Hand faster than eye issue.

It is well known fact, that one good punch can be delivered faster than
eye can send a message to brain and react accordingly. How should one be able to block an unexpected blazingly fast strike
In wing chun there is chi-sao and in taichi pushing/striking hands that develops sensing skills. But what routines or techniques other styles use to develop such skills

I havent figured any such practice in my training, maybe it comes later or maybe i am doing it without myself knowing

Timing will beat speed EVERY time...
This is one reason old masters consistantly wipe the floor with younger more vital opponents. They simply know 'when' to strike as opposed to striking as fast as they can.
Good examples are often seen in Kendo, where older masters go strait though juniors much faster strikes, timing there blows so as to offset the attacker.
In my style to offset speed advantages, we use body positioning, off balancing and simply crashing strait though the gates as our primary means of defence.
Im a Hung Ga student, so my statements only reflect my own training.

Another good example of timing is the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. One of his favorite strikes was to simply hold his sword facing down pointing towards the ground. When his opponents would see his sword down, they would assume he was vulnerable and rush in. He would then casualy lift the sword in an arc strait into the attacker. If they didnt rush and tried to use a defensive stance sword held infront, he would lift the blade into there wrists.
This seemingly simple movement is typical of good martial arts.
The stance may look almost foolish defensivly but in actual fact the distance required for the blade to travel was only a few feet and there was a lot of power in the strike. This meant he could reguarly fool much faster younger opponents.
For the record, Musashi got so good he litteraly went nuts and began to think he was invicible. Even going so far as to stop using blades... He would fight with tree branchs, sticks and on one famous occasion even the oar of a boat.
His book [where much of this information comes from]is called "A book of five rings" and i would recomend it to any serious martial artist.

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Up and down, forward and backward, left and right, its all the same. All of this is done with the mind, not externaly.
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Lonetiger said - In my style to offset speed advantages, we use body positioning, off balancing and simply crashing strait though the gates as our primary means of defence.
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If this aint a secret of your school, then how body positioning is applied to the countering technique. Is it like stances that make incoming strikes very hard to conduct I dont get it quite well.

I know that when I was studying aikijujitsu that we would give the opponent a target....what we would do is put our hands up to guard our face, neck...ect... and bend our knees so that it left our midsection open....most opponents would fall for this ...and try to strike the midsection...which is what we were expecting and prepared for....so it didnt matter how fast they strike or how hard....because we knew it was coming. So with body positioning and "giving them a target" we were prepared for speed and force with timing and technique.

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Learn of the pine tree.
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"If this aint a secret of your school, then how body positioning is applied to the countering technique."
This is not so much a secret as just plain hard to explain
That said ill do my best to provide a simple example.
Say your facing an opponent and they throw a right strait
punch towards your face.
Block using your right hand in an arc forwards so that your block pushes there punch accross there body. This is known as closing the door as it wont allow your opponent to use there other hand.
Another example might be... Another strait right punch, move forwards at a 45 degree angle to the left this will not only negate the punch by dodging but will put you [if done right] in a great position for both defence and offence.
I know that proberly made no sence at all but its really hard to try and explain in text.

__________________
Up and down, forward and backward, left and right, its all the same. All of this is done with the mind, not externaly.
--------------------------
Shen, Yi, Qi
--------------------------
One race - Human!

we do the same thing in mantis!!

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yeh you see the punch, but its too late.

In my school we try to connect with the oponent, and see their move before they do it. To get this we will sometimes do mirror practice, where we just mirror the oponents movements until we get a good connection with them, and then practice. After doing this I have been able to block punches that were so fast I couldn't see them.

To become faster is not important, that is the fancy of youth. It would serve you better to improve timing and position.

There is a story I recall. A master of old had three sons and was entertaining a house guest. The guest asked how the master's sons were progressing in their training with the sword. The master would rather show his guest his sons' skill, so he places a pillow atop a door that is slightly a jar. He then calls forth his youngest son. This son slams the door open and walks into the room. The pillow landing on his head, but before the pillow falls to the wooden floor, the youngest sone slices it in half. The guest comments, 'Good reaction'. The master dismisses his youngest son.

The master places yet another pillow atop the door and bekons his middle son. The son opens the door and as the pillow falls, he twists and slices the pillow in two. The guest comments, "He is very fast". The master dismisses his middle son.

Placing another pillow atop the door, the masters calls the eldest son who opens the door without walking immediately in and effortlessly catches the pillow and hands it to his father. The master turns to his guest and says, "He is well on his way to becoming a master."

A Paper Dragon.

Becoming faster is important, just not the only thing. The best timing in the world won't help you if you're too slow to make use of it. You need a combination of speed and timing. If you're fast enough you can use your timing to great effect. If you're faster you can use it to greater effect. If you're slow you might as well work on flexibility so you can bend over, stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

i was trained to keep the eyes on the mid shoulder region, and pelvic region...this will tell you what your opponent is going to do way in advance to him/her actually doing it.

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http://www.kungfuusa.net
life is like grapejuice, its nice and tasty. but if you spill it your screwed.

Timing is key. It may be a worn-out saying, but it holds true.

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Water overcomes the stone;
Without substance it requires no opening;
This is the benefit of taking no action.
Yet benefit without action,
And experience without abstraction,
Are practiced by very few.

how not to get hit:

hit first, and "put emotion in it"

also remeber not to focus on the finger

“	Originally posted by Wen It is well known fact, that one good punch can be delivered faster than eye can send a message to brain and react accordingly. How should one be able to block an unexpected blazingly fast strike	”

I have a opinion on this. A fast punch cannot be considered in isolation. For a simplistic case, consider western boxing. I believe the fastest punch would be a jab with the lead hand. This due to distance and minimal telegraphing. Unless the boxer is within striking range, such a punch would be foolish except to get the opponent to react. Once you commit to a strike, especially one with follow-through, you run a risk of upsetting your center-of-gravity and lacking control during the recovery.

In fact, a jab with the lead hand is not that powerful except when thrown by a skillful boxer because it is difficult to develop the torque necessary for a forceful strike without a high level of coordination. Much more powerful strikes, such as hooks, uppercuts, and hammer blows take a lot more time and are practically impossible not to telegraph.

In kung fu, the distance to the opponent is the primary thing to control. This includes avoiding that leading jab, but also not targeting the body if you can't get close enough to the opponent's center-of-mass (such as 80% of your personal maximum striking range). Without that opportunity to "cross the bridge", you have to connect with the limbs, which fortunately is also an easy way to force a reaction.

So, in short, to be in a situation in which you are victim to "an unexpected blazingly fast strike" is a tactical error, namely poor distance control and poorly trained stepping. But I also believe our drills are helpful in developing an instinctive response that is different than normal people's. That is, instead of blinking, we move our arms from point A to point B with minimal in-between time.

Just a couple of cents.

====================
www.crazybuddha.com

Great post, looks like we have someone new to learn from. Welcome aboard, i look forward to reading more of your posts.

__________________
Up and down, forward and backward, left and right, its all the same. All of this is done with the mind, not externaly.
--------------------------
Shen, Yi, Qi
--------------------------
One race - Human!