Punching technique

5 stage drill for compressive punching

1) swing 'ragdoll'
2) trap (passive)
3) connect center
4) sink "perish"
5) inject (masuk)

REACH TO COMPRESS

do not punch. don't even think that word in your head, because if you do, you -know- who will promptly comply. that word is already defined.

we are not hitting. we are BEING COMPRESSED, even in the 'hitting' technique, not just in the uproot.

for years, i was teaching the basic fa jin model. line up the body and turn and punch out with a relaxed strike. now this is not a bad way to go. but it is still punching, just upgraded. compression is a completely different affair.

hopefully you guys are clear that what we are driving for is a body state that ABSORBS power, not EMITS IT. you need to wrap your head around this. and even when you do you body wont want to cooperate. this is why you must not try to get any power, not as you normally envision it, in your movements.

like my teacher would say all the time, " IT DOESNT WORK LIKE THAT!"

its not strength
its not weight
its not leverage
its not speed
its not 'intent'

or anything like that, so put your thesaurus away.

its translating a horizontal force into a vertical alignment with gravity.

in the broadest terms, it is something like setting a spear against a charge, and allowing the enemy to impale himself with his own movement. except your body is the spear, and its made of lengths of bone connected by knots of connective tissue. this tends to make one think of 'bracing up', so its not the best example.

consider then that the spear is made of rubber and has to be placed absolutely perfectly so as not to bend out shape when it is hit.

another common example is straw flying into fenceposts during a tornado. if everything lines up right, you might get a few that actually stick in wood.

these are linear examples of compressive alignment. the human body is has got a lot more going on in the way of angles and movement capability, so its a bit more complex than a straw hitting a pole.

the body is not being used like a ram or any other comparison that evokes expansion. the body is being used like a balloon, essentially. think about if i put a yoga ball on the lawn and told you to run and jump on it with both feet. not only would it handle the impact just fine, it would easily eject you with no effort, merely from the compression. again, a simplistic example, but it should ballpark the concept for you.

in hitting, what you are doing is moving into a target to BE COMPRESSED by its mass. compression brings the practice of momentum combining to its greatest height....i.e. if somebody is moving in while you move in and compress-hit them, they are going to be one hurting puppy.

bottom line here is that you have go super easy because if you look for effect, then you will likely revert to using expansion, sometimes in some very sneaky and subtle ways. remember your body is a pro at expansion. it doesn't even believe that compression is possible.

in punch training, REACH out and touch the target WITH YOUR WHOLE ARM lined up into your CENTER OF GRAVITY, and let the weight COMPRESS YOU INTO THE GROUND.

as your hand touches the target the back foot draws in (masuk) to engage compression.

for those who can understand this: you have to REACH with LOK HAP and get COMPRESSION ALIGNMENT as you MARROW DRAIN/CASCADE as you INJECT