[NinjaKilla187]

The American Journal of Sports Medicine reports that in one study of 100 consecutive hand injuries caused by boxing that 39% occurred in the area of the thumb, and that 35% arose from forced flexion of the wrist.

Although the 5th m*tacarpal (little finger) is the one most often broken, this injury occurs far less frequently than wrist and thumb injuries.

The American Journal of Sports Medicine 15:342-346 (1987)
Clive Noble, MB, BCh FCS SA

Flexing the wrist in an attempt to land punches on the two biggest knuckles (2nd and 3rd) does two things; 1) causes wrist injuries from unstable wrist position, 2) causes thumb injuries from landing on the thumb side of the fist.

Bottom line is that attempting to land punches on the 2nd and 3rd knuckles is not the natural or strongest alignment of your wrist. It causes wrist and thumb injuries and It doesn’t work anyway. The head is small, hard, mobile, and has irregular surfaces. Trying to change your punches to land on the big two knuckles while striking such an object will result in wrist flexion and still won’t result in impacting on the intended knuckles..

[fightingrabbit]

Try to land all your punches with the ring finger knuckle. That keeps the power line going down from your shoulder, arm, to your wrist aligned.

Try putting your fist against the wall like you punched it. And put each one of your knuckles on the wall. The first and second still allows your wrist to bend. Which breaks the power line going down your arm. Because with punching, you lose power at the joints.

But place your ring knuckle against the wall, and your pinky, ring and middle knuckle land flat and even against the wall and your wrist is straight and sturdy.

And its all aligned by your ring knuckle.


Thats what Jack Dempsey taught me, and thats what i go by.

[NinjaKilla187]

Originally Posted by fightingrabbit

Try to land all your punches with the ring finger knuckle. That keeps the power line going down from your shoulder, arm, to your wrist aligned. Try this.

Put your fist against the wall like you punched it. And put each one of your knuckles on the wall. The first and second still allows your wrist to bend. Which breaks the power line going down your arm. Because with punching, you lose power at the joints.

But place your ring knuckle against the wall, and your pinky, ring and middle knuckle land flat and even against the wall and your wrist is straight and sturdy.

And its all aligned by your ring knuckle.


Thats what Jack Dempsey taught me, and thats what i go by.

Ex-fucking-actly brother. Preach it!

[fightingrabbit]

Originally Posted by NinjaKilla187

Ex-fucking-actly brother. Preach it!

Would a face like this steer you wrong?

[NinjaKilla187]

Originally Posted by fightingrabbit

Would a face like this steer you wrong?

Hell no.

And he even studied wrestling, Judo and Jiu Jitsu and wrote one of the original books on MMA called Fight Tough.

[Azy]

It would depend on the type of strike you are making also. For the hook style punch I have found that the first two knuckles are the most effective. For any type of straight punch you want to use the bottom 3. Hand conditioning plays a massive factor too.

[Pro Killer]

You can hardly ever land a punch with the knuckles you try to especially with gloves on. In a perfect world I'd like my middle and ring finger to land on my target but I'll take a land with any four of the knuckles at the end of the day.

I've read Jack Dempsey's work and It's decent helped me improve on a few things But I wouldn't listen to it all.

[Stand-Up!]

Punch with the first two knuckles. Always.

[NinjaKilla187]

Originally Posted by Stand-Up!

Punch with the first two knuckles. Always.

This is the way most TMA gyms teach it and the way I first learned it so I understand why most people say this.

Just for S&G, try this:

Do a *light* heavy bag or double end bag (but not a makiwara or other flat, immobile target) workout with no gloves or wraps concentrating on keeping your wrists strong and straight and not worrying about which knuckles you land on. Use a variety of punches, jab, cross, hook, etc.

Now, look at your fists. In 99 punchers out of 100 you will find the most redness on your middle two knuckles (M*tacarpal 3 and 4). This is the just the way the bones in your hand line up naturally. In order to consistanly land on the first two knuckles you either have to change the line of your punches, thereby making them less efficient, or you have to flex your wrist, which causes more wrist and thumb injuries.

[Ryukyu Damashi]

Originally Posted by NinjaKilla187

Ex-fucking-actly brother. Preach it!

Jack Dempsey punched with a vertical fist, do you?