Bruce Lee's one inch punch

A closer look at the weapon Bruce Lee made famous world wide.

The one inch punch was made famous by Bruce Lee. It is often carried out as a bit of a party trick but is in all honesty a serious weapon, demonstrating what the human body can do when the structure and mechanics are used efficiently "as one".

The one inch punch has its roots in the traditional Chinese systems of Gung Fu, specifically Wing Chun and other Southern Chinese arts.

The Bruce Lee one inch punch video

How to perform a one inch punch

I don't believe that anyone can learn the one inch punch purely from reading some text. However, I will outline the basics of how to do a one inch punch:

1. The initiation starts with the rear heal turning in words.
2. This projects the lead hip forward (ensure the hip and knee points directly at the target - over rotation will lead to your energy steering away from the target.)
3. As the hip turns the arm expands and snaps into the target.

It's not a push - this is a common beginners mistake - it is more of a bursting 'snap' movement that is meant to 'sink' your opponent - think of the one inch punch as a pneumatic drill.

How does the one inch punch generate so much power?

It's all to do with the body's mechanical structure working efficiently. We can compare this to a super car such as a Lamborghini - it's engine generates super power because it is precision tuned for maximum efficiently. If any of the pistons, timing belts or mechanics were out of place there would be a loss of power. Everything in a Lamborghini is tuned to perfection - from the fuel pressure, spark plugs and pistons right down to the suspension, wheels and tyres.

A video documentary on the one inch punch