Straight Line Punch (basic WC punch)

[TzuChan]

Hello,

I did 20 punches of em today , and think I did them exactly how I'm supposed to.

But my right Shoulder feels kinda sorrow(I mean like how your legs feel after playing a soccer game, or running 20 miles:)) Is that normal ? Am I supposed to use my shoulder a bit ?

So I put myself in basic horse stance, punch with left fist first 20 rounds (cause weakest hand) and I do it like this: The left hand leaves using my ellbow, it turns 90° so it's in it's WC vertical stance, and then *snap* with my ellbow.

Is this correct ? Do I something wrong ?

Wing Chun is h o l l y

[Eric]

Relax.. That is a key to punching and wing chun in general. Relax the muscles. There doesn't have to be a snap at the end of the punch. Keep your shoulders straight. I don't know what you are turning 90 degrees, but there shouldn't be any turning at all. The punch just goes straight out from the chest.Your thumb knuckle should be pointing straight up the entire time.

I Don't know if that helps... but there you go all the same.

[old jong]

Yes,relaxing is very important.Use the very less muscle possible and just push your hand away along the center line using the same motion as sawing wood!Make sure to use a slightly ascending motion and your elbow will be safe from accidental snaps.Leave your shoulder out of it. ;)

C'est la vie!

[old jong]

Oh!...I forgot.Try to do at least a few hundreds(500 would be o.k.)punches everyday.These are you "weapons" after all and they must be powerfull and accurate to be of some uses. :D

C'est la vie!

[CLOUD ONE]

The shoulders should be relaxed, not moving as this would give indication to your opponent. The power comes from the hips!!!
The more relaxed you are the less effort you use, which is the key to W.C.
But to get to this relaxness you would probably have to do more punches, say 2000.
When you combine this with your turning i.e hip power then you have a serious POW to your punches.
Remember only tense at the last moment on impact.
Doing this in the air would be dangerous to your joints and ligaments.

[Martial Joe]

Think of them as a battering ram.Along with everything Eric and Old Jong said.

[S.Teebas]

If you've got sore muscles then it indicates you're using them too much. When you strike the object, the force is stoping at your muscles...what is preferencial is to be totally relaxed (whole body) to allow the force to run through your body...like electricty running through a circut, then allow the force to bounce back at you opponent. Therefore you are not trying to push the object away, so to speak, but rather to occupy the space of the target (opponents head or whatever).

How much effort do you think it takes to occupy empty space?...not much. Reach out to grap a cup and you occupy the space around the cup. This is how much effort it takes to throw a propper WC punch. But when somthing else occupys that space you want; you will need to build up a good body structure free from tension to be able to bounce back the opposing force.

Good luck! :cool:


S.Teebas

[Sihing73]

Hello,

The whole concept of the Wing Chun punch is to relax and rely not on strength for power but on proper positioning for power. In other words it is your structure which produces the power not your muscles. The key to developing power in the punch is to practice a great deal and stress form. Don't worry about speed or force these will come with time. Instead practice constantly. The suggestions given are good however I would just like to add that IMHO, you should start slow with a small number of punches, say 25 or so with each hand. In this way you can concentrate on the form and insure you are doing them correctly. Then gradually build up to 300 or more. Once you can do 300 punches properly then you can start to increase the number and start adding speed and practicing accuracy. Ideally you should perform around 1000 punches or so each day. Of course, this is just my opinion ;).

One other thing, the wallbag is used to perfect your strikes. It insures you are hitting with the proper part of the hand and your alignment is correct. Its use for developing power is secondary. Also, if you really want power practice a lot of punching in the air without any resistance. As you progress you can do things like punch with weights and while holding bottles. But, the bottom line is to relax and use proper form this is where you will get your power. The key words are RELAX and PRACTICE.

Peace,

Dave

[TzuChan]

A friend of mine told me I MUST NOT extend my arm at it's fullest, there should be some kind of angle. I agree with him, cause it's said like that in the book too. But I'm punching in the air for now, and it looks really hard to stop my arm and retreat it when I can't extend it.

Ow btw, I did the candle test, my fist is 5 centimeters from it and I can put out the flame, how far should I be able to do it to make shure I'm doing descent punches?

Btw don't worry about me learning with a book, I'm just getting the feeling of it, cause in one month I'm starting with a trainer, I just can't wait to sit here reading about it without doing anything (or just practicing my horse stance:)) So I'm only going to train on that specific punch, I want to get the form perfect now (strength doesn't matter)

Wing Chun is h o l l y

[JasBourne]

some schools teach that you should not fully extend the arm, for fear that the student might get their elbow broken. My school teaches that if you do not fully extend, there is still power in your strike that has not been released. We are taught to land the strike with full extension, and then *immediatly* relax the elbow, which gives you the angle again.

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[CLOUD ONE]

Can you fully extend your arm without moving your shoulder?
If you do move your shoulder from a relaxed position, I would say you have lost the connection to your body. This seems that the structure is weakened.

[Sharky]

i think *fully* extending is really, really dangerous. I know, cos it hurts like crazy if you do it wrong.

Edd

My anus is superior

[Eric]

"Candle Test"??????..

hahahaha.... wow.... I don't know what books or tv shows you got that from,, either way,, burn the books, and shut the TV off and practice your punching... Being able to put out a candle is no "test" of anything... Put out a house fire, and then maybe I will be impressed with your punching... until then.... sheesh... don't waste your time with that crap.

I would suggest that you put the book away and don't do anything other than squats and pushups until you start your training. If you walk into that kwoon after having read a book, and the sifu teaches you differently you may ask yourself if he knows what he is talking about "since it doesn't say that in the book" ... I have seen this happen, the new student becomes disenchanted by the style and the fact that he will have to work hard. Your first night of classes I guarantee you will be doing more than 20 or 25 punches. My first night I did 300 straight punches, 300 chan sau (sp) punches on top of walking drills, and pairing up and practicing with other students and forearm drills. When you start class, go in with an "empty cup" you will learn a great deal more.

[Watchman]

I think the biggest key to your punching is practicing them to have the arm completely lined up straight from point of impact to your shoulder, and learning to properly relax to allow yourself the maximum acceleration.

As far as lining them up properly, a good reference point to use is to extend both of your arms forward, palms together, points of fingers just below eye level. What you are making is a triangular formation with your arms - the point at your wrists and the base at your shoulders. When you are throwing punches your wrist and elbow should be just inside the angle of this imaginary triangle. If you punch a wall bag with medium power and concentrate on adjusting your elbow positioning relative to this angle, you will find that you can feel the impact of the punch being rebounded into your legs. That is the big key -- placing your power from the stance up into the point of impact.

Elbow acceleration: hold your fist against your chest on your centerline. Slowly press your arm forward on the angle I just talked about, and when your elbow clears the front of your chest you accelerate your whole arm forward using the tendons just behind your elbow and at the bottom of your triceps muscle. Once you accelerate you just let your arm fly and allow your shoulder to stretch forward. If done properly, you should feel your back muscles stretch all the way down to your hips. It should feel like you are firing your fist out of a cannon -- you just light the charge and let it explode forward. Once you get the feel for it, just increase the speed of your punching until you get some good, rapid, powerful chain punches.

The key is to relax as much as possible so your power can extend fully. Done this way, when your fist impacts with the chosen target the strike will create a hydrostatic shock effect using the kinetic energy created by the momentum from the elbow acceleration. Your punches should "pop" and "explode".

BTW, I'm a full extension advocate...and Ip Ching mentioned to me at a seminar once that without it you won't fully release your power. You practice for full extension, but you don't "hit" at full extension. This way, when you impact, all the power drops into Johnny Opponent's skull and turns the inside of his head to mush.



Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laveli
"Here too virtue has its due reward."

[TzuChan]

Thanks

Ow and the ******* about the candle test thingy, go ahead try it, throw your punch you would throw if you didn't know the centerline ****, you won't be able to put it out. The candle thing is to learn to hit straught instead of the "movie" like punches, but to "learn" is exagerated, since punched straight takes not so much practice, it's the ellbow stuff that keeps me busy :) But anyways, I'll keep on practicing my punches with my WC friend (he does it way further then I do, but I'm going to go to another school soon!!) every week or so, he sais his sifu told him not to extend his arm at the fullest, but then again I don't really like his sifu cause my friend did it for 6 months and has never ever heared about the word "Sil Nim Tao", So I kind of have my doubts about his teacher

Wing Chun is h o l l y