Articles
The Closed-Fist Strike
By Cecil Burch
Photos by Author
Posted: June 8, 2011
There are as many theories on what is the best “technique” in the world of self-defense as there are experts. Unfortunately, personal agendas and bias all too often get in the way. One area that is particularly susceptible to this is the issue of using closed fists in a self-defense/combat situation. There are a lot of standard catchphrases that get pulled out of the hat whenever this topic comes up. Let’s look at them and apply some logic without the emotion.
Generally, the negatives that are brought up are: you will hurt your hand, and it takes a long time to master how to use a closed fist. Let’s examine both of them in detail.
Injury to the Hand
Having been involved in this area as a student and instructor for over 30 years, it is my experience that most injuries to the fist arise from a failure in one of two areas: fist formation or precision of the strike.
Unfortunately, the actual matters of forming the fist and hitting with it too often get short shrift, even in a boxing gym. Everyone is in a hurry to actually hit something, and details occasionally get lost.
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| A proper fist: wrist flat, first two impact knuckles lined up with forearm. |
The correct way to make a fist is shown in this photo. The important points to note are that the back of the palm is level with the forearm, and the first two knuckles are lined up so the entire forearm is behind them. These two positions essentially turn the hand and lower arm into one unit, with the large bones of the latter supporting the smaller bones of the former. Consistently doing this will go a long way to minimizing any potential for injury.
The other things that help prevent injury are to make sure you have a clear focus on your target with the strike and a clear focus on what you are striking with. Most people settle for throwing the whole fist in the general direction of the total object. If you don’t try to be precise, is it any wonder that you might hit the top of the head? When I coach, I use the phrase “aim small, miss small.” It is as appropriate for punching as it is for shooting.
One of the concerns the pro-open-hand people often cite about striking with a closed fist is the chance of damage to the small bones of the hand. I believe this is a legitimate concern and something that should be taken into account. However, the open-hand people never seem to follow through on their logic by taking it a step further: they fail to address the fact that while you have a chance of doing damage to knuckles and the other (relatively) weak bones of the hand, I think the chance is even greater of causing serious harm to the extremely vulnerable fingers or wrist during an open-handed strike.
Open-hand proponents seem to imply that you have nothing to worry about by leaving all those weak digits dangling out there while you ram your palm with full force into the skull of another person. But it has been my experience that not only is it easy and very common to jam or torque fingers past the point of injury, it is also extremely debilitating.
As I write this, I am nursing a jammed thumb that is VERY painful. How did I injure it? During clinch work with an OPEN HAND! Let me tell you, with the pain I was feeling, it was not easy to get through the rest of the training session although going fairly light. And I didn't even do it on that hard a surface (the floating ribs and waist rammed my thumb). I shudder to think what would have happened if I had been driving it at full speed at solid bone.
Much of the training that open-hand proponents do is striking focus mitts, heavy bags, Thai pads, etc. The problem with spending all your time on those objects is that they have a smooth and consistent surface. Unfortunately, the human head does not. It is uneven with lots of weird ridges. It also has a tendency not to move in a smooth or consistent manner. It’s easy for the head to suddenly tilt forward, completely changing the type of surface that the open hand makes contact with. This alters the ease of use as well as its effects. Deriving all your ideas of how useful the chin jab/tiger claw/slap/etc are based only on hitting nice, smooth targets can lead to big surprises should you actually have to make impact on another person’s skull.
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| Many advocate this type of hand formation: bent wrist, splayed out and unsupported fingers. |
This is an exact copy of a photo of a well regarded and internationally famous proponent of open-hand strikes. Look at the formation of the hand that he advocates as superior to a fist. The hand is bent back, weakening the already weak wrist, and the fingers are splayed out without any structural support. Furthermore, this strike is targeted at the bony jaw – the same target the open-hand proponent says will destroy the hand! How is this stronger than a fist tightened together with all the bones locking together to form mutual support hitting to the same spot? It makes no logical sense.
This illogic is just as pronounced with the other open-hand blows – slaps, tiger claw, and edge of hand strikes – especially since they are all aimed at the head. I don’t understand the magic alchemy that says you can be incredibly accurate when the hand is open, and flail blindly the second you make a fist. Again, this is a major failure of logic.
The fact is that the hand is somewhat fragile regardless of what you are doing. There are a lot of little bones that are susceptible to breaking. However, it does seem to me, and is backed up by talking to any orthopedic surgeon, that when I make a fist, all the parts of the hand lock together into a tightly packed formation that feels much stronger than the looseness in any open-handed strike.
Learning Period
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| Straight “diving board” jab offers great protection against counterattacks. |
Critics often state that closed-fist striking takes a long time to learn and is tough to do with non-professionals. As an instructor who has taught in many formats (private, weekly group, and seminars), I can safely say that this is patently false. I generally have people capable of hitting hard objects with force within two to eight hours of training, and many times this is accomplished with people who previously have never had real training.
Taught properly and with the right methods, almost anyone can easily become proficient and functional in the use of a closed-fist strike in a short amount of time, and with no more risk of injury than using any open-handed blow. And this isn’t just one person’s anecdotal evidence. The group of trainers I am associated with in the Crazy Monkey Defense (CMD) system all have had the same results. In addition, the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) gyms has led to more people training with closed fists, and there has not been some meteoric rise in hand injuries. In short, the closed fist is not just for professionals.
Adding to the ease of learning how to punch is the fact that making a fist is instinctual. Just look at when a baby is hurt or angry. What does s/he do? Makes very tight fists. The human body will instinctively go to the best physical positions in order to protect itself as much as possible. That would be a fist, not a chin-jab formation.
Other Possible Negatives with the Open Hand
There’s a really important aspect that not one pro-open-hand person has ever successfully addressed (at least in my experience). For all their pushing of the virtues of the open-hand strike, they have yet to overcome the single most outstanding virtue of the closed fist. No matter how you throw it, no matter how fast and non-telegraphic, every single viable open-hand strike will be circular. Some might be less circular than others, but they are all circular to some extent. In stark contrast, a closed fist allows you to throw it in a tight, straight line that closes all the gaps where an opponent can hit you back. Circular open-hand strikes leave a large window of vulnerability.
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| Open-hand slap is powerful, but open on a number of angles to counters, including ones with KO potential. |
Don't believe me? Try it. Hit a heavy bag really, really hard with an open hand. Every possible way of effectively doing it that actually transmits some power has to open up at least slightly on the delivery. If you don't, you either hurt your hand/wrist or you only hit with partial power. Still don't believe me? Do this experiment. Videotape a sparring session with a partner. In the first round, use only open-hand strikes. In the second round, use only closed fists. I guarantee the punching in the second round will be more direct and leave you less open for counters. It is a fact that closed-fist strikes can be delivered incredibly straight, while keeping you defensively covered much better than the most efficient open-hand blow. Plus, it is much easier teaching someone to hit straight without exposing their head than it is teaching them the best method of open-hand striking and relying on distance or reflexes to defend a counterattack.
The Advantage of Boxing
The backbone of my personal self-defense striking game is the jab and cross. These two punches constitute probably 95% of any hand strikes I will utilize in a fight. Why? Because I know they will work essentially like I expect them to work, and that I can actually land them on my target. How do I know?
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| A solid, powerful, protected strike that is easily duplicated by almost anyone in a high-stress situation. |
Because I have used them time after time, and have seen and felt the results. There is no guessing. Nor do I have to rely on stories my teacher told me about how a particular move was used by commandos/samurai/monks in the past and how effective it was for them. At any time, I can grab training partners, get on the mat, and attempt to apply the jab and cross on an active and resisting opponent who is trying to do damage to me at the same time. I would rather have two techniques I can count on instead of 50 that I only have theoretical proof of. It’s fine to think the chin jab is devastating, but if you haven’t actually used it in a live environment, how can you count on it? Can you land it consistently on a moving, resisting opponent? Does it always affect people the way you want it to? If any of the answers is no, I would suggest there’s a weakness in your plans.
I have no real issue with anyone who chooses to use open-handed blows to defend themselves. We all have to use what we personally trust. However, if you make the choice not to employ closed-fist strikes, please do so with real and valid reasons and not the false, worn-out clichés discussed here.
5 Comments
I wondered how long it would be before some expert in the field finally broke ranks and used some common sense about defensive strikes. I came to the same conclusion years back.. breaking from the training I recieved in the military... after actual confrontations showed not only a quicker retaliation but an improved strike and stun... allowing me to either back off until backed-up; or to make an apprehension. What works in a classroom doesn't always work best on the street.
Very interesting article. Mr. Birch begins his article by rightly complaining about how personal agendas and bias get in the way of objective analysis of self defense techniques. Let us avoid these and look at objective facts: 1. The hand is made of up 27 small, relatively-fragile bones. These are easily and often broken when forceful contact is made with an elbow or cranium. 2. The wrist is a condyloid (or ellipsoidal) joint, held together by tendons, ligaments and capsular tissues (imagine a short stick -- your hand -- stitched to the end of another stick -- your forearm -- by a sock). As such it is naturally unstable under direct force. Unless one is naturally large-boned and has unusual forearm and wrist strength, his wrist will not be able to support full force punches without buckling and spraining. It takes exceptional conditioning to be able to engage in full contact bare-knuckle fighting without wrist damage. 3. Making a fist may be a natural instinct, but making a proper fist -- one that will not result in a broken thumb or sprained wrist -- is not. You actually have to train people to make a good fist, punch properly, develop wrist strength, etc. Palm strikes, clawing and tearing are much more natural. 4. Fisted punching is fine for sports and voluntary fights where there are some (informal) rules and usually even wrist wraps and gloves, but without these guards, hand and wrist injury are very likely. 5. Punching does come naturally to a few people. But it really is an art (boxing is the "sweet science"), and there are a lot of little nuances to becoming an effective puncher. It generally has to be taught. 6. Whether the author is aware of it or not, hand injuries are common in full-contact MMA and boxing sports, even with all of the wrapping and gloves. In a self defense situation, no one is going to have those luxuries, making injury that much more likely. 7. The commentary about power delivery in punches vs palm strikes is just plain wrong (and I say this as one degreed in physics and engineering who has studied this matter extensively). It is a matter of fact that greater power can be delivered open handed than via punch due to the geometry of the wrist. HOWEVER, a punch may still feel more powerful because it focuses the power on a smaller area. There isn't any one best self defense technique. There is just what works for you. However, self defense training should emphasize those techniques that are least-likely to result in self-injury, accessible to the largest number of people (amateurs), and more likely to be effective against a larger, stronger attacker. Fisted punching doesn't generally fit these criteria. In my experience, those who push punching for self defense are usually larger men who are used to punching or already have extensive training and conditioning. We all think that whatever works for us is the bomb, and everyone else should agree. The average person, however, is not going to go to the effort to develop and maintain the skills and conditioning necessary to engage in bare-knuckle self defense punching and are much more likely to break his hand or wrist during the conflict (or during training) than those who use palm strikes, clawing and tearing techniques.
I answered all your points in the article itself. You fail to show where I was wrong, you just reiterate the points I went over. 1) I know the bones of the hand are weak, I said that in the article itself. What I said, and what you failed to dispute, was how open hand strikes are less susceptible to injury. I showed where the very strikes you advocate (palm strikes, claws, etc.) have their own issues. 2) You say it takes years to be able to throw a punch. No, it doesn't. I, and many, many others have done it, and continue to do so. 3) I never said closed fist punches have more power then open hands. Please read more carefully. I said to generate maximal power with an open hand, you have to open up your head more than a closed fist and are more open to being hit yourself. That is an anatomical fact. You are not the only one degreed and who has studied it extensively.
First of all, "aim small, miss small" has been around since Colonel Beckwith did his thing. Some attribution would've been appropriate. Next, identify for me a training academy or self-proclaimed combative expert that advocates a "bent" wrist as part of an open hand or "cup" hand defensive position. Moreover, an open-handed front strike is NOT circular. In any regard, this isn't a boxing match. You know how to box, good for you. But, if you don't or can't end the confrontation with one of your magicical punches, the fight continues. It goes back to the theory of personal threat awareness based on perceived danger. Bottom line, I'm getting a little tired of the egomanical "experts" like you proclaiming their way is the be all end all. Ease up Rocky. The trained combative who lands the first strike usually wins; fist, palm, elbow, low-line...take your pick.
You forget the issue of fight bite, and considering the one the most common targets in boxing is the jaw to torque the head lacerations to the thin skin of the knuckles is a likely outcome.