Power and WT

[dreamer38f]

Any comments?

 

The Way of Power

 

By Dr. Leung Ting

 

The biceps and triceps

 

The biceps and triceps are voluntary muscles of the body that enable us to move e.g. Punching as in fighting.

 

In moving the forearm, the work is done by the muscles of the upper arm using the elbow as the fulcrum. The two groups of muscles in the upper arm are namely the biceps and triceps.

 

The upper group, the biceps controls the withdrawing, and the lower group, the triceps control the extending of the forearm. The biceps are the contractor muscles, and the triceps are the extensor muscles. When the biceps are tightening the triceps are relaxing and the whole forearm is bent at the elbow.

 

Simultaneously, the two groups of muscles are performing exactly the opposite function.

 

 

 

Mass and Velocity and their relevancy to a Straight punch

 

We can generalise that there are two kinds of punches, straight and curving.

 

The whole process of delivering a straight punch involves the straightening of the arm in a very short space of time.

 

This "speedy" process is of great significance as in physics: Force=Mass x Velocity i.e. the weight of the fist if multiplied by the speed of

 

delivery and we have a force of destruction. Of course, the 'weight' of the fist is

 

fixed, and for a powerful punch, we have one variable i.e., the speed of delivery.

 

The faster the punch, the more powerful it becomes.

 

The power as in a heavy punch

 

So the power of a straight-line punch depends on it's speed. The speed of a straight-line punch depends on the triceps' sudden extension. Better built triceps have a better extension ability, and the speed of the

 

punch is also increased. In summary, well developed triceps gives rise to powerful blows.

 

Weight lifting and it's irrelevance to WT

 

The straight-line punch is the most important attacking punch, others such as the palm, finger, elbow and shoulder are only secondary to it.

 

The punching fist is held in front of the chest. In execution, the back muscles (lats) initiate the move, secondly the triceps are utilised,

 

the forearm and finally the fist. The whole procedure involves the tightening of the extensor muscles. As the contractor muscles and extensor muscles perform the opposite task at the same time, it would be naturally better to have less well developed contractor muscles to hinder the extensor muscles.

 

The WingTsun system eliminated the need for weight lifting, pulling chest expander, etc., so as not to over develop the contractor muscles i.e., biceps.

 

Power generated at joint between bones

 

In executing a straight-line punch, it is done without reservations; the whole arm is thrust forward. This is not to say the shoulder is also carried forward. On the contrary, the shoulder even jerks back slightly as a Reaction to the forward force, to give the punch a shattering impact at it's limit. To test this theory, we can try throwing a wet Handkerchief forward, then abruptly pull it back. The result is a shattering force at the tip of the handkerchief.

 

The late Grandmaster Yip Man mentioned that the more joints between bones, the more places there are to generate power. Using a snake as an example, there is a bone with Many joints running the whole length of the snake. A chain reaction of these joints and muscles push the snake forward at incredible speed in its unusual forward motion.

 

What is meant by power generated a the joint between bones? The ligaments are a tough fibrous tissue binding bones together, which

 

also has an elastic, flexible quality when the fist is in full flight and the whole arm is relaxed in the course it will come to a sudden rest at the limit of the arm's length. This does not mean everything stops. As the momentum carries the fist forward there is a stretching of the ligaments at the joints i.e., the joints at the shoulder, elbow and the wrist, then the retracting to it's normal state. This action is very similar to the example of a wet handkerchief.

 

Exert force late, the force is at the fist

 

So far we have discussed the throwing of a punch with the greatest of speed. As the fist is held in the front of the chest, it's on a Short,straight line, it loses very little of its impetus on its course to the target.

 

For optimum result in the punch, we must come to the finer point of "exert force late, the force is at the fist." It implies that in Making a punch, the impetus is held back until the target is hit.

 

This is like a secondary explosion, it Maximises the destructive power and the power is also penetrating to the body.

 

Exert force early, the force is at the arm

 

There is a saying in WingTsun which freely translates as "exert the force early, the force is at the arm. Exert the force late, the force is at thefist." The essence of a straight-line punch is in it's destructive power. It should

 

take no more than one punch to annihilate an opponent in actual fighting.

 

What is meant by "exert the force early, the force is at the arm?" If in executing a punch, all the power is exercised at once, it is noticeable that the punch is power-packed at the beginning, but in the moment of Connection, there is disparity between power at delivery and connection. Even though the punch homes in on its target, it may do the

 

damage as anticipated.

 

Is WingTsun short bridge (hand)?

 

Some styles of kung fu favour showy Flourishes, broad horse stances, attacking well away from the enemy and extravagant movements. Some people also call WingTsun a style that favours short bridge (hands not

 

fully outstretched) and a narrow horse stance. This is an erroneous assumption. True, the horse stance is not wide, but the hands are

 

certainly not restrained in attack. A more Correct way of putting it is that WingTsun

 

favours close to body attacks. In this method of attack, often the opponent can't make use of his room-consuming movements.

 

In observing WingTsun in action, people also assume the style favours combat in confined space or deadened lane. Again, this is fallacious for WingTsun is equally effective whether in a small or broad area. What makes WingTsun so special is its long bridge striking method, which means the hands can punch with destructive power given only a short distance between the target and the fist. Even in day to day training, the hands and

 

feet are usually extended in punching and kicking moves. Distance reached when in actual combat is far greater than those with extravagant movements because they restricted the hands. Their restriction was on the wrong belief that fully stretched hands are liable to be broken by the opponent.

 

 

[Shaolin]

On 2002-03-06 18:00, dreamer38f wrote:

 

Any comments?

 

------------------------------------

 

In executing a straight-line punch, it is done without reservations; the whole arm is thrust forward. This is not to say the shoulder is also carried forward. On the contrary, the shoulder even jerks back slightly as a Reaction to the forward force, to give the punch a shattering impact at it's limit. To test this theory, we can try throwing a wet Handkerchief forward, then abruptly pull it back. The result is a shattering force at the tip of the handkerchief.

 

The late Grandmaster Yip Man mentioned that the more joints between bones, the more places there are to generate power. Using a snake as an example, there is a bone with Many joints running the whole length of the snake. A chain reaction of these joints and muscles push the snake forward at incredible speed in its unusual forward motion.

 

What is meant by power generated a the joint between bones? The ligaments are a tough fibrous tissue binding bones together, which

 

also has an elastic, flexible quality when the fist is in full flight and the whole arm is relaxed in the course it will come to a sudden rest at the limit of the arm's length. This does not mean everything stops. As the momentum carries the fist forward there is a stretching of the ligaments at the joints i.e., the joints at the shoulder, elbow and the wrist, then the retracting to it's normal state. This action is very similar to the example of a wet handkerchief.

 

Yes. What is meant by 'more joints between bones, the more places there are to generate power' is that there are more muscle groups involved than just the triceps and at each joint is a muscle that can contribute to the increase in energy being focused into the fist. The power from a punch starts from the feet, moves up to the legs, then the hips, the shoulder, the arm, and the wrist and is finally released through the fist.

 

Jim

 

 

 

_________________

 

 

Moy Yat Ving Tsun

 

Rest in peace dear teacher, dear friend, dear brother, and dear father: Moy Yat Sifu

 

 

 

[ This Message was edited by: Shaolin on 2002-03-07 03:16 ]

[mastertae]

also the way your joinst move if you do not have a strong forearm punches in extrememly close distance will be weak since the tricepts and bicepts are most effective when fully extended