Angle is Everything

Pak-sau, or Slap-hand, is one of the most effective, efficient, and basic counters to a straight punch, jab, or cross. But which is better: 45-degrees or 90-degrees?

When we think about the sheer power of most punches, we have to take into consideration the distance from our body that the most opportune chance of defense will occur on. With a 90-degree Pak-sau, this means we are allowing the punch to reach closer to our body. Because of the power and speed of the punch, a 90-degree Pak-sau will many times still see contact, even if only slightly.

However, with a 45-degree Pak-sau, contact is made further away from the body. This is both safer and more efficient since the trajectory of Pak-sau is going towards the attack vs. merely to the side.

I liken this action as being somewhat similar to Jing-cheung, or Erect-palm, in that rather than viewing the action merely as a redirective movement, we view it as an attack. Not that Pak-sau is an attack, mind you; rather, we envision Pak-sau first as Jing-cheung in order to produce the beginnings of the proper trajectory.

For example, an opponent launches a straightline punch, jab, or cross directly at my face. I counter by driving a palm forward via Jing-cheung. This produces “explosion” in the elbow in order to drive the palm into the opponent. However, I also want to defend the incoming punch, so Jing-cheung moves to the side slightly in order to slap the punch out of the way.

That is the “vision” of the trajectory that a 45-degree Pak-sau travels. Again, it is not so much that Pak-sau is really Jing-cheung; instead, it is merely a description of what is actually taking place for the trajectory.

I have found that working Pak-sau at 45-degrees vs. 90-degrees has been much more effective and responsive, and in many cases it produces so much power that it can drive the opponent’s entire body backwards. It is almost akin to a forceful push vs. a simple slap, and that can rebound into the opponent to the point that it literally explodes into them with so much force that it knocks them off balance.

Give it a try sometime in class and experiment with what it can do. Keep the “vision” of Jing-cheung changing suddenly to Pak-sau, too, in order to produce the proper trajectory. For those who have trained in section 3 of the Siu-Nim-Tau, you will also see a Pak-sau-to-Jing-cheung combination. This will give you a better idea of one of the concepts that this action is already applied to.