Why I was always pulling power off my punches during sparring

[JowGaWolf]

Man lots of Jow Ga stuff floating around these days. They finally came out of the shadows. About freaking time.

For those who have seen me spar before. This is why I pull the power off my punches. This isn't me in the video. But the concept is the same for most people who train to actually use it. Most circular punches are like this so it's not just a Jow Ga thing. Hung Ga, Choy Li Fut etc. as the same issue. The faster you get it going the harder it's going to land. I've only hit pads this hard. The punch that I want you to focus on is the big windmill type punch. Once you get the technique down it's very easy to hit hard like this. So hitting someone like this in sparring is not cool at all. lol.

Same punch, but you can see how this one whips. It doesn't look like he's trying to hit his hardest. But I still wouldn't want to catch that during friendly sparring match.

Most people sparring partners don't have a high rate of stopping my slow punches so I have to be mindful of their well being and they do the same. There have been times when I've slipped up and let my attention drift only to feel a foot on the side of my head gear. The big windmill punch can be used to strike the skull without breaking the hand because of how the fist is made, It can also be used to target the jaw, by hitting with a different part of the knuckles.

Based on what I gathered from sparring. It would be easy know which part of the fist to use and you'll have more than enough time to switch fist. It's only a 20 degree adjustment in the angle of the fist. If your eyes are open then you will know before the punch lands if it's going to hit face, skull, or gaurd.

 

[drop bear]

I think you have to be aware of what your punch is going to do if it lands.

Even when going at pace I will pull open shots on guys.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I think you have to be aware of what your punch is going to do if it lands.

Even when going at pace I will pull open shots on guys.

Looks like he was watching the wrong glove and decreased his field of vision by turning the body like that. I've sparred with people who would have said. "Just him me hard so I won't make the mistake again." Looked like a nice little sparring session going on.

 

[Buka]

Everybody pulls power off their punches while sparring.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Everybody pulls power off their punches while sparring.

There are 3 types of Power:
1. Hit as hard as you can hit (I'm not talking about this)
2. Hit with a percentage of power (most people do this)
3. Pulling power is when you see that a punch or kick is going to land harder than what the person is prepared for or prepared to receive (This is is puling power) Not everyone does this.

If I hit you at 50% and reduce that punch to something lower like 30% because I see that you aren't ready for the impact then that would be me pulling power. If I just let the punch hit you with 50% of my power then I haven't pulled any power from that punch. I use 50% because some punches can knock you out at 50% depending on the person punching.

I have sparring videos of my sparring partner not pulling power, so I know from first hand that Everyone doesn't do it. Here's a video with some people who didn't pull power.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Everybody pulls power off their punches while sparring.

Agree! If you can't control your power, you should not train MA.

 

[Mitlov]

People who don't pull power with sparring partners are jerks. I don't think Buka's point was that there are literally no jerks in the world. I think the point was that having a punch powerful enough that you can hurt a sparring partner of you don't pull power is not in any way limited to the Chinese-style circular punches in your first post. This is true with a boxing cross, a karate reverse punch, etc. That "you need to pull punches with a training partner" is true for any of us who aren't jerks regardless of whether we do kung fu, karate, MMA, etc.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I think the point was that having a punch powerful enough that you can hurt a sparring partner of you don't pull power is not in any way limited to the Chinese-style circular punches in your first post.

This post was mainly for people who have seen my sparring videos. This post makes more sense as to what I'm referring to if you have seen my sparring videos before.

I throw that punch very slow giving my sparring partner enough time to react and enough time for me to pull it without injuring myself. I don't have a video of me using this punch at full speed and power. So there's no was no way for people to see and compare "safe sparring" with "fight speed and power" use of this punch. My goal wasn't to say that only circular systems pull punches.

My goal was to give some perspective of why my circular punches are thrown so slowly in my sparring videos. The video shows the same punch but without restrictions. For example, here is Sifu Johnson teaching a student. He uses the same circular punch and he's faster than guy the first video that I posted. But the guy in the first video is actually hitting something so it's good to see the impact with punches that may look weird.

It has been said that it looks like I have openings when I use the punching technique. But with this video with someone throwing it really fast and with power, there's really not much of an opening.

I think some of the clips are reaching but the following markers are good examples of that same big punch.
1:13 Good example of the big punch
1:19 Another good example
there's more just look for the that big circular punch. In Jow Ga it's called a big wheel punch. If my memory is correct it uses to be a term used on ships having to do something with hoisting sales.

I

 

[skribs]

This is also what I refer to when I talk about Hapkido. We don't fully execute our breaks in sparring, because we want our partner to be able to go to work tomorrow. We set the break (like setting a punch) and then we stop so we don't hurt them.

 

[drop bear]

I think you have to be aware of what your punch is going to do if it lands.

Even when going at pace I will pull open shots on guys.

 

[JowGaWolf]

This post was mainly for people who have seen my sparring videos. This post makes more sense as to what I'm referring to if you have seen my sparring videos before.

I throw that punch very slow giving my sparring partner enough time to react and enough time for me to pull it without injuring myself. I don't have a video of me using this punch at full speed and power. So there's no was no way for people to see and compare "safe sparring" with "fight speed and power" use of this punch. My goal wasn't to say that only circular systems pull punches.

My goal was to give some perspective of why my circular punches are thrown so slowly in my sparring videos. The video shows the same punch but without restrictions. For example, here is Sifu Johnson teaching a student. He uses the same circular punch and he's faster than guy the first video that I posted. But the guy in the first video is actually hitting something so it's good to see the impact with punches that may look weird.

It has been said that it looks like I have openings when I use the punching technique. But with this video with someone throwing it really fast and with power, there's really not much of an opening.

I think some of the clips are reaching but the following markers are good examples of that same big punch.
1:13 Good example of the big punch
1:19 Another good example
there's more just look for the that big circular punch. In Jow Ga it's called a big wheel punch. If my memory is correct it uses to be a term used on ships having to do something with hoisting sales.

I

Just realize I made a typo. Should be "Hoisting Sails. " My phone broke so I guess I had sales on my mind

 

[drop bear]

This is also what I refer to when I talk about Hapkido. We don't fully execute our breaks in sparring, because we want our partner to be able to go to work tomorrow. We set the break (like setting a punch) and then we stop so we don't hurt them.

Yeah. Pretty much nobody fully executes submissions either for the same reason we don't tee off on guys who can't defend themselves.

 

[drop bear]

Airlie Fight Nights

Ok. See how well this works. But if you click on that link and hunt around for Blair Free.

It is a very good example of someone who makes those loopy style punches work for him.

 

[skribs]

Yeah. Pretty much nobody fully executes submissions either for the same reason we don't tee off on guys who can't defend themselves.

This also may be a reason wrestling has been around for a long time, because it's good skills and you're not allowed to even come close to a submission.

When I was doing wrestling in middle school we only had 1 injury, and that was a freak accident.