We should be clear on the definition of a one-inch punch.
#1 A punch in which, rather than being drawn back and then swung, the fist starts out an inch or so in front of the target.
#2 A punch in which the fist stops an inch or so in front of the target, but focused chi or air currents hit the target with massive force.
The first type of punch is certainly possible. Though, there’s nothing supernatural about it. Rather than the arm and shoulder, leverage is taken from other parts of the body. It’s still a very impressive skill.
The second type is impossible outside of Mortal Kombat, and the Shaolin monks of David Carradine’s Kung Fu.
Depends on what kind of energy you want. Someone mentioned snap your fingers and thats sonic energy, wave your hand back and forth quickly and you produce low frequency sound (5-10 hrz? I’m sure someone will correct me on this).
Push your hand forward under water and you produce a pressure wave that’s energy.
The monk wet sheet thing was their ability to increase their metabolic rate and body temperature through meditation - jack your core body temp up to 104 or so and you’ll dry out a sheet just fine.
Bruce Lee’s one inch and three inch punch are just applications of jeet kune do striking techniques, nothing mystical or magical there.
If you’re talking a “street fighter” Ryu energy ball kinda thing, I think you’re limited as a human. I’m guessing here but if you could move your hands fast enough (let’s say to heat up the air in front of you via friction) you’d probably snap both your wrists and ruin anything you’d like to consider in the future as fingers.
I say buy a cattle prod and run the contact up to your knuckles… that’ll give someone a nice pop if you hit em…
One hibachi chef trick I’ve seen is to pour alchohol - or perhaps some other fuel - on your hand, set it on fire, and use that to light a steak flambe. Trying to use this sort of thing to throw a fireball would certainly take a lot of practice and the right fuel, but it’s probably possible to do that without injuring your hands. I certainly don’t intend to try it myself, though.
FWIW, this site has a link to a video of Bruce Lee doing, what appears to be, a 3 inch punch. It says one inch, but I don’t think so. Still, it is pretty impressive.
Isn’t a one inch punch actually more like a 4 or 5 inch punch, given that the focus of the blow is several inches inside the punchee’s body? In fact, the focus is probably beyond the body.
Peace,
mangeorge
You might also want to look at martial artists and the concept of “chi”. Many black belts are convinced that chi can be projected beyond the body; I’ve personally been involved in a demonstration where a group of students lined up single file each with their arms resting lightly on the shoulders of the person in front of them. The instructor stood at the back of the line and “focused his chi” without touching the group. They began to sway forward and back until they actually fell over.
I can’t say this was truly a mysterious energy wave and not some form of group dynamics, but it was certainly interesting.
It’s a group dynamic, porkchop. People normally sway when standing. It’s how we keep our balance. When the students touched, the sway became synchronized and amplified. It didn’t hurt that the exhalted teacher was there, expecting something to happen.
A lot of martial art is smoke and mirrors. The real teachers will tell you that.
Amazing things can happen when you are in complete control of your body. I don’t believe in the ability to project force without muscular contraction (and before someone points it out, the urethra has a smooth muscle lining), but I do believe in the effect of coordinated movement. I also believe that the ordinarily automatic motions of the body can be controlled through contemplation and experimentation. Most people learn in childhood to control their breathing, the aforementioned monks dilated their arteries (and probably knew selective trembling, which I learned five or six years ago. I can make myself sort of thrum like my entire center is beating, not just my heart), a yogi whose name I’ve forgotten sat in a pool of water and vomited it up ten minutes later, my grandmother decided to die from her cancer the day she held her first grandchild (me).
Haduken, Kamehame, whooptedoo… I do not believe. I will settle for lesser miracles.
If you watch the clips closely you can see Lee do a feint or something, putting his sparring partner off balance (leaning back) just as he throws the real blow. Only Ali gets away with leaning back. Also notice the difference in stance between Lee and the other guy.
Bruce Lee was good, there’s no doubt. He did set up those conditions.
What you really need is to cup your hands and perform the Ryu fireball launch motion… and then trigger the shotgun shell strapped to the inside of your wrist.
Actually, you would probably have a nasty injury after that, but it would be quite a surprise for your opponent. Even if you had a short muzzle the shock would be hard to control.
Chi is, in the context of providing supernatural ability, hooey (although I guess that it is as legit a religion as any other). If anyone could put a candle out through a pane of glass using a method that there is currently no scientific knowledge of, it would be a huge event. As it is, nobody can do what you are talking about.