A few fmas make use of slaps for fighting. I wonder how you guys are working to generate power for this type of attack. Anyway did somebody on this forum use slaps successfully in a fight? Any feedback would be welcome.
I know that taiji and some of the other internal martial arts utilize palm strikes that look like slaps, but are actually a lot more serious than that. Without inviting the usual flurry of arguments, I will say that the idea behind it is to create a kind of spiraling energy that hits your opponent on the outside, but is designed to cause damage on the inside.
Good article silentblade... Many good points.... I wonder if somebody on the forum tested slaping against fast strikers (boxers, wing chun...). I know an exercise called "the shockwave".... Motion moves from the feet upwwards, is amplified by your abds, comes out at shoulder level, and is then transfered into your opponents body through slaps (can also be punches)... Is this what you mean? The pb is how to produce this energy without telegraphic moves....
That sounds about right-- you create a spiral starting in your kwa (hip girdle, and it travels down your arm and generates pretty shocking power without telegraphing movement. Bruce Lee made this kind of technique (without the open palm, however) famous with is 6cm punch.
One part of chum kiu (wing chun form) , just after the two first punches, can also be used to developp power like in the shockwave... wing chun actually strives to developp powerfull blows from small non telegraphic movements...
Slaps are awesome moves, that can come from nowhere and end a fight quickly, or be used as a tool to distract an opponent. I slap a heavy bag pretty regularly.
In my experience (and as I was taught) the #1 key to good slaps is relaxation in the hand. The rest of the power comes from body mechanics. Just like any other strike. I've not used strikes in fights but have used them in full-speed/contact sparring to great advantage. Usually they've been used to cause pain and create openings for other things. However, I have, on occasion, had a slap end the match - the guy's brain just sorta seemed to shut down and he completely ceased fighting while saying something like "What the !@#$ was that!?" But that has only happened with people who aren't used to being slapped at all. I did read a funny story on one of the discussion forums I'm on - I forget which. This guy was a bouncer in a bar. He's not a big guy. One night a patron got out of hand and the bouncer asked him to leave. It got ugly and the guy came at the bouncer. He said, "I looked at this big lug and thought, 'My best shot won't faze him.' I didn't know what I was going to do and went on autopilot. When he closed, I slapped him in the face as hard as I could. He dropped to his knees and, literally, started crying." This story led to an interesting discussion and someone brought up the point that, for most guys, a slap is very mentally/emotionally disturbing as well as being physically painful becausue the last time they felt something like that from a slap it was probably from their mom. Most guys aren't psychologically prepared for that kind of attack. Nothing to rely on, of course, but an interesting observation and it certainly worked in that one case. Mike
In JKD we do use slaps in combinations, one in particular is a cup shape designed to shock the ear drum. Not 100% sure which particular art it comes from although it seems very similar to a groin shot i have been shown as part on panantukan
what kind of slap are you discussing? like a back hand slap or sumthing? i did kinda slap strike in exercises but i never used it in application. this is a nice topic.
is the palm strike not palm heel, let say to the face, also slap? or does it have to be like the one girls do when they slap men? don't laugh i'm serious i'd like to get an idea on how do you deliver or how it looks like. how different is it also in hand slash?
It looks like what the girls do .... We train to developp a kind of wave like energy that we release through slaps or circular punches. We use to slap pads... I think it also exists in Tai Chi..... What do you mean by hand slash? Strike with the edge of the hand?
the one i was refering to is a cupped hand but you strike with a slapping motion. The hand shape is as if you were trying to carry water
to ranger, I don't consider the knive hand as a slap.... Do you train it on the Bagua dummy? I guess there are several different knive hands in Bagua...
I use the slap quite effectively and it is included in the Police Unarmed Defensive Tactics Curriculum. The version I use is the Peter Consterdine style "Powerslap". It utilises a double hip motion and sends people down hard with minimum visible damage. If you get to se the "Pavement Arena" videos or "Powerstrike" you can see how much power canbe genrated with a forward and backhanded slap. I never knew I was in the company of such a bunch of ol' slappers