Knife hand

[Warhammer]

i was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to improve knife hand peirce as i have to perform this technique through 3 tiles at my next Gradingpromotion test etc.

 

i have done it befor but badly damaged my fingers so i have been doing it into bags of rice to improve the strenght in my fingers but if anyone has a better way or more diverse way id love to hear it

[Bretty101]

Kife hand strike, the most important thing with this technique is to force all your fingers together so your hand is nice and solid. Then grit your teeth, shut your eyes, hope for the best and WHACK!!

 

I've seen people knifehand with splayed fingers and seen some amusing dislocations!!

 

Hitting bags of rice probably seem like a good idea now but i think you may end up regretting it. I used to strike a maize bag quite often, and now my knuckles are in a really bad way, they seize up and swell when they are cold and click and pop when i move them.

 

Bretty

[ZR440]

I always thought that strike was intended for softer areas, like the neck. Why would someone sacrifice their hands by breaking tiles with the spearhand?

[Bretty101]

Uh-oh! I'm confused.

 

Knife hand peirce is that like a fingertip strike or knife hand strike?

 

I was thinking of a downward knife hand strike to tile. Kinda like a 'karate chop' :lol:

 

Bretty

[BlueDragon1981]

Shutting your eyes might help because some of the metal handicaps wont be there. You can us ki or chi to help. I have seen a guy stick one finger through a full pop can. That is some major concentration and technique.

 

[KickChick]

I've done this break before with 3 boards ... let's see if I can explain it.....

 

If using right hand/right foot forward fighting stance.

 

Chamber knife hand, palm to left ear.

 

Bring front right foot to meet left back foot and step out bringing bodyweight forward onto that right foot while executing your knife hand strike to boards (in a slight downward motion from the chamber position to the boards. I would recommend wrapping your wrists and knuckles for this break.

 

That step you take before the break is "key" to adding momentum and the force of your body to go through the break. Loud kiap and envision the "break".

 

Good Luck!

 

 

[SaiFightsMS]

The angle at which your hand makes contact also makes a bit of difference.

 

 

[Taikudo-ka]

I'm with Bretty and ZR440. I know these open hand strikes as "spear hand" and "sword hand" (shuto). Spear being a fingertip strike and shuto being the classic "karate chop" with the side of the hand. I also heard that spear hand is for soft targets - mainly the throat, and not much else.

 

Are you guys really breaking tiles with a spear hand? Physically impressive! Not sure about combat usefulness though... I prefer the idea of specialist strikes to different areas. Even the seiken punch would be less painful than doing it with a spear hand.

 

Anyway, for those desperately seeking an almighty unbreakable spear-hand, two historical methods come to mind:

 

1. Thin bamboo canes are bound together into a bundle. The hand is repeatedly thrust into the bundle. The canes can initially be bound loosely, and gradually tightened as hand strength increases.

 

2. The jar of grain, as mentioned above. A jar is initially filled with a fairly giving material like rice, and the hand is thrust in repeatedly. The material is changed to progressively harder, less forgiving types as hand strength increases. Typical sequences go something like - rice, beans, sand, small pebbles, large pebbles, metal pellets. Other combinations are possible.

 

Some traditions start with hot sand...

 

A noted side effect of all these methods seems to be loss of fingernails, amongst others. If you think makiwara training is bad for you, wait until you see this. Use at your own risk.

[Warhammer]

thanks for that.

 

yes i know that the strike is ment for soft areas and the tiles we break arnt very strong there not the big treated concrete wire laced ones there just small and quite old. it would probably be the equivilant to maybee 1 and a half or 2 boards but because the promotion test is also doubling as a seminar we thought that it might look a bit more impressive.

 

thanks for the advice

[omnifinite]

You probably shouldn't be conditioning your hands like that without using the right oils on them afterwards. I'm told that otherwise you can develop bloodclots from it later in life that can cause serious problems.