Which Moves First?

Date: Weds, 7 March 2007

Which moves first?

When you throw a strike, a punch for example, which moves first, your hand or your body?

Many people say the hand moves first and the body follows through.

If you've practiced the Silk Reeling exercises of Tai Chi you know that movement begins in the feet and channels upward through the waist and is released through the hand. In other wards, the hand completes the movement, it doesn't begin it.

It's like snapping a towel.

You can generate tremendous force for knockdown punches, but you need to practice correctly or you'll have big problems with telegraphing.

I own a set of street fighting DVDs I got from a guy in the U.K. They cover a ton of material in 5 volumes, including knockouts, and pressure point fighting. So far, my favorite volume is the one on power generation. It basically teaches Fa Jing (coiling energy developed in Silk Reeling) but shows you how to generate it from different angles. We've been working it into our advanced class and some folks have been throwing some pretty hard strikes - both punches and kicks, which you tend not to see in classical Silk Reeling.

Take care and train like you mean it.

Rob LaPointe