Spear hand conditioning?

[RW]

I just realized I see a fair bit of spear hand in my art's drills/forms, but I don't think many of the students could use a spear hand-style strike in real life (other than brown and black belts). Is it the same in your dojos?

Anyway, I think I want to start conditioning my fingers so I can use spear hand strikes. I don't really believe that much in them, but if it's something I am training anyway, better make sure I am training something I can use right?

[Wastelander]

I just realized I see a fair bit of spear hand in my art's drills/forms, but I don't think many of the students could use a spear hand-style strike in real life (other than brown and black belts). Is it the same in your dojos?

Anyway, I think I want to start conditioning my fingers so I can use spear hand strikes. I don't really believe that much in them, but if it's something I am training anyway, better make sure I am training something I can use right?

Spear hands are generally better used for other things than fingertip strikes, but there are certainly ways to condition them. You can fill a bag with mung beans and hang it up for striking, or make a taketaba (bamboo bundle) for striking into with your fingertips and thumb. Those are my two preferences.

[sensei8]

While spear hand strikes/thrust are part of a many MA styles. Conditioning isn't for everyone, and therefore, not everyone is forced to condition for these techniques.

Instead of executing said technique that might require a spear hand thrusts/strike, one can opt to use some other hand technique at said target.

I use and train with what Noah has spoken about. However, I don't force my students to condition as I have, nor have I conditioned myself as others have, especially as Morio Higaonna Sensei has, for an example.

Attacks to soft tissue, like the throat, and areas on the body like this, are my usual targets for a spear hand. Instead of harder parts of the body.

Funny thing, all techniques are taught, but not all techniques are called upon, if ever!!

[RW]

I just realized I see a fair bit of spear hand in my art's drills/forms, but I don't think many of the students could use a spear hand-style strike in real life (other than brown and black belts). Is it the same in your dojos?

Anyway, I think I want to start conditioning my fingers so I can use spear hand strikes. I don't really believe that much in them, but if it's something I am training anyway, better make sure I am training something I can use right?

Spear hands are generally better used for other things than fingertip strikes, but there are certainly ways to condition them. You can fill a bag with mung beans and hang it up for striking, or make a taketaba (bamboo bundle) for striking into with your fingertips and thumb. Those are my two preferences.

Thanks

[RW]

While spear hand strikes/thrust are part of a many MA styles. Conditioning isn't for everyone, and therefore, not everyone is forced to condition for these techniques.

Instead of executing said technique that might require a spear hand thrusts/strike, one can opt to use some other hand technique at said target.

I use and train with what Noah has spoken about. However, I don't force my students to condition as I have, nor have I conditioned myself as others have, especially as Morio Higaonna Sensei has, for an example.

Attacks to soft tissue, like the throat, and areas on the body like this, are my usual targets for a spear hand. Instead of harder parts of the body.

Funny thing, all techniques are taught, but not all techniques are called upon, if ever!!

Yup! For the (soft) targets I've thought it could be used, I've always thought I could always use a leopard hand strike instead, it's narrow enough to hit say, the neck/throat, but less vulnerable.

I'll do a bit of conditioning, I've found if I overdo it my second joint in each finger gets a bit stiff

[sensei8]

While spear hand strikes/thrust are part of a many MA styles. Conditioning isn't for everyone, and therefore, not everyone is forced to condition for these techniques.

Instead of executing said technique that might require a spear hand thrusts/strike, one can opt to use some other hand technique at said target.

I use and train with what Noah has spoken about. However, I don't force my students to condition as I have, nor have I conditioned myself as others have, especially as Morio Higaonna Sensei has, for an example.

Attacks to soft tissue, like the throat, and areas on the body like this, are my usual targets for a spear hand. Instead of harder parts of the body.

Funny thing, all techniques are taught, but not all techniques are called upon, if ever!!

Yup! For the (soft) targets I've thought it could be used, I've always thought I could always use a leopard hand strike instead, it's narrow enough to hit say, the neck/throat, but less vulnerable.

I'll do a bit of conditioning, I've found if I overdo it my second joint in each finger gets a bit stiff

Soft tissue targets, for us in Shindokan, are manipulative tools if properly struck or pressed.

[Spartacus Maximus]

The fingertips are very delicate in structure and take a very long time to properly condition. It is quite ill-advised to attempt without the sustained guidance of an expert. Conditioning greatly enhances the effectiveness of this type of strike, but the other important part is the targets. Most of these will work even without much conditioning. Common, obvious targets are soft enough to attack without having hardened hands.

[JR 137]

Every weapon (or strike technique) has its intended targets. A fist (punch) will most likely work better than a spear hand at most targets. But there are targets that a fist may and/or will be inferior to a spear hand:

The neck - vertical recesses on either side of the throat

Possibly at the liver and/or spleen - right under the bottom of the ribs

Then there are situations where using the same basic motion modified slightly can work as well or even better...

Pinan 2 and 3 left hand sort of circles downward and a right vertical spear hand strike goes over the left arm:

The circling arm can be interpreted as an armlock that forces the attacker to bend forward. The spear hand can be used at the neck, or it can turn into a palm heel strike to the chin, thereby twisting the neck.

If I knew how to record it and post it on YouTube, it would make so much more sense.

Hitting with a spear hand vs a punch is like like jabbing with the top of a baseball bat (the top of the barrel, not the broad side where you'd hit a ball) vs jabbing with a knife. Jabbing with the bat would be far more effective at the sternum than stabbing with a knife would. Same can be said about any dense bone area.

Being a son of a mechanic, my father taught me to use the right tool for the specific task. Forcing a tool to do something it wasn't designed for isn't the easiest nor smartest thing to do. But I've learned sometimes you've got to use what's available.

[sensei8]

Whether the target has a recommended choice of attack, imho, that'll matter very little because the fist will be used most often, not out of choice of the practitioner, but out of muscle memory. Imho, that muscle memory chooses the fist over any other MA hand attacks.

Yes, some targets favor certain hand attacks, but in the heat of the moment, will the spear hand come into play?!?! I wonder!!

[IcemanSK]

Whether the target has a recommended choice of attack, imho, that'll matter very little because the fist will be used most often, not out of choice of the practitioner, but out of muscle memory. Imho, that muscle memory chooses the fist over any other MA hand attacks.

Yes, some targets favor certain hand attacks, but in the heat of the moment, will the spear hand come into play?!?! I wonder!!

Exactly right.