Many people punch in a street fight and the main reason they don’t break their hands and fingers all of the time is because they don’t punch hard enough to do any real damage. How many times have you seen videos of people throwing a barrage of punches only to watch their target walk away? Truth is, most people can’t punch and those who can, run the risk of breaking their hands and rendering it useless.
Of course, there are people who have used a punches successfully in a fight, I am one of those people. Why I didn’t break my hand or dislocate a finger? Well some times I did, other times I got lucky, oh and I also conditioned the heck out of my hands by punching a makiwara, hitting bricks, knuckle push ups and all of that.
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The reason people wear hand wraps and gloves in the ring is to protect their hands not so much their opponent.
Punching is a sport oriented technique.
Self defense and combatives systems that teach punching as primary a method of striking should be suspect.
Would a soldier REALLY use a closed fist in combat?
Forget about smashing your hand on your enemy’s skull, what about his equipment and weapon. Then after you smash your hand to bits, how well will you be able to fire a weapon or hold a knife?
If you’re punching in your self defense training you need to re-examine what you’re doing and put it in the context of why you’re doing it. You can get away with hitting pads and dummies with a fist – but when it’s a jaw, skull or elbow you might not like the result.
Train Honestly,
Damian
We must be careful about evaluating the use of the fist when it comes to street fighting. We must recall when bare knuckle fighting was in vogue at a time in America and England when there was no protection for the fists. However, these men knew the proper application of using the bare fist without injuring them. There was on occasion injuries to the knuckles, I would be foolish to believe there weren’t any. If the fists were used, the torso, especially the ribcage, the nose, thighs etc would find the application for the fist. I would not rule the fists out entirely in a street fight. The hand is a powerful weapon in a fight, why not use it when opened and closed?
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Agreed… most people don’t know how to throw a punch properly, and they don’t condition the hands for punching. Therefore, they shouldn’t punch. Also, there can be long term effects from conditioning the hands to throw punches… arthritis. Therefore, if you want to use your fists, learn how to use the hammerfist! Otherwise, palm heel strike is a great alternative to throwing lead strikes with the fists.