Punch videos are all roughly about 2+ mb.
Alain's
punch
Just a couple minor things regarding the punch,
notice the wrist on the left hand, the alignment is wrong and at the
end of Alain's punch you can see an emphasis in wrist tension, this
kills the power that can be delivered in the punch. If Alain double
checks his punch at the end, he'll feel that more tension on the
wrist can be felt at the thumb side. The key rule to
remember is how you begin your punch, will have an important roll in
how you finish it. You need to start everything in the right
position as well as being fully relaxed. Since his wrist on the left
side is not properly aligned, it ends up staying that same way at
the end of his punch motion. Also, while Alain's elbow is leading
the motion in the punch, more attention should be focused on the
elbow going slightly further in to push the fist. This
will give him more power and even better structural motion. As
for the good things, he's developed the stretched which allows him
to explode the power of the punch. So just minor fixes here
and there.
Phil's
punch
First of all, its good that Phil is
aware and checking the punch, however, the bad thing is, that he's
checking the punch during the motion. With his head looking
down, he's killing the structure of his stance. Its best to
check the punch surroundings after you throw the punch, and develop
the habit of looking straight ahead at some kind of target. I
don't have much bitching else to add to his punch, but a week prior
to this, there was noticeable wrist tension in Phil's punch.
He's worked on it clearly from before, he can definitely still relax
the wrist even further, but his motion is almost textbook perfect to
what you need to do to develop a killer punch. Everything from
alignment as well as pulling and pushing with the same kind of speed
and power, as well as he's developed the stretched is pretty much
right on the nose.
Roland's
punch
First while the
motion looks mechanically correct, there are certain things to point
out. #1 Roland's putting too much effort to do the punch,
think less effort to get the same results. You can even see it
in the facial expression. From the side view, you can see his
punching effort compared to how Phil and Alain is doing their
punches. #2) He needs to be aware of the center line, watch
his right hand, compared to his left, where exactly is he punching
with it, coz its definitely not in the same area as his left hand
punch #3) While he's being aware of his punch like Phil, he needs to
be target aware first when doing the punch, and can check his punch
alignment afterwards #4) While its not as clearly visible as
before, he's still slightly winding up his punch before he
starts. When you do the punch, you should have a beginning and
an end. Once you stop you stop, once you decide to begin, you
don't move slightly and then punch, you should be at a stand still
and then immediately explode the hit. Overall just some minor
fixes which can be easily corrected and the good thing is you can
already explode the motion.
Damien's
punch
Not bad, not bad at
all Damien, effort is definitely showing. Just like my
criticism with Roland's punch you need to be aware of the center
line. Your right hand is not punching in the
centerline. Now when you watch the video to the side,
you'll notice a jerkiness in the pull back. What you need to
do 2 things to even out the punch. #1) The retracting hand
needs to pull back another 1 or 2 inches, to even out the push and
pull mechanics. #2) The motion looks good, now you need to
develop exploding power, in other words, you can see visually that
the punch is stopping short of full release which causes the slight
jerky motion when you push and pull both hands together. Once
you correct this and develop the stretch not only in the ligaments
around the elbow, but as well as in the shoulder so you can relax
and explode the hit. My suggestion is do some exercises in the
punch mechanic which slightly exaggerates the stretch of the punch
motion, but make sure you maintain the squareness while doing this
particular drill.
Jim's
punch
Actually for having
only a light wing chun experience and only a week of training under
us the motion isn't so bad, but there are some things to point
out. #1) When pulling back the hand, don't pull back with a wu
sau, the problem with doing this is, when beginning the punch with a
rear hand that starts with a wu sau, it is not the most relaxed
position you can start with Thus, you starting off with wrist
tension #2) While visually it looks good, the motion is not
fully being done with the elbow leading the motion. Its more
of a combination of hand grabbing instead of elbow leading #3) The
most major thing to point out, and you can see this more visually
from the side view, is that Jim is slightly popping his elbow, this
is occurring because of 2 things, #1) Its not elbow lead, but more
of a hand pick, if you watch the motion you can see how initiating
motion is done by the hand instead of the elbow #2) The punch is
finishing rising before the elbow is done moving and that's what's
leading to the slight popping motion.
Joe's
punch
Now look at Joe's
overall body, when doing the punch. See how his center shakes
and the body and arm when doing the punch are not separated from one
another. Its almost as if you see his head slightly teetering
and tottering back and forth . Its not major, but that tells
me he hasn't fully learned to isolate his fighting triangle from the
upper body triangle. When doing the punch motion, yes the
stance supports the hands, but there should be no visual connection
when practicing the 2 together for just the punch motion. Now
watching the side motion, while the mechanics are good, and
sometimes it might take a longer process for a bigger guy to stretch
the muscle, Joe needs a little more relaxation around the shoulder
area. In other words, more stretch in the shoulder and elbow
area for more of an umphh in order to explode the motion.
Also, just like Alain, a little more focus would be good to have the
elbow just a pinch more behind the punch. Overall, just some
minor fixes to get a killer of a punch.
Letroy's
punch
Letroy's motion
has improved, but the major thing is the lack of awareness with
maintaining the squareness of his punch. You can
visually see how the body is involved in the punching motion.
The problem with this, is by not being square, you can see more from
the side shot, he won't be able to develop the stretch in the
shoulder, since there's no base to develop the stretch from.
He's basically throwing his shoulder like a boxer's punch. If
he holds his upper body square, then the elbow now has a base to
push off from and the shoulder then can work on developing the
stretch. In addition to this, watch the placement of
both his fist at the beginning when he does his punch. These
are his guns, but where are these guns aiming at prior to the punch,
if you look closely they are not aimed at the centerline target
Oscar's
punch
2 main things, that
you can see from Oscar's punch. Look at his fist before he
begins his punch and then compare it afterwards. See how he
holds his fist is in the same position from start to finish.
The problem with this is that there is no drilling motion within the
punch. If you take his left side punch his thumb starts angled
at 2 oclock setting and stays at 2 oclock and lacks the necessary
drilling motion. Keep in mind the drilling motion is small,
and that the drill is not done by the wrist but simply turned by the
forearm. Also, on another note, look at the pull back
motion. Its simply escalating at the same angle as the punch
is rising. If you end up pulling the punch this way you'll end
up tightening your bicep. The actually pull motion from the
lead hand is an arcing motion to prevent that kind of tension.
Oscar's got the motion looking much better, now if he
can relax his wrist and just shot the motion out, he can then start
working on developing exploding power.
Ryan's
punch
A couple of
things, while Ryan is in fact looking straight ahead. Where exactly
are you starring at. You need to learn focus, and have your
eyes have a lead target. #2) The punch is drifting to far
high, the end of the punch motion should be parallel to the ground,
if you notice his fist almost ends up about his nose level.
#3) Because his lead hand is high, his rear hand is starting to high
as well. And this leads to the shoulder slightly rising.
If you look from the side view, what Ryan needs to work on is making
sure when he extends out the punch, the shoulder sinks back
down. This just requires a little more work and
some awareness. He's already got it where he has some stretch,
but more stretch is needed. Also, his rear hand on his
left side, is some times lazy in pulling back at the same time the
other side punches. Be aware of them being in sync with the
push and pull motion.
Thomas
punch
Not much to bitch with Thomas's
punch, he's definitely worked on it since I last fully checked it
out over a month ago. The major thing, is usually bigger guys
have a harder time to relax the shoulder, but through practice he
has been able to do it now and control the motion. What he can
now focus on is doing the same motion with the punch but speeding it
up slightly. The way he is showing the punch is the perfect
way to do it in the beginning, awareness in placement, both hands
working together, drilling motion. Now he needs to take the
next step and see if he can speed it up and maintain the relaxation
still.