Elbow "PUSH" Wrist

ELBOW PUSH WRIST?

My Sifu used to describe the extending Arm movements of Wing Chun to me as “Shoulder Push Elbow, Elbow push Wrist”, and of course I pass it down to my Students in the same manner, but recently it has become very obvious that some Students find this simple statement somewhat confusing, even Students with many, many Years training and teaching behind them.

So lets break it down’

1. Does the Elbow really “Push” the Wrist?
2. How does the Elbow push the Wrist?
3. What does the Elbow use to push the Wrist?

As is often the case in Wing Chun the English translation can be a bit ambiguous if not misleading, so the use of the word “Push” can be problematic, we should not think of Push as in “Push a Car” or “Push a Wheelbarrow” that implies the use of strength but more as in an idea of extension like “Push your Boundaries”, even “Push off out of here”! 

If there is a physical push then it is done with the least amount of Force that can be used. 

It’s Wing Chun after all. 

1. Does the Elbow really “Push” the Wrist?  The Elbow is a Joint, so it is not really possible for the Elbow to exert Force of its own accord, so the Elbow cannot physically push the wrist, it is a concept.
2. How does the Elbow push the Wrist?  The concept of the Elbow pushing the wrist is really about alignment, if I align the Elbow in a straight line with the Wrist then any energy passed into and through the Elbow will be transmitted into the Wrist.
3. What does the Elbow use to push the Wrist? The Elbow is connected to the Wrist by the Ulna Bone, so it could be seen that the  Elbow “Pushes” the Ulna into the Wrist, just as when you shoot an Arrow, the back of the Arrow “Pushes” the front of the Arrow into the Target.

Once we understand that it is more about alignment than power production we begin to see that it is about energy traveling along a Vector, not only does the Elbow “Push” the Wrist but it also follows the Wrist, if it does not it cannot continue “Pushing” through out the entirety of the movement.

When a Student is trying to extend their Tarn Sau against resistance, or even more obviously when they are trying to Punch out from their Sternum against resistance the most common mistake is to try to send the Elbow toward the intended target destination, instead of sending the Elbow in the direction of the Wrist, and using the Shoulder rotation to direct the Whole Arm, as a result the Elbow tries to move forwards on a separate Vector while the Fist is held motionless,  to succeed the Elbow must follow on the same path as the Wrist in order to be continually “Pushing” the Wrist forward.

Most of us drive Cars, and at one time or another would of lost the rear end due to too much speed or just a poor road surface, we understand that to drive a Car correctly the back end {Boot / Elbow} must stay on the same path / vector as the front end {Bonnet / Wrist}. 

We could use this analogy with the Space Shuttle, but then it would make Wing Chun sound like Rocket Science.