How do you throw a bare-knuckle punch without injuring your hand ? The jury is out, especially amongst experts. Horizontal fist, with the top two knuckles ? Or vertical first, with the bottom three ?
To me, this is the biggest question with the fewest answers. Yet it could be the golden key to self defence.
Stand-up punching, it seems, is one of the quickest ways to end a confrontation when it becomes a fight. But you need to do it without getting the "boxer's fracture," or a shattered outer metacarpal.
It's been a great year for research. We've discovered pressure drills, made up our own minds on some of the most contentious questions in the martial arts. We've discovered that yes you need to know what to do on the ground.
But no, you don't want to go there in a real fight. Yes, it might happen by accident, especially to those with poor balance.
We've also learned the difference between sport, self-defense and art. There's a reason for each one.
Horizonal Fist
Used in sport-boxing, karate and similar styles and tactical Krav Maga. The Karate guys seem to know how to hit without breaking their hands. The tamashiwara or board-breaking is done with a horizontal fist. A 5th dan in Goju and a Muay Thai instructor in Karate visited Cempaka Dojo once and demonstrated in Sumo Semar's pale and spindly chest. With a tiny twist of the wrist, it hurt.
Vertical Fist
Teri Tom, a JKD author, traditional Savate, and writers on the Golden Era of bareknuckle boxing seem to concur on the vertical fist, or bottom three knuckles.
You guys go ahead and pursue the links.
Unfortunately, there's evidence on both sides. The Karate guys can smash boards, but look at this:
Now what about the hands? Why did they hold them vertical or with the knuckles pointing at the other guy? Until the use of gloves became common in the ring, pugilists struck with a vertical fist nearly all the time. Why did they use the vertical fist? First reason is that it is just plain safer to hit with a vertical fist than a horizontal one. There is less chance of injury, especially on any swinging type of punches. They did use a horizontal fist when the target warranted one. The side of the neck is a good example of such a target.
All, Dasaman, Numero Uno and Ainun Arabic Name Poster, your thoughts very welcome. Dasaman with his vast library must have some answers. :-)
1 comment:
Problem:
Concerning straight moving closed fist punches, I only do small extensions targeted to the floating rib or below. So, my hands are not conditioned enough to answer this question.
I like open palm strikes better when hitting hard objects (like somebody's skull).
Then again, I never hit anyone in a fight (pulling and tripping people down doesn't count), so caveat emptor.
You guys probably have better training than I already :D
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