Open hand vs closed fist.

**antman** · Posted On: 6/23/2005 9:47pm

Originally Posted by Strong Machine

I'd feel like a wussy if I left a streetfight without a damaged knuckle.

I'd be happy...... unless I got my ass handed to me.

**Alhazred** · Posted On: 6/23/2005 11:01pm

I'm not much of a puncher myself...my punches suck, I would favor the palm to the chin or nose in a swinging motion.

**Meex** · Posted On: 6/24/2005 2:23am

A palm heel strike is not a "soft" strike (well, not the way y'all are talkin' 'bout it).
Besides, strictly speaking a hammerfist is a hard strike with a soft part of the body.
In these types of discussions, those who know what they are talking about can probably
effect soft strikes anytime. the rest wouldn't know what one was to save their life. It is
possible to have a hard attack with an open hand, and a soft attack with a fist

`~/

**core** · Posted On: 6/24/2005 2:31am

the palm is bloody hard. In a bare knuckle fight i prefer using palm strikes to the head so not to injure my hand. If you dont have strong wrists there's a risk that a skew cloesed fist shot to the head will

1. damage your wrist.
2. bust you knuckles.

Also, in tight spots, clinches of whatever a open palm strike will give you a couple of more inches of traveling, thus impacting with more power.

Also, look at Bas Ruttens Pancrase career, dont remember which match but in it he utilized an open palm upper cut with VERY good result.

**Gypsy Jazz** · Posted On: 6/24/2005 2:48am

Originally Posted by Meex

A palm heel strike is not a "soft" strike (well, not the way y'all are talkin' 'bout it).
Besides, strictly speaking a hammerfist is a hard strike with a soft part of the body. /

All this time when I heard palm strike I simply assumed that whoever was talking meant palm heel. It is probably ignorant on my part to assume anything at all really, but it just doesn't make sense to me why anyone would hit with any other part of the palm. Anything else I would consider more of a slap, and probably not worth it.

From what I've been told (and I don't know if this is true or not) palm heels are a very safe way of striking to the head because you are hitting with a solid surface that doesn't have many small bones prone to breaking. Maybe my punches suck, or my palm heels are good (both maybe?), but my bag seem to react just about the same to either.

Perhaps one more knowledgable on the matter could enlighten me some.

**Meex** · Posted On: 6/24/2005 2:03pm

Originally Posted by Gypsy Jazz

All this time when I heard palm strike I simply assumed that whoever was talking meant palm heel. It is probably ignorant on my part to assume anything at all really, but it just doesn't make sense to me why anyone would hit with any other part of the palm. Anything else I would consider more of a slap, and probably not worth it.

From what I've been told (and I don't know if this is true or not) palm heels are a very safe way of striking to the head because you are hitting with a solid surface that doesn't have many small bones prone to breaking. Maybe my punches suck, or my palm heels are good (both maybe?), but my bag seem to react just about the same to either.

Perhaps one more knowledgable on the matter could enlighten me some.

You are correct in what you say. And by the reaction on your bag, you found the same thing. . .that palm hell strikes are not soft strikes. When I wrote that, i was mostly commenting on BatRonin's "soft -vs- hard" response, which I should have quoted.:

Originally Posted by BatRonin

Originally Posted by skanlessflipboy

If using a closed fist the target should be 'soft' i.e. belly. If targeting something hard, use the open hand because if you hit the target hard enough you have a chance of injuring yourself. His logic is that as todlers we didn't crawl with our fists, but our open hands.

This is a take on "old school" Goju with their Hard VS Soft philosophy:
Hard targer - soft weapon and vice-versa.

My commentary was toward soft strikes not necessarily being done with soft tissue areas. That is not the nature of what makes thm "soft."

Besides, there are many other useful aspects to using your palm as a weapon.
Hard weapons tend to have jarring impact(s), while soft weapons will tend to have absorbing impact(s). In your earlier post you mention hitting a bag with your palm. the more relevant technique would be to hit something hard with your palm (a rock, a wall, a desk).

`~/