Candle training?

[Repulsive Monkey]

Here we go with another can of worms!!!! It all depends on whether or not you're gonna put it out with external techniques or Internal ones.
Externally you will develop the ability to snap out short range fast punches I guess in order to create vast wind to blow it out. Internally you shouldn't move an inch or tense your muscles, and you would create the force to put it out internally with Qi. That used to be the test of an Internal Master, an acknowledged act of Yang Lu chan.

[Kevin73]

When I started candle training I started close so my punch was only about an inch from the flame and then when I was consistant with that I would move back until I could do it from a couple feet away. I've also used elbows and backfists to work on this also.

Like someone else said it is very good training to help keep you relaxed because if you get uptight while doing it you can't. I used to get really tense from trying so hard to get the flame out. It gives good feedback all around

"God gave you a brain, and it annoys Him greatly when you choose not to use it."

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

good stuff guys.

i was allot better at doing this about 6 years back.

i built up (or back) to being able to extinguish it from about 3 feet away. maybe a little more but not much. it actually didn't take all that long to be able to do it either. it's hard to remember for sure but i think it took me about a month to be able to do from that distance. it wasn't every time though. i got it about one out of every 5 or 6 tries ... sometimes it would take even more tries. you could also divide my successes from that distance by 3 for all the times i cheated and threw out an open handed backfist that stopped with my fist in line with the candle. i ended up stopping because my elbows always felt like hell the following day. i think this is because i didnt know how to punch properly at the time . . i'd over extend.

one thing that bothered me though is all the mention of speed as a requirement. at first it definately was, but when i was albe to extinguish the flame from about 2 feet i could also do so with a fairly slow punch at about a foot away. no cheating ... straight verticle fist punch. it wasnt super slow but not even close to being called a fast punch. i'll mess around with this again, now that i wont destroy my elbows doing so.


it may be a little while before i can give results though. i'm doing it from about 6' to a foot away again. it also takes me lots of tries because i get frustrated with it real quick which makes me tense. perhaps this will also be a good lesson im patience which i tend to be extremely deficient in.

where's my beer?

[IronFist]

But I heard you can't wear a long sleeve shirt when you're doing it because that will create wind. So I guess you gotta do it in a wife beater (for anyone who doesn't know, a "wife beater" is the kind of shirt that has no sleeves, also called an "A-neck" shirt. It's kind of like what big guys wear to the gym to lift in)

Iron

[Sum Sing Wong]

I have been doing the past few days just for fun. I thought I was just being dumb, at least thats what my mom said.

[Johnny Hot Shot]

Wife beater = Tank top.

"Life's a great adventure, mate."
Jacko Jackson

[Tora]

I did this in a Kyokushin Dojo a few times. Reverse punch at a candle and blow it out. Someone else said it was the retract that blows it out. We did it without any retract. The punch was held at the focus point in front of the flame. It’s kind of interesting but I don’t know how valuable it is. My take is it was more about the focus of the blow than speed. I saw some very fast people that lacked focus that had problems with it. It’s that pop right at the end that does it IMO.

It’s kind of interesting and fun. A good diversion and you may even learn something from it. But I wouldn’t make it a regular part of my training. Your time is better spent sparring or on a heavy bag or makiwara.

[ATENG]

"It shows something when you can do it from 10 to 20 feet away like some sifu's I have heard about"

oh do tell... :rolleyes:

"It's all fun and games til someone loses an eye. Then it's just fun."

[Budokan]

You fools. It's not the candle, it's the cake the candle is on.

Must we have this same old tired argument every time...?

K. Mark Hoover

[honorisc]

Crane's beak is the standard I comprehended for this. Internally just point. Strike of any sort, don't retract (for breathing). Understanding your breathing is the point of this~. Have different thoughts about your punching more so, breathe differently throughout the strike, and at the end of the strike. Try to isolate what works. Then do that.~ Also, besides different kicks and punches use a staff, punching the staff tip and comming down, still in front of the candle...

Could be *******ized into a party trick. Do it! see what it does for you. (It's developmental. :~>-ish

Very some such, perhaps might have been, likely say some, some not.

[WongFeHung]

Here's a good variation, extinguish the flame by doing a palm up chop passing over it. When you can consitantly blow out (actually the strike creates a vaccuum that sucks it out)four lined up, you are ready to chop the neck off a whiskey bottle-one of those that tapers at the neck and flares out like Johnny Walker. I did the candle thing, but I'm afraid to do the bottle, figuring I'd gash my hand up...so you guys try it first, okay?

[JWTAYLOR]

What keeps the bottle from just flying away?

JWT

If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV

[Wongsifu]

jwt i guess its some sort of weird formula that dictates that the speed which is needed to break the neck is higher than some constant of gravit + weight of the bottle ???

so if your hand is higher than this speed it breaks it ...

Anyhow , i read in suzuki's autobiography that he used to practise this daily as one of his punching excercises and i wouldnt like to be on the end of one of his strikes , so it must work :)

he also advocates kicking with metal boots on ...

what do bin laden and general custer have in common????
They're both wondering where the fu(k all of those tomahawks are coming from. - donated by mojo

[WongFeHung]

the bottles are half filled for weight,Miyagi did it to a Heineken bottle-not Chojun Miyagi,the other Miyagi- Daniel-san's sensei.

[Stacey]

I don't have the amazing skill of Rich Mooney, but I have done chi kung for a number of years. One of the things I've gained is the ability to relax, this has taught me to put snap in my punches, casing the air movement to blow the candle out. Normally I can jab a candle out at 6 inches and in a deep bow stance I can do it (on occasion) at 12. The best I've done is 14 inches.

Anybody else do this as part of their traditional training?

Carpe Diem.