Tag Archives: taekwondo punch

First Time and Only Time I Ever Struck Somebody with a Karate Punch

You Don’t Want to Use Your Karate Punch Like This!

A Karate punch can be a terrible thing. Proper Karate training and you can shatter slabs of ice, stacks of boards and bricks, and even kill 1000 pound bulls. You can also make bad errors, such as I will point out in this martial arts article.

karate punch
I had been training for over two decades, striking the makiwara (punching board), practicing with friends, and even writing karate books on what I had discovered in the martial arts. Interestingly, in all that time I had never actually struck another human being. I knew I had a powerful punch, I had just never been in a situation where I had to use it.

I was in charge of a hotel in Los Angeles in one of the poorer sections of town. One day I leased a room to a pleasant appearing fellow, and shortly discovered that I had made a deal with the devil. This fellow had a second business of pushing drugs. Now, aside from actual medical marijuana cases, because of my martial arts training I don’t stand for drugs.

One sunny day I ascended upstairs and confronted the fellow, and told him that he had to stop selling drugs. At first he hemmed and hawed, tried to change the subject, but I kept after him. Finally, he just laughed at me, “The police don’t bother me, there’s nothing you can do about it, so leave it alone.”

Shocked, I blurted, “I want you out of here, you’re gone…now!” He just laughed at me some more. “It’ll take you months to get me out of this apartment.”

I suddenly went calm, and that is not a good thing, for it meant that I had been pushed too far. I dropped my weight into an hourglass stance, power surged up my frame and pulsed out my arms, and I struck him in the chest with two gnarly fists. What happened then was truly astounding.

Having never struck another person I had no idea what it would feel like, or what was going to occur. First, I felt this enormous weight surging back up my arms and through my body and into the ground…it was much more mass and resistance than I had realized. Second, a long second later–that’s right, there was actually a gap of time before the effects of my karate strike were realized–he began to launch through the air.

He flew up and over the bed and smacked against the wall, and he slowly struggled to his feet, rubbing his chest his hands, his eyes wide, “You can’t do that!” That just made me even more angry, and I started after him, then realized that he had told me something significant, “Why not?” “Because I’ve got somebody in the closet!

I went to the closet door and yanked it open, and a naked man stood there shivering in terror. That’s right, the drug dealer was gay, and his boyfriend had come to visit him, and…what the heck had I just done? In using my karate punch I had abused all the good things i had learned in the martial arts, I had struck another human being, and was left with a very sick feeling.

 

Do You Have a Perfect Karate Punch?

Within the Karate Fist is Great Spirit

Do you have a perect karate punch? Or, for that matter, a perfect Taekwondo punch, or a perfect kenpo punch?

I was learning Sanchin Kata the hard way, out of a pan gai noon book. I would look at the pics, read the descriptions, and step back from the table the book was on and do it.

And, at the same time, I was talking to a friend about how to collect and sell ancient bottles.

Sanchin, sink the stance, connect with the earth, breth, energy out, punch.

And, you tap a rod gently into the earth, when you hear the ping of glass, when the rod taps differently, you have found a bottle.

Punch not with muscle, but with the collective energy of the earth. Use your chi.

And, then you have to dig down and find the bottle, being very careful not to break the glass.

Feel the power, feel the way the frame conducts the energy, make the fist tight…find the sensation of perfection.

And, you bring the bottle up and look at it. Is it cracked? Has the bottom broken? What kind of liquid did the bottle hold? What ancient secret have you uncovered.

I was struck by how our pursuits were the same. Digging for antique bottles was no different than plumping the soul; finding the perfection of a punch through precise actions.

Later, after developing a Perfect Karate Punch, I would write a book, The Punch, inspired by the things I would find. Make sure you check out the free book on the home page.