Some advice for anyone looking to train wrist strength. I do karate, muay thai and bouldering (a type of rock climbing). My forearms are much stronger than average and it has helped me with this so much. Maybe consider spending a month doing climbing to build up that wrist stability, you wont regret it :)
Thank you. After watching about 50 different videos about punches, you're the first one to explain to punch with your hand knuckles & not finger knuckles.
I've worked out on traditional heavy bags ruclips.net/user/postUgkxp9-sf95nqfjey-uyzxUzQ7m9MXRPK1BE a spherical stuffed "wrecking ball" bag, and now this thing. What I like about it is that it has the heft to stay largely in place so I'm not chasing it around. It's tall enough to allow for headshots and body shots, but it's short enough to give an uppercut somewhere to land. I'm very happy so far. Filling it was a bit of a cluster. For top-offs, I've learned that you can screw the supplied nozzle onto any basic plastic water bottle. I can't speak to durability as I've only had it a week.
We practice tightening the little finger first and always. It is the gripping finger. When it is fully tightened, it is very hard to bend/collapse the wrist. It also prevents the little bone break below it called a boxer's fracture. Of course tighten the rest, also. Thank you for the video.
My sensei tells us that the makiwara is the truth-teller. Our basic one is a plank of wood with a couple layers of the jigsaw floor mats for padding. If your alignment is incorrect, the makiwara will tell you.
I asked 20 teachers for the answer to this question, they diverted the question with evasive words, I owe you my gratitude for seeing the answer to this question from you.
Ive had an advice given to me before, when doing these kind of wrist or foreamr sthrengthening exercise, try also doing some flexibilty exercise as well. Doesnt have to be too physical as well (for me i do practice guitar, for example). This will keep your hand dexterity while not keeping too rigid.
OK, so that's how I messed up my wrists... I basically went into barefist sparring with no gloves/wraps for 1st time since recovery and me being rather strong meant that something had to give and it wasn't the opponent. So now I have to slowly build up wrists.
This was cool I came across this because I love hitting the bag without gloves I feel a less stress and sweat without gloves, it feels natural. I learned at a really young age to make a proper fist but one thing I haven’t learned is how to prevent my knuckles from slightly bleeding
Same. I wear just the wraps to prevent bruising my skin, but they also slide and leave some gaps unless they're wrapped tight and properly. You can also use pad inserts under the wraps, or the pad inserts alone could work.
very useful especially as someone whose wrist got screwed up over a decade ago. basically everyone tells me nothing is wrong with it other than some inflamation that meant steroid to the wrist to help it. still gives me grief. this is pretty good info as it's pretty much what I was told would be the only way to do anything about my problem. and those excercises do help. about the only thing that does for any length of time.
Been boxing maybe too long to change much but your advice regarding straight forearm / fist is a really good point. Most boxers also start with an open hand which closes to a fist on contact. I always carry a pair of military, fingerless rapelling gloves in my pockets just in case of trouble. Best to always be prepared.
As you noted when doing the hook with the palm facing in, you need to bend your hand to actually make your first two knuckles align properly. Other styles like Wing Chun avoid this when punching with a vertical hand by hitting with the lower three knuckles rather than the first two. When you've trained since the beginning with the first two knuckles, like me, this feels very counterintuitive, but in the last while I've adjusted to hitting with the lower three knuckles when my hand is vertical, for example with (palm facing in) hooks and it's started to feel a lot more stable
About the weight training on wrists. BE CAREFUL. Yes, the smallest joints and muscles in our body are built to support the surrounding functions, but they have limits and are not built for intense direct workouts. Stretches and minimal high reps on the lightest weights are optimal. Tendinitis and other ligament/joint and nerve issues easily develop from over training wrists. Train safe, be smart, don't rush your progress ^_^
Very good and very thorough, good job man these are the basics that everybody needs to focus on in the beginning to keep these hand injuries from happening I have a couple other methods but that is the main one that I use are the four main punches
I started in my mid 50s with self defense classes. One of the best things was learning bare hand punching which gave me some solid punch mechanics. I can hit a heavy bag without wraps or gloves but do limit how much in one session. Three years later when I started Boxing and Muay Thai those mechanics helped a lot making up for my age in delivering solid punches. Despite using gloves, I do not use wraps and don't have wrist problems unlike many who are using wraps but never learned good techniques. I actually found the extra support of the gloves caused me to get sloppy with technique so I started to make sure I regularly do bare handed punches which also helps me maintain my knuckle conditioning.
It's best to keep the fingers folded back but not curled inside so that contact on the mid knuckles won't bend the wrist. Relaxation helps, and there should be more emphasis on energy transfer effectiveness than simply putting more force in.
Only problem is you're leaving space in your palm. It does help make your Fist angle more Flat though as my fingers stick out past 90 degrees when curling my fingers in. Argh, maybe Humans will eventually evolve to Punch without damaging there fingers, knuckles, wrist and forearm.
Just gonna share a little knowledge. Source: Mechanical engineer & ~15 yrs TKD: Another reason for using the first two knuckles for punching is force distribution. You touched in this briefly, but this is just another way you can visualize it: If you were to draw two arrows on the tops of those knuckles, pointing back at you, you would see them line up with your forearm in straight lines. This position allows the muscles and bones in your forearm to absorb the force of your strike. Conversely, striking with your three smaller knuckles a moment/torque to your wrist (hello broken wrist) because the force no longer lines up with the rest of your arm. 😁
Wrong. The three smaller ones actually do align with the forearm, the front two actually don't that's why you have to flex it so can line up. Hitting with a vertical is more support on your wrist but you take a chance on the knuckles.
When I learned Judo as a kid our teacher recommended us to always use our palm and try to not use our fists to prevent injury if we ever get into an actual fight.
Your channel is a much better source of information than the Martial Nerd or Martial Arts Nerd or something. I think I'll trust your punching advice more than his.
to increase bone density, Impact is key. un-cushioned impact forces your bone's web-like microstructure to absorb the energy of the impact. this causes micro-fractures in the foam-like body of the bones. when these microfractures heal, they result in bone-scars at that microscopic level, thus increasing the total density of the bones effected. Take it slow and steady, and if you feal pain beyond mild soreness, take a break and let them heal. Rinse and repeat using every potential striking surface of your hand, in order to train all of the effected bones in all of the pertinent orientations.
That's one of the perfect forms. That's also why karate-ka corkscrew their arm during impact for certain power punches. It distributes impact force in a cricular motion around the wrist and keeps it from collapsing. I sometimes twist it all the way around until my thumb is on the bottom for an extra half inch of reach and drill only my forefinger knuckle for impact. Oos!
It's important to say that not all hands are created equal some have one or 2 prominent knuckles. For example for me the middle knuckle sticks out a lot in comparison to the rest so to hit with the first 2 knuckles I'd have to twist my wrist way out of alignment. If I hit with the middle 2 I can put a lot more force in
Same situation here. I tried to turn my wrist so my first two knuckles would hit, and sent a shock in my wrist that never sat well. Think about the force of attraction. As well as the applied pressure, and the surface area the pressure is applied to. Aim small, miss small.
Even though I trained karate for years, the vertical fist still feels more solid when I hit the bag bareknuckle. Also doing pushups on the knuckles - big difference. The wrist naturally lines up straight with the 3 smaller knuckles. My compromise, to keep more of a boxing style, has always been to turn the wrist 1/2way between the horizontal & vertical, and target the middle knuckle. This also avoids hitting the other knuckles folded near the thumb, when you're striking at or above horizontal. (The vertical punch doesn't have that issue). In terms of conditioning though, I train all variations, so everything's strong and toughened.
I definitely don’t punch with a traditional from the hip vertical style but Karate did teach that rolling over of the wrist, it just started from a different place. Good insight!
@@stevewaters1516ertical Punching was around before JKD. Most Kung Fu styles use Vertical Punches, it's just Wing Chun and JKD are well known for it.
One thing I disagree with, which I was taught differently. For more stability, press your thumb into the side of the second finger joint, instead of wrapping underneath like you showed. This can be called "koppo ken" as opposed to you what you showed "fudo ken." IMO it provides more stability and forward stretch for those two first knuckles. I was taught this in Hawaiian Lua, but I also have 2nd dan in Shotokan, 1st dan in Kempo, also competed in Muay Thai. In more recent years I have been punching brick walls and trees, I believe do to microfractures I have built in my knuckles, I can go pretty forcefully. Unfortunately I can't say the same for kicks, because I broke a bone on the bottom of my heel by back kicking a tree, even with hiking boots on :(
How to kick without breaking toe/insole/achilles heel/whatever (in like, roundhouse and wheel kicks and front kicks) Edit: especially the wheel kick I hurt my achilles hell tendon thingy before when my partner half blocked with his wrist, it hurt him more but I still get hurt. And I heard about flexing the heel down but then the toes get hurt now so....hahaha)
Learning to not feel alot of pain when hitting bear nuckle and to condition your nuckles helps alot cuz when u get in a street fight u dont got wraps or gloves
@@mnamka1311 I honestly just wanna learn how to fight because at my school there’s a lot of fights like I don’t get bullied but it’s kinda like a ghetto school so if I accidentally bump into them or look at them they Wanna fight you and I could avoid it by not talking but I just simply can’t cause of my ego
I Aim with the pinky and ring finger knuckles. I close the middle knuckle than pointer finger knuckle in that order. Tilt fist forward or turn it over with middle and pointer knuckle infront of all my weight and momentum. The fist rolling over the thumb. And the most important part. Wrap the thumb and bite down really hard with it to muffle the bounce and stuff the richochet. The tighter the thumb the stronger and stickier your fist will be.
I use an Isshinryu vertical fist, and I can punch without tape or wrap or gloves full force and break bricks and stuff without hurting my hands. I have stronger than average wrists due to grip training and such, but the secret is in technique. The vertical fist aligns the bones in the wrist and hand so that they are not hurt by much of any amount of force. Shimabuku supposedly did both types of punches, although the isshinryu syllabus claims a vertical fist punch can hit up to 50 percent faster than a boxer's twist punch when thrown to the body of the opponent. I don't have the equipment to test that theory though.
Great video, I feel if someone trains iron fist and iron palm correctly that too will help with bone rigidity or just build yourself a makiwara board and wrap it with rope and lightly strike that slowly cranking up the power over time. If you dont have that just hit your punching bag lightly and crank up the power over time, same goes for kicks. Ive learned this from my father and his brother who are 6th and 5th degrees in kajukenbo under sensei john pangdilao theyve also gotten black belts in marc glimpa self defense which was kung fu mixed with kickboxing and aikido i believe. Once i was about 10 my dad starting teaching me basic striking and at 15 i started doing iron palm/fist and hitting our makiwara board we built now that im 16 im looking into joining a kyokushin karate school.
In Systema, striking is typically taught through pushing, including with the fist. You learn how to fit the fist to targets, how not to hit too hard, how to keep the force from rebounding into you, and how to direct force through pushes and strikes.
bare knuckle fighting rips the skin off, so its better to lightly condition them over time bi-weekly. Hands are filled with very complicated structure.
You can't hit as hard as you can bareknuckle on the heavy bag because you're hitting with the top 2 knuckles which puts a lot of strain on your wrist. If you hit with bottom 3 like all the old school bareknuckle boxers, you can hit as hard as you can without any problems. Yes, you risk hurting the pinky knuckle, but that's better than a broken wrist.
Based on my 20 + years of fighting experience it all depends on timing and precision, I have knocked out up to 5-6 people in a row in street fight and I was perfectly fine. While in another fight I injured my pinky fingure after throwing a left hook to a drunk man's chin...
Monkeys walk on middle and ringfinger knuckles Since the lower 3 knuckles together make a grounded face, like a hammer, you can learn to beat the same time in some martial arts, such as Wing Tsung, with the 3 lower knuckles AT THE SAME TIME That is just an Inspiration, i would never say that this is better, or that. But to try out is always a good idea
You should also know that the mma style of bass rutten is designed of karate. Karate by itself was disigned for peasant AGAINST samurai and soldiers. Karate is not designed for Attackers, not even for self devense....but this makes karate to the best! I don't know if you understand me. Perhaps as a german me english ist not good enough. BUT .....karate is f.... Good. Just let me write this to the last and think about it. What if you were a peasant, what if, you have no weapon but have to strike badass!?
THIS is karate. And thats why you get not told in karate to strike with hammer knuckles. In karate you get teached the way of striking with POWER AND it's designed to strike with a STICK or such things
Bearded viging axe To the best: Karate is like a beard axe of vikings. For peasants. You can climb, fight, work and do all the stuff with it. Karate but, is not for soldiers, fighters or samurai. Just to think about it Karate would be the best in a zombie apokalypse. You can strike hard and you move to yourself But it's NOT for realfights Just for inspiration
There's a punching bag at the gym I go to and just recently started hitting it up. First time I'm like "gloves are for wussys" then I almost broke my fist first couple hits 😂. So I used gloves for a couple months and got my punches down now I can go bare knuckle pretty damn hard and am damn proud of the progress. I've always had little weak wrists but now I'm feeling them getting stronger everyday. I punch metal beams just messing around and obviously not at full force but everyday my punches are getting more solid and knuckle are getting harder.. just gotta work at it.
Lol good advice. I could hear the struggle when you accidentally went too in depth on anatomy (ex. Skull is most dense part of the body) Our teeth are actually the hardest substance on our body, specialized bone. Still fun video ^_^ thanks!
What is the science on punching with the lead two knuckles? Wing Chun does the bottom three. Bruce Lee started in wing Chun and his one inch punch used the same, not starting controversy, just curious of different opinion
The bottom three knuckles are small bones, those metacarpals are very small as well. Not a lot of stability there, also more tendency to roll the wrist in my opinion. Also think of it like a sword. The punch should be a stab. The smaller the surface area (1-2 knuckles instead of 3) the better dig you get with the punch. Just like a point of a blade, sharper the point, easier it is to penetrate 👍👍
Hey bro I've been doing isshin ryu my whole life. Vertical punches are taught because isshin ryu is close contact fighting. Practice both types. If you're close go vertical , if you're far away turn your punch. Practice other styles too.
Unless you've been hitting into sandbags for 20 years to harden the bones in the hand and knuckles, I'd say you are better off using elbows and palm strikes... great video though ;)
Are pointy knuckles more dangerous in a street fight? It is said that it’s easier to cut someone or break someone’s bone with a pointy knuckle when all the force concentrates on a small surface, for example when someone has very pointy first knuckle which is the strongest knuckle, my ffriend broke his 2nd knuckle when he was young and now his first knuckle is very pointy and it is so easy for him to land one strong first knuckle (btw he genetically has pointy knuckles), great video man!
I think Master Ken should be locked up for impersonating a martial arts master. His techniques are ineffective, inefficient, impractical and unimaginative. Additionally, he's too emotional and has absolutely no combatives talent whatsoever. In short, his technique is total bullshit!!!
I always punch my 30kg tapered bag with no gloves. At the gym I can hit the hard 50kg also with my bare hands. It is all about control. Injuries will come when you are pushing the bag, even with gloves
I started to learn boxing by bare knuckle punching banana trees. I can see how many mistakes I was making. For anyone trying to strengthen your bones for impact, I would recommend starting with light jabs, then medium and heavy jabs. That's important to learn how to hit with the knuckles instead with your fingers. Very common mistake bros. It takes some real training and hard work to become perfect.
DISCLAIMER! I'm no expert, I just watch MA RUclipsrs. Hitting with the Flat of your fingers is called Volume Punching, it's like a Hollow Point in that it damages a larger area but lacks ability to penetrate and break bone. Ramsay Dewey made a video on it although it's probably more for MMA than Bare knuckle fighting because you could break a finger.
Bruce Lee said to hit with the three knuckles on the bottom of the fist effectively excluding the index finger knuckle. He didn't say it but in pictures you can see his fist on a 45 degree verticle angle when he makes striking contact. He really didn't say about the knuckles but by extension you can see him working out on the heavy bag.
@@SenseiSeth I was trying to be honest because I never actually heard him say it. But I did see him punching on tape. Teri Tom said to hit with the bottom three knuckles and she learned Jeet June Do from first generation students of Bruce Lee. I'm not saying the first two knuckles are bad. Read Championship Fighting by boxer Jack Dempsey who demonstrates the three knuckle landing.
@@SenseiSeth I hear what you're saying but I think Jack Dempsey and Bruce Lee were hitting with most of the force on the middle knuckle. Not trying to be disrespectful to your art just having an alternative perspective.
When not wearing gloves, it really doesnt take much. The chin is a mechanic analog device and its connected indirectly to your brain. A big child can knock out a grown man if punched correctly
Hi there! Are you familiar with the book THE ESSENCE OF OKINAWAN KARATE-DO by Shoshin Nagamine? If not, I highly recommend this book for any Karate practitioner. In the book, The author discusses the use of a vertical punch to strike someone who’s taller than you in the face or head. It was innovated by an Okinawan Karateka named Chotoku Kyan (he was a really little guy). It looks in the picture as if the four finger knuckle and middle knuckle used in punching is offline with the wrist. Do you have any thoughts on this technique? Much obliged!
you may want to consider knuckle pushups and Makiwara training.....been doing this for fifty six years, never rapped my hands doing full contact fighting ......just saying
When I hit hard I get a pain behind my wrist joint at the very end of my forearm where the bones meet. The wrist isn't buckling and my hand feels fine but it feels like it might be damaging something. Do you know what this is and how I can fix it?
Hey man, so what about when I wear wraps and gloves? Do I still practice hitting the bag with those 2 leading knuckles or just practice hitting the bag with whole part of the glove?
I keep jamming my thumb, but im also trying to cut distance and contact time, so i slightly curve like you would anyway, jusy harder to see coming if its late and slight, but a fully tifht fist takes abour 75 % of the energy that makes it snappy and turns more into follow through. With a tia guard its almost not sensible to keep a tight fist at all up until contact, thus the time from guard to strike being so minimal, its not really even beneficial to make a whole fist at any point, so im not sure of a good in-between. I do feel less of everything once rhe gloves are off, less power, less guard cover, less speed and head movement. So bad, but hard to then counter act. Most fighters say they have only broken their hands because of making a closed fist as opposed to open
Unfortunately my fingers keep in hitting the bag first only if i punch in a low angle i can reach the knuckles or upper cut h cant punch straight without my fingers hitting it first but i can bent my wrist, but that can be dangerous and it hurts
It's better to wrap your hands up when hitting you don't need to destroy the skin on your knuckle that'll just keep you out of practicing even more you'll be bleeding everywhere
Some advice for anyone looking to train wrist strength. I do karate, muay thai and bouldering (a type of rock climbing). My forearms are much stronger than average and it has helped me with this so much. Maybe consider spending a month doing climbing to build up that wrist stability, you wont regret it :)
Oh that’s dope, that’s a great idea!!
Or you could go old school with jars like with the traditional Okinawan styles.
@@FFFTonyo What do you mean with jars? I apologise for being a martial arts noob and asking stupid questions, but i honestly want to know!
Old school traditions used to use heavy jar type things to work on forearm and hand strength! Google Nigiri Game
Hanging is also very effective.
Even if you're not doing pull-ups or leg-raises, just hold on for as long as you can. And repeat a few times... ✊
Thank you. After watching about 50 different videos about punches, you're the first one to explain to punch with your hand knuckles & not finger knuckles.
Man one of the most raw and unintentionally funny sensei's out here on yt. Not to mention the golden info!
Happy it helps bro!
Very helpfull!
@@SenseiSethIMMA KICK YOU
I've had three boxers fractures and this is unfortunately something I learned way too late. Thanks for posting, Sensei :) This is vital info
Awh man, that’s unfortunate. Important to ease your way into stuff like this
@@SenseiSeth A good lesson for anyone, really!
True!!
Same lmao
@@SenseiSeth im learning flat hand punching
Less risk
Faster
Is that good?
I've worked out on traditional heavy bags ruclips.net/user/postUgkxp9-sf95nqfjey-uyzxUzQ7m9MXRPK1BE a spherical stuffed "wrecking ball" bag, and now this thing. What I like about it is that it has the heft to stay largely in place so I'm not chasing it around. It's tall enough to allow for headshots and body shots, but it's short enough to give an uppercut somewhere to land. I'm very happy so far. Filling it was a bit of a cluster. For top-offs, I've learned that you can screw the supplied nozzle onto any basic plastic water bottle. I can't speak to durability as I've only had it a week.
We practice tightening the little finger first and always. It is the gripping finger. When it is fully tightened, it is very hard to bend/collapse the wrist. It also prevents the little bone break below it called a boxer's fracture. Of course tighten the rest, also. Thank you for the video.
Hmm, that’s interesting to hear, I’ll play around with it!
Are you talking about the Pinky or Index?
@@Vinnay94, the Pinky.
Apparently it helps with bench press, if you're having trouble locking out squeeze the pinkies
Used to hate punching with no gloves but after learning proper form and stretching my wrist and strengthening them, it’s a breeze
My sensei tells us that the makiwara is the truth-teller. Our basic one is a plank of wood with a couple layers of the jigsaw floor mats for padding. If your alignment is incorrect, the makiwara will tell you.
Interesting!
Just like for rolling (ukemi), a hard floor is the most honest teacher.
Hahah that’s very true
I made my makiwara with one layer of floor matting and a 2x6, after a year of doing it consistently my heavy bag basically feels like nothing.
If your wrist is positioned incorrectly and the line of the knuckles to the elbow isn't straight, the machiwara doesn't move, right?
I better get one.
I asked 20 teachers for the answer to this question, they diverted the question with evasive words, I owe you my gratitude for seeing the answer to this question from you.
an instructor once told me, if you know how to aim a pistol .. that is essentially prefect wrist alignment for striking..
I’m so glad I have a five pound steel mace. It hits all of those muscles with rotations! Thank you for the advice! Got a bag in the backyard!
There ya go!!
Love the personality and jokes in between explanations, makes for a great video
You Tube rabbit hole on the man cave TV. I liked it so much, that i just had to comment. You're real, and honest. Subbed bud, keep it up.
Ive had an advice given to me before, when doing these kind of wrist or foreamr sthrengthening exercise, try also doing some flexibilty exercise as well. Doesnt have to be too physical as well (for me i do practice guitar, for example). This will keep your hand dexterity while not keeping too rigid.
OK, so that's how I messed up my wrists... I basically went into barefist sparring with no gloves/wraps for 1st time since recovery and me being rather strong meant that something had to give and it wasn't the opponent. So now I have to slowly build up wrists.
Yea slowly go into it. Focusing on Wrist Strength and correct bone structuring!
This was cool I came across this because I love hitting the bag without gloves I feel a less stress and sweat without gloves, it feels natural. I learned at a really young age to make a proper fist but one thing I haven’t learned is how to prevent my knuckles from slightly bleeding
Same. I wear just the wraps to prevent bruising my skin, but they also slide and leave some gaps unless they're wrapped tight and properly. You can also use pad inserts under the wraps, or the pad inserts alone could work.
very useful especially as someone whose wrist got screwed up over a decade ago. basically everyone tells me nothing is wrong with it other than some inflamation that meant steroid to the wrist to help it. still gives me grief. this is pretty good info as it's pretty much what I was told would be the only way to do anything about my problem. and those excercises do help. about the only thing that does for any length of time.
Been boxing maybe too long to change much but your advice regarding straight forearm / fist is a really good point. Most boxers also start with an open hand which closes to a fist on contact. I always carry a pair of military, fingerless rapelling gloves in my pockets just in case of trouble. Best to always be prepared.
lol so when you get attacked you can ask them if u can put u gwoovie woovies on first?
As you noted when doing the hook with the palm facing in, you need to bend your hand to actually make your first two knuckles align properly. Other styles like Wing Chun avoid this when punching with a vertical hand by hitting with the lower three knuckles rather than the first two. When you've trained since the beginning with the first two knuckles, like me, this feels very counterintuitive, but in the last while I've adjusted to hitting with the lower three knuckles when my hand is vertical, for example with (palm facing in) hooks and it's started to feel a lot more stable
About the weight training on wrists. BE CAREFUL. Yes, the smallest joints and muscles in our body are built to support the surrounding functions, but they have limits and are not built for intense direct workouts.
Stretches and minimal high reps on the lightest weights are optimal. Tendinitis and other ligament/joint and nerve issues easily develop from over training wrists.
Train safe, be smart, don't rush your progress ^_^
Very good and very thorough, good job man these are the basics that everybody needs to focus on in the beginning to keep these hand injuries from happening I have a couple other methods but that is the main one that I use are the four main punches
Yea, this one is personally the only I use but I can see how others would work!! 👍👍 thanks!
I started in my mid 50s with self defense classes. One of the best things was learning bare hand punching which gave me some solid punch mechanics. I can hit a heavy bag without wraps or gloves but do limit how much in one session. Three years later when I started Boxing and Muay Thai those mechanics helped a lot making up for my age in delivering solid punches. Despite using gloves, I do not use wraps and don't have wrist problems unlike many who are using wraps but never learned good techniques. I actually found the extra support of the gloves caused me to get sloppy with technique so I started to make sure I regularly do bare handed punches which also helps me maintain my knuckle conditioning.
First video I watched by you, you are an amazing teacher with the best of intentions, I will watch much more of you!
Thanks!!
It's best to keep the fingers folded back but not curled inside so that contact on the mid knuckles won't bend the wrist. Relaxation helps, and there should be more emphasis on energy transfer effectiveness than simply putting more force in.
👍👍
Only problem is you're leaving space in your palm. It does help make your Fist angle more Flat though as my fingers stick out past 90 degrees when curling my fingers in.
Argh, maybe Humans will eventually evolve to Punch without damaging there fingers, knuckles, wrist and forearm.
Thanks for this video, I never went across this subject before.
It’s important to keep in mind! 👍👏
Just gonna share a little knowledge.
Source: Mechanical engineer & ~15 yrs TKD:
Another reason for using the first two knuckles for punching is force distribution. You touched in this briefly, but this is just another way you can visualize it: If you were to draw two arrows on the tops of those knuckles, pointing back at you, you would see them line up with your forearm in straight lines. This position allows the muscles and bones in your forearm to absorb the force of your strike. Conversely, striking with your three smaller knuckles a moment/torque to your wrist (hello broken wrist) because the force no longer lines up with the rest of your arm.
😁
Wrong. The three smaller ones actually do align with the forearm, the front two actually don't that's why you have to flex it so can line up. Hitting with a vertical is more support on your wrist but you take a chance on the knuckles.
When I learned Judo as a kid our teacher recommended us to always use our palm and try to not use our fists to prevent injury if we ever get into an actual fight.
Your channel is a much better source of information than the Martial Nerd or Martial Arts Nerd or something. I think I'll trust your punching advice more than his.
Jesse Enkamp aka The Karate Nerd.
Why the hate though? His Channel is pretty informative.
to increase bone density, Impact is key. un-cushioned impact forces your bone's web-like microstructure to absorb the energy of the impact. this causes micro-fractures in the foam-like body of the bones. when these microfractures heal, they result in bone-scars at that microscopic level, thus increasing the total density of the bones effected.
Take it slow and steady, and if you feal pain beyond mild soreness, take a break and let them heal. Rinse and repeat using every potential striking surface of your hand, in order to train all of the effected bones in all of the pertinent orientations.
That's one of the perfect forms. That's also why karate-ka corkscrew their arm during impact for certain power punches. It distributes impact force in a cricular motion around the wrist and keeps it from collapsing. I sometimes twist it all the way around until my thumb is on the bottom for an extra half inch of reach and drill only my forefinger knuckle for impact. Oos!
I tried punching a punching bag hard and I rolled my wrist so that’s why I’m here 😂😂
I did that doing Ground n Pound on the bag. It's fine but scary.
👍 EXCELLENT! VERY DEEP & INFORMATIVE! NOT MANY OUT THERE THIS SIMPLE YET DETAILED. OH... & HUMOROUS! 😆
It's important to say that not all hands are created equal some have one or 2 prominent knuckles. For example for me the middle knuckle sticks out a lot in comparison to the rest so to hit with the first 2 knuckles I'd have to twist my wrist way out of alignment. If I hit with the middle 2 I can put a lot more force in
Mine sticks out too. Maybe just hit with with the middle Knuckle, It's like a Arrow Tip.
Same situation here. I tried to turn my wrist so my first two knuckles would hit, and sent a shock in my wrist that never sat well. Think about the force of attraction. As well as the applied pressure, and the surface area the pressure is applied to. Aim small, miss small.
Nice video I personally have used vertical punches most of my life its structurally stronger n in my opinion faster
Interesting!
@@SenseiSeth it's a jkd concept I stole along time ago
Even though I trained karate for years, the vertical fist still feels more solid when I hit the bag bareknuckle.
Also doing pushups on the knuckles - big difference.
The wrist naturally lines up straight with the 3 smaller knuckles.
My compromise, to keep more of a boxing style, has always been to turn the wrist 1/2way between the horizontal & vertical, and target the middle knuckle.
This also avoids hitting the other knuckles folded near the thumb, when you're striking at or above horizontal.
(The vertical punch doesn't have that issue).
In terms of conditioning though, I train all variations, so everything's strong and toughened.
I definitely don’t punch with a traditional from the hip vertical style but Karate did teach that rolling over of the wrist, it just started from a different place. Good insight!
@@stevewaters1516ertical Punching was around before JKD. Most Kung Fu styles use Vertical Punches, it's just Wing Chun and JKD are well known for it.
I get meny advices about punching and thats best dude
One thing I disagree with, which I was taught differently. For more stability, press your thumb into the side of the second finger joint, instead of wrapping underneath like you showed. This can be called "koppo ken" as opposed to you what you showed "fudo ken." IMO it provides more stability and forward stretch for those two first knuckles. I was taught this in Hawaiian Lua, but I also have 2nd dan in Shotokan, 1st dan in Kempo, also competed in Muay Thai. In more recent years I have been punching brick walls and trees, I believe do to microfractures I have built in my knuckles, I can go pretty forcefully. Unfortunately I can't say the same for kicks, because I broke a bone on the bottom of my heel by back kicking a tree, even with hiking boots on :(
Interesting! I’ll look into it
Did kick the tree repeatedly to build power.
My Middle Knuckle sticks out like a sore thumb so this doesn't really help. Great information though
Good information! Thanks for explaining proper fist and hand position.
Thanks for watching!! 🙏🙏
How to kick without breaking toe/insole/achilles heel/whatever (in like, roundhouse and wheel kicks and front kicks)
Edit: especially the wheel kick I hurt my achilles hell tendon thingy before when my partner half blocked with his wrist, it hurt him more but I still get hurt. And I heard about flexing the heel down but then the toes get hurt now so....hahaha)
Oh man, I’ll keep that in mind!
@@SenseiSeth with shoes
@@Parjesh888Savate
You made it so simple that it made alot of sense
Learning to not feel alot of pain when hitting bear nuckle and to condition your nuckles helps alot cuz when u get in a street fight u dont got wraps or gloves
finally i can bully someone without fear of hurting myself. Thank you Seth :D
no!
Don't worry. It was just a joke. I'm not that kind of a person.
@@mnamka1311 lol 😂
@@mnamka1311 I honestly just wanna learn how to fight because at my school there’s a lot of fights like I don’t get bullied but it’s kinda like a ghetto school so if I accidentally bump into them or look at them they Wanna fight you and I could avoid it by not talking but I just simply can’t cause of my ego
@@sirisaacnewton3305 i totally Understand, my city is not safe either xD
Bands are great for that form arm strength building. Especially for that side to side toward the pinky.
I Aim with the pinky and ring finger knuckles. I close the middle knuckle than pointer finger knuckle in that order. Tilt fist forward or turn it over with middle and pointer knuckle infront of all my weight and momentum. The fist rolling over the thumb. And the most important part. Wrap the thumb and bite down really hard with it to muffle the bounce and stuff the richochet. The tighter the thumb the stronger and stickier your fist will be.
The production quality increase from these days really is incredible to see
I use an Isshinryu vertical fist, and I can punch without tape or wrap or gloves full force and break bricks and stuff without hurting my hands. I have stronger than average wrists due to grip training and such, but the secret is in technique. The vertical fist aligns the bones in the wrist and hand so that they are not hurt by much of any amount of force.
Shimabuku supposedly did both types of punches, although the isshinryu syllabus claims a vertical fist punch can hit up to 50 percent faster than a boxer's twist punch when thrown to the body of the opponent. I don't have the equipment to test that theory though.
Your ThUMB strength and dexterity is the most important part of the fist. The switch to activate the magnetic charge.
Rice bucket training is also good for forearms. Good for wrist health too.
exactly the video I was looking for!
Great video, I feel if someone trains iron fist and iron palm correctly that too will help with bone rigidity or just build yourself a makiwara board and wrap it with rope and lightly strike that slowly cranking up the power over time. If you dont have that just hit your punching bag lightly and crank up the power over time, same goes for kicks. Ive learned this from my father and his brother who are 6th and 5th degrees in kajukenbo under sensei john pangdilao theyve also gotten black belts in marc glimpa self defense which was kung fu mixed with kickboxing and aikido i believe. Once i was about 10 my dad starting teaching me basic striking and at 15 i started doing iron palm/fist and hitting our makiwara board we built now that im 16 im looking into joining a kyokushin karate school.
the face he makes whenever he hits the back of his head 'o'
Hahahaha
In Systema, striking is typically taught through pushing, including with the fist. You learn how to fit the fist to targets, how not to hit too hard, how to keep the force from rebounding into you, and how to direct force through pushes and strikes.
Now that sounds like it would be very helpful to learn
Thank you Sensei!
bare knuckle fighting rips the skin off, so its better to lightly condition them over time bi-weekly. Hands are filled with very complicated structure.
Great advice, thank you.
You can't hit as hard as you can bareknuckle on the heavy bag because you're hitting with the top 2 knuckles which puts a lot of strain on your wrist. If you hit with bottom 3 like all the old school bareknuckle boxers, you can hit as hard as you can without any problems. Yes, you risk hurting the pinky knuckle, but that's better than a broken wrist.
Based on my 20 + years of fighting experience it all depends on timing and precision, I have knocked out up to 5-6 people in a row in street fight and I was perfectly fine. While in another fight I injured my pinky fingure after throwing a left hook to a drunk man's chin...
loved this enjoyed and learned at the same time!
Monkeys walk on middle and ringfinger knuckles
Since the lower 3 knuckles together make a grounded face, like a hammer, you can learn to beat the same time in some martial arts, such as Wing Tsung, with the 3 lower knuckles AT THE SAME TIME
That is just an Inspiration, i would never say that this is better, or that. But to try out is always a good idea
Yea I’ll give that a look!! Thanks for the insight 👍
You should also know that the mma style of bass rutten is designed of karate.
Karate by itself was disigned for peasant AGAINST samurai and soldiers.
Karate is not designed for Attackers, not even for self devense....but this makes karate to the best!
I don't know if you understand me. Perhaps as a german me english ist not good enough. BUT
.....karate is f.... Good. Just let me write this to the last and think about it.
What if you were a peasant, what if, you have no weapon but have to strike badass!?
THIS is karate.
And thats why you get not told in karate to strike with hammer knuckles.
In karate you get teached the way of striking with POWER
AND it's designed to strike with a STICK or such things
Bearded viging axe
To the best:
Karate is like a beard axe of vikings. For peasants. You can climb, fight, work and do all the stuff with it.
Karate but, is not for soldiers, fighters or samurai.
Just to think about it
Karate would be the best in a zombie apokalypse.
You can strike hard and you move to yourself
But it's NOT for realfights
Just for inspiration
Thor, the god of thunder, is the god of peaseants
I'm German. In this way i know what i'm writing
There's a punching bag at the gym I go to and just recently started hitting it up. First time I'm like "gloves are for wussys" then I almost broke my fist first couple hits 😂. So I used gloves for a couple months and got my punches down now I can go bare knuckle pretty damn hard and am damn proud of the progress. I've always had little weak wrists but now I'm feeling them getting stronger everyday. I punch metal beams just messing around and obviously not at full force but everyday my punches are getting more solid and knuckle are getting harder.. just gotta work at it.
Lol good advice. I could hear the struggle when you accidentally went too in depth on anatomy (ex. Skull is most dense part of the body) Our teeth are actually the hardest substance on our body, specialized bone.
Still fun video ^_^ thanks!
What is the science on punching with the lead two knuckles? Wing Chun does the bottom three. Bruce Lee started in wing Chun and his one inch punch used the same, not starting controversy, just curious of different opinion
The bottom three knuckles are small bones, those metacarpals are very small as well. Not a lot of stability there, also more tendency to roll the wrist in my opinion.
Also think of it like a sword. The punch should be a stab. The smaller the surface area (1-2 knuckles instead of 3) the better dig you get with the punch. Just like a point of a blade, sharper the point, easier it is to penetrate 👍👍
Sheeesh
Thanks for the video man
1:20 "This is your brain keeper," it holds your think organ, that let you speaky mouthy.
I used to do Isshinryu karate and was taught to throw straights as you taught it in this video.
Hey bro I've been doing isshin ryu my whole life. Vertical punches are taught because isshin ryu is close contact fighting. Practice both types. If you're close go vertical , if you're far away turn your punch. Practice other styles too.
Kettle Bells are really good for wrist strengthening.
I love the amount of errors in his editing he left in 🤣 he choked like 2 times lmao
You got a lot better now Seth
Very informative. 🎉
Thankyou for the video! It was a great help.
Unless you've been hitting into sandbags for 20 years to harden the bones in the hand and knuckles, I'd say you are better off using elbows and palm strikes... great video though ;)
👍👍👍
Good thing I punched walls
@@aviancypress5181 shut up
@@mounir9899 fuk off
Bros Intros fire
Are pointy knuckles more dangerous in a street fight? It is said that it’s easier to cut someone or break someone’s bone with a pointy knuckle when all the force concentrates on a small surface, for example when someone has very pointy first knuckle which is the strongest knuckle, my ffriend broke his 2nd knuckle when he was young and now his first knuckle is very pointy and it is so easy for him to land one strong first knuckle (btw he genetically has pointy knuckles), great video man!
Brilliant
Great video and information great sensei so glad I found you thanks to icy mike
Thanks for the love bud!
Also worth a Look: core fist from David Weck
Do Push-ups! Do knuckle pushups, Hindu Push Ups, Diamond Pushups folliwed by dead hangs and chin ups! 💪🏻
People start to realise how to evade breakin the bones of the hand tho rzrely talk about evading the touth-knuckle injury
Hmmm
Congratulations on surviving your encounter with Master Ken. ;)
Haha thanks a bunch!! 😂🙏
I think Master Ken should be locked up for impersonating a martial arts master.
His techniques are ineffective, inefficient, impractical and unimaginative.
Additionally, he's too emotional and has absolutely no combatives talent whatsoever.
In short, his technique is total bullshit!!!
Lol
Who’s here in 2024? 👊🔥🥋
I’m here mate… just bought a small bag… complete novice… my wrist hurts 😅
I always punch my 30kg tapered bag with no gloves. At the gym I can hit the hard 50kg also with my bare hands. It is all about control. Injuries will come when you are pushing the bag, even with gloves
I started to learn boxing by bare knuckle punching banana trees. I can see how many mistakes I was making.
For anyone trying to strengthen your bones for impact, I would recommend starting with light jabs, then medium and heavy jabs. That's important to learn how to hit with the knuckles instead with your fingers. Very common mistake bros. It takes some real training and hard work to become perfect.
DISCLAIMER! I'm no expert, I just watch MA RUclipsrs.
Hitting with the Flat of your fingers is called Volume Punching, it's like a Hollow Point in that it damages a larger area but lacks ability to penetrate and break bone.
Ramsay Dewey made a video on it although it's probably more for MMA than Bare knuckle fighting because you could break a finger.
Bro buy a makiwara and a heavy bag.
Why does it HURT so much when i punch the other palm of my hand? There is nothing on the Internet written about this
What's WEIRD is? I am a grown woman and right-handed and I already knew how to throw a punch.
And left-handed to boot
Bruce Lee said to hit with the three knuckles on the bottom of the fist effectively excluding the index finger knuckle.
He didn't say it but in pictures you can see his fist on a 45 degree verticle angle when he makes striking contact.
He really didn't say about the knuckles but by extension you can see him working out on the heavy bag.
So... he didn’t say it
@@SenseiSeth I was trying to be honest because I never actually heard him say it. But I did see him punching on tape.
Teri Tom said to hit with the bottom three knuckles and she learned Jeet June Do from first generation students of Bruce Lee.
I'm not saying the first two knuckles are bad.
Read Championship Fighting by boxer Jack Dempsey who demonstrates the three knuckle landing.
The bottom three are some of the smallest bones your body has
@@SenseiSeth I hear what you're saying but I think Jack Dempsey and Bruce Lee were hitting with most of the force on the middle knuckle.
Not trying to be disrespectful to your art just having an alternative perspective.
Personally my wrist feels most stable when punching with the 2 middle knuckles. Neither of the outer ones are good to hit with. Atleast for me
When not wearing gloves, it really doesnt take much. The chin is a mechanic analog device and its connected indirectly to your brain. A big child can knock out a grown man if punched correctly
Hi there! Are you familiar with the book THE ESSENCE OF OKINAWAN KARATE-DO by Shoshin Nagamine? If not, I highly recommend this book for any Karate practitioner.
In the book, The author discusses the use of a vertical punch to strike someone who’s taller than you in the face or head. It was innovated by an Okinawan Karateka named Chotoku Kyan (he was a really little guy). It looks in the picture as if the four finger knuckle and middle knuckle used in punching is offline with the wrist. Do you have any thoughts on this technique?
Much obliged!
Interesting. Since Karate came from Kung Fu, it's possible that early versions of Okinawan Karate used Vertical Punches.
Thanks
Thanks for this video, Sensei Seth. I like this kinda low key dorky delivery from your older vids, you come across as earnest and enthusiastic.
I have always hit a heavy bag no gloves never had wrist or knuckle pain. Is that weird?
you may want to consider knuckle pushups and Makiwara training.....been doing this for fifty six years, never rapped my hands doing full contact fighting ......just saying
Is playing guitar and double base good training for hands? XD
good for Judo grips!
I couldn’t find any contact sports with punches to the head without gloves and straps exept kudo
When I hit hard I get a pain behind my wrist joint at the very end of my forearm where the bones meet. The wrist isn't buckling and my hand feels fine but it feels like it might be damaging something. Do you know what this is and how I can fix it?
Hey man, so what about when I wear wraps and gloves? Do I still practice hitting the bag with those 2 leading knuckles or just practice hitting the bag with whole part of the glove?
I keep jamming my thumb, but im also trying to cut distance and contact time, so i slightly curve like you would anyway, jusy harder to see coming if its late and slight, but a fully tifht fist takes abour 75 % of the energy that makes it snappy and turns more into follow through. With a tia guard its almost not sensible to keep a tight fist at all up until contact, thus the time from guard to strike being so minimal, its not really even beneficial to make a whole fist at any point, so im not sure of a good in-between. I do feel less of everything once rhe gloves are off, less power, less guard cover, less speed and head movement. So bad, but hard to then counter act. Most fighters say they have only broken their hands because of making a closed fist as opposed to open
Unfortunately my fingers keep in hitting the bag first only if i punch in a low angle i can reach the knuckles or upper cut h cant punch straight without my fingers hitting it first but i can bent my wrist, but that can be dangerous and it hurts
Tip of the elbow has more density than any other bone it is the hardest bone in the human body
So go for liver punches always
It's better to wrap your hands up when hitting you don't need to destroy the skin on your knuckle that'll just keep you out of practicing even more you'll be bleeding everywhere
If you want to learn how to punch a bag without glves, look at the kyokushin guys
honestly i need this for my friend before he injures himself.