Developing strikes

[k gledhill]

There are certain drills we use to focus the students on their elbows and not wrists

keep the idea of having every action an attacking action, and that we don't fight like chi-sao with 2 hands equally extended....one leads one follows...cycles of attacking actions..strikes with dual simultaneous ability to block/strike as they move back and forth cycling along the centerlines, as you angle and shift flowing with the opponent ...

developing striking actions without body angling/ movement , then lok sao 2 arms in unison , no body movement ...that comes later in chi-sao seung ma toi ma attacking facing drills & bong /jut drills...

Dan chi-sao , the tan elbow spreads off the line as it hits 'versus' the jum sao elbow stays in as it hits, but done in 2 stages to develop preliminary positions to strike from later in 1 flowing strike.
Mistakes to avoid, using the wrists to move downwards , sideways, or trying to stick with the movements using wrists, etc...iow isolate the arms to point along your own centerlines while using the elbows movements to cover entry to or displace from your centerlines....

By facing squarely we use each others 'facing' to make each other square on, just for the drills and alignment purposes...this makes each arm able to reach the target as we are at angles ...as dummy side facing using tan & jum ...either strike/energy will reach as we face from angles, trying to isolate one 1/2 of the opponent by turning or using their natural turning actions...

We also add the bong sao action for recovering the bridged arm...iow whenever an arm covers [not touches] entry to the target, we use it to displace the arm with sharp left or right energy to our lines , opening up the path for the rear hand , wu sao.... then drop the bong elbow as recovery to strike again with elbow in ...same idea as SLT.
Once the partner strikes over the bong sao, he practices withdrawing his arm back to neutral fok sao ...as a strike that recoils back to strike , the elbow remains relaxed but central , neutral. iow we train to recover the arm after its lifted , as this happens the partner doing bong sao remains in bong , NOT rolling and following the fok sao, this will develop a rolling sticking idea....bad

so the dan chi sao is in cycles of strike versus strike tan v jum and recovery of the tans extended strike as the jum remains aimed and in contraction, this stops the drill from making you roll and stick with the tan as it goes back to prepare for bong sao.

so you can see that there are parts of the drill aimed at STOPPING the student from feeling to follow etc...instead we aim strike recover elbows then start another section.

Seen from outside it LOOKS like sticking flowing rolling but then the ideas arent being shared to understand the stop and start sections... the energy developed will later be combined into single striking actions using the 2 stages in 1 striking flowing action....

Some simple ways to show this 2 stage development is to have a student hold their arm off to the side outside their shoulders and the as the coach strikes to their centers [ for drilling purposes] they bring their elbows inwards and attempt to intercept the line of the strike, using the elbow to the centerline , not the wrists.
If the wrists are being used, we can feint the strike to show the wrist traveling past the centerline....another method of showing this idea is to have them slap their own hand off the line ....using the elbow as the focus like all the drills....

moving to double hands rolling and then striking tan v jum without doing the 2 stage stop and hit actions.....strike versus strikes tan v jum strikes , each trying to displace the other ...in one beat, stalemating to develop the strikes along the line ....opening up arms to develop striking into gaps of available space, not sticking etc....

the by-product of alignment training gives the students the feel for incorrect alignment , relative to their own striking lines ....any use of wrists that deviates from the centerlines can be felt instantly, ...maintaining the idea that we dont use 2 arms extended , will show that any deviation felt from the lead arm will be taken advantage of by the following rear hands....if the hands are free , iow nothing in the way they simply hit....

sticking and rolling is a common mistake , it wont develop striking ability required to make the strikes function alone, iow you wont have to use 2 hands to fight one isolated arm always..over trapping or over sticking to control ,compensating for lack of proper alignment drills early on in ones training...

The SLT starts with two hands striking equally along the centerline x at the wrists outwards then back to X wu sao's ...we strike equally facing from each arm....then develop the starting points from which to strike from...tan elbow in , jum elbow in....huen & wu as it travels back to recover the xing strike line, making a natural intercepting angle as it starts to move forwards again along the line....each arm equall...Chum Kil will give us the angles and movement to work the SLT...a fighting bubble SLT and CK ...BG gives recovery to losing the bubble idea....