Punching to the head in the street....why you shouldn't do it

[Trudge]

thing with palm strikes is they can only come straight through with one
punches work as long as you don't hit the top or back of the head!
(i have punched and been punched many times in my life)
the bruise on your hand is no were near as bad as on the fellas face

 

[Gregster]

I never seen a Martial art that has taught punching to the skull... anyone else??
Obviously the skull is very tuff, striking it with the palm or fist is gonna damage you, not the other person...
To use a punch effectively, you have to train... Just tightening your fingers and swinging at someone can sure often result in damaging yourself, but trained fighters??? Comeon
Should boxers start hitting with the palm now??
Don't get me wrong palm strikes are great... But punches are extremely effective... Punches to the head are aimed at the jaw, and temple, which when struck are very damaging to the person getting hit.. not the other way around..

The point (well, *my* point, anyway) is that in the frenzied melee of a fight, what you aim at and what you hit may be different. People in fights have an annoying habit of not doing things or moving in ways that you'd like them to, and that shot at the chin you threw might hit somewhere else.

Even skilled punchers can fuck their hands up hitting high; Tyson did, as was mentioned before. Chuck Zito-- a skilled puncher and experienced street fighter-- busted a couple of knuckles on Jean Claude Van Damme's face when those two got into it. It happens.

This is not to say that if I have an opportunity shot and can bust someone in the snot locker or tap them on the chin and end the fight, I won't. I just don't think it's the best idea.

 

[Sinister]

This is not to say that if I have an opportunity shot and can bust someone in the snot locker or tap them on the chin and end the fight, I won't. I just don't think it's the best idea.

That almost made me spit my protein. lol

There's something wholly gratifying though about punching as opposed to giving someone a Dim Mak palm-heel to the brain-center. I mean there's something inherently manly in the streets about being willing to take damage to give MORE damage, I don't know when I realized that but it's something that's always been in the back of my head. When a guy busts knuckles on a dude's grill all another man thinks is "man, he must have hit that mofo HARD." Not that he must have hit him wrong. And every time I've ever discussed such events the person with damaged hands has always said something to the degree of "yeah I went to deck him and he cowered like a bitch, so I cracked my finger on his forehead."

I'm not saying this is correct but it's just funny how the air of street fights is totally different. One of my boys who I used to train with got into a fight and GNP'ed the dude in the middle of the road, and Jesse kept hitting the bare pavement with his hands. He wore gloves for about 6 months after that because of the holes in his hands. But it was a LONG time before anyone stepped to him again, out of respect and fear.

 

[Vovchanchyn Fan]

To use a punch effectively, you have to train... Just tightening your fingers and swinging at someone can sure often result in damaging yourself, but trained fighters??? Comeon
Should boxers start hitting with the palm now??

I guess Mike Tyson, according to your theory, just didn't train punching enough....

1988, after winning a street fight with a straight right to opponents nose.

Seriously, you are taking things out of context - no one is saying you should intentionally strike someone to the skull with your hands, but the point is your opponent moves and its very difficult to target specific parts of your opponents head.

Additionally, the more powerful and trained a puncher you are, the harder you hit, and the more compressive forces you generate which increase the likelihood of damaging your hand w/o wraps and padding. A few years into boxing I realized that the better I was getting, the more likely I was to crush my own hand on someones head since even hitting the stiffer focus mitts was hurting my hands (with 10 oz gloves), and after doing some training with 4 oz MMA gloves, which hurt even more, thats what started me thinking about whats going to happen if I end up fighting bareknuckle.

On another related topic, a murder mystery show I watched last year also indirectly talked about this - some guy killed a lady in a robbery gone bad, but they found out who did it because he showed up at an emergency room a few days later with his hand swollen up like a grapefruit. He had punched the lady in the mouth, cutting his knuckle on her teeth which then got infected and they came close to amputating it...a bit of revenge on her part (they id'ed him as the killer via the cuts from her teeth in his fist matching her dental records).

But the point is there are a lot of dangers to punching w/o gloves of some form, and the more trained you are at punching, the greater the chance of injuring your hand due to much higher power you generate vs. the typical untrained person whose just arm punching.

 

[AxeGrinder]

go for the throat, nose, or jaw, more give...also, good body punches wouldnt be a bad idea on the street...

 

[Rubberfist]

Here's what worked for me very recently:

Jab towards face to cause a flinch/raise of guard.

Front kick/knee to the guts/balls (whichever) with rear leg.

Clinch, interlock knuckles, bring elbows together, pull towards you and down.

Knee to the guts.

Knee to the guts.

Step backwards.

Knee to the face.

Release.

One good right to the mouth/nose area.

At this point, tell the shoplifter never to set foot in your building again.

Whatever you do, avoid the side of the head or particularly the top of the head/forehead.

Tell the cops you tried to retrieve the merchandise and the shoplifter became physical.

 

[phenomfan1529]

is it true that if you brake your hand, when it recovers it will be stronger?

 

[Vovchanchyn Fan]

is it true that if you brake your hand, when it recovers it will be stronger?

In theory, the bone will be at least as strong or stronger. I guess the unknown is how much ligamental type damage occurred and how well that part heals, as that often causes more problems than the bone itself, which heals pretty fast.

The average broken bone (fracture) takes about 6 weeks to heal, some more,
some less, depending on where the break is and how serious it is. The good
news is that when bones heal, they are usually at least as strong as before
the break, if not a little stronger.
... From Paul Odgren, Ph.D.
Department of Cell Biology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
full text: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep2001/1001769687.Me.r.html

 

[Soulfly]

There's something wholly gratifying though about punching as opposed to giving someone a Dim Mak palm-heel to the brain-center. I mean there's something inherently manly in the streets about being willing to take damage to give MORE damage, I don't know when I realized that but it's something that's always been in the back of my head. When a guy busts knuckles on a dude's grill all another man thinks is "man, he must have hit that mofo HARD." Not that he must have hit him wrong. And every time I've ever discussed such events the person with damaged hands has always said something to the degree of "yeah I went to deck him and he cowered like a bitch, so I cracked my finger on his forehead."

No offense, but in a fight I think it's stupid to be thinking "Oh man, I want people to say that I hit that kid hard." I'm thinking "Shit I better solve this ASAP and get the hell out of here." There is NOTHING romantic about getting in a fight and breaking your hand on someone's face.

I'm not saying this is correct but it's just funny how the air of street fights is totally different. One of my boys who I used to train with got into a fight and GNP'ed the dude in the middle of the road, and Jesse kept hitting the bare pavement with his hands. He wore gloves for about 6 months after that because of the holes in his hands. But it was a LONG time before anyone stepped to him again, out of respect and fear.

Imagine if your friend GnP'ed the guy into the ground and broke his hands. Suddonly, his friend came out and started fighting your buddy too. How useful would he be with 2 destroyed fists? Or what if the kid on the bottem somehow reversed it? How would he defend himself if some people came back to jump him after the fight a few weeks later?

And don't think that your hand will always heal correctly if you break it. There is a good chance for repeated damage to your bone structure. Obviously if you hit the mouth and your knuckle gets cut, you can get your hand amputated. If you hit the skull and split a knuckle or break a bone in your wrist, you WILL have severe problems (if not now, then later in life.)

Fighting is not only about self defense, it's about self preservation.

 

[Sinister]

That post was entirely in-jest sir.

 

[Soulfly]

That post was entirely in-jest sir.

Ah.

I'm always a victem of internet sarcasm.

 

[Sinister]

It's all good. On an interesting sidenote though, that story I mentioned of the friend of mine is true. The dude he fought brought like his whole neighborhood with him. It was one of those old school fights where everyone you know and even family is present. Now I'm sure at least 10 people there were packing guns, but when all was said and done and Jesse had whooped the dude's ass no one did shit. Again, out of respect. The dude's boys just hung back and basically said "alright, you stepped to him and you got handled, let's go." There was really no reason to continue the vendetta. These days with the amount of insecurity in people this is rare, but that's what I'm getting at in terms of earning respect in the streets enough for people not to fuck with you even though you got injured.

 

[Trudge]

surely theres a simple explanation for why punching is better?
the knuckle is bone
the palm is not (there is obviously bone on your palm but its got roughish skin and muscle round it)
if your hitting someone to hurt them should you not hit them with the hardest object you can?
why p

 

[LiverThrow]

I've hit plenty people in the face in my day and never broke my hand.

then you punch like a bitch...

 

[Trudge]

ignore the why p part
sorry

 

[Soulfly]

I'm so embarassed to be a yellow belt.

 

[Trudge]

because of my post or the other guys?

 

[ballie]

I'm not saying this is correct but it's just funny how the air of street fights is totally different. One of my boys who I used to train with got into a fight and GNP'ed the dude in the middle of the road, and Jesse kept hitting the bare pavement with his hands. He wore gloves for about 6 months after that because of the holes in his hands. But it was a LONG time before anyone stepped to him again, out of respect and fear.

well, I respect you a lot man, you are definetly more experienced than me but :
if your friend woud've ground and pounded with the palm of his hands, wich goes almost as good'also because on such short distance you win a little with not making fists so you can develop more speed) he might have done the same thing without breaking his hands..


question for you :

I have a problem with my fists, I noticed most when i started MT, I just can't get my index in my fist, its like there's something wrong with my joint, I hate it, because when I would hit without glove and proper wrappings I would hurt myself alot. do you know anything about this problem, solution for example...all my other fingers can be pulled back deep enough so I would hit with the knuckles except for that asshole!

 

[Trudge]

you ever dislocated it?
my mate did years ago and he didn't get it popped back
now its fucked

 

[Dragonsland]

dont fight in the street. youll sooner get knifed/bottled in the face by 20 people before you whip someone using your patented swan technique and before you impress all the hot ladies at the bar.


things you wont find in a street fight:

things youll probably find in a real street fight:

Listen to the Wise man....there is no good street fight
but if you really have to: a good soccer kick in the nuts and a sprint home.