The Hook Debate: Palm in or Palm down? (17 threads mashed together, have fun)

[dzl25]

far away palm towards me closer it gets palm down. my source is a 6 time national amateur boxing champion.

 

[Sinister]

I throw it with my palm towards me. My coach said that the only reason boxers turn their gloves are for contact points.

Your coach doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[chino0503]

both. whatever angle makes you land on your 2 big knuckles.

 

[Albo]

Today in muay thai class I was throwing what I always thought the hook was (traditional hook with the thumb pointing up). The instructor told me to quit throwing those hooks and throw the hook with my thumb towards me and my elbow higher than my wrist because for 1 "Elbow helps defend a punch from the opponent" and 2 "This hook is supposed to have more power since your wrist is in a straight line with your forearm/elbow." Is the power part of this true?

Here is an example of the hook I was throwing(first hook in the video):
Tua`s left hook - YouTube


The hook I was told to throw, with the elbow a little more elevated than my fist:
Muay Thai Training - Hook - YouTube

 

[RawPaw]

It sounds like raising your elbow that way is gonna throw off the angle of the punch. Especially for hooks to the head your going to have to really raise your elbow for those. That's just my two cents, perhaps I'm wrong though, I'm no boxer after all.

 

[Midnighter]

I've never heard of throwing a hook with your elbow higher than your wrist, it's either level or lower depending on the situation (using a variation of the hook) as far as I know. As far as the other question, I've been told (i) it doesn't matter (ii) depends on where you're hitting (iii) depends on the distance between you and the other person.

I personally always have my palm facing the ground.

Edit: Just wanted to add, if they are ducking then I could see having your elbow above your wrist.

 

[Jukai]

Yeah, I throw rear hooks with my wrist slightly up, and I've had boxing instructors tell me my elbow should be level with my shoulder (which generally means wrist just slightly lower than elbow), it keeps a shorter, more technical stance, it's easier to continue to combo and it will protect your face if you miss.
But I've seen instructors throw it wrist up as well.
And I haven't really done much Muay Thai.

I'm kinda interested in this too, if anyone wants to throw in their two cents.

 

[Strykerx]

I never throw my hooks with the elbow higher than my wrist. I do however use the palm down and thumb up hooks. I can hook off the jab easier with palm down where as with body shots thumb up is much easier. My coach has told me that thumb up is the strongest version of the hook, since you're utilizing so much mass of the fist compare to palm down hook. It's best to use both variations for maximum results.

My rear hook is always thumb up never been taught to throw it palm down. Doesn't make much sense to me from that distance.

 

[Albo]

My coach has told me that thumb up is the strongest version of the hook, since you're utilizing so much mass of the fist compare to palm down hook. It's best to use both variations for maximum results.

That sounds a lot more promising than what I was told. I just felt that with the thumb up I can get a lot more power into the hook because I can come out a lot wider with my fist.

 

[Strykerx]

That sounds a lot more promising than what I was told. I just felt that with the thumb up I can get a lot more power into the hook because I can come out a lot wider with my fist.

To be fair my coach is a boxing coach, so there is where the more detail understanding of punching comes from.

 

[Airdyne23]

My coach has told me that thumb up is the strongest version of the hook, since you're utilizing so much mass of the fist compare to palm down hook.

That doesn't make sense. You can land a thumb down hook with the whole of your fist just as well as you can with a thumb up hook. Depends on the situation.

Like you said though, both are useful. It's a range thing.

 

[Strykerx]

That doesn't make sense. You can land a thumb down hook with the whole of your fist just as well as you can with a thumb up hook. Depends on the situation.

Like you said though, both are useful. It's a range thing.

I should of re-phrase but with the palm down hook you're only landing with the first two knuckles. Where as with thumb up you land with everything.

 

[Jukai]

I should of re-phrase but with the palm down hook you're only landing with the first two knuckles. Where as with thumb up you land with everything.

I've always thrown it palms down because of my background in Karate and never gave it much thought... but for the body, palm inwards certainly makes more sense.

 

[Airdyne23]

I should of re-phrase but with the palm down hook you're only landing with the first two knuckles. Where as with thumb up you land with everything.

Again I disagree. You can land a palm down hook with whichever knuckles you want, depending on your technique.

The alignment of your knuckles doesn't have to change just because the position of your fist has.

There are many people who (incorrectly) land on the first two knuckles on ALL their punches.

 

[Strykerx]

Again I disagree. You can land a palm down hook with whichever knuckles you want, depending on your technique.

The alignment of your knuckles doesn't have to change just because the position of your fist has.

There are many people who (incorrectly) land on the first two knuckles on ALL their punches.

The position of your fist will naturally determine where your knuckles hit. You do realize your strongest knuckles are your first two right?

 

[RANDLEPLEXIGLAS]

ive kinda been having this problem lately. ive been throwing nothing but thumbs up hooks (to the head) and my coach noticed my elbow wasn't coming up high enough. and by high enough i mean level with the rest of your arm and wrist, not higher than. i don't think you should aim to have your elbow higher, just level. anyways he told me either way is fine thumbs up or palms down, as long as the mechanics of the punch are correct. so i switched to palms down and they've been coming out a lot crisper and cleaner. think it just depends on your body mechanics as to which one suits you better.

 

[Sidecontrol87]

Thumb up hooks are way faster IMO

 

[Steakeater**]

People hook with elbows up palms down because when you throw a really short hook, you put the weight of your shoulder down so your hooking downwards

 

[aries]

When I throw close I have my elbow low and the longer the range of my hook the more my elbow moves up. If your elbow goes higher than your wrist then you are throwing an overhand. Can't see many reasons to throw an overhand with your lead hand.

The reason I like thumb up is because you can get more of your body weight behind the punch. The arm is in a naturally stronger position when your elbow is closer to your body. Anyone who has wrestled or done BJJ knows this. So the further your elbow comes away from your body the weaker your arm will be and the more power you will lose. Test it for yourselves, hold a shortish range hook position with both palm down and palm facing and have someone try and push your arm away from the centreline whilst your resist. You will find you are a lot stronger with your elbow low. So why would you want to hook with your elbow up if you end up in a biomechanically poor position and lose power as a result? The only reason I can see is to increase range, the closer your elbow to your body the less reach you have. For longer range hooks your have to have your elbow up.

 

[killabee15]

long range hook=overhand right or whatever people call an overhand left
and for those you turn your knuckles in
every long range hook, which is very common in any style that allows kicking is much more commonly used than tight punches
but for tight punches keeping your palm facing you i could see being more damaging so id say close=thumb up and long=thumb down and anything in between is your judgement