Which is most preferred and/or desired by yourself?

To push a target OR to penetrate a target??

Shindokan tenets/methodologies and the like expressively teaches that each technique must penetrate any said target to be effective.

To push a target might have validity to some degree, however, the margin of effectiveness over penetration is infinitesimal at best.

Your thoughts please.

We focus on push, because we care more about controlling where they are at and able to go more than we care about how much bruising they will have when they arrive.

In kyokushin (and this is solely my opinion) i do both to a degree.

Pushin to control, and penetrating to cause damage.

I think of it as being akin to Muai Thai, where a "push" kick is used to control an opponent and/or distance, whereas an elbow stike is used for the purpose of cusing damage/trauma.

I think they both have their uses in context.

Osu.

We do both in Kempo, depends on the situation, technique used, etc...

Spear hands will obviously penetrate (I like throat, right below the ribs, other soft tissue...)

Thrust punches will push

Immortal man will penetrate

Front ball kick will push

Side blade kick will penetrate

etc.. etc.. etc...

I use both, along the same lines as this:

Pushin to control, and penetrating to cause damage.

Push to control distance and positioning, cause them to go off balance etc. Penetrating strikes to inflict damage.

If I push side kick someone, I'm checking their movement and trying to create room. If I throw a piercing side kick, I'm trying to break some ribs.

If I push side kick someone, I'm checking their movement and trying to create room. If I throw a piercing side kick, I'm trying to break some ribs.

Thank you for finding the words I couldn't

OSU, mostly we go for penetration, but we also DO push to control or move an opponent.

I push to get them out of my face, or to stop a charge, though sometimes for stopping a charge I may use penetration instead, to stop them AND drop them. Ideally. Haha!

Goodness knows the latter has been used on me enough. Enough to learn that pulling your arms back and up and expanding your ribcage helps a lot when you get the wind knocked out of you!

When I am striking, I'm usually thinking of penentrating with the strike. I do like the idea of the push on joint manipulations; I had never thought of it that way before, but that makes good sense. But when I strike, I'm not usually looking to just push someone away, but at times, it can be useful.

I use both, along the same lines as this:

Pushin to control, and penetrating to cause damage.

Push to control distance and positioning, cause them to go off balance etc. Penetrating strikes to inflict damage.

If I push side kick someone, I'm checking their movement and trying to create room. If I throw a piercing side kick, I'm trying to break some ribs.

^^ this

Thank you for putting this into more eloquent words than i could

Osu

It takes a lot of training to get most techniques to this level, but I prefer to strike with impact. A strike that not only penetrates, like a spear hand to the throat, or a snappy side kick to the ribs, but also shocks their whole body and picks them up off their feet only to deposit them unceremoniously on the ground.

I've found round kicks the easiest to get to this level, followed by side kicks and then front. Shovel hooks are the only punch I've managed to get a really good impact out of.

There is a time and place for pushing, penetrating, and impacting though. Often I have used an actual push or slow technique to get them away, in order to create space. When the window of opportunity is small, as it usually is against a good fighter, I'll use quick, snappy, penetrating strikes. When the window of opportunity is large, as when they have missed a strike, been stunned by a penetrating shot or pushed of balance, it is time for impact.

Does anyone else make this distinction?