My Tiger is Hungry... A forgotten Shaoln Long Fist technique?

[mickey]

Greetings,

In the following link is vintage footage of a demonstration of San Lu Pao Chuan. What is interesting is that the practitioner is grabbing into a fist instead of punching. I never saw this with any other performance of this particular form nor with other Shaolin Long Fist forms. I noticed this a while ago and I gave it good study before posting. It allows one to punch faster and to do so without shocking the elbow of the punching arm. Is this something that is no longer taught?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XThc67dKZRo


mickey

[RenDaHai]

Can you be a little clearer what you mean and where he does it?

[-N-]

48 seconds in?

That is a punch?

If so, that's a pretty smart way to codify in a form the concept of being relaxed when delivering a punch.

Most people have a problem dong that.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Yes, at 48 seconds, and several times before and after.

Here is the late Henry Gong doing the same form and it does not feature that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yXnPM3TnJM

I was taught an upward strike with the fist using the Tiger Mouth, the top part of the standing fist. I always interpreted the technique application to be an open handed throat attack, hence the "My Tiger is Hungry..." title to this thread. I used to say, "My tiger is hungry. It eats!"


mickey

[mickey]

If so, that's a pretty smart way to codify in a form the concept of being relaxed when delivering a punch.

I agree with you on this. If this WAS a part of the Shaolin Long Fist tool box, there should be nothing wrong with bringing it back. It is really good stuff.

Memory flash: I just remembered that one of my senior brothers from long ago talked about punching as if you are trying to catch something. The guy linked does this literally. It works really well.


mickey

[-N-]

I agree with you on this. If this WAS a part of the Shaolin Long Fist tool box, there should be nothing wrong with bringing it back. It is really good stuff.

Trying to get fighters to use relaxed punching is part of the toolbox whether kung fu, boxing, or whatever.

That concept really shouldn't need to be brought back. It should already be there.

We're always telling students to relax their strikes(or throws/takedowns for that matter) but I wasn't aware of that concept being explicitly codified in a form that way. But not like I know tons of forms either.

That concept always has part of Mantis, which is derived from Long Fist and Shaolin.

To me, it's just a universal concept though.

[bawang]

-be old
-be student of frail weak taiwanese kung fu failure (noodle arm rubber leg taiwanese changquan # 34642)
-overanalyze tiny movement in form using scanning electron microscopy
-talk about fighting while scared of elbow being hurt while punching
-autistic thread title using vaguely orientalist terms

legit kung fu post

[mickey]

Trying to get fighters to use relaxed punching is part of the toolbox whether kung fu, boxing, or whatever.

That concept really shouldn't need to be brought back. It should already be there.

We're always telling students to relax their strikes(or throws/takedowns for that matter) but I wasn't aware of that concept being explicitly codified in a form that way. But not like I know tons of forms either.

That concept always has part of Mantis, which is derived from Long Fist and Shaolin.

To me, it's just a universal concept though.

Agreed.

It is not the concept that I am referring to. It is that technical approach I am talking about. I have not seen that done by other Shaolin Long Fist practitioners. Again, I was wondering if it was dropped in the transmission.


mickey

[Jimbo]

Greetings,

In the following link is vintage footage of a demonstration of San Lu Pao Chuan. What is interesting is that the practitioner is grabbing into a fist instead of punching. I never saw this with any other performance of this particular form nor with other Shaolin Long Fist forms. I noticed this a while ago and I gave it good study before posting. It allows one to punch faster and to do so without shocking the elbow of the punching arm. Is this something that is no longer taught?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XThc67dKZRo


mickey

mickey,
When I lived in Taiwan and trained Mantis (and Long Fist), I never saw anyone 'grab into' a punch; only having the already-closed (or partially closed) fist tighten fully prior to impact. And I never experienced, nor saw anyone, hurt their elbow while punching. You hurt the elbow if you habitually hyperextend it. Proper air punching should still leave a small amount of bend in the elbow. If it's done right, the arm can appear to fully extend, but there's still maybe an inch of bend, which isn't even noticeable. Another method is to recoil slightly without extending as far. A lot of it may be personal variation.

I don't know how practical 'grabbing into' a punch would be from an application standpoint. You cannot always gauge exactly when the moment of impact will be against a moving person (or heavy bag), if the hand begins as consciously open like at 48 seconds into the vid. Time it, angle it or distance it wrong and you'll have a busted hand. I simply don't feel it's natural in the heat of the moment.

I had a good friend in Taiwan, surnamed Kuo, who was an excellent Long Fist man; he could fight very well, and (IMO), he had the best Long Fist form I've ever seen. What set him apart to me was his precision, spirit, and the speed/power/explosiveness of his punches/strikes, kicks, and overall movement. He wasn't a big guy, looking more like an academic than a fighter, but his forearms were thick and I've felt the power he could generate. A rather large British MAist friend of ours referred to Kuo's punches as 'thunderous'. He also understood what the moves were for. He never grabbed into a punch like in the vid.

Despite his outstanding form, he didn't place forms on a pedestal like many practitioners did, which is ironic in a way. He also hated when people complimented his form; it made him self-conscious because he preferred application and sparring. I tend to think his fighting carried over into his form, not the other way around. A pity he never became a teacher, and I do know he stopped practicing a long time ago, and became a university professor in Taipei.

*edit to add:
I only mentioned Kuo because there's a fine line between (1), power and gracefulness, and (2), becoming dancey-prancey. Especially in some Long Fist styles. The prancey types tend to lack a combative focus in training and be almost exclusively forms-oriented. There is also usually little to no understanding of application principles. This can come across with a lack of spirit and 'urgency' when they perform, almost like moving by rote, or sleepwalking through it.

BTW, Henry Gong's rendition of that set was excellent. Totally different level from the first vid.