then you know you're hitting to the centre of the mass.

Use it in chi sao.



Of course, you should be concentrating on rooting and the kwa thing Keith describes is useful but I prefer to come at it as a spiral wave from the back heel/floor contact point, with the kwa closing.

This practice will help you to understand the feeling of hitting something and the energy passing down through your structure.

I wouldn't worry too much about breathing at first. In a fight if you concentrate on your breathing you'll get your clock cleaned. Plus after a couple of punches to the body and head, your breathing'll be all out of whack anyway! Having said that of course make sure your breathing is relaxed. The best thing you can do to improve relaxed breathing during exercise/fighting is strangely enough, by improving your cardio.

Another good exercise is to raise your elbow in a high bong sao, turn it over using as little energy as possible into a tan sao position and let the fist drop naturally onto solid surface (like a focus mitt on a table, or just the table if you're hard). You can translate this relaxed energy into your short grabbing movements on the dummy to build short power, and of course also in chi sao... letting your fist 'fall out' into the target.

Have fun.

[M.Viking]

Did you read my article in Kung Fu Magazine a few months ago on using cables?

Heavy duty surgical tubing will give you a great workout when you apply WC principles.

Power lifters have been using these for a while and greatly benefit.

[David Jamieson]

boxers use surgical tube for resistance when punching.

the idea is similar to:

"bounce a basketball, do it for one minute continuously, now switch to a ping pong ball and see how you've conditioned yourself with the basketball and that transforms as the ping pong ball goes flying on the first bounce" :-)

[Liddel]

You already have enough good ideas from others to think about,
all i would add is that, if you are a VT man concentrate on inch and elbow power. SLT can help with this.

These two things IMO will help you create a 'sharpness' in your punching power for fist or palm strikes in short and/or longer range attacks.

Sharpness is good, heavy is good, sharp and heavy - Ho Kung Fu. :)

[anerlich]

Heavy duty surgical tubing will give you a great workout when you apply WC principles.

As David said, nothing new about this. My instructor first got me using bungee cords for punching - and kicking - around a decade ago. You can push against the cord for resistance, then turn around and use it for overspeed.

IIRC Mike Parriski wrote an article on Rene's site about using resistance bands in WC, a couple of years back.

I think this helps speed and overall power, but does not necessarily target short power specifically.

[stonecrusher69]

a lot of chi sao will develope short power as long as the structure is right.

[hazhardy]

change your name to wallbag william,, that should work..
wallbag it boss, should do the trick,
http://www.ukwingchun.com/Wing_Chun_Wallbag_Training.htm
hza