General Discussion
San Soo Journal – Blast from the past Volume 1, Issue 1 Fall 1994 THE “ONE-KNU…
San Soo Journal – Blast from the past
Volume 1, Issue 1 Fall 1994
THE “ONE-KNUCKLE FIST” STRIKE
The Chinese Name for the one-knuckle punch is Dragon Fist. This punch was designed to produce intense pain to your opponent if properly used. The impact of the Dragon Fist can be explained by imagining that I am going to poke you in the stomach with the bottom of a Coke bottle – you would feel the bottle strike but the force would be distributed over the entire bottom. If I turned the bottle over and poked you with the other end, using the same amount of force, you would find the smaller end does much more damage. The force would be intensified as the same force was condensed into a smaller focal point.
Now imagine hitting your opponent in the stomach with your full fist – then switch to the thought of striking the same way but with one knuckle slightly extended. All of your force is focused on the end of that knuckle and will result in great pain and damage.
Jimmy said that if you struck a man in the heart area with all your power that you could cause so much pain there is a good chance you can stop his heart. Remember that you must use great care in how you deliver a one knuckle punch as you could break your own finger. You seldom hit an opponent straight on with this punch as you can jam that finger. Jimmy taught us to strike in a roundhouse manner in case you hit a bone or something hard, this allows the finger to open rather than break.
One mistake that students often make is extending the knuckle out too far which causes it to be weak. The knuckle should only extend a little beyond the other knuckles next to it. The protruding knuckle is reinforced by the fingers on either side.
The angle of the punch is also very important as it can increase your power and also protect the striking fist. Jimmy explained it by having us imagine a large clock being placed over your opponent’s torso with 12 o’clock being his high chest area or throat, 3 o’clock his left side (spleen or kidney depending on how he is turned), and 6 o’clock being his low abdomen or groin.
Applying the One Knuckle Fist:
We will only cover your right punch, of course if you used your left fist you would add 9 o’clock on the other side and you would have a full circle.
12 O’CLOCK To strike 12:OO with your right one-knuckle fist you
would circle downward so that when you strike opponent’s upper chest your fist would be horizontal (palm in fist faces down).
3 O’CLOCK To strike opponent’s left side (3:OO) your fist would be vertical as it circles inward.
6 O’CLOCK To strike opponent’s abdomen your fist will be horizontal as it travels in an upward circular motion with the palm in the fist upward.
Variations
Practice the variations by first holding your fist straight up as if striking at 12:OO. Then begin to slightly rotate your fist as you move toward 1:00 and 2:00. As you reach 3: 00 your fist will be vertical. Continue rotating your fist slightly in a clockwise direction and notice its position at 4 and 5:OO. When you reach 6:00 your fist is horizontal and palm up. Beyond that you would switch to your left hand.
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5 Comments
Kevin Alvarado
I was taught the circle the body with palm stikes, I see this lesson a continuation.
When stiking with a palm, you want your hand to contour with the body. So you would rotate your hand like a baseball player catching a ball, fingers up for a high ball (palm downward) and rotate with fingers downward for a low ball (palm upward).
When palming the shoulders palm is down (12 o’clock in the diagram) so the hand contours the body and you don’t jam your fingers. Palming the ribs you rotate your fingers to the side, again contouring your hand to the ribs (3 o’clock). For the groin, palm is up alowing the fingers to adjust to the body’s contours (6 o’clock).
I’m guessing the clock diagram can apply to multiple types of strikes.
Patrick Patchin
They “new style” no longer teaches these most important fist or open hand positions which is unfortunate.
Kung Fu San Soo: History and Myths
Patrick, The Old guys did not refer to Old and new San Soo, they may today because it is widely used. It was made up by Frank by telling about when Jimmy was sued by a student that was hurt in class. He said he stuck to the old San Soo (said it was more brutal) but as my research showed that was when Jimmy brought in and combined “Shuai Chioa” into the Art. We just looked at it as we were getting more throws and takedowns which made a well rounded Art. It is so tiresome having to debunk peoples made up stories but I will do it so someday we can all tell real stories. Many of our moves can be seen below, check both links.
https://combatshuaichiao.com/gallery.html
Preview Pictures for Volume II of Combat Shuai-Chiao Video Tape
Kung Fu San Soo: History and Myths
Kevin, I had to think about it, it was a little hard to understand the circle the body but I could add something about the palm. We did not use the palm much at first but when HIV came along I decided to create a soft tissue slap with a lot of power behind it because when you fight bare knuckle you usually cut your hands. As far as contouring your palm to body parts I would not do, I make the strongest palm so when I struck it could take the pressure without damage, my main goal is to contour his face. heh heh
Timothy Lee
I remember when I read that article in the Journal. It brought back Jimmy telling us not to just use the one knuckle punch all the time. That it should used to strike certain targets. I know it causes paralyzing pain. During a workout my partner kept moving forward and turned I hit him in the L. Tricep he could not move his arm causing great pain. It also left a giant bruise. After that I was more cautious when practicing the one knuckle punch.