Theme of the Week: Initial Speed

Next time you’re in class and find yourself with the opportunity to watch your fellow students striking, check out how they “get ready” to punch.  Do they wind up?  Is there a look of concentration or consternation on their face before they move their body?  Does the punch move slowly at first and then build up steam?  Does the fist seem to appear at it’s target?

These are all questions related to the fighting principle initial speed.  If a technique starts slow then the initial speed is slow.  If a technique starts fast then the initial speed is fast.  Pretty simple.  Now, what are the advantages to starting a technique slow?  What are the advantages to starting a technique fast?  Spring boarding off of those two questions, what are the advantages to starting a technique slow and then speeding up?  How about starting fast and then slowing down?

We’ll be examining all these ideas this week in Kung Fu class.  Today, we talked about basics and initial speed.  As a basic, all strikes are thrown starting, ending and snapping back at fast speed.  That means try to eliminate the slow buildup to a punch.  Just throw the punch.  It also means try to eliminate the lazy snap back of a kick.  Pull that kick back as fast as it went out.