Hey Eric,
Great question….
Like anything, your body has to become conditioned to knew things. Exspecially when it involves pain.
The point of having striking tools is to condition your bodies weapons to get used to impacting something hard. But, you have to ease in to it….For instance, you brought up using the edge of hand technique. Work up speed while practicing, but back off just before hitting the target, strike with the meaty part of your hand, not directly on your little finger. Strike several times softer, getting the feel for where it’s most comfortable on your body and allow your body to pick up that routine. Then as you progress you will find that your striking harder and harder.
I would start conditioning drills on the heavy bag you have, let your bodies weapons get used to things then progress to Bob.
Whatever goals you have set for yourself, and you need to set short term goals as you train, you will find your body getting harder and harder. Striking a heavy bag and/or Bob consistently makes hitting a bad guys soft tissue, like hitting butter. Hang in there! Just ease into it.
Hope this helps!!!
Sam Buice
Instructor
