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Mox
The Wing Chun punch seems to cause so many arguments. Critics of Wing Chun say that our punches are little more than taps and slaps, lacking the ability to cause any real harm to an attacker.
And yet the view WITHIN the Wing Chun community of our punch is the complete opposite of this. We believe that we are the masters of generating power from close in, capable of delivering the famous "one inch punch".
How can there be such widely differing views on what is such a simple but fundamental technique? Who is right and what can go wrong with the simple punch?
In this video, we look at how I get students to start training their punches. There are two components I get them to think about first:
1) The underlying structure
2) Force - where to apply it (where to hit) and its direction
I generally start students by getting them to measure out their stance VERY close to a wall bag and getting them to punch that. This is because I find that if I give them a focus mitt and a partner, they only think of how to MOVE the pad and partner, and they try to do so at any cost (i.e., they don't notice if they use muscular effort, or if their own body moves backwards when they hit, etc).
So I begin by getting them to focus on their own underlying structure, to make it as unyielding as possible and to ensure that when they hit a larger opponent, they are not the ones moving backwards (and the analogy I use is changing the tyre on your car - if you try to do so on soft ground such as snow or mud, the car won't move at all).
Once we develop force, then I get students to think about where they want to apply it. Obviously when you are fighting, you shouldn't overthink but you quickly realise that punching someone in areas such as the shoulder or elbow isn't as effective as punching them in the solar plexus or neck. How you direct your force also can have a role in maximising the pain you cause your opponent, and here I talk a little bit about "nailing" your opponent.
Finally, even though structure is critical initially when we begin our training, as you progress you should try to free yourself from being a slave to fixed structure. Wing Chun becomes less about what your stance looks like, but more about what your mental state is. You should not obsess about weight distribution of your feet, how you should step - once you are fighting, you should move as naturally and quickly as you can. As the Japanese master Musashi wrote, "Make your fighting stance your everyday stance, and your everyday stance your fighting stance".