Warrior's hands

[isshinryu5toforever]

I've hit a lot of makiwara and done a lot of knuckle pushups, but my knuckles aren't super scarred up. It might depend on the person. It also may depend on form at first. Someone hitting with improper form a lot, is going to slip on that hard packed rope. It's going to cut you up quite a bit.

[JusticeZero]

Don't particularly want thug's hands. It's certainly not something to strive for specifically; it might be a consequence of a lot of closed hand striking training, but I wouldn't want to *try* to achieve them.

Plus, I chose an art that doesn't expect me to disfigure my hands into a visible weapon. When i've been practicing a lot, I get a bit of a case of craftsman's hands, tough on the palm. Not nearly as important though. I suppose I might be less prone to scratching up my hands if I post or step on gravel.

[Liver Punch]

I've got little girl hands, so I have to keep mine in decent shape. I'm a very large-framed/heavy individual with very small hands. Small hands + weight and power in strikes = seriously messed up hands. So, I use the largest gloves applicable to my situation, and never thrown a closed fist without protection. My shins on the other hand...

[bushido_man96]

I also train a lot on punching bag

I doubt punching bag helps, unless you punch real hard...

A nice canvas bag can help to condition the knuckles a bit, especially if you like to twist your punches at the end.

Callused knuckles are often a misunderstanding (or at least a mis-belief) in terms of why there are traditional striking exercises like Makiwari etc.

Of course - they were not to develop calluses; they were to engender correctly conditioned form.

Calluses were maybe a byproduct however - which is maybe where the myth has stemmed from.

I think you're right here. I don't ever really notice that Thai fighters have really disfigured shins, but you don't have to question the toughness of their shins.

[Jay]

I usually hit the bag with no gloves and don't have much of a problem, I used to get really smashed up knuckles from just hitting the focus pads. My knuckles are still pretty smooth just thicker.

I think conditioning the hands is actually important but I don't do much off it. I mean hands are very easy to break. The more conditioning you do the less likely you are to break them due to wolfs law. I think it depends how competitive you are, If I was a professional fighter I would condition them to the maximum.

[tallgeese]

Any strike work I do these days, from mitts to bag, is done with protection. Always. I don't even let young guys hit stuff without protection. I DON'T hit the maki anymore.

I'm still not convinced on what you're going to get out if it long term other than jacked up knuckles. Wolf's law will go only so far. You're likely to live to the arthrites years these days, you'll be wishing you hand't destroyed your hands at 20.

A very large part of me writes this off to an example of training that was top end back in the day, but medical science and training methodology has surpassed traditional wisdom.

Protect your hands, even if you want to be an ultimate weapon you're going to need your hands for other things, some even combative in nature. I want to be able to manipulate a firearm well into my infirm years. It's gonna be more reliabel the older I get to defend myself than my eventual (and unfortunatly inevitiable) declining physical capabilities.

I'll train like heck to stave that off, but it will happen. Realize that early and take care of your body. I've never understood ma-ist that love martial arts so much they don't want to live without them beat their bodies past the breaking point over and over again until they CAN'T do them anymore without downing half a bottle of ibuprophen every session.

Train smarter, not harder past the level of sense and need.

[MasterPain]

Any strike work I do these days, from mitts to bag, is done with protection. Always. I don't even let young guys hit stuff without protection. I DON'T hit the maki anymore.

I'm still not convinced on what you're going to get out if it long term other than jacked up knuckles. Wolf's law will go only so far. You're likely to live to the arthrites years these days, you'll be wishing you hand't destroyed your hands at 20.

A very large part of me writes this off to an example of training that was top end back in the day, but medical science and training methodology has surpassed traditional wisdom.

Protect your hands, even if you want to be an ultimate weapon you're going to need your hands for other things, some even combative in nature. I want to be able to manipulate a firearm well into my infirm years. It's gonna be more reliabel the older I get to defend myself than my eventual (and unfortunatly inevitiable) declining physical capabilities.

I'll train like heck to stave that off, but it will happen. Realize that early and take care of your body. I've never understood ma-ist that love martial arts so much they don't want to live without them beat their bodies past the breaking point over and over again until they CAN'T do them anymore without downing half a bottle of ibuprophen every session.

Train smarter, not harder past the level of sense and need.

I second all of that. In a sport fight my hands will be taped and in gloves. In case of self defense, I would open my hand for head strikes anyway. I don't like to share blood with random jerks. Of all the ways to get a blood borne disease, busting knuckles on someone's face ranks pretty low.

[ps1]

Any strike work I do these days, from mitts to bag, is done with protection. Always. I don't even let young guys hit stuff without protection. I DON'T hit the maki anymore.

I'm still not convinced on what you're going to get out if it long term other than jacked up knuckles. Wolf's law will go only so far. You're likely to live to the arthrites years these days, you'll be wishing you hand't destroyed your hands at 20.

A very large part of me writes this off to an example of training that was top end back in the day, but medical science and training methodology has surpassed traditional wisdom.

Protect your hands, even if you want to be an ultimate weapon you're going to need your hands for other things, some even combative in nature. I want to be able to manipulate a firearm well into my infirm years. It's gonna be more reliabel the older I get to defend myself than my eventual (and unfortunatly inevitiable) declining physical capabilities.

I'll train like heck to stave that off, but it will happen. Realize that early and take care of your body. I've never understood ma-ist that love martial arts so much they don't want to live without them beat their bodies past the breaking point over and over again until they CAN'T do them anymore without downing half a bottle of ibuprophen every session.

Train smarter, not harder past the level of sense and need.

I second all of that. In a sport fight my hands will be taped and in gloves. In case of self defense, I would open my hand for head strikes anyway. I don't like to share blood with random jerks. Of all the ways to get a blood borne disease, busting knuckles on someone's face ranks pretty low.

Agreed and agreed!

[honoluludesktop]

Iron fist works, but with some draw backs. If you are a submissive, weak looking person, your attacker will not be concerned with distance. Once in range, your iron fist will take him out. At least, that's the theory.

[bushido_man96]

Tallgeese brings up a good point. I remember seeing a video of Oyama in his later years, and he wasn't able to move all that well, and he was known to put his body through some very hard conditioning. It may have served him well while he was young, but when he got older, the affects showed up. Whether or not the training was the result of that, who can say for sure? But I would be willing to bet it had something to do with it.

On the other end of the spectrum, when I was still in the ATA in my hometown, we had a guy who was a pro Boxer in the 40s and 50s come to our school and work out with us on the weekends. He had the biggest sledgehammer hands I'd ever seen, and the guy could still hit hard, and he was nearing 70 at the time, I think. He ran a dairy farm, and his hands were still in good shape.

There is also a guy in our organization that doesn't break boards with his hands, because he is a doctor, and can't afford to have a training accident put him out of his job.