Praying Mantis Fist (TangLang Quan) is a famous style with a distinctive hand position known as a “Hook.” Although I shouldn’t write “a distinctive,” when, actually, this famous style has TWO versions of the key hand style, each to represent the same special hook shape for the hand.

The first and most iconic version starts with all the fingers—including the thumb—pointing down, aiming to the ground, with a downward fold at the wrist. This famous hook ends with the palm drooping, until it is time to strike; a great shape for Chin Na practice. 

Edge Hand

The other rendition also points to the floor but is based on a different model. The difference lies in anatomy. This formation removes the downward droop at the wrist, leaving the palm of the hand facing your own centerline. This simple difference in shape results in a modified approach to usage. For instance, the side drop aims the fingers down, into the opponent himself. When it comes in contact with another wrist shape, the outside of the pinkie cuts like the edge of a saw (which, come to think of it, is also serrated.) The wrist lock can create more holding strength but also, possibly, makes the second method more susceptible to Chin Na attacks, in the correct hands. The first way is easier to form, the second feels more secure.

Slapping Hand

Which of these shapes altered to the other? Who knows? The idea is that both hooks require a noticeable but subtle grip change that is not just physical, but functional; more importantly, they employ a difference in concentration. The preferred change, when used, should fit the “mechanical” or technical improvement seen by the teacher, and felt by the student. Having two Mantis Hooks suggests two different ways of dealing with reality, each developing a different focus of intent.

What does it mean to have two legitimate mantis hands differ from one another? Well, a less experienced practitioner—or, more to the point—a youtube martial artist, might understand these different hooks as being somehow in competition with each other. “Which one would win in an MMA match?” But I can tell you, as a teacher, that the existence of both is highly educational, and speaks to the heart of the usage matter. That is, understanding that the first mantis hook is something commonly practiced in forms, and the second mantis hook, something commonly used in applications.

Kung Fu is a style of technique and sensitivity, but not weakness. Its strength is rooted in attention to details, a form of precision that challenges while it builds. Encouraged throughout Kung Fu, these essentials reference exact details. Moves must make sense, forms must be well-structured; even a single action can refer to something as simple as the centuries-old distinctive Praying Mantis Hook. Overall, this is good practice. The precision we learn in forms enables us to understand concepts that can be applied in the field, whether in sparring or in actual self-defense practice.

Balancing movement with stillness, intent with focus, speed with angle, and timing with deception, the Mantis Hook’s most obvious usage lies in Chin Na; but even there, precision—approach—and technique matters.

How many different hand positions reside in a typical martial routine? Many, to be sure, like some customized weapon or unique grip (known as a “Ba”)? Each of these might demonstrate some inventive idea or grip, solutions to problems met in the real world. Here is where the martial arts lives its Yin/Yang of intense grip and intentional visualization.

Two hand Mantis exercise

This kind if inquiry, even at the extreme-closeup level of two similar but distinct hands, is essential for the full fruition of the Kung Fu style. We can easily admit that the turning of the Mantis hook hand, and similar actions, can be a method for focusing intent as specifically as a guide with a flashlight pointing out the otherwise devious side paths, while searching for the practitioner playing jut a little further into the forest

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