Hammering?

[Nyrotic]

I seem to have a bad habit of hammering, and no amount of attention on trying to delete the habit from my muscle memory seems to be working.

Any advice on how to kill this little imp?

 

[profesormental]

Greetings.

Hammering in the right context is good. So to help you your would have to be more specific as to what kind of execution you're looking for.

Hope this helps.

Juan M. Mercado

 

[Nyrotic]

Well, I was taught that, when chain punch training, my punches should be shot perfectly straight from the chest, and that hammering is when you drop your fist at the end of the punch because it wasn't straight. I was taught that hammering, when done over a long period of time, can damage your elbows...

 

[Touch Of Death]

Well, I was taught that, when chain punch training, my punches should be shot perfectly straight from the chest, and that hammering is when you drop your fist at the end of the punch because it wasn't straight. I was taught that hammering, when done over a long period of time, can damage your elbows...

The hammer should happen first, and if anything your punching action should rise; so, by just doing it in the air just now; I've concluded you may not be lining your elbow and wrist on your center line as well as you could.
Sean

 

[CheukMo]

The only thing I could add would be to tell you to practice your punching very slowly and be very relaxed while doing so. If you can perform it well slowly, you should be able to perform it well fast pretty soon.

 

[brocklee]

The only thing I could add would be to tell you to practice your punching very slowly and be very relaxed while doing so. If you can perform it well slowly, you should be able to perform it well fast pretty soon.

I would have to agree with this. Slowly from heart, then launch the arrow until natural, full extension. If you're feeling pain in your elbows its because you're flexing your tri-cep and extending all the way out beyond the natural extension. Also, it depends on the line that you're studying. Unfortunately my instruction doesn't include chain punches, it's very difficult to apply WC power to 3-5 punches as apposed to 1.

 

[KamonGuy2]

When you say hammering, are you talking about a downwards force in your chain punch?

Hammer hands are used extensively in wing chun and I find them one of the best tools in my attack. In chain punching, the best way to correct is to slow down the punching and feel the power transfer in each punch, then slowly speed up

 

[Touch Of Death]

When you say hammering, are you talking about a downwards force in your chain punch?

Hammer hands are used extensively in wing chun and I find them one of the best tools in my attack. In chain punching, the best way to correct is to slow down the punching and feel the power transfer in each punch, then slowly speed up

The concept of going slow is becomming a new pet peeve of mine. Going slow won't help without proper alignment. Perhaps going slow will help you find it, but it's really one path verses another. I suspect this is a matter of anchoring the elbow. You will notice that by not anchoring your elbow your forearm just drops; align the weapon and the upper part of your arm rises and keeps the fist on a straight line.
Sean

 

[CheukMo]

The concept of going slow is becomming a new pet peeve of mine. Going slow won't help without proper alignment. Perhaps going slow will help you find it, but it's really one path verses another. Sean

That's exactly my point. It is much harder to find and correct something at full speed than when slowed down. Once the error is found, start again with the correct techinique and slowly build up speed so that it maintains the correct structure. I agree that slowness is not the answer to everything and that it sometimes is not the avenue to use to find the answer.

 

[KamonGuy2]

In my class, I ask even my advanced students to test their structure by going slow and placing the punch into pads etc

Touch of Death - it does sound that you are from a group of chunners that like to blast out with a rapid fire of quick chain punches
Good speed, no power

 

[jks9199]

In my class, I ask even my advanced students to test their structure by going slow and placing the punch into pads etc

Touch of Death - it does sound that you are from a group of chunners that like to blast out with a rapid fire of quick chain punches
Good speed, no power

I think people are perhaps misunderstanding Touch of Death's point... and it's one I agree with.

Going slow is generally good advice -- but it's not the whole of the advice. Going slow lets you concentrate on getting the pieces right and in place -- but you've got to have the pieces in the first place. Otherwise, no matter how slow you go, you're not developing skill, you're just moving. It's like the community center tai chi instructor who learned 103 movements of the form in a weekend seminar as a "health dance", not a martial art... He's going slow all right, but he's not really developing the power that's in the system.

 

[Changhfy]

Generally speaking, when we teach the student how to punch.
We first start with the proper mechanics and forms, from this point we then start the student on punching objects such as kick shields, tombstones etc... From this point its important to understand how to use the punch (so in other words the concept behind the punch and other variables)

Generally for the sake of mechanics the student should start out slow, if you start out punching equipment without mechanics and at higher speeds you'll have never ending injuries.

But the goal is to throw the punch with proper alignments at full speed. Given the proper alignment will also add power to the punch, dont get me wrong no amount of throwing punches in the air will prepare you for hitting equipment at full power or even a person. This is something that has to be experienced.

Other than that, All I can say is it takes a lot of repetition.


hope this helps.

take care

 

[Touch Of Death]

In my class, I ask even my advanced students to test their structure by going slow and placing the punch into pads etc

Touch of Death - it does sound that you are from a group of chunners that like to blast out with a rapid fire of quick chain punches
Good speed, no power

Its all in the hip.

 

[KamonGuy2]

Yes you are right it is all in the hip. And feet. And arm.

But you won't 'feel' if you are doing right if you don't break the motion down and go slow.

jks9199 - how do you get the move right? You go slow and make sure that every position and turn is right.

It is the only way to ensure that 'you have the pieces in place'
I am confused as to how you can have the pieces otherwise?

 

[brocklee]

It just depends on the instruction. If its taught fast and you can use it that way, perfect. Same for slow. Certain Sifus rather teach that bridging isn't what should be focused on and instead would rather teach that you throw a limb out there and if it doesn't work....hurry and get the other one out there...and so on and so on.

 

[jks9199]

jks9199 - how do you get the move right? You go slow and make sure that every position and turn is right.

It is the only way to ensure that 'you have the pieces in place'
I am confused as to how you can have the pieces otherwise?

You have to have been taught them at least once correctly. In other words, if I tell you to simply throw a hypothetical kick we'll call "stomping elephant" slowly... but don't bother to teach you how to align your body properly for it -- it doesn't matter how slow you practice. You probably ain't gonna do it right... But, if I teach you the pieces that go into the kick -- and tell you to practice it slowly, exactly as I've taught it to you, you probably stand a pretty good chance of mastering the kick.

 

[brocklee]

You have to have been taught them at least once correctly. In other words, if I tell you to simply throw a hypothetical kick we'll call "stomping elephant" slowly... but don't bother to teach you how to align your body properly for it -- it doesn't matter how slow you practice. You probably ain't gonna do it right... But, if I teach you the pieces that go into the kick -- and tell you to practice it slowly, exactly as I've taught it to you, you probably stand a pretty good chance of mastering the kick.

very nice

 

[KamonGuy2]

You have to have been taught them at least once correctly. In other words, if I tell you to simply throw a hypothetical kick we'll call "stomping elephant" slowly... but don't bother to teach you how to align your body properly for it -- it doesn't matter how slow you practice. You probably ain't gonna do it right... But, if I teach you the pieces that go into the kick -- and tell you to practice it slowly, exactly as I've taught it to you, you probably stand a pretty good chance of mastering the kick.

My point was that, when you first teach them the move, you do it slowly. If you show them a kick, are you saying that you just let them kick really fast?

Jks - you are contradicting yourself. You first put up posts saying that you shouldn't go slowly and then your last line said that you do practice it slowly. Which is it?

The arguments on this post was that you should/shouldn't train moves slowly. My stance is this - you should show students the move and get them to practice it slowly so that they 'feel' the alignment.
Then once they build that up, they can incrteas in power/speed

If a student throws a punch, they know if it is badly aligned or has no power almost immediately. Certainly a watching instructor would know.

 

[jks9199]

My point was that, when you first teach them the move, you do it slowly. If you show them a kick, are you saying that you just let them kick really fast?

Jks - you are contradicting yourself. You first put up posts saying that you shouldn't go slowly and then your last line said that you do practice it slowly. Which is it?

The arguments on this post was that you should/shouldn't train moves slowly. My stance is this - you should show students the move and get them to practice it slowly so that they 'feel' the alignment.
Then once they build that up, they can incrteas in power/speed

If a student throws a punch, they know if it is badly aligned or has no power almost immediately. Certainly a watching instructor would know.

I'm not contradicting myself at all; I've simply said that, by itself, practicing slowly isn't enough. You have to practice the technique properly. If you practice it improperly, whether fast or slow, you won't improve.

Then, there's a time and purpose for slow practice and for fast practice, but you should (with a few rare exceptions) never practice faster than you can do the technique properly.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I'm not contradicting myself at all; I've simply said that, by itself, practicing slowly isn't enough. You have to practice the technique properly. If you practice it improperly, whether fast or slow, you won't improve.

Then, there's a time and purpose for slow practice and for fast practice, but you should (with a few rare exceptions) never practice faster than you can do the technique properly.

Don't say never. The only way to get fast is to move fast. Yes, you will probably sacrafice technique at first, but once you understand where the alignment is, the stops and bad habbits you gain by going slow will have to be eliminated eventualy. For instance, when moving slow you use muscles, that aren't normaly asociated with the punch, simply to support the weight of your arm.
Sean