Ever use a chisel?

[Chang Style Novice]

You put the tip of the chisel against the stone and tap the butt end of it with a hammer. The tip of the chisel cuts into the stone with a considerable force, and if you're only paying attention to that, it might look like the force came from nowhere. You might ask "how did that chisel cut into that rock when there was no distance for it to ove and build up momentum?" In fact, it's not mysterious at all, but to understand it you have to look at what else is happening.

Same kind of thing for driving a nail into wood, using a wedge and a maul to split logs...

See if you can come up with other examples.

[red5angel]

uh, I have to assume we're not paying attention to the hammer/maul?

[FngSaiYuk]

uh, I have to assume we're not paying attention to the hammer/maul?

Basically he's saying that people that pay attention to only the strike and distance in the '1 inch punch' and similiar demo's are missing all the other parts of the body that generate the power to execute a solid and effective '1 inch punch'.

He's using an analogy of someone just paying attention to the tip of the chisel and not seeing where the power is really coming from - the hammer/maul.

[Chang Style Novice]

The amazing, astounding insight that I wish to share in this thread is:

kinetic energy can move through solid objects! And yes, one or zero inch punches are just a perfectly ordinary example of this well known fact. It's easy to think of power in a strike as being a result of the distance the striking surface travels, but it's just as possible that the distance can be travelled in some other (physically connected) location.

Now, whether that makes the skill a martially useful one is a different question. To make this kind of energy work, you have two requirements

1 - pre-existing contact with the target
2 - a very sound postural structure.

In other words, you gotta have your hand on the dude already, and you've got to be ready to fire it off. This seems improbable. Basically we're talking about being in a clench so some other, less complicated strike isn't going to be an option, and within that clinch you're already set up with a good root and proper alignment and all that. Well, we know clinches don't really work like that. In the clinch, your opponent is trying to break your structure while maintaining his own, and you're doing the same. The result is a dynamically changing situation that is never quite the same from one instant to the next. Even worse, it won't take much of a break in structure for your slammin' short power no-distance strike to become a feeble shove.

Still, I think this kind of thing - parlor trick though it may be - should be practiced. The basics behind short power and long power are the same, short power is just a little more limited in the ways it can access muscular strength. You will occassionally have need for short power, and in the meantime, developing short power will also boost your long power.

Feelin' windy tonight, apparently!

[Chang Style Novice]

Plus, if you're buried alive in a stranger's grave in a tiny West Texas town by your arch enemy's alcoholic brother, you can totally punch your way out of the coffin!

[gfx]

well, if we take a look at chisels and nails closer, the physics is that

that kinetic energy is passed to the medium that transmits the force ( the nail say ) via a relatively large surface area, then is passed through the solid object, which is rigid, with no give in the structure, and then onto a small contact surface, which focuses the energy passed onto a small area, and hence cause the damage.

what does this mean for the body structure of a strike that uses this idea? The body is not a ****genous ( you can't say h-o-m-o-genous? ) composition of metal, it's made up of various hard and soft tissues, plus a very large percentage of water, which will undoubtably absorb a lot of the energy transmitted. Does this mean one have to be very tense when delivering the strike? I'm assuming that it's the energy of the entire body moving forward that goes into the strike, then where would the tension of the body start and end?

Just some thoughts.

[red5angel]

Kinetic energy, wtf is that? Sounds like some sort of western scientific nonsense to me.
When I one inch punch someone and they die, or go unconcious or dance around like they're a 3 year old throwing a tantrum, it's because I've spent years in static stances and doing forms like I'm at the bottom of the ocean to cultivate my Qi.

[Chang Style Novice]

gfz -

yes, absolutely. I would say that in the analogy only the fist itself, from wrist to knuckles counts as chisel. The rest of the body is hammer. And because, as you note, the butt of the chisel is wide and the tip is narrow, the analogy is far from complete.

[ewallace]

Well, if you duct-tape the chisel to the rock, and drop a freaking sledgehammer on it, the rock dissinegrates (sp?) into little tiny peices. My point being that I would rather shatter by force than take my chances on kinetic energy doing the damage. Not that I discount it, just personal preference. But the one inch thing would come in handy just north of nuevo larado mexico. God knows there are some seriously viscious killings going on down there.

[Chang Style Novice]

I don't see where we disagree, ewallace.

Obviously you can smack the dumb look off some fool's face with a sledgehammer by swinging it. That would be similar to any normal punch thrown across a distance. The chisel/one inch punch only comes into play when you're too close to swing the hammer in the usual fashion. Your body exists dimensionally, so there is some distance INSIDE it that can be used to build up the force, if you know how. And actually, how it's done is mostly the same as how it's done when you swing a fist - pushing off the back leg, twisting the hip, throwing the shoulder forward, leaning into it dropping your weight onto the front foot - all that stuff. But your hand doesn't neccesarily have to travel in that arc to get all that force into it. Adding the arc also adds force, to be sure, which is why swinging a hammer shatters rock instead of chipping it the way a tapped chisel does.

[FngSaiYuk]

Best real world use of the 1-inch punch type techniques is in the clinch. It's always kewl to see 2 guys in a clinch then one just collapsing in pain and no one can see the shot 'cuz it was one of those perfect 0distance full body movements delivered through like an elbow to a sensitive are on the opponent.

[ewallace]

I don't see where we disagree, ewallace.

Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't disagreeing. Just stating my personal preference for crushing solid matter.

[Salacious Crumb]

Best real world use of the 1-inch punch type techniques is in the clinch. It's always kewl to see 2 guys in a clinch then one just collapsing in pain and no one can see the shot 'cuz it was one of those perfect 0distance full body movements delivered through like an elbow to a sensitive are on the opponent.

Shoulder strikes in the clinch are probably the best example of short power you can use on a consistent basis.

[red5angel]

Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't disagreeing. Just stating my personal preference for crushing solid matter.

can I state my personal preference for crushing your mom's @ss?

[ewallace]

can I state my personal preference for crushing your mom's @ss?

I would bet it's using your teeny-tiny breakfast weiner.