The initial reasoning behind my post was because, and LOL, those videos Clyde posted are a perfect example LOL, you can hit someone with power, and manipulate where their body goes, or you can slap them until your hands are pink and leave them still standing.
I think I've figured out which method I prefer.
Interesting, I've got video of Parker tapping people. Does that mean he can't hit with power? If we follow your reasoning and laid into our "training partners" with everything we had each time we did a technique, none of us would have any training partners. There is a time and a place for experimentation with contact. The guys I train with understand this so naturally there are some nights when we work sequence and mechanics and some nights where we focus on putting a little extra juice on the strikes.
I don't know how you can learn to make the techniques work unless you are willing to hammer a little bit. However, as the partnership goes you have to be willing to take a little as well, that's how you learn. Unfortunately it has been my experience that the ones who like to TRY and hit hard are the ones who can't take a hit for crap.
Anyway, The clips shown, in all cases, were merely a demonstration not an actual fight. I'm willing to bet that in all cases the participants would behave and perform quite differently if it had been.
I was wondering what people thought about Kenpo techniques and ensuring power in their strikes. Do you feel there is a trade-off in power and speed?
Can you really hit effectively if you are moving so fast it's almost blurring?
There is a huge difference in speed for the sake of speed and what I would call functional speed. Functional speed is a state of motion with a purpose, this obviously means many things to many people but what can ya do. You really only need a few inches of movement to hit really hard assuming you have decent to good body mechanics (most people don't realize this, because most people can't do it).
Also, this idea of speed is totally subjective. What I consider using economy of motion, appropriate targeting, appropriate method of execution, appropriate body mechanics, 3-dimensional projection, optimal patterns of movement with optimal muscle contraction sequences somebody else will call fast. I just call it normal. Now I agree there are alot of people who try to move fast just for the sake of moving fast, but this is because they haven't been taught or they don't understand the required principles and mechanics for increasing their speed. Don't get me wrong, I don't know all there is to know, but from this line of questioning I'm willing to bet that I know more about it than you do.
So the answer to your question is yes, you can hit hard while moving at mind numbing speeds (remember the term fast is subjective) as long as you understand the appropriate principles and concepts.
