I can remember when I first came across Wing Chun
years ago that I gave short shrift to the idea of
generating large amounts of power over short distances as in
one inch punching. I was also very sceptical of
claims of 'bone strenghtening' for sil lim tao.<br> I
have recently had two epiphanical revelations during
the course of A level teaching however. Muscle fibres
are composed of two primary proteins that contract in
a way not disimilar to the movement of a rowing
boat across a pond...short localised bursts of power
i.e. proper, snappy, focused contraction of muscle
generates the most power over a short distance...<br>As for
bone strengthening, I had forgotten that the cells
that are responsible for bone growth work in such a
way to lay down bone tissue in response to the
stresses placed on the bone - feeling a bit silly I
realised that slowly performed sil lim tao is going to
place stress on bone in a very precise pattern...hardly
suprising then if the bone responds to this stress by
altering growth patterns<br>this is probably fairly
obvious stuff, but it cleared the dust from my mind a
little...<br>sorry about the long post, but it was a little quiet in
here :-)<br>Rich