Will you punch from your waist?

[Flying Crane]

I was going to say that, "flicking the hips" thing was a bunch of crap, but you say it so much better.

I don't even understand flicking the hips

 

[Xue Sheng]

Take it lower. Punch from the feet. That's where the waist rotation comes from.

My opinion: this whole punch from the waist thing, it's an expression of full Body connection and waist rotation. It is a very powerful method of delivery. Application is on top of that. Yes, it can be used to drive a punch. Yes it can be used to grab and pull. Yes it an be used to drive...whatever. But without understanding the principle of the delivery, the specific application isn't worth much, isn't very powerful.

Yup, all of that comes from your root and is directed by your waist, a punch does not come from the waist

 

[Cirdan]

Yep I punch from waist the same way I walk from my waist.

 

[Zero]

I don't even understand flicking the hips

That's interesting, I thought most would acknowledge the attributes of "flicking the hips" when punching. But seems like there are two different schools of thought, and probably much more, on this.

I have trained with boxers and studied others that have this as part of their technique and was drilled it myself while in goju ryu karate. In addition, while I only spent a couple of years doing wing chun alongside karate, when I would experiment on the one-inch punch with the sifu he definitely engaged his hips as part of the movement and it seemed actually key to generating such power with such short range of movement. But seems maybe Xue Sheng is also in Flying Crane and Touch of Death's camp on this.

With reference to Xue Sheng's comment, I need to think about that and the mechanics more, I don't think I was saying the punch actually "comes from the waist".

 

[clfsean]

Take it lower. Punch from the feet. That's where the waist rotation comes from.

Actually I do for almost everything (sometimes I get rushed & miss it, but not often), but it said "waist" in the title so I went that way ... :bangahead:

 

[Flying Crane]

That's interesting, I thought most would acknowledge the attributes of "flicking the hips" when punching. But seems like there are two different schools of thought, and probably much more, on this.

I have trained with boxers and studied others that have this as part of their technique and was drilled it myself while in goju ryu karate. In addition, while I only spent a couple of years doing wing chun alongside karate, when I would experiment on the one-inch punch with the sifu he definitely engaged his hips as part of the movement and it seemed actually key to generating such power with such short range of movement. But seems maybe Xue Sheng is also in Flying Crane and Touch of Death's camp on this.

With reference to Xue Sheng's comment, I need to think about that and the mechanics more, I don't think I was saying the punch actually "comes from the waist".

I'm guessing it is a method of engaging the body in the punch. In my opinion it doesn't go as far as it could as a method to develop that capability. But as such it at least isn't just arm punching.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I'm guessing it is a method of engaging the body in the punch. In my opinion it doesn't go as far as it could as a method to develop that capability.

was this is reference to "coming from the root and directed by the waist"? If so, I'm not sure what you mean by this, could you explain?

If you are saying what I think you are I could explain further if necessary

 

[Zero]

was this is reference to "coming from the root and directed by the waist"? If so, I'm not sure what you mean by this, could you explain?

If you are saying what I think you are I could explain further if necessary

Did you mean, by coming from the root or from the feet, such as how boxers, or those that punch similar to boxers pivot on the balls of their feet so for better weight and power alignment?
And/or from also generating power through the legs, basically from the feet upwards? Such as how you can generate a lot more power in an uppercut if the quads are employed rather than just the arms?
I agree that the waist - or hips come into the direction of the punch but from my experience, the hip flick actually increases the power of the strike as well and adds to that generated from the legs and other parts of the body, such as the lats, which are also part of the equation.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Did you mean, by coming from the root or from the feet, such as how boxers, or those that punch similar to boxers pivot on the balls of their feet so for better weight and power alignment?
And/or from also generating power through the legs, basically from the feet upwards? Such as how you can generate a lot more power in an uppercut if the quads are employed rather than just the arms?
I agree that the waist - or hips come into the direction of the punch but from my experience, the hip flick actually increases the power of the strike as well and adds to that generated from the legs and other parts of the body, such as the lats, which are also part of the equation.

I'm not speaking for anyone else here, but for me, a punch works off the concept of stepping through. You may not be stepping through, but it all works off the step through. I think of them as attempted... Kicks too, but then you are stepping through.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Did you mean, by coming from the root or from the feet, such as how boxers, or those that punch similar to boxers pivot on the balls of their feet so for better weight and power alignment?
And/or from also generating power through the legs, basically from the feet upwards? Such as how you can generate a lot more power in an uppercut if the quads are employed rather than just the arms?
I agree that the waist - or hips come into the direction of the punch but from my experience, the hip flick actually increases the power of the strike as well and adds to that generated from the legs and other parts of the body, such as the lats, which are also part of the equation.

No pivot on the balls of the foot

Chen Zhonghua Taiji Punch (Video)

 

[punisher73]

Here is an example of "hip punching" that many people try to incorrectly incorporate to get their "whipping strike".

 

[Flying Crane]

was this is reference to "coming from the root and directed by the waist"? If so, I'm not sure what you mean by this, could you explain?

If you are saying what I think you are I could explain further if necessary

No, that was in reference to the hip flicking thing.

 

[Flying Crane]

Here is an example of "hip punching" that many people try to incorrectly incorporate to get their "whipping strike".

This looks to me like a methodology for connecting the root and the body to the strike. Getting full body power. I personally don't like it, but I can see where it's coming from. And yeah, if done incorrectly, it could be quite bad. But this appears to be one method of tackling the full body issue.

 

[Touch Of Death]

This looks to me like a methodology for connecting the root and the body to the strike. Getting full body power. I personally don't like it, but I can see where it's coming from. And yeah, if done incorrectly, it could be quite bad. But this appears to be one method of tackling the full body issue.

I think people understand something about punching that they don't realize starts from the ground up. Just as your starting hand position dictates what strike we can perform, our body, like it or not, is limited in its motion possibilities by the simple position and direction of your feet; so, punches can't possibly come from the core. As one of our Black Belt teachers used to say, "The Art starts at the tips of your fingers and toes" He had several different black belts in various Kung Fu systems; so, it sounded good to me.