Holding bricks when you punch

[Kung Fu Wang]

Any training with weights doing taijiquan too early in your training is, to me, counter productive.

Agree with you 100% there. To me, this is not only apply to Taiji. It applies to all MA system as well. The equipment training is only for "enhancement". You have to first "develop" something so you can have something to "enhance". If you have not developed anything, there is nothing to enhance with.

I don't like the approach that I go to gym to get strong first and then start to train MA. I like to train MA first and then use special equipment to "enhance" my special MA skill.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don't think you always have to sacrifice power for speed or vice versa. After all, there is an old physics equation that can apply here:

Force=Mass x Acceleration

The only problem with F = MA is the acceleration needs time, you may not have the time that you need in order to reach a full acceleration.

Here is a simple test.

Stand in front of a heavy bag. Within 1 second, try to throw

1. 1 punch by borrowing the counter force from the ground, going through your leg, hip, upper body, shoulder, arm, and finally reach to your fist.
2. 2 punches (each punch only have 1/2 second to generate power) the same way.
3. 3 punches (each punch only have 1/3 second to generate power) the same way.
4. 4 punches (each punch only have 1/4 second to generate power) the same way.
5. ...

You will find out that you will have harder time to be able to generate 100% power when your time is getting short from 1 second down to 1/4 second, or even less time.

Since your opponent may be a fast moving object, you may only have 1/6 second to be able to hit him. How will you be able to generate 100% power at that small period of time?

When you have reached to the higher level, people should only see your body movement, they should not see your arm movement. But no matter how fast that your body can move, it still can't move as fast as your arm.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

i finally had a chance to watch the video. I'll give a critique, so you might understand what I'm looking at.

He's onto the right idea, tho how he expresses it physically is different than how I would. If you really want power, keep the back heel down and drive that back foot into the ground and use it to drive the body rotation. He lifts the heel and drives back with the ball of the foot. But he's got the right general idea.

However, when he shows the punch at full speed, watch closely: he rotates the body FIRST, and punches SECOND. His punches actually come after the body rotation is completed. That is one telltale sign that he hasn't really got it. That body rotation needs to be happening at the same time the fist is going out. Otherwise, he's just arm-punching. The body rotation has already stopped, so it's no longer giving power to the punch. They need to happen together.

This is a good example of someone who believes he's doing it, but he's not. He's rotating and putting his body behind it, driving from the back leg, so he has reason to believe he's doing it. But his timing and coordination are off, it's not matched with the punch. So in reality he isn't doing it.

That's the kind of thing that I look for, and that's why I say, most everyone believes they are doing this, but most people fail. The devil is in the little details, and the little details make a HUGE difference.

I watched the video and I actually agree with your assessment. Mind you this isn't an indictment of the art, but that individual hasn't mastered all the nuances of developing punching power yet.

Now for comparison, watch this video:

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

in the chaos of combat, everything breaks down and degenerates. That's why it's important to train with the highest quality in your technique that you can. So when it does break down under pressure and combat, you'll still have something left that is effective. If you train with crap, then when it breaks down under chaos load, you'll have little or nothing left, perhaps not enough to be effective at all.

on a personal note, I know Brendan Lai's wife and son, and I discovered a few days ago that they apparently have closed their martial arts supply shop. I stopped by to see them, and the space where the shop has been located for the last few years is empty. So sad.

Agree with you 100% there. I have cross trained both the praying mantis and Zimen systems for "speed generation", I have also cross trained both the Baji and XingYi systems for "power generation". I tried to integrate both "speed generation" and "power generation" together but found out it's just very difficult (if not impossible) to achieve.

One of my friends Su Yu-Chang had combine Baji and praying mantis into "Baji praying mantis". I just don't see how that can be done.

It's sad to see Brendan Lai left when he was still young. He was the ISCA advisor when the "International SC Assoc" was formed. One of his favor tricks is to "use his leading hand to strike his opponent's back shoulder". He was so fast that most people could not block his punch when his punch passed his opponent's front shoulder and reached to the back shoulder. There was one time a challenger walked into his store. Brendan told that guy, "I'll throw just one punch at you. If you can block it, you win, otherwise, you lose." When Brendan said that, his fist moved slowly toward his opponent's chest as if he was going to punch at his opponent's chest. When he actually punched at his opponent, his punch moved at his opponent's face with lighting speed instead.

 

[Flying Crane]

I watched the video and I actually agree with your assessment. Mind you this isn't an indictment of the art, but that individual hasn't mastered all the nuances of developing punching power yet.

Now for comparison, watch this video:

yup, that video is much more compelling. her body connection is much better.