I've pretty much fallen in love with palm and backhand strikes. I've basically eliminated hooks in favor of them and even use them at my job as a stocker in a pet store to flatten out stubborn bags of dog food haha. Anyone else here apply them frequently or have any input?

Palms rock. Compared to a fist, you sacrifice a bit of trauma, but they virtually eliminate the risk of hurting your own hand.

The only thing about the palm strike is that I don't feel I can get the same angles of attack that I can get with my fists. What I do like is the fact that you can hit someone with a palm strike and probably avoid a lawsuit moreso than you can with a punch.

I love palm strikes, and I don't know that you sacrifice a whole lot of damage - just different kind. Eagle claw uses almost exclusively palm strikes, other than the claw, of course.

I was thinking, the other day while I was at dinner (yes, I have problems), that a palm actually has about a two or three inch less range than a punch, depending on the size of your hand, and a handsword has about an inch more than a punch. I imagine that in a rare instance, that might make the difference between winning and losing - but very rare.

I was thinking, the other day while I was at dinner (yes, I have problems), that a palm actually has about a two or three inch less range than a punch, depending on the size of your hand, and a handsword has about an inch more than a punch.

haha. I think of random martial arts stuff all the time. Goin over knife techniques during study hall with an oversized pencil gives you some funny looks.

Anyway, I've never found much use for palms. I try, but I always find a fist just as good.

Palm strikes definately rule.

I like palm strikes, and do them quiet alot. Good way to save the knuckles.

I favor them also and recomend them when striking to the head of an attacker. I have broke some hard thick ice cubes with my palm strikes with no damage just to prove they are powerful.

Hmmm....palm strikes. Which MAs lean more towards plam strikes than fists? i ask because my fist is a bit weird (middle + index fingers stick out a bit) which means if the punch isn't VERY precise it hurts me a lot.

cheers,

tim

I just train my hands and adapt the palm strikes to my current martial art experience. I think Bagua has a large array of palm techniques...but I'm not entirely sure.