Hello. I have noticed that heng chuan leaves you wide open for a groin kick/knee... Example, a right straight punch is thrown at you, you slap with your left hand and step out with your left foot and hit with your right hand, right? This leaves you wide open for a groin kick... I know, I took one and it hurt. So now I use Drilling fist the most, this way I have a lead leg in front to protect my groin. Does anyone have any advice besides wear a cup =0)

Who ever is teaching you that Heng Quan is used that way should be flogged. This is the advice: Don't use heng quan that way.

Hi Meynard. Which ways would you use heng chuan? This is the one element I have experimented with over and over and just can't make it as affective as the other four. As for your above advice. I agree I avoid using heng the way i first mentioned.

You can use it as an elbow break.

Try a 'reverse Heng', you can slap down with your left arm and take half step or full wedge step (depending on which leg you have forward) with your left leg at about 45 degrees at the same time which allows you to slip the punch as well, then you can chicken step to block his kick or go around his leg or kick it(if opponents right leg is forward) or whatever and then that should put you to side and slightly behind to use your right hand heng.

To get back to the original question... protecting the groin... as you advance and punch, the trailing leg tucks in behind the front in the "scissor" step. This closes and protects the groin. The two thighs are closed together and very effectively provide protection to your gonads. If anyone teaches something different - better ask why?

With regard to an application, the crossing punch can be directed to the opposite side of your opponent's body - aiming for the lower (floating) rib.
A proper punch (spiralling in and up) landing there will probably break one or more of the lower ribs and drive it into one of the vital organs.
Combined with the shock force of the punch (even by itself, to the lower side of the abdomen)... your opponent will not be a happy camper.

"A proper punch (spiralling in and up) landing there will probably break one or more of the lower ribs and drive it into one of the vital organs."

This would only happen in an episode of Dragon Ball Z.

This is bad advise. It would not work. It is silly.

Yo Maynard... unlikely, perhaps - but silly, no!

If I had told my teacher (Ma Jun Long) that this idea was "silly", I would have questioned his skill and knowledge, and his teacher (Wang Qing Shan) and his teacher (Fu Jian Qu) and his teacher (Li Cun Yi)...

Your comment begs to take the "Yi" out of Xingyi.

Next you will be telling me that I can't break your clavicle with my Piquan... or rupture your vena cava with my Bengquan... or fracture your larynx wiith my Zuanquan... etc.

INTENT... you can't say it is bad advice, or silly, to have intent?

After that, it's a whole bunch of work and time to concentrate the power... to cultivate the Xing & Yi... and hope you never have to use it to hurt somebody.

Peace bro'

Yeah, very unlikely and the thought of it makes it silly.

Have you ever done what you said you could? If not how do you know you can do it?

While it's not that hard to break a clavical or injure a larnyx (sp?), the major blood vessels are pretty tough things. If possible, visit a slaughter house or or talk to someone who butchers his own animals or game. Feel a real one with your own hands.

It is possible that a blow to the heart can disrupt the beat and put the 'timing' out of wack which is extremely serious and occasionally happens accidentally in conventional sports.

Actually, it is not uncommon for broken ribs to have been driven into internal organs or intestines in criminal fights/beatings, though it usually takes a strong man or repeated blows. I feel, however, that most modern MAs won't take the time and effort to develop a truly powerful strike.

Meynard,

I have seen with my own eyes many instances where people were bones were broken, or vitals organs seriously damaged with single strikes. I have seen blood squirting out of arteries. It is obvious you have never seen Kung Fu Theater. So then, who is the silly one?

speaking of power hits etc. I have seen a few things I found pretty unreal, but were 100% authentic. I saw a huge tai chi man( the size of wang shu chin)take full punches etc. to the gut and then repel the attacker 6 feet or more backwards and upwards with a push of his stomach. Of course I thought this can't be... until one day my Sifu performed something similiar. Then I was sold. However, I agree with Kenneth most of us/ modern artists dont/wont take the time to achieve this level. It really is not a secret to achieve. It is practice, dedication and really becoming aware of what the mind and body can achieve.

The question is whether HENG quan can do this sort of damage, and given the way power is generated, i don't think so. It's more for locking, sticking or adhering, positioning, unbalancing or even throwing forward. There is some drilling energy in Heng, but what seems to being talked about here, is drilling from a reverse rather than natural stance, or a short drill after heng, maybe with the/a follow up step.

"I saw a huge tai chi man( the size of wang shu chin)take full punches etc. to the gut and then repel the attacker 6 feet or more backwards and upwards with a push of his stomach."

Was the attacker a hobbit? Ah, the famous cotton belly technique. Koojo is right I should watch more kung fu theater.

SleepyDragon,

I saw that too. I think it was on Kung Fu Theatre.

I do not do xingyi however do you guys practice only one application of the five element fists. if you are in a position to hit sombody in the ribs ie it is the most direct target would you not hit it. would you stick or lock the arms when you could have a direct stike on the body and end the conflict there and then.

Hello, Qui chu ji. Most Xing Yi people study all five elements. They are Pi Chuan(splitting/metal), Tsuann chuan(drilling/water), beng chuan(crushing/wood), pao(bursting/fire), and Heng chuan(crossing/earth). These are the core practice for most Xing Yi artists.

I can only speak for myself. I would rather strike the body repeatedly and end the situation that way. Although I learned one time you must know how to stick well. I was sparring and hit a classmate and he fell directly onto me on his way down and i had to grapple him. It was like getting a cob web off of yourself.

Heng is not about hitting or releasing, more about storing (bear rather than eagle). A spring can store energy under compression and EXTENSION. Extension in this case invovles a 'measured pulling' action which naturally lends itself to 'controlling' type actions/applications.