Punching: alignment with the forearm


I have often been asked: "What is the correct alignment of your forearm to your fist in a standard punch?" Given that in karate and most Eastern martial arts (excluding arts such as Wing Chun) the standard punch strikes with the 2 big knuckles, you could be forgiven for thinking that the top of the forearm should align (be flush) with those 2 knuckles. Makes sense doesn't it? But actually this is not the case.

Indeed, if you make a fist and then hold your forearm vertically, side on (so that your fist is pointing up and you're looking at your wrist so that you can see whether it angles the fist up or down), you'll notice that you could, if you wanted, make the back of your hand flush with your forearm. That means that the top knuckles are in a straight line with your forearm and your energy is going to be transmitted in a straight line (theoretically).

The problem however is that if you look at the palm side of your fist, it now slopes down quite a lot - increasing the risk of your wrist buckling on impact. If this occurs it not only renders your punch largely useless, but it is also is painful and injurious (I speak from experience).

On the other hand you could angle your fist/wrist so that the bottom of your fist is in line with the bottom of your forearm. The problem with this is (a) the risk of wrist buckling the other way (less likely, but more severe when it happens) and (b ) you'll be striking with the smaller knuckles in a kind of "bear paw" punch, not with the 2 main knuckles.

The solution is to see your fist as it is: a natural "Y" shape. In other words, neither the top of the forearm nor the bottom of the forearm lines up with the top or bottom of the wrist.

Even if your fist shape is such that this causes your small knuckles to protrude a smidgeon ahead of your big knuckles, what happens in practice is that on impact your fist compresses and the imapct is transferred almost immediately to the 2 big knuckles.

Do some knuckle push ups (on the 2 big knuckles of course) and look at your self in a mirror, noting the angle of wrist to forearm and you'll see what I mean. Without compression (either static or on impact) your fist looks very different, so be mindful of this.

To summarise: the fist and forearm have a "Y" shape. Neither the top nor bottom should be flush with the top or bottom of your forearm.

Copyright © 2008 Dejan Djurdjevic

Comments

  1. Ymar SakarDecember 3, 2012 at 5:40 AM

    I guess when people keep saying relax, relax, relax, they didn't mean relax the wrist as you punched something hard. Could have fooled me though.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karate punches vs. boxing punches

Image
Introduction In my article “ Kime: the soul of the karate punch ” I described the essential feature of the karate punch as being “focus” – ie. a combination of minimal deceleration before impact and optimum distancing – usually performed in karate with a straight thrust . Many have, and will continue to, argue that this straight thrust is less powerful than a boxer’s follow-through punches. This is true. But to understand why this does not necessarily mean that the former is less effective we’ll have to examine punching methods – what someone I know calls “delivery systems” – in greater detail. To the extent that karate punching is “less powerful”, I will then go on to examine why this is a tactical choice rather than a necessary failing. Categorising punches In a very general sense karate punches can be divided into 2 kinds: straight line and curved. In boxing, punches can be divided into 2 different categories that overlap with the karate ones, namely: 1. jabs (ie. punches which
Read more

Zhan zhuang: grounding, structure, intention and qi

Image
Introduction There is a tendency in the Chinese, and increasingly in the Japanese, martial arts to venerate “standing post” training - what is known as zhan zhuang (站樁 - literally “standing like a post”).  In particular the internal arts of China are known for this practise.  Even more particularly, the art of yiquan (意拳 - literally “concept fist”) focuses almost entirely on this as a martial training method. Yiquan, which is also called “da cheng quan” (大成拳 - literally “great achievement boxing”), was developed by xingyiquan master Wang Xiangzhai (26 November 1885 - 12 July 1963).  One of his students was the Taiwan-based martial artist Wang Shujin (a master of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan who happens to have also been one of my grandmaster Chen Pan Ling's main students). In Japan the yiquan tradition was continued by Kenichi Sawai, founder of the school of taikiken (体気拳 - literally “mind and spirit fist”). So what is the point of “standing post training”?  Can
Read more

Punching: alignment and conditioning

Image
Choson Ninja and the question of "conditioned" knuckles The other day one of my colleagues at the Traditional Fighting Arts Forums alerted me to a fellow who calls himself Choson Ninja. He has a series of videos on Youtube and in this particular one he tells you about the dangers of getting "ugly" knuckles from hand conditioning. The general thrust of his argument is correct: conditioning can lead to deformed and ugly knuckles - especially so if you are doing it incorrectly. Certainly, even moderate makiwara practice will cause you to develop callouses. How "unsightly" these are will depend on how much and how "hard" you do your conditioning. However I disagree with Mr Choson about much of what he says in his video. To begin with, his knuckles are not really that conditioned . Rather, they appear to be damaged from breaks. Mr Choson certainly doesn't have anywhere near the kind of callousing one gets from regular conditioning such as st
Read more