Fingertip Srikes

[Goju_boi]

well andrew does have a point,but I didn't want to say it because mizoryu looks really into learning this and I didn't want to discourage somebody from learning martial arts.Personally I think if you want to fight with your hands in a open position,hitting with the sides would be better.For example doing a ridgehand to the neck.

[Fairfax_Uechi]

What styles are heavy on fingertip training/usage?

Uechi-ryu has a great deal of open handed techniques, and many "pointy techniques" (Shoken aka one knucle punch, and Harakin - middle knuckle supported by thumb).

As others have said, there is a great possibility of damage to the hand if you do open handed techniques incorrectly. We do conditioning and lots of it, and it takes years to be able to really apply the techniques well.

[MizuRyu]

Yeah, they can be impractical, though I've done some talking and whatnot with a friend of mine who trained in Praying Mantis, and he showed me some very interesting things. It reminds me of Dim Mak, where you strike with spearhands to the jugular, side of neck, side of head, upper lip, under the clavicle, back of hand, inside of elbows, solar plexus... etc, in rapid succession. Also, I see this training to be beneficial in maybe combating finger locks or drasctically improving grip strength.

By the way, what I have available in my area:

Aikido, Wing Chun, BJJ, JKD, Escrima/Kali/Arnis, Shoot Wrestling, Okinawan Karate, Iaido, TKD, TSD, Kickboxing, Savate, Boxing... that's all I'm aware of, I'm sure there's a whole lot more.

[Goju_boi]

well you have a good amount of arts in your area to choose from.Then out all of those these have them in a way:Aikido(they do knife hand chops to parts of the body so they can take down their opponents),Wing Chun,possibly JKD,Okinawan Karate(and I'm guessing especially my style of okinawan karate,because it came from white crane kung fu),TKD,TSD,as for Kali I'm not sure ,but they might because they have an empty handed aspect to it.If you want a art that likes to have grip strength and probably employs finger tip strikes look for Hapkido or Kuk sool won.

[P.A.L]

using fingers is like being a sniper and it's not easy to use pin point hit in a fight , most of the time you need to use them from front angel, on the side as it's been said you use punch or side of the hand, it is also usefull when you learn to attack off of you blocking hand so you don't need power behind it, traing fingers is very important for grappling , tiger(5 fingers) and crane(3 fingers) hands are famous for strong grips.

[White Warlock]

I use my fingers to type and pick my nose.

Finger techniques are cute but, as noted by Andrew and a few others, it is generally a bad idea. Your fingers are wimps in comparison to the rest of your body, and their use requires precision... which means you sacrifice power and speed just so you can pick your opponent's nose.

If you can use your finger to do the job, just as well you can use a one-knuckle punch, a protruding thumb, or an extended-joint punch with far more effectiveness, power, and speed.

Keep your fingers, you need it to post here.

[Goju_boi]

"Keep your fingers, you need it to post here."

exactly he he he.Actually when I first learned them I thought they were the coolest thing in martial arts.Then when I was in the back of my dads delivery truck punching holes through empty boxes I tried one of these finger tip strikes.I thought it would be easiers to accoplish because theyre slimmer than a fist and I could already punch through.When I actually did it I hurt my fingers and put a cold soda on them.That made me not be too fond of them.I find that if I bend the top parts of my fingers it works better becuase it's less painful.I guess it's just experience.

[MizuRyu]

I suppose it takes a high level of devotion to the techniques for them to be realistically effective. I know someone who can break cinder blocks with a spear hand, a Tang Soo Do master, that's pretty much what got me into it. I think I'll keep training though, it's fun, and makes for a cool party trick.. hahaha.

[Goju_boi]

so have you found the art to satisfy your finger needs?

[scottnshelly]

I concur with the majority here, that finger tip strikes are generally a bad idea. I’m no physicist, but I’m sure hitting a large strong body part with a very, very small and fragile body part would not be smart.

I remember in my fifth grade science class we did a neat experiment. The teacher brought in several items (coin, glass, metal and things of this nature). We struck two items together and determined that the weaker of the two inevitably suffered, while the stronger of the two showed no damage. I think the same principle applies here.

If you want to make use of your fingers for fighting, think about grabs. Rather than trying to poke a hole in someone’s head with a spearhand, crush his skull with a powerful grab . Grabs are much more useful in a confrontation, you can grab a wrist and control the opponent.