Since Terry asked, lets talk about

[Earl Weiss]

No one said that with practice you couldn't be effective with one punch more than another. But, if you are talking about "breaking" than you aren't doing a full twist punch either unless it is only a couple of boards. Watch when it is alot of material, the punch is not rotated like you do in the "twist punch".

).

1. The issue was not about effectiveness . It was about a purported anatomical weakness if the fist was horizontal.
2. Suffice it to say your expriential observations are far different than mine. I have seen literaly thousands of forefist breaks with the grain and fist horizontal which is the full twist punch . Never saw an injured forearm due to structural weakness yet. Anyone else?

 

[Earl Weiss]

The article merely stated that the 3/4 punch lines up ANATOMICALLY the bones and supportive tissues better. Go and get a skeleton and twist the bones around on the forearm and you will see the same results (I did, wanted to see for myself).

I have no issue with the statements as to how the bones line up. I have an issue as to whether, to any practical extent this has any meaningful effect on the integrity of the forearm structure. Further, alignment of the bones is but one factor to consider along with the structural contributions of muscles and ligaments. many structures are stronger thru cross bracing.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I'd like to see an article about that instead of just anecdotal. I have never found anything about twisting the punch that doing so actually adds force/speed/power to the punch. The only thing I have ever heard is that by rotating on impact you can tear the skin of the opponent's face (a la boxing strategy).

While boxing may have a use for the twist the addittion of the boxing glove alters the duynamics substantialy.

For the hydraulic shock aspect a twisting punch can be compared to the damage of a twisting bullet versus a straight punch and the damage of an arrow or end of a stick.

 

[Balrog]

something simple like punching, should the contact be made with a horizontal, vertical or 45 deg. fist? Why?:caffeine:

Yes.


It all depends on the scenario in which you are punching.

 

[David43515]

1. The issue was not about effectiveness . It was about a purported anatomical weakness if the fist was horizontal.
2. Suffice it to say your expriential observations are far different than mine. I have seen literaly thousands of forefist breaks with the grain and fist horizontal which is the full twist punch . Never saw an injured forearm due to structural weakness yet. Anyone else?

You`re right in that most of the breaking demos I`ve seen over the years used a horizontal punch and the vast majority were (thatnk God) injury free. But when we demo I`d also say that 95%+ of the time that break is done either punching straight ahead below shoulder height, or straight down at a stack of something with the body bent over and essentially using that same "below-the-shoulders-directly-in-front-of-the-torso" set up.

You almost never see someone punching down at an angle like a bladder punch, or slightly upwards like a head punch. That second situation (punching above horizontal) is where people tend to suggest that the vertical fist is a safer bet. But like you said, I don`t think I`ve ever seen what I would call a forearm injury from a poorly thrown punch. (Unless you count getting cut up when missing and putting your hand through a storm window.) The injuries I`ve seen were always to the wrist joint or the hand.