Where’s Your Thought?

 

 

It seems to be (for many people) that one of the most common reasons for a technique working or not is telegraphing or not telegraphing.

 

There are three moves in particular where a change of focus is essential.

 

Turning punches

Pak Sau drills

Pie Jarns

 

 

Turning punches

With this first technique/problem the clue is in the title.

Turning before the punch may seem like a good idea in that it builds up the power, similar to the crack of a whip, BUT its intentions are then obvious.

Try punching BEFORE you turn, not completely separate of course, but what you will find is that it is almost impossible for the turning stance to not follow the strike.

The outcome?

The turn and the punch TOGETHER, with zero telegraphing

Should you wish to video yourself doing this as a before and after, the second punch will seem SO much faster and yet you have not change the pace, simply taken out an extra and unnecessary step in the process.

 

 

Pak Sau drills

Here we see the same issue.

As a beginner it is fine to want to step in first as a way of gauging your distance, but to anyone with experience, for this technique to ever improve it needs to change.

Stepping BEFORE the Pak is crazy as the slow sluggish driving mass of your entire torso is a definite sign to your partner that the Pak is on its way.

Instead, try staying in Biu Mar and keeping the wrist contact BUT see if you can Pak WITHOUT the step.

What you will find is that every time you Pak, your body will want to follow the move, encouraging the step to join the party

The outcome?

A stepping Pak – punch TOGETHER, with zero telegraphing

 

 

Pie Jarns

Within the opening moves of Chum Kiu we see the Lan Sau’s, turning side to side, and if you are not sure, the finished position at each point is a Lan Sau (Bar arm), but while in transit from one side to the other, this is

Pie Jarn (Level elbow).

The major (and most common) mistake with this particular move is that the upper body is turning 180 degrees whereas the stance is only turning 90 degrees.

Body – side to side

Stance – a 45 angle to a 45 angle (I hope that makes sense?)

Meaning that there is a GREAT temptation to want to start the body moving first, half of its journey in fact, before the feet even begin to engage!

This is NOT CORRECT.

The two key words we must remember when trying this technique are:

FAST

And

STABLE

To do this properly we need to be thinking of the feet moving first with the upper body trying to keep up.

The first time you try this with the correct mentality it will be twice as FAST as you are used to, and will even make you wobble a little, this is where you need to finish the turn by gripping with your toes, therefore making you STABLE

 

With just these few changes you will see the results immediately, with an overall improvement to all aspects of your Wing Chun training to follow.