The Stickiest of "Sticking Hands"...
Newsletter - June 23rd, 2023
That's right, "Sticking Hands," but not disgusting sticking hands that make you want to wash up after introducing yourself to someone.
But also, maybe, yes, actual disgusting sticking hands... I suppose that much depends on the cleanliness of your training partners.
Last week I shared some really impressive "flow rolling," (which was roundly condemned for being a video embedded from Instagram.)
(After being yelled at and cowering in a corner, I did swap out the video.)
One of my esteemed members pointed out that flow rolling in Jiu Jitsu seems a lot like "Chi Sau," or "Sticking Hands" in the world of Kung Fu...
...and he shared this video of two talented Kung Fu masters Chi-ing some Sau.
(here's a teeny clip amidst the instruction, which I found interesting:)
This stuff looks extremely cool, and it clearly takes a lot of training to develop the necessary reflexes and technique so have the superior Sticking Hands... in a battle of... Hand Stickiness?
But that's not all of the coolness that Wing Chun has to offer!
You might find the marvelous displays of Hand Speed exhibited by Wing Chun "Circle Punchers" to be equally impressive.
If that video was, in fact, real... that guy's punching speed would be insane.
The problem with these incredible displays of skill is that the skills themselves don't actually work.
You will NEVER see Chi Sau 'in the cage' or 'on the street'.
It's just not how striking is done...
Stand-up fights are not conducted from within arm's length while also projecting your arms forward so that your opponent can feel the necessary connection to maintain "Sticking Hands".
In fact, good punchers try to maintain as little connection as possible. A strike moves out, makes contact, and returns back to the position from whence it came.
There's just no good reason to keep touching forearms.
Circle punching is equally flawed, for a few reasons:
1. People don't keep their head in the exact same spot while you punch them 40 times! It's not even possible. Without the ability to move forward while circle punching, it will not work. So, is it even possible to punch that fast while stepping forward? Or is the speed of your hands limited by the speed of your feet?
If you can't 'circle punch' a head that you've literally punched away from you, then shorter combinations seem like the better option...
2. If you're punching in a circle, you're never protecting your own head... While landing 20 fast punches would certainly damage a face, none of them have any real concussive effect. So, you're not going to knock anyone out, and your head is just sitting there waiting to get slugged.
Landing 5 circle punches is not worth eating a haymaker.
Again, we're talking about Punching Technique. If Circle Punching worked, we would see it in boxing. You know... the sport that is composed of nothing but punching technique.
Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that folks were able to identify similarities between Flow Rolling and their own styles, but it's equally important to acknowledge the differences.
Grappling arts revolve around feel... and consistent connection.
Striking arts revolve around vision... and instantaneous connection.
And I'm just going to leave you with those statements and hope that you can explain them for yourself.
I have videos to make.
Enjoy your weekend!
-Trav
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