Effective hand strikes??

[Jim_Jude]

Hammerfists are good for use when you get them down and are in side mount. I think Fedor did this against Zulu. Now that's a good fight to watch, and short too.

So, what was the point of the edit? That was weird....

[SuperCollider]

I'm using one of those laptops with the funny little thing that's hard to move around with. I misclicked.

[Jim_Jude]

I'm using one of those laptops with the funny little thing that's hard to move around with. I misclicked.

Oh, I'll fix it, then. Here's your original post:

Hammerfists are good for use when you get them down and are in side mount. I think Fedor did this against Zulu. Now that's a good fight to watch to see what hand strikes are effective. Otherwise their pretty pointless.

That's what you really meant, huh? I gotcha back, bro :gaygay:

[Fuzzy]

I was having some success with rotating hammer fists last night in sparring. I find its easier to throw them from a really tight pyramid/crazy monkey type guard than normal straights. Personally I find the unexpectedness of the non-punch strikes lets you land them.

[PPlate]

Now, I know I posted this in Newbietown before but it wasn't really answered at all.
The system I train in uses only hammer fists, palm strikes and phoenik eye fists (index finger knuckle) strikes. Is this practical? Will I get killed trying to use them against a boxer, a good fighter, or a thug? Should I add other hand strikes (we also do elbows by the way). Thanks a million fellas.

I think palm strikes and hammerfists are fine. Watch Bas Rutten KO opponents with palmstrikes in his old shooto fights. They are all legitimate striking techniques and I'd think will work much better for you in a bareknuckle fight then punching. Less risk of injury to yourself.

Anyone who's boxed or done other kinds of striking art for a long enough time will tell you how easy it is to injure your wrist if you land a hook at a wrong angle. Without gloves and without wraps, the probability of injury really escalates. The wrist is a really fragile thing, and without years of strength training, I think its highly probably that you're going to hurt yourself by trying to punch in a street fight.

However, the problem is not the strikes itself, but the delivery system. If you train these strikes like a boxer, with realistic drills and sparring, I'd say they'd be much better for self defense. However, most schools that train these kinds of strikes only do them against a cooperative partner, so its not going to work for you that way.

You might want to take up boxing, and then train palm strikes for self-defense, if that's what you want.

[WhiteShark]

Bas Rutten is a red herring in the open hand striking discussion. He did that because it was in the rules and when in UFC he punched.

[djchangster]

i use open hand strikes, tiger claws, havent tried the phoenix strike - but they work

[BackFistMonkey]

i use open hand strikes, tiger claws, havent tried the phoenix strike - but they work

Something in this post ruins the whole damned thing .

Can anyone tell me what is suspect ?

[Petter]

He forgot to capitalise the word 'I' and therefore cast doubt on his cognitive and discursive abilities?

[Jim_Jude]

Bas Rutten is a red herring in the open hand striking discussion. He did that because it was in the rules and when in UFC he punched.

I posted about this in #19 and Bas Rutten is MOST CERTAINLY NOT a Red Herring. He was very good at using open hand strikes for FIVE YEARS, very effective.. He had years of punching before doing Pancrase, that's why he prefers punching.
You wanna see if open hand strikes work? Train them for a year. Hell, train them for six months. Condition your palm strikes & chops(hand&wrist) against metal shot bags or kettlebells Cestari-style. YOU WILL BE EFFECTIVE.