1 inch punch put to the test

ATC

Senior Master
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
2,664
Reaction score
70
Location
San Jose
Is the 1 inch punch real? Science test the 1 inch punching power.
[yt]4Wxe3u-K8H8[/yt]
 

James Kovacich

Senior Master
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2002
Messages
2,900
Reaction score
51
Location
San Jose, Ca.
Forgive me for stopping the video when they brought in the Shaolin monk. They are the wrong ones to "test" for that kind of test. With that said, there are a number of people who could better demonstrate the one inch punch.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
 
OP
ATC

ATC

Senior Master
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
2,664
Reaction score
70
Location
San Jose
Forgive me for stopping the video when they brought in the Shaolin monk. They are the wrong ones to "test" for that kind of test. With that said, there are a number of people who could better demonstrate the one inch punch.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
But did you watch it? I don't care who does it, only of the results.
 

mook jong man

Senior Master
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
3,080
Reaction score
263
Location
Matsudo , Japan
You can keep your shaolin monk.

You bet your **** it's real
I felt the one inch punch of my late master shown in this video many times.

[video=youtube_share;l7wDsaMsypk]http://youtu.be/l7wDsaMsypk[/video]
 

rlobrecht

Brown Belt
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
473
Reaction score
2
Location
Houston, TX
This is entertainment, not science. You'll notice that all three punches were reported with a different type of measurement for the result. And there's no control. Why don't the compare the host's 1 inch punch, and a boxers 1 inch punch to the monk's?

I'm not saying it's not impressive, I'm just saying that there's a lot left out of the report.
 

K-man

Grandmaster
MT Mentor
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
6,193
Reaction score
1,223
Location
Australia
This is entertainment, not science. You'll notice that all three punches were reported with a different type of measurement for the result. And there's no control. Why don't the compare the host's 1 inch punch, and a boxers 1 inch punch to the monk's?

I'm not saying it's not impressive, I'm just saying that there's a lot left out of the report.
In fairness, she did say they had measured to impact from boxers and that the first punch matched the boxer. Then she said, with regard to the one inch punch, that they had never had that power generated by anyone before. I agree that it would have been good to see the actual reading.

I'm not saying he is the only one to effectively generate a one inch punch, but, as you said, what was demonstrated was impressive.
:asian:
 

mook jong man

Senior Master
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
3,080
Reaction score
263
Location
Matsudo , Japan
It's got nothing to with scientific impact readings.

I can tell you from one who has been on the receiving end many times , that it is how it affects you internally.
You feel physically sick and you don't feel quite right for about three days.
It is not merely physical either , it has to with something we in Wing Chun call " Nim Lik " meaning "Thought Force " or "Force from the brain"

Genuine masters like my late Sifu can diffuse their force so it impacts on the surface of the body and just knocks you back , if they mean to kill you they will use "Nim Lik" to focus their internal energy so the force penetrates deeply into your body and you will not go back you will just drop.
They can do it with just a small fraction of their force and you will still feel it internally.

It's not magic , it comes from years of training the Siu Nim Tau form .
 

Flying Crane

Sr. Grandmaster
Joined
Sep 21, 2005
Messages
15,267
Reaction score
4,978
Location
San Francisco
But did you watch it? I don't care who does it, only of the results.

it needs to be done by someone who understands it and can do it properly. It isn't just a "short range" punch that anybody can simply do. There is a specific way of doing it, it requires proper training and development, and if it isn't done properly then it's not a true one-inch punch.
 

mook jong man

Senior Master
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
3,080
Reaction score
263
Location
Matsudo , Japan
Something that irritates me about this is that they call it Bruce Lee's one inch punch.
It's not his one inch punch at all , it is Wing Chun's one inch punch and Wing Chun people were doing it a long time before Bruce Lee was even born.

After watching the video very closely , you can see that the monk's fist and forearm are quite tense , this is quite the opposite to how a proper one inch punch in Wing Chun is performed.
Being tense is like trying to accelerate in your car with the brake on.
We totally relax the arm and body to achieve maximum velocity and transfer our body mass into the target.
Far be it from me to tell a shaolin monk how to train , but I dare say if he learned to relax he could probably generate even more power than what he's getting now.
 

Flying Crane

Sr. Grandmaster
Joined
Sep 21, 2005
Messages
15,267
Reaction score
4,978
Location
San Francisco
Something that irritates me about this is that they call it Bruce Lee's one inch punch.
It's not his one inch punch at all , it is Wing Chun's one inch punch and Wing Chun people were doing it a long time before Bruce Lee was even born.

After watching the video very closely , you can see that the monk's fist and forearm are quite tense , this is quite the opposite to how a proper one inch punch in Wing Chun is performed.
Being tense is like trying to accelerate in your car with the brake on.
We totally relax the arm and body to achieve maximum velocity and transfer our body mass into the target.
Far be it from me to tell a shaolin monk how to train , but I dare say if he learned to relax he could probably generate even more power than what he's getting now.

aye, and I get irritated when people think the technique (any technique) is simply mimicking the movement. There's more to it than that. But people think that's it, so then someone does just that, mimicks the movement and they try to make conclusions out of that "experiment". It just doesn't work like that.
 

mook jong man

Senior Master
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
3,080
Reaction score
263
Location
Matsudo , Japan
aye, and I get irritated when people think the technique (any technique) is simply mimicking the movement. There's more to it than that. But people think that's it, so then someone does just that, mimicks the movement and they try to make conclusions out of that "experiment". It just doesn't work like that.

Exactly right , there is so much more to it than that.

When I tell people that one of the main components of a good one inch punch is to have extremely relaxed thighs they look at you like you have a screw loose.
But it is true , whenever someone strikes , some of that energy will rebound from the target they are hitting and go back through their own body.
If the person is tense that will cause a blockage and the force will travel back into them and push them back slightly out of their stance lessening the amount of force that is put into the target.

In Wing Chun by relaxing the whole body any of the rebound force is channeled down our bodies , down through our stance and into the floor , if it is done properly the force of the punch will actually push us into the floor making our stance even stronger and increasing the amount of body mass that is transfered into the target.

Not magic , it's just the way the Wing Chun stance was designed to work.
 

Flying Crane

Sr. Grandmaster
Joined
Sep 21, 2005
Messages
15,267
Reaction score
4,978
Location
San Francisco
Exactly right , there is so much more to it than that.

When I tell people that one of the main components of a good one inch punch is to have extremely relaxed thighs they look at you like you have a screw loose.
But it is true , whenever someone strikes , some of that energy will rebound from the target they are hitting and go back through their own body.
If the person is tense that will cause a blockage and the force will travel back into them and push them back slightly out of their stance lessening the amount of force that is put into the target.

In Wing Chun by relaxing the whole body any of the rebound force is channeled down our bodies , down through our stance and into the floor , if it is done properly the force of the punch will actually push us into the floor making our stance even stronger and increasing the amount of body mass that is transfered into the target.

Not magic , it's just the way the Wing Chun stance was designed to work.

ohmygawd, don't even get me started on our Tibetan White Crane techniques. People see the arm movement and that's all they focus on. They completely miss how the full body engages to power that arm. They try to do the technique with just the arm movement, with zero body connection driving it, and then they can't figure out why it's no good. They just decide then that it doesn't work and that's the end to it. They think it's just a weird stylized way of fighting that doesn't work too well, when it's nothing of the sort. Well it's because they don't know how to do it properly and they don't want to make a committment of time and effort to properly learn how to do it (it doesn't happen overnight), and most of the "teachers" don't even understand it and are teaching it wrong anyway.
 

frank raud

Master of Arts
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
1,892
Reaction score
707
Location
Ottawa, ON
Hmm,same crash test dummy, same scientist measuring the results, and Lucia Rijkers hits with 922 lbs of force, apparently the same as the much larger Houston Alexander, yet the monks punch is so impressive?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

James Kovacich

Senior Master
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2002
Messages
2,900
Reaction score
51
Location
San Jose, Ca.
But did you watch it? I don't care who does it, only of the results.

I meant that the monks are not the best source. Why not try a better source?

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
 
Last edited by a moderator:

James Kovacich

Senior Master
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2002
Messages
2,900
Reaction score
51
Location
San Jose, Ca.
Something that irritates me about this is that they call it Bruce Lee's one inch punch.
It's not his one inch punch at all , it is Wing Chun's one inch punch and Wing Chun people were doing it a long time before Bruce Lee was even born.

After watching the video very closely , you can see that the monk's fist and forearm are quite tense , this is quite the opposite to how a proper one inch punch in Wing Chun is performed.
Being tense is like trying to accelerate in your car with the brake on.
We totally relax the arm and body to achieve maximum velocity and transfer our body mass into the target.
Far be it from me to tell a shaolin monk how to train , but I dare say if he learned to relax he could probably generate even more power than what he's getting now.

You can't blame the public on this one. It was Bruce who made it popular in the USA long before anyone else.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
 

DennisBreene

3rd Black Belt
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
956
Reaction score
19
Location
Illinois
Hmm,same crash test dummy, same scientist measuring the results, and Lucia Rijkers hits with 922 lbs of force, apparently the same as the much larger Houston Alexander, yet the monks punch is so impressive?
It's still force = mass X acceleration. The monks punch clearly had a pull back to about 3 in. before accelerating forward and his technique allowed him to transfer a great deal of body mass into the technique. (No intended slam in the observation about the real distance. It is very difficult to control for the tendancy to pull back and I'm not sure how much additional acceleration that permits.) My Grandmaster regularly did one inch breaks. It was still mass X acceleration. The other "demonstrations"... barring input from an engineer or physicist, it appears to me that breaking a long staff around someone allows the tip to accelerate well beyond the impact point on the staff resulting in the break of the staff. While I'm sure the impact force is large, it's not the same as the impact from the accelerating tip if that were to strike the body; and some of the force is dissipated in the process of the staff breaking. Similarly, breaking a slab against the body dissipates the force in the slab as it breaks much like the crumple zone of a car front end. The spear tip; he clearly controlled the placement of the spear head (a double head which spreads the force over a greater surface area) and held the spear head until there was a significant bend in the shaft. All of this dissipates the force at the spear tip and is not analogous to bracing against a sharp tip that has a trajectory moving straight into the neck without tangential forces. So, great showmanship, and the force he generated in the punch was real force. I don't know if the lay public is well served by demonstrations of "magical" powers that rely on giving the impression of withstanding blows that are less than they appear.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Jean Marais

Yellow Belt
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
Location
Berlin
Being tense is like trying to accelerate in your car with the brake on.
We totally relax the arm and body to achieve maximum velocity and transfer our body mass into the target.

A sprinter also relaxes in the "get set" position in the starting blocks. Every athlete that needs to use explosive power (should) has learnt this. I learnt this in basket ball to jump higher.

Has anyone tried a one inch push. I bet it generates the same force and "hurts" the same. How about a zero inch push like when I do a bench press. In the last inch of my bench press I have the most power before full extention. I bet I can move those weights really fast, i.e. apply a lot of force. Ofcoarse I wouldn't break a sweet, because exerting the force for only a fraction of a second, I don't invest much energy.

Similarly, if I applied myself to push this hard over one inch at a person standing, he will fly backwards (especially if there is proper follow through).

I read the results. The monk generated about 1/3 the force of the full puncher, but over only ONE inch. That is damn impressive. If the monk could (and this is not likely, due to the simple biomechs) continue to apply that amount of force for the same amount of flight time of the "normal" punch, his forearm and fist (mass) would gain considerable kinetic energy, that is, gain a high speed.

Upon his mass colliding with the standing mass, this energy must be converted, transmitted, gained, etc. The outcome is that the target's mass will deform structurally (damage) and move due to impulse physics (which I won't get into).

My bottom line is that you don't need (shouldn't) to convince me that this is
a) impressive
b) requires training and practice
c) is real
and you don't need to call it qi.
 

Dirty Dog

MT Senior Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
23,433
Reaction score
9,214
Location
Pueblo West, CO
After watching the video very closely , you can see that the monk's fist and forearm are quite tense , this is quite the opposite to how a proper one inch punch in Wing Chun is performed.
Being tense is like trying to accelerate in your car with the brake on.

Probably not your best choice of analogy. Racers apply throttle while on the brakes all the time. There's even a thing called a transbrake that engages 1st & reverse at the same time to lock the transmission and allow even more throttle to be applied without moving the car. This allows a more explosive start.
 

Latest Discussions

Top