# What Punch do YOU Do in Chum kiu?



## wingchun100 (Mar 24, 2014)

I could almost make a song out of that subject line.

Anyway, I was just wondering how you practice a certain part of chum kiu in your lineage and what the reason is. 

In one of the sections of chum kiu, you pivot with a single lan sao, do a kick, step 3 times with bong sao/wu sao, drop the hands and then do a punch after the third bong sao/wu sao. My question: what punch do YOU do there? We do the good old straight punch, but we USED to do one that was more like an uppercut. That was before our school was associated with Yip Ching.

At any rate, differences in interpretation always intrigue me. I'm not asking for this to turn into a big critique of other lineages; I am just honestly which punch you do and (if you know it) why.


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## mook jong man (Mar 24, 2014)

wingchun100 said:


> I could almost make a song out of that subject line.
> 
> Anyway, I was just wondering how you practice a certain part of chum kiu in your lineage and what the reason is.
> 
> ...



We do an uppercut.
Why? I don"t really know , I did ask my master once why we had uppercuts and hook punches , and he laughed at me and said "You can't just have one punch".
I rarely seem to have to use them to be perfectly honest , although I have seen quite a few applications for them they just don't seem to be needed all that often.
Most of the time they occur when I have pivoted someone off to the side , and I hit them with the uppercut or hook when I do the return pivot.


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## Vajramusti (Mar 24, 2014)

mook jong man said:


> We do an uppercut.
> Why? I don"t really know , I did ask my master once why we had uppercuts and hook punches , and he laughed at me and said "You can't just have one punch".
> I rarely seem to have to use them to be perfectly honest , although I have seen quite a few applications for them they just don't seem to be needed all that often.
> Most of the time they occur when I have pivoted someone off to the side , and I hit them with the uppercut or hook when I do the return pivot.


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Uppercut- I can use it at very close quarters and use "short power".It can be more than a knockout.


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## Danny T (Mar 24, 2014)

Uppercut in the Jiu Wan lineage and can be more than a punch.


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## Marnetmar (Mar 24, 2014)

My lineage goes back to Leung Sheung and we do an uppercut, and like Danny T said, it's not _just_ a punch.


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## yak sao (Mar 24, 2014)

uppercut, but in our lineage (WT), we refer to it as a lifting punch.


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## jg_wc (Mar 25, 2014)

Ip Chun lineage. we do uppercut


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## geezer (Mar 25, 2014)

_NVTO Ving Tsun_ (coming from the same original source as _Yak Sao_) --We do the "lifting punch" which is an "uppercut", but different from a boxer's uppercut. 

Our Chum Kiu also contains three variations of the straight front punch: the standard straight-on "sun-fist thrusting punch" ("Yat gee chung kuen"), a "jumping-punch" that goes over the bridge ("til kiu chung kuen") and a punch that goes _under_ rather than over the bridge of the previous punch ("kiu-dai chung kuen"). Each has its place.

The "lifting punch" can, as Joy said, be more than a punch. But one example of a punching application of this movement would be when fighting an opponent who favors a boxing crouch and ducks and moves-in under your left straight punch (with your fist going over or past his head). So you drop your left elbow and grab the back of his neck with your left hand pulling his head forward and down onto your right lifting punch to his face or, if need be, throat.


_Why _use the lifting punch? Well, in the previous example, your opponent ducked and moved into a range and position (with his head tilted downward) where a straight punch would be awkward. He is now too close for a standard punch, and your only target is the top of his head. But by using a _neck-pulling hand_ and a _lifting-punch_ you can borrow his force and hit him hard in the face. In such a situation, it is simply a more efficient and effective response. ...And that equals good WC/WT/VT.


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## wingchun100 (Mar 25, 2014)

jg_wc said:


> Ip Chun lineage. we do uppercut



Yes, I saw him doing that in a book he wrote/co-wrote/what have you. Then again, the book was from 1994...didn't know if he had changed his approach since then. I've met his brother. Very humble, pleasant man.


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## Kwan Sau (Mar 25, 2014)

Vajramusti is correct...an uppercut, and yet so much more to that movement.


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## yak sao (Mar 25, 2014)

Here is a short clip demonstrating the lifting punch in our lineage.

http://www.howcast.com/videos/509879-How-to-Do-a-Lifting-Punch-Wing-Chun


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## geezer (Mar 26, 2014)

yak sao said:


> Here is a short clip demonstrating the lifting punch in our lineage.
> 
> http://www.howcast.com/videos/509879-How-to-Do-a-Lifting-Punch-Wing-Chun



Sifu Alex does a very nice job of explaining this from a WT perspective.


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## geezer (Mar 27, 2014)

Here's a clip posted a few years back by Sergio Iadarola. Toward the end (around 3:45 on) he discusses some varying interpretations of movements including the uppercut or lifting punch. For example he shows how another lineage uses this as an arm-lock or break following the lifting punch with a vertical elbow. In addition to a break, the vertical elbow is useful as a strike, of course. I personally have always felt that this is already implicit within the energy expressed in the simple lifting punch itself even without explicitly adding on the second rising elbow movement.


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## wingchun100 (Mar 28, 2014)

I wonder why ours has been changed to another straight punch. The only thing I can figure out on my own so far...is simply because it's different from everyone else. But wing chun has always been about having substance behind every move, so I am sure there is a deeper reason than just being different.


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