Trapping and Sticking Hands

 

One of the key points of my system is the trapping hands although this is used in Wing Chun I make more use of it than the original system. All this means in simple terms is that if possible we don’t block the hands but we trap or grab the hand. There are lots of good reasons for this. Firstly if you block a punch then he still has the hand free to hit you again if it's trapped it can't do that. Secondly when you strike someone a lot of your power goes in knocking them back if the hand is trapped this doesn’t happen and all the power is used effectively. With the trap you can also pull your attacker onto your punch, which will increase your power.

Thirdly you can then use the sense of touch, which we saw before breaks the reflex lag, even if he hits with the other hand or tries to kick the movement can be felt via the trapped hand. You can also effectively break his balance, which leads to immobilizing him by applying a variety of locks and holds. The trapping hands also include any arm or wristlock. Trapping is so simple that the combination is endless. But there are some basic points to remember, do not apply a lot of pressure and force in the trap as this would allow the force to be used against you. A light hold gives you the feel for any move they make. Doing a trap out side is better than inside as it effectively takes out the other hand. In the photo image92 you can see it done across the body and if he attacked with his free hand he would have to go above or below his own arm, which leaves him open to a double trap. It is hard for him to use the other arm as you have his arm, which prevents him turning. The next pictures image93-95 is done on the inside, which as you can see leaves, him free to use the other hand and his balance isn't affected. Once we have the hand we don’t let go the follow through movement is to punch again and swap the hands so we retain control of the hand as seen in the next picture

 

We can get around that problem by going well outside the gate so we do affect his balance image94. It is considered safe as you have his hand and you can preserve the centre line. We can see in the next photo his arm taken wide but Jan still controls here own centre line

 

What we have seen so far is simple trapping but there is a double arm trap, which has hundreds of combinations to it. In this sequence images75-76 we can see Jan attack with a punch after trapping the left arm but on this occasion Karen blocks the incoming punch. This helps Jan as she now grabs the blocking hand and drags it across the arm she has trapped. By keeping up forward pressure and swapping hands she can continue raining down punches with very little fear of attack

 

 

When the trap is done on the inside and Jan punches Karen again blocks but this time outwards. Jan Quickly pulls back the blocking hand and kick now that she has both hands trapped. image96-97

 

 

 

Photos 157-162 show another trapping sequence this time starting from a punch by Jan, which is blocked by Karen. Jan then pulls back her hand and swaps hands so she can launch another punch to the same gate. She did this because there is a better chance of success going for this gate as it's harder to block as your pulling them off balance slightly on that side.

Karen manages to block the punch and again Jan grabs the blocking hand and pulls it across the other arm so she has a double trap and punches with the other hand she continues punching and swapping hands so there hands remain trapped. The photos are posed to show the move clearly.

Photo153-154 show how we can use the trap by employing arm locks as Jan punches it is blocked by Karen but Jan moves in and retains hold of the hand and uses an elbow smash to the face at the same time locking the hand and throwing Karen backwards. You can see how the Wing Chun fits in with what may well be an Aikido or Ju Jitsu move.

 

One thing worth pointing out is just because you have hold of someone's hand don't rule out them using that hand against you. In the next 2 photos 163-164 Karen has hold of Jan hand when she simple folds in on the elbow and uses an elbow strike. This is a common move in some styles especially Tai Chi.

 

Traps are really a sticking hand except you hold the others arm, as the contact is so slight the difference between sticking and trapping is thin line. In order to develop the sticking which in simple term means just that to stick with your attackers arm then follow or redirect that arm to affect a defeat. The Chi Sau( Sticking Hands) is in 3 parts single, double, and free style. Often a predefined sequence is used for the initial practice until the student has the sensitivity to go on to free style. Practice is often done blindfolded which increases the sense of touch.

My sticking hands is different from Wing Chuns in that we can use anything to win and it is a combination of Wing Chuns Sticking hands, Tai Chi pushing hands and Aikido. While Wing Chuns Chi Sau is very good it's hard to make it work against Tai Chi as they simple yield to the force and uproot you. In Wing Chun sticking is an exercise in my system it can be used as self-defence. By sticking with someone's hand and redirecting the force it can be very effective.

The next set of photos show a typical sticking sequence done with one hand so you can see it. It starts with a blow from Karen which is block by Jan. Jan now has a clear shot at the upper gate, being in contact with the arm she can follow the arm down to find the face and this she would use if this was being done blind folded.

Karen then loops her wrist around the block as she starts to feel Jan moving in for a punch. As Jan does the punch Karen applies pressure to stop it in effect doing a low slap block. Here Karen has a clear upper gate for her attack. Thing are not as straight forward as that once you have made contact with an arm you are in trouble if you don’t act correctly. In this photo image98 image138-145 you must consider what can happen yes the upper gate is clear but the second your hand moves to attack you loose contact with Jan's hand, if she powers straight in with a punch chances are she will hit first.

Karen makes a smart move though and keeps pressure on Jan's hand and punches low thus maintaining contact, if she had gone straight for the face and lost contact she would have been hit.

 

 

 

 

Having deflected the punch with the bong sau Jan attempts a punch, which Karen detects, and presses down on the arm with a slap block again. Seeing a free gate Karen punches to Jan's face which she deflect with a high Bong Sau, the bong sau is actually to high as it wouldn't normally go above shoulder height. The reason Jan has gone high is she is starting to move in and this will help break Karen's balance by uprooting her. That was a gamble loosing contact with the hand and because of the distance she is making body movement, which Jan can use to defeat her. So far the movements are basic Wing Chun the difference hear is Jan traps the hand now turns and applies an arm lock, which wouldn’t happen in pure Wing Chun. Chi Sau is an exercise to help feel your opponents moves but we use it for more than that once you have made contact with someone's hands you limit the moves they can make. The beauty of sticking is that you don’t need eyes as you can feel every move and from the initial contact with a hand you know if you follow the hand it will lead you to the neck and face.

The hands contact also is about movement Bruce Lee modified sticking hands to keep forward pressure going all the time the idea being that if you try pulling away from Bruce's method he would hit you because of the forward's pressure. While this has merit if applied properly there is the danger that you push can be used against you as you are applying force it can be used against you. With my Ki you are going forward but you wont fall if someone moves away as there is no actual force in the true sense of the word.

 

 

The double sticking hands is started from the position in the photo chisau.jpg. The same possibilities exist as they did in the single version accept its more complicated, your balance is far more important as you can soon loose control if you apply pressure in the wrong way. In the double Chi Sau foot movement is permitted and by using this we get a real life situation.

Traps are the transition from pure punch them and hurt them to the possibility of taking other action, which can end the fight, but without causing any harm. This is often accomplished by applying locks or by throws and pushes.

This moves us on to new concepts and skills. The punching and trapping is very fast very simple and easy to learn but in moral terms you are talking about a system, which will dish out death blow every .05 seconds. Make no mistake the punches done even from less than six inches can very easily kill. When I had my punch measured from and inch away the press asked a doctor what the effect would be. Taking into account that the punch sends the force internally unlike most punches, which spread on the surface the doctor, calculated that applied to the chin it would set up shock waves in the brain and cause instant death basically by shaking the brain to pieces. Applied to the heart area it would have the same effect on the heart. In the above sequence it could have been ended with a blow, which in technical terms is far more efficient.

If someone grabs your hand the best defines is a kick or a punch, its simple effective and the most likely to succeed. But do we need to prove to a drunk that real means no harm that we can kill him in seconds? Could we justify it in law?