Re: How do you Punch?

i use the boxers technique bringin the power all the way from the balls of my feet through my hips bak and rotate my shoulder i find this most effective as the contact is usually full and clean.

I've always been taught to keep my heel down.
In my style, we are taught to snap the hips forward (not necessarily twist) driving the body down and forward into the tsuki, and allow the rear foot to slide forward slightly. I've also been taught that keeping the heel down makes it easier to maintain complete alignment in the spine and hips.

-Al

This is what I was talking about, hope more people reply. Already we have 2 different opinions.To add fuel to the fire, i saw a Sensei explain that sliding the back foot was akin to a parachute out the end of a race car, drag, and it slows down the punch. Here is more more amunition to discuss.

Hmm... parachute analogy is good.

Now, you shift into your punch and don't change total body positioning, i.e. you don't change footwork forward or back, you just pivot and shift. You lift your heel to drive into your punch and its all good. Now what if (speaking from gyaku or oi tsuki/ reverse or lunge punch) you needed to gain a little ground on your target, to successfully drive into it? Keeping your heel down, but keeping your rear foot light and loose, allows your rear leg to slide forward slightly during execution and help bring your whole body into the technique.

As I previously said, this is how I was taught to punch in my style. My own experience has shown that my technique allows me to drop my front knee slightly and lower my center of gravity much better. Again, this is in a straight gyaku and oi tsuki.

This is only speaking of one type of hip/waist motion: forward motion, and how it relates to a straight punch. Getting into twisting, rising, falling, vibrating, and pendulum hip motion, and how they are effective for different techniques could be a different story

-Al

In punching I'll do any of the techniques mentioned above; keeping the rear foot planted or sliding it to gain distance for better penetration most times, but coming up on the ball of that foot when in a crane stance (Chinto kata) which I like to do.

For kicking, I never come up. On rare occasions I'll slide the base foot, but when the kick lands, the other foot is flat. Then again, I'm an Okinawan stylist. I was told Shorin-ryu uses the hips-rocking-forward motion I believe Alejandro referred to, and that's useful when you know the kick will land, but may compromise balance otherwise.

When I punch with the ball of my rear foot raised, I feel there is more power in the punch as I am also leaning my body weight into the movement. The downside of course is that my balance is unstable in the forward direction.

In contrast, rear foot flat on the floor has more stability and allows the impact to be absorbed and transferred to the rear foot into the ground.