How much does hand size factor into punching power?

Drain Bamage

Banned
Banned
Joined
Jun 26, 2017
Messages
19,412
Reaction score
7,672
One thing I always hear people say "can't hit hard with these little hands"

Dominick Cruz made that statement and you always hear Rogan talking about if you don't have big hands its gonna be hard to be a power puncher

My opinion is while it may help to have bigger hands, its actually way far down on the list of attributes that lead to great punching power

Form/mechanics

Ability to generate torque with the hips

Strong footing

How hard you can ball up a fist (heard Hendo say this a lot)


Some of the greatest power punchers don't have big hands at all

Fedor
Daniel Cormier
Dan Henderson
Kelvin Gastelum
Johny Hendricks
Conor

These guys all have smallish hands and great punching power

What do you guys think?
 
brock-lesnar-and-hong-man-choi-picture-id83470255

670416.jpg
 
Not much tbh.

Power comes from the kinetic energy generated from the torso mostly. Low in the spinal chord around the glutes.

You need strong hands to take the impact if you can throw. Having brittle Floyd hands limits the power you can throw without injuring yourself.

Big hands will only give you a little extra pop because you have more weight at the end of your punch.
 
Think sledgehammer vs regular hammer.. size/weight will give you a power advantage but some small guys like lineker could put any man out..

Skill over everything but a really big guy can do damage even with a half missed shot..
 
Of course. If its regards to elite boxers a fast freight train will fold many. More inertia, more momentum, added weight and gravity. Makes a difference. Only remedy is a solid chin
 
Small hands correlate with weak punching power cause small hands are a symptom of low T and micropenis
 
One thing I always hear people say "can't hit hard with these little hands"

Dominick Cruz made that statement and you always hear Rogan talking about if you don't have big hands its gonna be hard to be a power puncher

My opinion is while it may help to have bigger hands, its actually way far down on the list of attributes that lead to great punching power

Form/mechanics

Ability to generate torque with the hips

Strong footing

How hard you can ball up a fist (heard Hendo say this a lot)


Some of the greatest power punchers don't have big hands at all

Fedor
Daniel Cormier
Dan Henderson
Kelvin Gastelum
Johny Hendricks
Conor

These guys all have smallish hands and great punching power

What do you guys think?

I think big hands would be bad for punching. Smaller hands are faster, go through smaller openings in the guard and hit a smaller surface but with greater impact.

But regular small hands are bad as well. People with smaller hands have less strength and they break easier.

Hendo and Fedor have small hands but they are strong dudes, so you probably need small but strong hands and a good core and explosive hips.

Hendo is probably the only juicer I don't hate. I mean the dude is so chill it's impossible :D
 
Big hands are definitely an advantage if everything else was equal (bigger, more durable, more weight, etc.) Also note that long fingers i.e Basketball players are VERY different than large palms (although they usually come hand-in-hand HA!). Large palms usually make for a much larger fist (this is where the specific difference in "hand size" punching power comes from...)

The perfect example was posted above "think sledgehammer vs. regular hammer". It's not the thing that creates a power puncher but it certainly is a plus attribute FOR a power puncher.

Also, Fedor, etc. do not have small fists. Compare his fist to his head. He actually has large fists.
 
One thing I always hear people say "can't hit hard with these little hands"

Dominick Cruz made that statement and you always hear Rogan talking about if you don't have big hands its gonna be hard to be a power puncher

My opinion is while it may help to have bigger hands, its actually way far down on the list of attributes that lead to great punching power

Form/mechanics

Ability to generate torque with the hips

Strong footing

How hard you can ball up a fist (heard Hendo say this a lot)


Some of the greatest power punchers don't have big hands at all

Fedor
Daniel Cormier
Dan Henderson
Kelvin Gastelum
Johny Hendricks
Conor

These guys all have smallish hands and great punching power

What do you guys think?
A+ post.

ive always wondered the same thing and i think at the end of the day, what matters more is the placement of the punch, the torque, and the shoulder/upper back/core strength of the person throwing the punch.

someone who knows a little more than i do about mechanics and physics could probably go into something about surface area and force
 
Def a factor, but not more important than good technique in terms of power. Bigger hands much less likely to be injured though, and that is a factor in a fight...

TS, How do you know the size of all these guys fists?
 
One thing I always hear people say "can't hit hard with these little hands"

Dominick Cruz made that statement and you always hear Rogan talking about if you don't have big hands its gonna be hard to be a power puncher

My opinion is while it may help to have bigger hands, its actually way far down on the list of attributes that lead to great punching power

Form/mechanics

Ability to generate torque with the hips

Strong footing

How hard you can ball up a fist (heard Hendo say this a lot)


Some of the greatest power punchers don't have big hands at all

Fedor
Daniel Cormier
Dan Henderson
Kelvin Gastelum
Johny Hendricks
Conor

These guys all have smallish hands and great punching power

What do you guys think?

The most important factor I've found in my amateur study is WRIST size,..which usually correlates with overall bone mass anyway, including the hands.

And this is in terms of the ability to transfer all that energy into the punch efficiently.

Big bones at any given height/weight > small bones at that height/weight

My hands are pretty long for my size, however my frame is very small and I've easily injured my wrists/hands trying to punch similar sized guys who have thicker bones than me. It's not a good feeling. They tell me that my punches feel like a wet wad of paper thrown at their face, at best.
 
Yeah Manny Pacquiao has huge hands. Right.
 
I don't think sledge hammer vs regular hammer example fits here as there is a big weight difference between those. Hands however, do not account for the most of the weight in a body. My uneducated guess is that if all other variables like speed, weight, etc are constant, having small hands has more potential to open cuts as the force will be focused to smaller area. Bigger hands may be more likely to cause concussion.
 
I'm no scientist but it seems the difference would be negligible and there are enough other factors when it comes to producing and delivering power that it isn't worth the argument. If it was a meaningful trait then Shane Carwin would have been known as the KO king of mma.
<TheDonald>
 
I have no idea, but I do know that you should only date women with small hands ...
 
I'm not sure about punching power but it makes wanking much faster.
 
Back
Top