hand conditioning

[Jiffy]

You must weigh up long term discomfort with the increased ability to defend yourself. In short terms, there shouldn't be any long term discomfort.

[elbows_and_knees]

I don't understand the purpose of hand conditioning.

to toughen the hands.

If it's to toughen the skin, then why punch and risk injury? Instead, rub your knuckles with a rough surface.

rubbing would break the skin. Then, you have to let it heal before you could rub them again. it would slow the process down.

Is it to strengthen your bones? From what I understand, the best way to strengthen your bones would be your diet. I've never heard any valid arguments that conclude that punching harder objects make your bones stronger to build up on them, if they do, my guess is it would be so minimal that the difference would hardly be noticeable.

huh? there are many studies that show that both impact and weight bearing are means of increasing bone density.

Others do it to get used to the pain.

that's really not the point of hand conditioning.

[elbows_and_knees]

just hit a heavy bag...

[Fairfax_Uechi]

My personal opinion and the one of our dojo is to condition slowly. TAKE YOUR TIME and do it CORRECTLY. Many folks mess themselves up permenantly by conditioning like fools. In other words, if you do a little conditioning each day and increase the intensity a little at a time you can build up pretty quick over a short time (a year to a few years).

As other have said, it's not worth it to screw yourself up. But to me it's worth every second to do it right.

As for the sand. I do other conditioning, and keep wanting to do the sand bit, but I haven't spent much time doing it. (I've done it a few times).

So like everything else, YMMV.

what is YMMV?Also you should really start up that thread about conditioning in Uechi ryu as mentioned on the finger tip strikes thread,I think it would help everybody with their striking training.

YMMV - Your Milage May Vary - (sorry geek speak).

Sorry, I didn't see your reply. I've been so busy it hasn't been funny. I'll have to look at the other thread when I get a few minutes.

[Goju_boi]

My personal opinion and the one of our dojo is to condition slowly. TAKE YOUR TIME and do it CORRECTLY. Many folks mess themselves up permenantly by conditioning like fools. In other words, if you do a little conditioning each day and increase the intensity a little at a time you can build up pretty quick over a short time (a year to a few years).

As other have said, it's not worth it to screw yourself up. But to me it's worth every second to do it right.

As for the sand. I do other conditioning, and keep wanting to do the sand bit, but I haven't spent much time doing it. (I've done it a few times).

So like everything else, YMMV.

what is YMMV?Also you should really start up that thread about conditioning in Uechi ryu as mentioned on the finger tip strikes thread,I think it would help everybody with their striking training.

YMMV - Your Milage May Vary - (sorry geek speak).

Sorry, I didn't see your reply. I've been so busy it hasn't been funny. I'll have to look at the other thread when I get a few minutes.

lol, it's cool dude. I don;t get that much time to get on here either with work, school and training

[koryu]

The okinawans used several methods of conditioning, and one of those exercises consisted of filling buckets with rice, sand, beans, rocks, etc... to strike with open handed / spear hand techniques to strengthen the tips of the fingers. The makiwara was also used, but to contition the fist. I have used this method of filling buckets with rice and striking with spear hand techniques. After several years, you can actually strike a heavy bag at full force effectively with the tips of your fingers. Start out slow and ask your sensei for specific details on how to train this way. Most old school conditioning isn't commonly accepted or used in the united states, but I think it's great that there's still people out there who do it.

[Jiffy]

I think to a large degree, the reason they are not done in "modern societies" is because it's deemed that the dangers far out weight the benefits.

I agree.

[jj19902003]

I don't understand the purpose of hand conditioning.

If it's to toughen the skin, then why punch and risk injury? Instead, rub your knuckles with a rough surface.

Is it to strengthen your bones? From what I understand, the best way to strengthen your bones would be your diet. I've never heard any valid arguments that conclude that punching harder objects make your bones stronger to build up on them, if they do, my guess is it would be so minimal that the difference would hardly be noticeable.

Others do it to get used to the pain. Don't you think if you experience pain from striking a person, you're striking them incorrectly or in the wrong places? I wouldn't reccomend hitting anyone in the forehead or where there's a lot of bone density, worst that will do is bruise your opponent.

Sorry, sort of a tangent, maybe I should start a new thread?

actually it does help. it strengthens your bones by slighty damaging them (this damage has no bad effects like broken bones and stuff like that you wont even notice it) then when the bones heal the bone in that area becomes denser which makes it harder. a good diet of calcium and other bone growing minerals and vitamins will aide you in this process. for the skinn all it does is calus it and deaden nerve ending which then you will fell almost no pain in that area as for the nerve endings(which send the meaasage of "pain" to the brain) are dead and no longer work.

[bushido_man96]

I suppose knuckle push-ups would be a decent form of hand conditioning, would it not?

[Sohan]

I suppose knuckle push-ups would be a decent form of hand conditioning, would it not?

They are, as a matter of fact. Best surface IMO is a hard wood floor rather than concrete or carpet. I do them as plyometric pushups, then I go do bag work after.

With respect,

Sohan