Snap Decisions
Page 3 of 9
Effects of using a snapping technique
- When a snapping side kick strikes a heavy bag, it will make a popping sound and the bag will be jolted, but it will move very little.
- When a snapping side kick strikes a large stack of hand-held boards and the boards do not break, the board holders will be moved backward very little but they will receive a sharp jolt and be momentarily stunned. The holders will feel as though their teeth fillings were jarred loose or their contact lenses had popped out. The feeling will be very uncomfortable if not particularly painful.
- When a snapping side kick is used in a real fight, the opponent will be jolted with sharp, piecing pain at the point of impact.
- A snapping technique is very quick, which makes it difficult to block. The quickness minimizes the time the guard is open to an attack. The quickness also permits follow-up techniques to be executed more quickly. Combinations using snapping techniques are very quick and powerful and are very difficult to block or avoid. Snapping techniques are good as the first one or two techniques in a combination or to setup for a thrusting or pushing technique.
- Since the snapping motion uses minimal movement, it is highly useful at close range, such as in a clinch, or in close quarters, such as on a bus. In addition, the minimal movement helps hide the technique. In a public situation, a quick, sudden snap punch to the mid section will take the fight out of an aggressive person while surrounding people will not see anything unusual. They will testify that they saw the person bent over coughing and that you were trying to assist the person.
- The snapping motion does not weaken stability since there is no reaching or overly extending an arm or leg beyond the center of balance. If a snap technique misses its target, it may be quickly re-chambered so stability is not affected and powerful follow-up techniques may be used. If a snapping technique is grabbed, since stability is maintained, it is still possible to pull it back.
- Since snapping techniques have a short target penetration, their power may be lessened or they may miss the target if the target moves backward too much. This problem is lessened by the quickness of the technique, since another snapping technique may be quickly fired at the new target location.
- Snapping techniques are difficult for opponents to grab.