Just wanted to let you know that I check your page a couple times a week and find the blog both informative and insightful, and at times really funny — like the Iron Man vs Bruce Lee fight you just posted.

Anyway, the lunge punch question you addressed has been one that I’ve wanted to ask you about for a while. Your answers helped me to understand what the true advantages are. After I thought about what you wrote I concluded that the ninjutsu lunge punch just seems to fit with the philosophy of the art. I’m speaking solely based on the small amount of knowledge I have about ninjutsu thus far, but as you’ve said using the whole body and being able to flow and move from one punch/technique to another without ever grounding yourself seems ideal. That being said, I don’t think I have a good “ninja” punch yet… I’m still working on the leg movement and arm timing.

Furthermore I was thinking that when one grounds themself to throw a karate reverse punch they’re providing both a fixed and broader target and more time for the attacker to hit you. I guess that punch better count! A Wing-Chun teacher that I trained with at a seminar once said… “You karate people are always throwing punches from your waist… it’s going to get you in trouble”, referring to the fact that it leaves you quite vulnerable, especially the face.

I can comment on the technique behind the karate reverse punch that I learned fairly well while studying Goju-Ryu. You probably know most of this already, but it will be a good exercise for me to remember everything.

The power of the punch comes from two primary sources, the rapid twisting of the hips using core muscles to get the weight of the upper body behind it, and the grounding of the feet with a slight push from the rear leg to add power. It’s definitely not a mobile punch, meaning that you must be glued to the ground to make it powerful. And it is a very powerful punch when executed properly.

Breaking it down into parts…
1. Concentrating the power of the whole punch into the first two knuckles (index and middle finger knuckles). This yields maximum pressure (and damage) on impact since the area of the two knuckles is small compared to say the flat front area of a fist that most people hit with. Pressure=(Force) divided by (Area)… smaller area gives a higher pressure.

2. A twisting of the forearm to lock together the two bones of the forearm, the ulna and radius. In the twisted position the elbow is almost pointing down at the ground rather than out and away from the body, while the fist remains at a 45-90 degree angle from vertical. This locks the whole arm and makes it solid for energy transfer.

3. The lat muscle of your back is contracted to lock the shoulder joint down and into a solid position, providing efficient transfer of energy from the core into the punching arm. Again, the less slack in the body the less energy wasted and more energy transferred along to the fist.

4. The elbow of the punching arm stays very close to the ribs as the arm extends. Based on the principle that the closer your arms are to your body the more power and control you have. The arm will then easily follow the twisting motion of the hips as the punch is being extended.

5. The feet are locked to the ground using the toes to dig in and grip. The front knee is bent and rear leg is extended behind in a typical karate front stance. The body weight is lowered/grounded with a feeling of heaviness and connection to the ground. As the punch is extended the front leg becomes tense with the knee turning in ever so slightly as the rear leg pushes from the ground going to almost full extension (extension of the rear leg is small, only an inch or so of total movement from relaxed to tense) drawing energy up from the ground. The feet do not budge from their grip of the ground.

In physics terms… Newton’s Third Law of Motion… every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction. If I push the earth below my feet (an immoveable object) with some force the earth will “push” back with equivalent force on me (the same thing happens when we jump into the air). Therefore since the earth isn’t moving, the energy is transferred up the leg to add energy to driving the hip forward.

6. The hips are rapidly twisted using the abs and obliques in a snapping motion with the punching side coming forward with the arm as it extends. This is to get the weight of the upper body behind the punch.

7. The punch extends through the target by about three inches. There can also be a twisting of the punch at the very end to cause more damage at the impact site by twisting and tearing muscle tissue below the surface as it penetrates into the target.

When it’s all done with the right timing, the overall goal is to take the power of the core, the legs, the shoulder, chest, triceps, and forearm muscles and focus it into the 1-inch between the first two knuckles.

It’s a great punch and can be done quickly, but again you’re completely fixed when executing it. From training in the Bujinkan I am starting to see the great benefit of moving the whole body and the effect it can have on an opponent’s balance and structure with little effort on your part.

I now look back at my karate training and think of it metaphorically as two fists smashing together, where force meets force. Whereas I look at the Bujinkan as a fist trying to strike a cloud of smoke. The fist hits nothing and smoke suddenly envelopes it, and then anything is possible.

That’s about it… I think I’ve written enough, and hopefully it was worth reading.