Conditioning for front and rear punching

The foundation of hand conditioning for the front or rear punch is knuckle flexion. A fighter’s ability to perform several hundred pushups at a time, knuckleballing, on uneven asphalt or even gravel, is a sure sign that the front “face” of their fists will be able to take, with room to spare, the pain associated with hitting a hard surface. If he’s done tens of thousands of push-ups in his life, but none on his knuckles on a street or street-like surface, he’s in for a bit of a surprise. You may be thinking to yourself, “Well, gosh, how hard could a pushup like that really be?” Try it; walk to the nearest sidewalk or parking lot, and do nothing more than assume the ready position with your knuckles, not even attempting a full-range pushup (and greatly intensifying the pressure and pain on your fists), and see how you do it. Many people who do these push-ups for the first time end up thinking that it is the most intense pain they have ever felt; So what does that say about the level of knuckle conditioning of someone who can perform thousands of knuckles at once?

The relevance of the knuckle flex lies in the style of punches that martial artists throw; the punch is actually thrown so that the main blow is delivered by the knuckles of the index and middle fingers; a small part of the blow may receive a secondary impact at the site of the knuckles of the ring and “pinky” fingers, but those fingers should not serve as points of impact. Because the force of the blow is channeled through only two specific points on the hand, it is absolutely essential that these areas are developed to a high degree so that they are as destructive and as impervious to pain and damage as possible.

Consequently, for the knuckle flex to achieve its goals, it must be performed in such a way that the knuckles of the first two fingers of each hand remain the main points of contact on the surface on which the flex is performed. At first, the temptation is to perform the pushup so that the entire fist is supporting the weight. One of the reasons for this is simple inexperience; it usually takes a bit of time to do the knuckle pushup to gain the balance needed to perform the exercise with only the knuckles of the index and middle fingers serving as contact points with the surface. Also, there is often a misconception that the entire fist should be developed, which is simply not true. Remember, the actual hit points are the index and forefinger knuckles; any impact absorbed by the other fingers should be minimal, at best.

The best way to become proficient at the knuckle pushup is to start gradually. It is best to start this exercise on a carpeted surface. Once you get to a point where you can do 300 of them (not necessarily as a set; 10 sets of 30, with a minute rest between sets is fine), it’s time to move on to a harder surface, like a linoleum floor. Again, you want to repeat the goal of getting to the point where you can do 300 of these on that type of surface. Next, it’s time to try a surface that’s even a little harder, like the smooth concrete floor you might find in your garage or outside on your patio. It is when you move to this type of surface that you will be provided with the first taste of real pain.

Once you’ve mastered that, it’s time to “step up” and move your push-ups onto the bumpy, gravelly-covered surface of the street or sidewalk. Once you get to the point where you can perform 300 full-range knuckle pushups at least three times a week on this type of surface, without stopping and without cuts or tears in your skin, then you can be satisfied that your grips are adequately conditioned. Some breakers insist on regularly seeking out the roughest surfaces they can find to perform their knuckle push-ups. While that may seem extreme to some, these martial artists know that the higher the conditioning level of their hands, the easier the breaks will be, for two reasons: first, their hands will be solid, like battering rams themselves, and second, the likelihood that the pain they feel from trying to break a stack of boards or blocks will prevent them from successfully breaking is greatly diminished.

An excellent complement to the knuckle flex in fist conditioning is the repeated striking of the makiwara with both the front fist and the rear fist. It is especially important to spend a lot of time working the makiwara from the back fist position, because neither the knuckle flex nor the makiwara strike with the front fist will sufficiently condition the “top” or “back” of the first two knuckles. Granted, developing this area isn’t all that essential to standard frontal punch conditioning, and if you plan on never throwing a punch back, then you could probably do without it, but neglecting this component will result in less than total punch conditioning.

While there’s nothing terribly scientific about hitting the makiwara, it’s recommended that you do it every day, using a figure of 1,000 as a guide for your target number of repetitions. As with all of these exercises, that figure is one you’ll have to work up to; however, once you are there, you will have reached a level of conditioning that makes this area of ​​the hand “ready to break”.

As a substitute for the makiwara, you can use a heavy bag, but keep a few things in mind. First of all, for the heavy bag to serve as a suitable substitute for the rough surface of the makiwara, it is recommended that you stick with a heavy bag made of canvas. Today, the heavy bags commonly used by martial artists are made of vinyl and are slightly softer than canvas bags. While this difference is important to allow for kick training with less risk of foot injury, the old-style duffel bag is still the best option for hand conditioning. Also, be sure to locate the hardest part of the heavy bag and use that as your hitting surface. Today, most heavy canvas bags are filled with fiber, but regardless of the filler used, the tendency is for the contents to settle in the bottom half of the bag. This means that the part of the bag at or closest to the bottom will be the hardest and is therefore the area where you will find the most beneficial place to hit. As with those using the makiwara, you should aim to reach a point where you are hitting the heavy bag to the tune of about 1,000 repetitions each day.