Remembering to Pull Your Elbow Back

With the return of Grandmaster Chen to Canada, there is always the chance that he will pop in to visit our school without any prior notice. This is a great opportunity to have the head of our style critique our forms and techniques. Although students are understandably nervous when he is watching, the biggest thing to remember is that he is looking for precision. As mentioned in one of my previous blog entries, there is a heavy focus on pulling back your elbow to generate power when you are practicing Fut Gar Kung Fu. You must pull your elbow back as hard as possible to help generate power in your striking arm. This can be visualized as throwing a defensive elbow to the back at the same time as throwing an offensive strike to the front. Of course the end point of the elbow depends on the technique you are executing but keeping this in mind will make a big difference as you are performing.

10 Elbows of Fut Gar Kung Fu

Students of Fut Gar Kung Fu will be familiar with the elbow techniques contained in the forms. Elbow techniques are so important to the style that there is even a form that focuses on building these techniques (Chin Jaang/Whole Elbow also known as Loong Jow/Dragon Claw to some). Here is a list of 10 of the elbow techniques contained in the forms:

1. Kai Jaang - Standing Elbow
2. Waang Jaang - Horizontal Elbow
3. Gung Jaang - Forcing Elbow
4. Pow Jaang - Cannon Elbow
5. Cup Jaang - Covering Elbow
6. Bau Jaang - Wrapping Elbow
7. Chum Jaang - Sinking Elbow
8. Tit Jaang - Slicing Elbow
9. Jing Jaang - Center Elbow
10. Hok Jaang - Lifting Elbow

Generating Power in Fut Gar Kung Fu

Students of my school will understand that generation of striking power in Fut Gar Kung Fu is different from the generation of power of most other Martial Arts styles. Fut Gar does not use a Gung Bo (Front/Bow Stace) in its hand forms. The theory is that pushing your weight forward into a Gung Bo to generate power will produce too much forward momentum which allows another martial artist to pull you off balance with a quick grab and pull.

Generation of power in Fut Gar Kung Fu comes from a combination of pulling backwards with your non-striking arm and turning at the waist. Pulling back the non-striking arm should be done as hard as possible as if you were throwing an elbow strike. Grandmaster Chen Rong En speaks about Leung Tin Chiu as someone who would create a snapping sound every time he pulled his arm back. As students train in Fut Gar they will be instructed on where the elbow should end up based on the strike being thrown. The pull will generally be in the exact opposite direction of the strike being thrown. The back should be kept straight and the body should pivot on an axis that is straight up and down.