Don't punch in a street fight. You may damage your hand.
"To punch or not to punch"? That is the question.
This little gem has been around for some time. The thought process behind this is that if you damage your knuckles then your hand is useless.
So let me ask you a few questions:
Why are you punching the bag? With or without gloves
Why do you shadow box with a closed fist?
For all of you Karateka out there; why are you practicing all of the punches listed in your training syllabus if you are not going to punch for real?
Is practicing any punching technique not a complete waste of time if; as we are told it is better to use a palm heel strike?
I am going to make a strange comment but it is not as callous as it may seem when you read further.
"I have never had a problem punching anyone" by this I mean that I have never damaged my hand/knuckles at any time when I have had to defend myself.
AND
I have never used a palm heel strike in place of a better weapon, a bitch slap' YES, a palm heel NO!
If you think about it its like asking a tiger not to rip something to bits in case it loses a claw.
Don't punch and you are limiting your weapon choice and robbing yourself of one of your primary weapons.
But what may be the reasons behind people damaging their hands when punching?
Lets look at a few causes:
An untrained person flailing their arms uncontrollably, making contact with any amount of hard body surfaces.
A poorly trained person punching the wrong target area.
A poorly trained person punching the correct target area but attacking from the wrong angle.
A poorly trained person not forming a fist correctly.
A poorly trained person not forming the correct alignment from the fist-wrist-forearm-upper arm (Tricep).
The above also goes for the palm heel strike:
Wrong target area, wrong angle of attack, loose or weakly formed wrist-hand position.
Wrong alignment from hand-wrist-forearm-upper arm (Tricep).
Not actually hitting with the heel of the hand.
This myth applies to all body parts if you think about it.
Speed, accuracy, power, fast target acquisition, your enemies reaction or response all play their part.
It goes without saying that when attacking; we are looking to damage that area being targeted. But get it wrong and you could end up damaging yourself, damaging that weapon you are using, whichever body part you are using as a weapon.
If this applies to all weapons of the body why then why would you want to limit your weapon choice. You may as well not use a kick for fear of damaging your shin, don't head butt in case you damage your own head, do I need to go on?
As instructors we can do two things:
1. Adhere to myths such is this one and limit our and our students attacking options.
2. Train students in the correct application of how to use the technique, when to use the technique, at which target the technique should be used against and from which which angle the attack should come from.
So are you limiting your arsenal and attacking options?
Stay Dangerous
Rock
"To punch or not to punch"? That is the question.
This little gem has been around for some time. The thought process behind this is that if you damage your knuckles then your hand is useless.
So let me ask you a few questions:
Why are you punching the bag? With or without gloves
Why do you shadow box with a closed fist?
For all of you Karateka out there; why are you practicing all of the punches listed in your training syllabus if you are not going to punch for real?
Is practicing any punching technique not a complete waste of time if; as we are told it is better to use a palm heel strike?
I am going to make a strange comment but it is not as callous as it may seem when you read further.
"I have never had a problem punching anyone" by this I mean that I have never damaged my hand/knuckles at any time when I have had to defend myself.
AND
I have never used a palm heel strike in place of a better weapon, a bitch slap' YES, a palm heel NO!
If you think about it its like asking a tiger not to rip something to bits in case it loses a claw.
Don't punch and you are limiting your weapon choice and robbing yourself of one of your primary weapons.
But what may be the reasons behind people damaging their hands when punching?
Lets look at a few causes:
An untrained person flailing their arms uncontrollably, making contact with any amount of hard body surfaces.
A poorly trained person punching the wrong target area.
A poorly trained person punching the correct target area but attacking from the wrong angle.
A poorly trained person not forming a fist correctly.
A poorly trained person not forming the correct alignment from the fist-wrist-forearm-upper arm (Tricep).
The above also goes for the palm heel strike:
Wrong target area, wrong angle of attack, loose or weakly formed wrist-hand position.
Wrong alignment from hand-wrist-forearm-upper arm (Tricep).
Not actually hitting with the heel of the hand.
This myth applies to all body parts if you think about it.
Speed, accuracy, power, fast target acquisition, your enemies reaction or response all play their part.
It goes without saying that when attacking; we are looking to damage that area being targeted. But get it wrong and you could end up damaging yourself, damaging that weapon you are using, whichever body part you are using as a weapon.
If this applies to all weapons of the body why then why would you want to limit your weapon choice. You may as well not use a kick for fear of damaging your shin, don't head butt in case you damage your own head, do I need to go on?
As instructors we can do two things:
1. Adhere to myths such is this one and limit our and our students attacking options.
2. Train students in the correct application of how to use the technique, when to use the technique, at which target the technique should be used against and from which which angle the attack should come from.
So are you limiting your arsenal and attacking options?
Stay Dangerous
Rock
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