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Check with your doctor to see if karate is safe for you.
In the martial arts there are literally hundreds of different traditional styles to choose from and study. If these aren’t to your liking you also have Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo, Gymkhana, and of course the combination styles such as American Freestyle.
For the purpose of this article, our basis of information, the latter is the style we will be discussing.
In American Freestyle a novice will be taught four basic hand techniques.
1. Forward punch
2. Ridge hand
3. Hammer fist
4. Back fist
Before teaching any type of strike that requires making a fist, a student must first know how to MAKE a fist. The purpose of the fist is to do more damage to the opponent than to you.
First and foremost, never place your thumb across your hand and close your fingers over it. For a proper fist, close your fingers first and then wrap your thumb across the area where the second bone of the index and middle finger are. When throwing a punch, keep the wrist straight and make sure the knuckles of the index and middle fingers make contact to your target first. If you are in doubt, try hitting a punching bag, a carpet covered practice dummy or even a big bag of dog food. Hit the area several times and check your knuckles. If you are hitting the right area, they will be red. If the knuckles of the ring and pinkie or other parts of your hand are red, you are obviously hitting wrong.
Two other things to remember are; you don’t need a windup, this isn’t baseball. You will also need to keep your fist relaxed until just before impact. A relaxed hand moves much more quickly than one that is tensed and waiting.
Forward Punch – Forward simply means the punch is coming off the forward hand. The forward hand is the one closest to your opponent. The punch needs to come straight out from the body into two possible finishing positions. The Chinese punch is one that rotates at the end of the throw so it becomes horizontal when it makes contact with the target. This punch is a little slower but more powerful than the American Punch.
The American punch will come straight out from the body as well but will finish vertically. This mean the fist is straight up and down with the pinkie edge of the hand closest to the floor.
Hammer Fist – On this strike a fist is made as described above but the actual hitting area is different. On this strike the bottom of the fist (pinkie edge) is the first area to make contact. This strike can be delivered in three different manners. The overhead in which you would bring the fist down from over the head of the opponent with a driving force to stun him with a strike to the head or to break his or her nose.
The second way to strike with a hammer fist is from the side. You will bend your elbow and your arm will lye parallel to the ground. The fist comes by way from extending the arm and striking against the temple, throat or some other part of the body. As this strike is being executed, the back of the hand should face the sky with the fingers towards the ground.
A third way of making use of a hammer fist strike is to bring it from the outside inward to the opponent.
To accomplish this, bring the fist straight out from your body and at the last moment, rotate it with a snapping movement so the fingers are facing upward and the back of your hand is downward. Once again the pinkie edge will hit.
Back Fist – This is one of the easiest of strikes. The striking area itself is the back of the fist (hence the name). The area to first make contact should be the back of the index and middle finger. This strike doesn’t really come straight out from the body. Instead, you will point your elbow, extend the arm and make contact with your opponent. The best way to add force to this strike is to aim your elbow PAST your opponent.
The back fist is often used against the head of an opponent so if you are using your right hand to hit his or her right side of face, point your elbow towards the space beyond the left side of his head. Sharply extend arm but keep a small amount of bend to your elbow. This bend is important in any given hand technique. By keeping it bent, you are less likely to suffer injury or permanent damage to your elbow.
Ridge Hand – The ridge hand is just that. You are going to strike with the upper ridge of the hand. This “ridge” is the same area that is the side of the index finger. You will be striking with the bony part of the side of the knuckle.
Many new students will want to turn the ridge hand into something that looks like the old John Wayne
Hay maker style of punch. They feel the circular motion as well as the weight of the body will give power, it doesn’t. It does slow the strike down while giving the opponent plenty of time to see it coming so he can block it.
When throwing any strike be sure to attempt to go through the opponent. It is very common for a person who is thinking of hitting the left side of the face to actually stop or slow the punch down at the moment of impact. By visualizing you are hitting the right side of the fact by going through the left, you will have greater power and follow through.
The most important thing to any strike is practice. No technique, hit, kick or block will be of much use if you haven’t practiced enough to make it second nature.
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