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Inside defense against a looping left punch.

The starting position is a natural stance facing your attacker at 12:00. When the incoming left roundhouse punch is evident, step back with the left foot to approximately 7:30 into a cat stance while doing a left inward parry and a right extended outward block, leaving the block in place (don't retract). This takes you out of the line of attack and puts you in position to strike your targets. Next, perform a ball kick to the groin with the right foot, retracting quickly, and then place the right foot forward allowing you to assume a right neutral bow stance. As you are ‘sliding’ into that neutral bow stance, the right fist comes straight across (point of origin) to ideally strike the jaw hinge pressure point (hah gwahn).

• Sifu stated that this technique is actually named after the strikes utilized in it, and these strikes are similarly named in other techniques. Specifically, ‘thunder’ denotes a kick and ‘lightning’ denotes a punch. (See Technique Code for more info)
• You must move out of the line of attack (i.e.: get out of the way!). Moving to the 7:30 position is approximately a 45° angle from the original attack and places you in an ideal spot, creating the openings on your attacker that allow the upcoming strikes.
• Don’t reach for the block. Intercept the block in the location appropriate to you, maintaining the proper angles and position of the arm.
• Don’t leave the ball kick hanging out there as a gift. Quickly retract the kick and ‘slide’ into the right neutral bow position. Sifu refers to this as taking another’s space with the ‘Kenpo Slide’.
• The fist is fired directly from its position in the block (point of origin); it is not ‘re-cocked’ in any way. Use the body for torque as you are coming into position for the right neutral bow and drop the elbow slightly if you need to in order to bring the fist across correctly. In practicing this, I had a tendency to punch in a downward arc, bending my wrist in the process. The arm and fist should act as a single unit and should not bend or arc in any way.