WingLamStudent:"My comment is this, just because he was considered a “northern” stylist does not mean that he can not use an IP method from anywhere else."
J: Is it known where the iron palm method comes from? I'm curious to know whether the "bag" is truly a southern concept or just more predominant in the south. There's no reason for me to believe or not to believe that the "bag" was part of the northern method as well. This is the substance of my original question.
WingLamStudent: "how the student hold their hands will be particular to any style – any ready stance that is comfortable is correct"
J(original post):"I am wondering about the initial hand positions in the fighting stance. Many systems choose to place one hand at throat level and one at heart level to cover vital targets. Wing Lam and the attacker have their hands at the same level. This leads me to believe that this is the trained hand position. Is this the taught fighting hand position? What are their goals?"
I'm assuming from your post that this is NOT the taught fighting hand position. It's true that there are many different opening hand positions, but they usually have different goals. As the example that I gave where the heart and throat are covered. Another example would include "opening" areas to bait to certain areas or draw opponents into the desired fighting range (more common for short hand systems).
As far as the heaviness and coloration, I agree with Gene. From a scientific point of view, consider how much ferrous/ic oxide (rust) that you would have to absorb to actually feel a difference in the weight of your hand. Consider the fattening of your hands. Also, consider when you actually began to feel the heaviness in your hands and whether you've felt this heaviness from other training.
Gene, thanks for pointing me to the bak sil lum vs n. shaolin article. Bravo. I enjoyed the article.
Mark, I enjoyed your article as well.
Reply With Quote