Which part of your fist should you touch first with on a target?

If you throw a punch at some one i have heard two ways, one that your front two knuckles land first and the other your pinky and ring finger connect first. i am still a student, only a green belt and in my school we land front knuckles first but another Black Belt I met at a seminar for a different style Kung Fu, im not sure which exact one though, and he said that you use the other two fingers. WHO is correct or are they both correct and just have different effect? HELP please I just want to understand.





Thanks and remember i am only a green belt with 2.5 years of Goju training. i am not an expert and know everything so please do not taunt me as if I am an expert and should know the answer, i would be a Black Belt if I did...=]]

Which part of your fist should you touch first with on a target?
To my knowledge the front two knuckles. I have rank in three Karate styles and it is all the same.





I even trained in Hung Gar and it was front knuckles.





so the other two would be a very unorthadox way and style, and IMO you would probably break your fingers and maybe wrist because you are not landing with a straight linear and strong arm and fist as Iron, but bent and weakened.





That is just my way, as i said it could be some unorthadox way which does not make it wrong, it just makes it different,





to bad you could not get a reason from the person who told you this.
Reply:First two knuckles friend. Thats how it is thrown. Its good to know how to throw a punch but also knowing how to throw empty hand is good. Keep learning it will take you far.
Reply:I've never heard anything but the first two knuckes for a straight punch. They are bigger and therefore less likely to break. This also straightens the wrist so that there is less chance of spraining or breaking it.





Are you sure te kung fu guy was not talking about some other kind of strike? There are other types of punches that use different knuckles.
Reply:You have answered your question yourself. Both are correct for their applications. Different styles can have different methods of striking, and different reasons for doing so.





I also studied Goju and in our style the strike is with the first two knuckles (and they have the largest bones in the hand to back them up) because this method focuses the energy of the strike into a small space and that magnifies the power of the impact. In Goju we use a whipping motion in the strike, delivering the power and quickly drawing the fist back. So, strongest part of the hand and small area to concentrate the power of the whip-like strike.





In some styles of kung fu, like Wing Chun which a couple of friends of mine studied and taught me a little one summer, they had strikes that began with the smaller knuckles and used a twisting motion of the wrist along with the arm and body movements to create a powerful thrusting motion, like hitting someone with a spear or the end of a staff and trying to push it through them. Another friend who studied Tai Chi, XIng Yi Quan, and Ba Gua showed me similar strikes.





You can see the difference in the strikes. Goju uses a whip-like strike to deliver a shocking blow, and the kung fu style uses a driving or drilling motion like trying to punch through the opponent's body. The Goju strikes could be used against either soft or hard body targets (head, jaw, solar plexus, ribs, etc.) while this kung fu type of striking would normally be used against softer parts of the body (neck, solar plexus, ribs, groin, etc.). If you ever hit someone in the skull with your smaller knuckles, or if you tried breakin boards of bricks with them, you would probably break your hand.
Reply:First two knuckles is the proper technique, but the last three is more natural. In wing chun in fact the last three are used.
Reply:I actually learned both ways. In martial arts, I learned to punch with my first two knuckles. then as I was training for kickboxing, I learned that boxers try top punch with the pinky side of the fist first, but my understanding of the idifference had a lot ot do with the protection of the hands offered with boxing gloves and wrapped hands.
Reply:you are learning goju-ryu, it is a karate style. the seminar you went to taught kung fu, which are different styles all together.





it usually depends on the style but generally, karate or tae kwon do styles use the first two knuckles. punching with the first two knuckles requires rotation of the hand so the knuckles are lined up horizontally


while kung fu styles like wing chun uses the last three knuckles, when punching with the last three knuckles is meant as a quick snapping punch with the knuckles lined up vertically.





so both are correct according to there respective styles.
Reply:There is never a single correct answer. However, think on this.





When people punch something and break the metacarpal bones in their hand which ones break first or are the weakest?





Survey says.. the smaller ones.. Line up the 2 metacarpal's behind the index finger and middle finger with your radius and ulna bones (in your forearm)





Strike with those to knuckles for the most force before it injures yourself.. My first instructor told us;


If you get into a fight, you could punch someone and give them a black eye... but if you break your hand and its in a cast for 6 weeks.. His eye is healed within a week but you can be proud of that cast as a trophy for "winning" a fight..





Its self defense... protect yourself from harm. Martial arts is physics , anatomy , and the kinetics of human motion
Reply:First two knuckles my son.. and I have the sore, cracked and bleeding ring and pinky knuckles to prove it - did my first session of 400 punches to a bag at training a few days ago... I'm buying GOOD sparring gloves before I do that again! Sabumnim pointed out that he could see quite clearly where my technique was at fault..... Thankful tho', I could have broken my hand or my wrist, or both.. Get it right before your hit hard and get good gloves or use wrappings.


All the best.