Martial Arts Speed Training - Candle Punches

[BYFighting]

When the fire department cant put of a fire they call me and i just punch at it !

[jerkinswagstillalive]

If you find it easy a close range than try it from a further distance, just today i did it from 5 inches away, and the whole concept of this exercise is to work on your chi, being able to throw it from your body to... in this case to put out a candle, and no it is not fake

[abadon115]

what u try to do is one inch punch but u do the full punch which is farely easy to do

[majic4evr]

im one of the few people who would call this aerokinesis

[Alfred4500]

LoL....candles are TOO easy...I only have to use 1/5 of my speed to make it go off...you only have to keep your fist close to it....!!!!!!

[RockinTrigger]

FAKE!

[lanjiaofei]

I bet your opponent feel cold

[LionEntity]

too close. try putting it out 20 centimeters further.

[Alfred4500]

@LionEntity Well done mate ;) Same with me...if you keep your fist close is TOO easy!

[MrFRAER]

noodles

[lyn800]

hey try kicking it with frontal kick target from hips to chin if youll gonna do that youll be a deadly person

[LilJay03]

Oh god I used to be able to do this. Then I stopped practicing martial arts. Now I can barely make it flicker xD

[SpiningChocolate]

close your hand then punch... results are different.. and its harder...

dont open your hand to aim.. just a suggestion as i am trained in traditional chinese martial arts and am an Martial art researcher..

[WaRRior0fShaDow]

you should have your fist at least 2 inches from the candle pussy

[JohanFromIndonesiaTM]

My name is Shaolin Xiao Yuan and this is not the way to improve your speed, + there is nothing special about this ''Technique''. In this video ''BlackDice572'' uses his fingers to push the wind towards the fire.

[glowsticker4eva]

i have a better method... GO TO A GYM AND PRACTICE WITH A PRO RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!

[funnyazn1]

holy shit dude is there a beginners way of this

[BlackDice572]

@funnyazn1 - If this is still a little difficult, try using a candle with a thin wick. Other things you can do to make it easier is to put the candle low down on a desk and close to a wall (Not too close, dont want to set fire to your house).

Also, if you have just lit the candle, you may find that it goes out easier than if you light it and leave it to burn for a while. I imagine low quality candles might go out easier, but Im not sure about that. All those things might make it eaiser.

[jaylyn3]

@BlackDice572 Can we do this from a stance and what kind of punches do you reccomend for this?

[lcd1972]

ha ha ha

[Desmedienbegeistert]

hey versuchs mal mit blasen...

[pstaehlin]

Very Poor. Telegraphing. Me no likey.

[MMABob]

cool video how long should i do this for

[BlackDice572]

Well, do it until it's easy, and then move onto something more advanced. Take a look at my "Advanced Candle Punches" video for a few ideas. Just push yourself as far as you can over a couple of weeks or so. But I wouldn't do it for too long. After that move back to bag and focus mit work as well as the rest of your normal training. You may want to come back and try the exercise every couple of months to see if you still have the skill set you aquired from it.

[hobofu]

cont...

I didnt realise I had stumbled upon a master. I apologise and am sorry I tried to teach you when it is I who should be taught, are you in England so I can come learn?

[hobofu]

I watched it all the way through. I dont see any reason to alter my post.You fight how you train. Best of luck

[hobofu]

Oh I also watched the other vid of advanced candle punching last night but didnt feel I should waste my time as you havent yet got the basic exercise. sorry to be so blunt but if you life is on the line then you want to know you are using a decent usable technique, at the moment your training to give the advantage to your opponent. I guess we can be polite and agree to disagree and in that sense I will leave you to it. Hope it all works out

[BlackDice572]

Punching candles is never going to give you an advantage over your oponent no matter how much you train. The exercise is just to instal a sence of "snap" into a strike and to give an appreciation of speed. This has to be applied first.

Thus far you have just said my technique is bad and given no logical arguement as to why. Your first "couple points" are covered in the first video.

"You fight how you train" is rich coming from someone who teaches cardio non-contact kung-fu.

[hobofu]

The advantage is a much improved punching technique. You with draw your hand, you are training your neuro system to withdraw your hand before you punch. If you do this you will get hit.

I didnt say I teach non contact. My ad said 'all without hitting each other' that particular class is a punching class, to improve teachnqiue, speed, power, timing etc and is very geared towards people who dont want to get involved with martial arts but would like to know they can knock someone out if attacked.

[hobofu]

Couple points

1-Your hitting to close to the flame = easy to put it out

2 - dont retract your arm, just hit

[BlackDice572]

Obviously there is "official protocal" to follow when punching out candles that I was unaware of.

It strikes me that you didn't watch the video all the way through, or read the description as it says to at the beginning.

[Obiwan198]

Cool. I train ninjutsu, and I could really use some speed training, but in Ninjutsu u strike with the whole body. You have to put your arm in front of you and move the whole body... does someone have training for that?

[KungFuKid1015]

awsome!!! I just punched my candle out earlier today, but using a downward swinging backknuckle. it was pretty up lifting, gave me some confidence

[MrGamePhreak]

wats up man lol ok well by the look of my page it may not look as if i do martial arts but i do i train in mma but these videos have me very intersted and i have a couple of questions so if ur not busy would it be ok to msg u some questions?

[BlackDice572]

Sure, go ahead. I am happy to answer as best I can. I may not be able to get around to answering your questions immediately, but be assured, I will get around to it.

[BG5850]

anyone can do that shit?

[BlackDice572]

Of course.

[kazuma312]

r u sure ur not blowing it lol dats wat i did wen i got tired

[sanique624]

1.20  *speed

[BlackDice572]

Wow, I never noticed that. Unfortunately, it's a little too late to change it, but thank you anyway.

[nomilkforsanta]

Olympic sports are very profitable and many leading Ph.D's and MD's are used to help develop technique and maximize physical preparation. No olympic boxer punches candles for improving punching speed, power, and technique. Since boxing is the art of punching, learning how to train a punch though them is the most logical step.

Q.E.D.

[BlackDice572]

Joe Calzaghe, and Bruce Lee. Only two people, and neither of them are olympians, but they are both legends in their own right. Both used candle punching.

The candle punching is really an exercise for getting an appreciation of elements of punching. It will never replace heavy bag and focus mit training as staple training methods, but I think all fighters should have an appreciation of the speed and "snap" required.

[SeedBagBob]

He never blew the candle out at all.Its the Qi whip in his punch that blows it out. Good techniqe, never closes until the strike. I also do this with back hand punches, very useful at close range attacks and defence.

[nomilkforsanta]

Qi whip? is that chinese for moving air with his hand?

[TheForestDragon]

It's the proper movement, and the feeling of kinetic energy rolling down the forearm, and snapping on a Linar path. In other words, all the power he can muster is in that punch faster than you can... well, do anything.

Watch close; he doesn't fan or sweep in his movement. Essentially, his punch is so strong, he can blow the candle out with his fist.

[nomilkforsanta]

See, air is a gaseous composition(mostly N^2 and O^2). LIke all elements in vapor form, they can be moved when proper energy (in this case kinetic) applied. All this guy is doing is pushing the air with the movement of his hand.

Stop studying traditional martial arts, read a science book, and move out of your mom's basement.

[TheForestDragon]

The idea is presenting that kinetic energy in a focused fashion. In all reality, it is pushing the air with one's hand, but doing it in such a way as to extinguish the flame of a candle [ignoring x factors like what the candle could be made of, and weather/room conditions,] provides the muscle memory to focus that same energy into someone's eyebrow, thus causing the potential damage to facial bones, and concussion.

[TheForestDragon]

And before you go off on a tangent about how you can't knock a man out by moving air, imagine impact about 3/4's of the way thru the movement in completion. Don't punch on, punch through.

[kitkat39]

i punched out my first flame today thanks to you.. never was able to punch one out before.. although I am not as consistent at punching them out as you are, they're still going off a lot more than i expected.. I am also messing around with your "advanced" things as well.. thanks again for posting! =)

[dragonstyle12345]

sometimes it depends on the candle aswell

[f1st0fgod]

dude you are punching waaayyyy too close to the candle...

[Samurai4Jesus]

Interesting... I've been looking for new training methods and I think I'll give this a try.

[GreatestCreation909]

dude, im sorry but i think you blew the candle out with your mouth.

because from three inches away, your not gonna move enough air to blow out the candle and in the dramatic fashion that you did(look at the second attempt).

sorry, i dont normally say something is fake but you blew it out.

[BlackDice572]

It is strange how I get people posting to tell me that this is in no way impressive, and then get people posting to say that its fake... I little experiment for you to try would be to stand at arms length from a candle and try to blow it out with your breath.

Listen to the noise required, as well as the effort. From that distance, it really is easier to use your hand. Blowing a candle out from that distance is a feat in itself.

[GreatestCreation909]

hm, well i tried it myself just like how you did it and yeah its possible.

Like i said, i dont normally call things fake. I was wrong on this one. My bad.

[pressloh]

sorry i mean;

show me please,

youtoube: pressloh

than you see karate kerze 1,2 and 3

[pressloh]

i like it

show me please, ebaj: pressloh

than you see karate kerze 1,2 and 3

[mehle3]

but face you blew

[kakamanamute]

SHIT sry but if you know fizik than you understand

[MetathoughtX]

An excellent video BlackDice572, thank you very much for the inspiration. Can you tell me: Are you just using relaxation and speed, or are you also applying mental images, Yi/Qi projection? Are you aiming at the flame, or through the flame? Thank you.

[BlackDice572]

I dont use Chi/Qi projection, but I have used visualisation exercises which I find help. Mostly though it is purely speed (Which of course requires being relaxed). with a sudden stop at the end (A moment of quick and total tension at the point where I stop the punch in the air).

You can't really aim through the flame without punching through, so I aim to punch as close to the flame as possible, unless I am punching further away on purpose to make it more difficult.

[ARuralFarmer]

Good tip man ill try this out tomorow =)

[smokingnate1234]

how about this actully keep your hand where it starts anyone can do it the way you are dumbass!

[BlackDice572]

I dont know how many more times I am going to say this. This video is not demonstrational, it is instructional. I am not attempting to show off in any way.

If you want to see/try an exercise that is more difficult involving the candle punching method please see my advanced candle punches video.

[Kirin122]

Nice video m8. Good job.

[mangabby05]

your supposed to stay one feet apart if ur powerful, your too close

[BlackDice572]

This video is instructional, not demonstrational. I am not showing off in any way, I am just explaining the exercise. Take a look at my Advanced Candle Punches video, for similar instructions on more difficult exercises.

[zankwack]

Look at my speed tracker video you would like it.

[Koreanlion7]

dude, ur cheating, ur fist extented has to be 6 inches away from the candle...

[Relvok]

Cool video. I've been thinking about trying this exercise out myself, but haven't been able to find any candles that weren't in glass jars. I've been trained up pretty well in Choong Sil Tae Kwon Do, so I know how to throw a punch and stuff. Oh, and I also do a little self study in various other martial arts, doing my own, kind of Jeet Kune Do, thing. Though, like other people have said for themselves, I've only been trained in one form of martial arts. Thanks again for uploading this video.

[renjixsan]

forget anything I say, I am the worst at martial arts, that means if you fight me you will win. Hope to see you soon to beat me up.

[renjixsan]

Anyone else want to whine about how they are too lazy to exercise? =_=

Forget I ever said anything, it is better to show the facts than rather state them. See you when I get a video camera

[blablablaImtogood]

to easy man :P GO further back!

[lookslikehaji555]

So is the piont to blow it out with the speed of the hand?

[BlackDice572]

Yes, that's right. Although argueably, and according to old chinese writings, if you keep taking a step back, or pushing the exercise, you will eventually start using something "other" than just the speed of your hand. The idea being to develope Chi. I've seen no sign of Chi at work in my practice and I've seen very few believable videos on the net. If this gets too easy, take a look at the "advanced candle punches" video.

[weloveyoudimebag]

ive been training martial arts for about 2 months, and i used to do my punches stopping about the same distance ur stopped from the flame but instead of to a flame, id do it to my long haired friends faces and blow out their hair. i just decided to try it on a candle from a friends suggestion and i did it perfectly, ur doing an awesome job too!

im gonna post a video soon hopefully:)

[renjixsan]

I see....so I guess 2 months and about 15 hours per day of training is a good reason why I could punch 10 candles out

[renjixsan]

I can blow out 10 candles in a row one behind the other... it's all about technique

[BlackDice572]

That's really excellent. Would you post it up for us? I dont know about anyone else, but that exceeds what I've seen anyone do so far.

[renjixsan]

I would, but I haven't had my hands on a camera in a long time...my video that I have up was me about 3 years ago now....yeah...my sophomore year in high school and now I'm in college so about 3 years...

and there is a law against people using candles in the dorms...but I can always do that in the dojo....

I'll send you a message when I get it up okay

[BlackDice572]

Excellent. A await it eagerly.

[renjixsan]

I await it eagerly also...

how much can you punch now?

[BlackDice572]

Well, the last time I tried I managed to do seven. But I haven't done it in a while.

[renjixsan]

nice, I did 10 but it was because I had nothing to do for one summer and I just trained from 7 am to 10 pm all day, even when I ate....

so I had the time to train extensively....how about you?

[BlackDice572]

Well, what you see on the video of my advanced version of this was about a month worth of practice, probably about ten minutes a day.

[inbisvontu]

your a fool and a liar

[renjixsan]

That is true today, I am nothing more than an average weakling. That does not mean I didn't train hard at one point. By you actually replying to my comment you must have no experience of having nothing more to do than train everyday because that was the only source of fun there was...well there was the radio, but the radio can get boring if all you do is listen to it.

[xiaoxiayu]

just shut up, you make no sense and you dont know what your talkign about. you did not "train" that long, and your full of shit, so stop trying to show of and shut up you ass licker

[renjixsan]

See now you are fooling yourself. Just because you sit in a couch and whine about how weak and spoiled you have become does not mean that other people can not do more than you can. You may be too lazy to get off the couch and train for 18 hours (note: after 1 hour of training you do not see the results you want because after an hour of exercise your body produces chemicals that go against the fat burning). The other thing is I did not have the luxury as I do today so I became lazy as well.

[sukotto7]

what the fuck are you talking about. your fooling yourself dude. get a life.

[sonicsuper122]

nice speed there man!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[guiltybystander77]

my distance judgment is bad. i know im fast enough to do one candle (havn't tried multiples yet) but i keep punching too far away in an effort to avoid just knocking the candle over. any tips on improving distance judgment?

[BlackDice572]

Im afraid there is very little I can say other than "practice".

[shpatkrasniqi]

yes :D.this is very easy.i managed to do this without any special training.i just tried and it happened

[tharealongbak]

how the hell does that work???man kan u show me how to do that?

[BlackDice572]

All there is to it is practice. Nothing fancy.

[brucefetter]

i find it more useful to not retract my arm before punching. It is easy to do this if you retract, and easy to do it if you do not, i suppose, but it doesn't mean anything speacial if you always retract

[soccerdude247]

But...Master Shifu in "Kung Fu Panda" punched out like a million candles at once...:P

[tishumanni]

You get pain in the elbow and shoulder if you hit through your joints. (concerning stretching of joints) Not because you aren't relaxed enough.

You've mastered this skill very well. In the advanced version I'll explain you a master technique.

[BlackDice572]

The "through your joints" you talk about is called the anatomical endrange in manual therapy. And you would do yourself serious injury if you pushed yourself past that. The pain I was refering to in the video is just through subclinical muscle strain. Which you are more likely to get if you are tense, hence my saying to keep relaxed. The other reason I said to relax is that you don't need any physical strength in the punch prior to impact, because otherwise its just a waste of energy.

[Olliewells212]

Soz Bruce

[bunica]

dude try from about 30 cm distance thats easy

[BlackDice572]

Take a look at my advanced candle punching video. Although I do not do this simple version from a further distance there are other things that are equally if not more difficult.

[Lithuanianrepublic]

What kind of martial do you practice?

[BlackDice572]

I practice a form of korean karate called Tang Soo Do, as well as yang style Tai Chi. I often find myself training within other martial arts, but officially I only train in the Tang Soo Do and Tai Chi.

[zankwack]

cool!

want more speed look at the (moran speed tracker) video on you tube!

[riven2040]

Hi man! well I was wonder if this move is very effect? like a person who is building him self up from scratch? and how long will it take! cause I want 2 be the best! but for a beginner It's pretty hard!

[BlackDice572]

My advice would be to take up a martial art first because there is no substitute for a good teacher. On it's own this exercise will help, but my advice would be, not to use this as your only form of training.

[BlackDice572]

I hope this has answered your question. If you meant how long will it be until you are good at this specific exercise, then it took me a couple of weeks to get as good as I was when I recorded this, but then I have been doing martial arts for quite some time.

[MMABob]

im trying this and i can do it quite well but my shoulders do hurt. im relaxed as i can be but my shoulders are still hurting

[BlackDice572]

If your using this exercise quite intensivly all I can say is remember to warm up before, and try and relax more than you already are. Do some stretching, take a warm bath and massage where it hurts and that should speed up your recovery. Hopefully the ache should go away after you have been doing this a couple of weeks.

[Bastion83]

hi, been studying the chinese martial arts a very long time(wing chun first then northern shaolin and most recently yang tai chi.) Decided to start to focus my training more on the combative aspects as opposed to greater ranger of movement flexibility (born with cerebral palsy) find this really helped build speed. Now long do you usually train with this method?

[Bastion83]

range of sorry, damn typos

[BlackDice572]

I tend to start a training method, and once I have gotten to a level that I am comfortable with it, I move onto something more advanced. But when I was doing this, I was doing it for maybe an hour or two every two or three days, just as something extra in my training at home, along side my usual forms and bagwork etc.

[Bastion83]

thanks man I appreciate it *bows*

[DylanKershaw]

this has helped me quite a bit ^_^ atleast your bieng honest and not calling it a chi punch like the rest of the idiots on here

[BlackDice572]

I don't claim to know anything about chi in martial arts. I have some basic knowledge in the medical sence but very little else. It could be argued that excercises like these develope chi in striking even if the practitioner is not aware of it. But, I like to stick to what I know.