The Secret To Creating Explosive Power (Part 2)

 

A question was put to me after yesterdays blog asking how best to train this energy in their daily practice?

 

Answer:

Siu Lim Tau.

This is exactly what we are trying to feel for in our 2nd and 3rd sections.

Try to feel not how fast you can switch it on but how fast you can switch it off.

 

The result will be less effort being required and more explosive energy created.

Trying only to create power will likely result in a linger of strength and therefore a dulling of the ‘explosion’.

Less is definitely more.

This then should flow into everything you do, punches, Paks, and so on.

 

I remember once playing a game of snooker and I was trying a screw shot, this is where you strike the cue ball at the base causing it to spin back to you.

Well I wasn’t being very successful as the cue ball hardly moved at all, my attitude to this was to just hit it harder.

Result – Nothing.

Next time I hit the ball harder still, only to see the cue ball now moving FORWARD!

 

It was at this moment the club professional came over to advise me by instructing that I simply lower the butt end of the cue and steadily push through the ball instead of just striking it.

Not a chance I thought, but as soon as I’d hit the ball it effortlessly spun back toward me at speed.

 

When you understand technique, the idea of ‘Less Is More’ becomes easier, and the same can be said for the development of explosive power, simply trying to hit harder every time can actually create a negative outcome.

 

Now this is not to say that we leave it there.

To start with do put more attention toward the OFF switch, just as in the 1st section of Siu Lim Tau (where we are trying to discover elbow energy without overpowering it with muscle), when we can distinguish between the two, then we are able to build the energy but not the tension.

This is the same for the explosive energy, get used to the off switch by only using a little power to start with (as soon as you use it. lose it) as soon as you feel you are now able to use power and then immediately drop back to zero, increase the power, but only a little!

If you increase the power by 10% let’s say, you will probably find a 10% linger, stay with this until such time that the 10% extra power remains but the linger has gone, then repeat the process by again increasing the power by no more than 10%, identify the linger and then stay with it until the linger has gone.

 

There is no point going to the gym on day one and trying to put all the weights on the bar, and even if you can lift it, this is pointless if your posture and technique is all still rubbish, hence the previous snooker connection.

 

I hope this helps you, keep training and keep relaxed.

 

Sifu