D_Glenn wrote:edededed wrote:When the hands are hooked, the wrist seems to be quite tough and hard, good for striking! Some people toughen it more as well (by hitting things, etc.).
In bagua, Ma Gui was famous for wrist strikes (腕打), too; some bagua schools still teach them (training methods, techniques). But some bagua schools don't use them at all.
The wrist striking required a lot of stretching and conditioning before it was/is possible to use in the manner that Ma Gui used it. First is that the hook needs to be be able to bend more than 90 degrees when looking at the angle of the palm to forearm. Then a lot of time spent in a push up plank position where weight is only on the wrist bones and tips of the forearm bones. I’ve seen and felt first hand the potential of this and it is potentially devastating. Some of the more common usage doesn’t require that level of conditioning and doesn’t have the same potential and relies more on hitting points, like zhangmen.
Hi D_Glenn, long time no see, hope you are doing well. Interesting about the 90+ degree requirement, I did not know that. But yeah, there seemed to be a lot of conditioning work - more than I am willing to do...