If you’ve ever seen any fight scene in a movie or TV show, more often than not the characters are swinging at each other with closed fists, trading blows and against the temple or body many times over. Even fight “scenes” that end with one well-timed strike show the protagonist using a punch. But is this practical? As martial artists we train with punches regularly in our forms and partner drills, but how often do we condition our knuckles? Are you confident that, if you find yourself in an altercation and punch someone or something, will your fists be able to take the impact?
I would posit that open hand techniques such as palm heel strikes and knife hand strikes are just as potent and much safer to execute than closed fist punches. Closed fist strikes require a certain level of fidelity that, in the heat of the moment, can be very difficult to execute without significant risk of self-injury. Even in very controlled environments such as board or brick breaks, a slight change in angle or hesitation can easily result in a bruised or broken knuckle, and that hand is rendered useless for the rest of the day. Open strikes, on the other hand, can be executed with relatively little risk, perhaps a slight soreness after several good hits. The cushioning around the palm provides a level of protection that makes it ideal for repeated use and is often one of the first techniques taught to white belts. But for some reason when we get to the higher ranks, the open hand strikes fall out of favor compared to the punch.
There are good reasons why we practice with the closed fist more than the open hand strikes; for example, the chamber hand (with its many applications) and blocks are foundational techniques, and since the fist is already closed it’s natural that we do a punch instead of an open hand strike. Knife hand strikes require an angular or circular path to its target, while a punch is more straightforward. Palm heels can be linear too, but having the wrist bent can be awkward and uncomfortable for those who don’t practice them as much. Finally, the visual of a punch is far more striking (pardon the pun) than open hand strikes, which is why it’s used so much in entertainment media.
Former Pankration and MMA fighter Bas Rutten was famous for using open hand strikes in his various bouts, but it seems that modern martial artists haven’t picked up on his unique fighting style. MMA gloves often focus padding on the knuckles, so fighters tend to focus on boxing/striking with closed fists, and if you ever see the injury list there are a few of them that suffer broken knuckles. While many recover and come back to the ring in fighting shape, others don’t quite get back to full health and tend to re-injure their hands in subsequent fights.
I say all this to emphasize that no matter how much you train, closed fist strikes that utilize the knuckles (punches, back fists, 2nd knuckle strikes, etc.) have an inherent risk, and have a much smaller margin of error when compared to open hand strikes. When you see a technique in a form or partner drill that requires a punch, think of how you can replace that with an open hand strike instead! Our hands are very delicate extensions of our body, so we need to do what we can to take care of them.
