# how to train punching?



## dapidmini (Jul 26, 2011)

I've just attended my first wing chun class a week ago and I'm trying to train at home as my teacher told me. he told me to stick a pile of paper on the wall and punch it for punching exercise. I've done about 300 punches and 15 minutes after that my hands start to tingle and the bone above my eyes feels weird.. is it normal or is it because i'm doing it wrong?


----------



## yak sao (Jul 26, 2011)

You want there to be some give to what you're hitting. The paper is very condensed and you are getting that schock right back into your body. Also, make sure you aren't doing it against a concrete wall !!!!!

Training technically correct punches in the air slowly and precisely would be what I would advise at this stage in the game.
Or get a partner to hold a focus pad...much more giving.
Remember, good kung fu training should be good for the body...if it's damaging you, then why do it?


----------



## geezer (Jul 26, 2011)

Listen to Yak. WC isn't about super hard-style conditioning. It's about developing good technique and safely conditioning your body in a moderate, healthy way. I balance "air punching" sets with bag hitting sets. I fill my bags with rice or beans. I feel that anything harder like metal shot, gravel or even sand will have negative long term effects. Imagine if you punch a _really hard_ bag 3-5,000 times straight, say three or four days a week. What will your hands be like when you are 60 years old? And, these days, 60 isn't that old!

So buy or make a good bag, fill it with something that gives a bit, and build up your reps and power _gradually_. And continue to "listen to your body". Often you will _know_ when something is wrong. If so, don't ignore it. Happy training.

PS. Welcome to the forum. How about a little background info on yourself and your branch of WC?


----------



## wtxs (Jul 26, 2011)

dapidmini said:


> I've just attended my first wing chun class a week ago and I'm trying to train at home as my teacher told me. he told me to stick a pile of paper on the wall and punch it for punching exercise. I've done about 300 punches and 15 minutes after that my hands start to tingle and the bone above my eyes feels weird.. *is it normal or is it because i'm doing it wrong?*



First of all, welcome to this forum.

Sorry to hear of your unpleasant experience.  IMHO it is not normal (after just one lesson) nor is it responsible for your teacher to have you work on punching like that first without proper instruction or guidance, and without regard to possible physical damage ... and therefore causing you to performing it incorrectly, please stop it for now and talk to your teacher about it.


----------



## Buka (Jul 26, 2011)

Five to ten years and you should be just fine. Just go to class and have a ball, brother. You have so much fun ahead of you!


----------



## threethirty (Jul 26, 2011)

Welcome to the forum.   Having pain in your head from punching is probably not good. What punch are you doing? Did your Sifu talk to you about structure? At my school we punch with the last three knuckles, with our wrist locked, and with out elbow down. This drives the return energy into the body.   Hope that helps. Please let us know what Sifu says about it.


----------



## mook jong man (Jul 26, 2011)

Start by doing single slow punches  in the air from the guard position , work on closing your hand into the vertical fist when the arm reaches approximately full extension , then let your arm relax , hand open and return back to the guard
Make sure the thumb locks in properly over the fingers to make a good solid structure.

With your "continuous punch" just do the same as above , but alternate with each hand .
Instead of coming back to the guard , the hand comes back to approximately one fists distance from the chest as the other hand travels over the top of it on its way out to punch , rinse and repeat.
Keep the wrists on the centreline and make sure every punch lands on the same spot.


----------



## dapidmini (Jul 26, 2011)

thanks for the great replies, everyone. my teacher's primary MA is southern shaolin kungfu but he has also been learning wing chun, muay thai, tai chi, and aikido. he told us (his students) that he's mixing them up to cover the possible weakness of each martial arts he learned and to complement each other. we didn't specifically tell him that we *only* want to learn wing chun so I guess that even though what he teaches now is mostly wing chun, he's trying to keep the southern shaolin kungfu tradition.. (his master is called the iron fist)

I guess I'll switch to air punching for awhile.. what kind of bag do you suggest for me to fill rice in as punching bag?

by structure do you mean posture? my teacher taught us 5 ways of punching. I guess some of them are shaolin punch..


----------



## Eric_H (Jul 27, 2011)

If your teacher is having you do iron palm without the necessary education and dit da jow, you need to find a new teacher.

Iron palm starts with light tapping, not full force punches. you want to do full force, get something that gives - like a thai bag.

Your first iron palm bag should be filled with mung beans if possible.


----------



## wtxs (Jul 27, 2011)

wtxs said:


> Sorry to hear of your unpleasant experience.  IMHO it is not normal (after just one lesson) nor is it responsible for your teacher to have you work on punching like that first without proper instruction or guidance, and without regard to possible physical damage ... and therefore causing you to performing it incorrectly, please stop it for now and talk to your teacher about it.


 


Eric_H said:


> If your teacher is having you do iron palm without the necessary education and dit da jow, you need to find a new teacher.



I'm with Eric on this ... and hope you have good medical insurance if you wish not to follow our advise.


----------



## MacPedro (Jul 30, 2011)

Hi Guys,
        just a quick note about the filled bags. I could easily afford one but decided to recycle the leg of an old pair of jeans. Use strong glue or a sewing machine to seperate into pockets and fill with media of your choice. Experiment with quantity of rice to suit requirements. This will eventually need repair but it's as cheap as you'll get. Hope you find this useful.
Pedro


----------



## geezer (Jul 30, 2011)

MacPedro said:


> Hi Guys,
> just a quick note about the filled bags. I could easily afford one but decided to recycle the leg of an old pair of jeans. Use strong glue or a sewing machine to seperate into pockets and fill with media of your choice. Experiment with quantity of rice to suit requirements. This will eventually need repair but it's as cheap as you'll get. Hope you find this useful.
> Pedro



MacPredro: That's an excellent idea. I doubt if "strong glue" would do the trick for long, but heavy stitching sure would. If you don't have access to a suitable sewing machine, you could hand stitch it or take it to a shoe-repair shop and they'd probably do the job for ten or fifteen bucks, including straps to hang it from. That's still less than half what you'd pay for a cheep manufactured bag. And it's actually more authentic. I mean, do you really think those  hard-training guys back in 19th century China bought their wall-bags online or at a martial arts supply store?

BTW I had to take my bag to the shoe repair shop anyway after the hanging grommets ripped out. I had them stitch on some nylon straps with hardware-store D-rings instead. So far, it's holding up great.


----------



## Haris Lamboo Faisal (Jul 30, 2011)

Masumoto miyasushi miguma yagami use to punch into a bucket full of molten rock collected from the Most searing and deadly Volcano known to man , Mount Doom ... If you can you should go to mount doom and find a hot rock crater spewing lava , attach some newspapers to it using molten lava as glue and then punch the **** out of that ***** molten rock infested paper. afterwards you should find the narrow path that has molten lava on both sides and do a double backflip dive into to your left and if by any chance you manage to survive work the other side , remember the hotter it gets the hotter you get! My rant for the day Well played lamboo.


----------



## wtxs (Jul 31, 2011)

geezer said:


> MacPredro: That's an excellent idea. I doubt if "strong glue" would do the trick for long, but heavy stitching sure would. If you don't have access to a suitable sewing machine, you could hand stitch it or take it to a shoe-repair shop and they'd probably do the job for ten or fifteen bucks, including straps to hang it from. That's still less than half what you'd pay for a cheep manufactured bag. And it's actually more authentic. I mean, do you really think those  hard-training guys back in 19th century China bought their wall-bags online or at a martial arts supply store?
> 
> BTW I had to take my bag to the shoe repair shop anyway after the hanging grommets ripped out. I had them stitch on some nylon straps with hardware-store D-rings instead. So far, it's holding up great.



Long as you're in the repair shop, see if they can make you a bag out of scrap leather for few more bucks.

See what you all think about this wall bag training video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRu3...y&list=PLD82E6CE489C1570F&index=10&playnext=3


----------



## ilhe4e12345 (Aug 2, 2011)

when it comes to punching i was always taught first that speed and accuracy were always better to develop first then work on hard. I have been training for 3 years (7 star Praying Mantis) but i have also been training Wing Chun (the first form and basics). My teacher just recently started me on iron palm training about 2 months ago and ill explain how he has me doing it...

I filled my training bags with sand (harder then i should start but it was all i could get atm). My teacher has me hit the bag 25 times per hand per side every other day...thats it. He also doesnt have me hit the bags hard...thats the big thing. He said i could full punch the bags if i wanted too but all thats going to do is hurt me in the long run. By hitting the bags at about 30-40 percent of normal strength (maybe even less then that) it slowly develops the iron palm training without causing long term damage to my hands, arms, and shoulders. Also he has me traing it on a 3 month set then stop for a month. Not sure if that is good or bad, but he explained to me that not only will it give my body time to heal (which is a good thing) but it will allow me to get the full ebenfit from the training. I recoomend this if you want to train iron palm.

As for "training a punch" i practice everyday atleast 50 punches 25 slow, 25 fast not hitting anything but punching while facing a mirror, aiming for the face, neck, or solar plexis. When i first started 3 years ago i went out bought a heavy bag and started to full punch on it...not only was my punching terrible and not able to hit anything i aimed for (no patience) BUT i cracked my pinky knuckle in my right hand and now its permanently damage (messed up muscle and cartalidge). Take your time...train the right way, and becareful. 

Im not a master by anymeans......just offering my 2 cents


----------



## tarzan (Aug 8, 2011)

MacPedro said:


> Hi Guys,
> just a quick note about the filled bags. I could easily afford one but decided to recycle the leg of an old pair of jeans. Use strong glue or a sewing machine to seperate into pockets and fill with media of your choice. Experiment with quantity of rice to suit requirements. This will eventually need repair but it's as cheap as you'll get. Hope you find this useful.
> Pedro



I did the exact same thing. It has stood up very well, its now 4 years old and still holding on. I used dental floss for the sewing, by hand, cause its super strong. The top of the bag where I hit has actually worn away quite a bit, where as the seams have had no issue.


----------

