Punching & Kicking Trees

[Tenacious_Red]

It was more funny/embarrassing than anything but it did hurt a bit, I was only about 13 at the time.

Nice! Builds character :ultracool I miss climbing trees, unfortunately in NM there are no South Eastern Live Oaks or Northern Cali Redwoods. We have overgrown shrubs, prickly things, and the mountain trees are fairly narrow.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Does anyone here punch and/or kick trees for training? Any thoughts on the matter?

Use to and my Sanda shifu still does and I still do if I come across a tree that I feel deserves it D) but I do not do it as much as I use to or would like these days. But it was not a punch it was a palm strike and it was not just going out and pounding away at a tree it was hitting it a certain way and listening for the proper sound.

I only did palm strikes he does palm strikes, elbow, knee and kicks.

It is not something I ever recommend you just go out and do, it is something that is quite helpful if you have someone that is trained show you how....but even with my Shifu's skill I could never bring myself to elbow or knee a tree

 

[Tenacious_Red]

Use to and my Sanda shifu still does and I still do if I come across a tree that I feel deserves it D) but I do not do it as much as I use to or would like these days. But it was not a punch it was a palm strike and it was not just going out and pounding away at a tree it was hitting it a certain way and listening for the proper sound.

I only did palm strikes he does palm strikes, elbow, knee and kicks.

It is not something I ever recommend you just go out and do, it is something that is quite helpful if you have someone that is trained show you how....but even with my Shifu's skill I could never bring myself to elbow or knee a tree

Yeah, the idea of an elbow to the tree is just painful...owwwww

 

[Zero]

I used to run a lot of cross country in the hills and now and then when I got caught by a tree branch or cut by a bush I would lash out and give it what for in retribution, then I would remember I was grossly outnumbered by the trees and shrubs around me and apologise profusely (also, I was never sure if it was the voices in my head or the trees themselves that were jeering me).

 

[Zero]

On a serious note, I did use to run in the woods regularly as my training and when I got to the ridge line would practice kicks on the trees. I would condition my shins against trees that could obviously handle it, ie no poor fledgling sapplings (although the green sapplings have a lot of flex so I doubt would snap). In my view conditioning against trees is as good as against the heavy hard thai bags etc (and I still "stand" by that now). I am not talking about kicking so hard you are doing nerve damage but to the degree necessary to enable you to met out and if required endure punishment in tournaments.

I would also kick and knock down the dead trees, as in my mind, these would be deadfall soon in any event, so not like nature was being interfered with. I had a crazy dog which was a cross between a large rodesian ridgeback and a masstif at the time, with a set of jaws on her like a bear trap and she would gleefully rip into the dead tree trunks as they fell over.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Sometimes i do hit trees, however, I make sure to use dit da jow whenever I do that.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I only train "toe push kick" on a "small" tree for the following reasons.

- If I can hit a small tree with accuracy, I can hit a human body easily.
- If my body structure can be solid when I kick a tree, I can stand still without being pushing back when I kick on my opponent's body.
- Small tree will vibrate a bit. It won't give me too much shocking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlGIJjfw2SI&feature=youtu.be

I don't get the same feeling when I kick at my heavy bag.

 

[RTKDCMB]

Nothing like a good kick in the bush to ruin someone's day.

 

[David43515]

It`s not an all the time thing, but yeah I do punch, palm, chop. elbow, and kick the occasional cocky tree, concrete wall, or well-made wooden wall. Itry to stay away from surfaces that will tear my skin up much though. Like others have said, I don`t go for full power on my knuckles, at least not often. Buit I like to test my balance and body alainment on something that won`t move. If I can keep continuous forward pressure on a tree or lamppost with my balance good, then I know I can probably move someone backwards I also occasionally like to strike w/o pulling back and just continue to push hard through the target for 5-10 seconds after each strike. I feel like the isomeric effect at different ranges makes my strikes a bit heavier when there is no room to wind up an I have to strike from where ever my hand may be.

 

[WaterGal]

From talking with my instructor (started training in the 50's through now), they used to punch concrete walls etc. because they were trying to smash up the knuckle area to get big knuckles that kind of mashed into one giant lump. He really regrets doing that type of trainng now.

Yeah, I've read about kung fu students who punch trees so that their knuckles get scarred over and the bones built up so they can punch anything without feeling it. It sounded like a bad idea to me.

 

[Drasken]

When I was young, I used to kick trees. I admit that it was because of watching Kickboxer and thinking it would be awesome to do that. ( keep in mind I was like 9 or 10 at the time. ) I started doing Muay Thai with my cousin, and kicking trees in my backyard in my private time. It hurt... A lot... But it DID make my shins hard as a rock and damaged the nerves so I could kick anything. However when I stopped it went away after time. It hurts.to kick things like that now, though my shins are still harder.
Overall I don't recommend it. There are much better ways to achieve the same goal, and while I could see ancient warriors doing this... We have updated training equipment now. Less chance of injury and the same results over time.