# Hip Power



## mook jong man (Jul 31, 2010)

Closely related to my other topic on the use of the shoulder in developing close range striking power.

What methods do you use to work on Hip Power aside from the practice of the forms , dummy etc.

Apart from increasing short range power with your arm strikes it also increases power in kicks and knee strikes.

This type of extreme close range striking ability can come in very handy indeed when stuck in a close range vertical grapple.

Just so we are all on the same page I am not talking about the standard Wing Chun whole body pivot , I am taking about what we used to call a " Half Hip Projection " 
Where for what ever reason it maybe inappropriate or due to circumstances impossible to use a full standard pivoting strike.

It is just a very short , sharp jolt of the hip forward on the same side and synchronised with the particular strike you are performing , only a very short economical movement is needed.

The first way I train it for all strikes using the arm is to isolate the movement by extending my arm straight out so that my elbow joint is taken out of the equation , either touching the target with my palm or just slightly out of contact .

I then slowly start projecting my hip forward so that my palm hits the target , try not to project from your shoulder joint , you only need to project the hip approximately an inch or so .

As with the exercise with the shoulder I MUST EMPHASISE that only a small movement is needed , the movement could quite easily become committed if you start madly throwing your hips or shoulder forward.

The next one I do is to put the arm in a very small angle so that my palm is only about 5 inches or less  from my chest , again only barely touching the pad with my palm.

As you project your hip forward , which in turn will propel your arm forward try not to open up the angle in your arm at all and use your elbow joint to power the strike .

For kicking and power in knee strikes get in your stance and raise your knee up until it touches or just outside of contact with the target whether it be a heavy bag , kick shield or other equipment.

Using just your hip on the same side as the raised leg , project your force from your hip , through your femur and out through the knee and into the target.
As before only a small movement is needed , too large a movement will be committed and screw up your structure.

The next exercise is where I totally isolate the hip projection itself ,
I will get my partner to hold a focus mitt on his hip , so that we are standing in front of each other aligned say right hip to right hip or left hip to left hip and I will try to move him with the hip projection through the focus mitt.


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## profesormental (Aug 1, 2010)

Greetings.

If I intuit what you are referring to, we call this the "wave". In conjunction with a stance change, it can create explosive power in strikes.

We are now starting to refer to it as "width zone power generation", since we are working on training designed to ingrain it consistently on students. And those subtle changes in width are key to this kinetic linking that causes the explosiveness of the strikes.

Not as easy as it sounds to teach reliably, yet we have great results!


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## mook jong man (Aug 1, 2010)

profesormental said:


> Greetings.
> 
> If I intuit what you are referring to, we call this the "wave". In conjunction with a stance change, it can create explosive power in strikes.
> 
> ...


 
That would be the one , and not easy at all.


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## dosk3n (Aug 2, 2010)

The hip movement is a very important part of Chun Fu in my opinion. Like said it helps generate the power for that short range attack and is used in a lot of martial arts.

I guess its one of the things that makes up that saying that goes somthing like it takes no time to learn Wing chun but takes all of time to master Wing Chun.


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