Wing Chun is well known for its unique fighting principles and system which have shown very effective in real combat. One of its signature technique is the fundamental punching technique called ‘sun thrusting fist’. It is punched with the fist vertical at all time so the surface of the fist looks like a Chinese character ‘sun’. This is how it got its name. This is very different from other martial arts like boxing which do straight punches holding the fist horizontal.
Sun thrusting fist is able to generate devastating power if correctly executed. The secret of technique is to be completely relaxed. This principle is shared by many other Eastern martial arts like Taichi and Aikido. These martial artists are capable of doing powerful attacks while appearing to be very soft and slow. But the relaxing state is what made sun thrusting fist capable of hitting several hundred pounds within one inch of space.
How did Bruce Lee fire an insanely powerful punch within one inch (the inch punch)? Some might think that a punch is done by muscles of the arm only but in fact, punches like that requires the martial artist to uses the whole body’s muscle at the same time which would generate energy like explosion when done correctly. Wing Chun principles say that it uses six sets of muscles from toe to fist to execute a correct sun thrusting fist.
Sun thrusting fist is often used in combination of other techniques. One is to execute multiple fists in chain motion like a machine gun (The Chain Thrusting Fist). Famous Wing Chun master Wong Shun Leung is famous for his chain thrusting fists which would not stop once initiated until the opponent is defeated or paralysed. Compared to the one-two punch in boxing, the chain thrusting fist is more efficient in terms of energy usage. The hand after doing a punch is relaxed besides the other instead of pulling back to the body.
Martial art is an art about attacking and defending. Many disciplines of Kung Fu claim to have perfect systems of blocking and attacking. But the superiority of Wing Chun is that, the moves often combine attacks and blocks in one action. Two actions when done one by one is never faster than done together. Many techniques like the Bouncing Bridge Thrusting Fist blocks the opponent’s attack and counterattack at the same time. The opponent is often trapped in his own attacking motion and unable to react to the counterattacks. This makes Wing Chun masters able to finish fights in one or two actions most of the times.
The centerline principle of Wing Chun allows the martial artist to keep a positional advantage at all time during a close range combat. This often allows him to engage both hands in the offense because the principle helps him to merge the defense and offense together. The double punch technique is a perfect example. It is done by punch two sun thrusting fists at the same time. They will usually target two point on the centerline of the opponent. This can damage the enemy while hindering the enemy’s hands motions.
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