hey everyone,
what is the preferred method of punching? using your first two knuckles? or the bottom three knuckles? to avoid hurting yourself and your wrist..

First two

first two

how come the first two? i heard that it isn't the direct line through the arm.. can you please explain how come first two over the bottom three

i use last three.

well when i did karate i was told the first two, aswell as when i did muay thai and when i started wing tsun i was told bottom three, but what is the actual correct way because i've heard if you use the top two you can damage your wrist

it is pretty obvious by looking at the size and protrusion of the first two knuckles that they are suited for impact. the middle knuckle is the one that is both the largest and the best situated in terms of anatomical support and lineup. i tend to use only this one knuckle as a focus. well, i have abandoned punching techniques in favor of open hands, but that is how i would do it, if i still punched.


Peace.

Originally posted by Emiare_Pac
well when i did karate i was told the first two, aswell as when i did muay thai and when i started wing tsun i was told bottom three, but what is the actual correct way because i've heard if you use the top two you can damage your wrist

If there was such a huge physiological danger to using the first two then countless systems would not teach punching that way. No matter which way you punch, if your wrist isn't strong and aligned you're fucked.

Oh, and being a karateka, I use the first two. They're much larger, have greater bone density, and generally penetrate soft tissue more. I've only injured my wrist while punching once, and that was from punching someone's roundhouse kick and compressing the entire joint. Unless I'm not paying attention at all I never lose the alignment while punching.

i used to use the last three until i snapped the metacarpal behind my pinky knuckle, now i use the middle two.

Just curious--Shumagorath, why did you punch someone's roundhouse?

I use first 2 knuckles by the way.

Originally posted by udo
Just curious--Shumagorath, why did you punch someone's roundhouse?

I have no idea. It wasn't intentionally a punch, I remember that much. Slopiness while sparring the lower belts I guess.

seems karate folks use fist 2, and a lot of southern CMA people use last 3, personally i use first 2

Personally, I hit people with my fist. I don't really care what knuckle. My school trains to hit with the first two, but in practice I've found whatever makes contact, makes contact.

Against an opponent that is constantly moving and defending you're not going to be able to adjust the angle of a punch that is already on its way to assure the "proper" knuckles make contact.

I've heard of schools that go as far as to specify how much force is supposed to be felt in each knuckle, like "Hit so 62.7% with you middle knuckle and 37.3% with your index knuckle." I just don't think its possible to have that much control.

Generally speaking the first two knuckles, the big ones. EVer tried hitting somebody or something hard with the little ones? ouch.

This is why you don't include the pinky knuckle in any punch.

Boxers Fracture: http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/hw005.htm

you can use the pinky knuckle with the verticle punches ala wc as long as it's aligned properly.

usually i don't have enough information processing time in a fight to decide which fucking knuckle i am going to use, so i just try and hit with all of them, the whole "ridge" of knuckles.