Why Palm Strikes Suck 

QUIT BRINGING UP BAS RUTTEN! He used palm strikes because he wasn't ALLOWED to throw punches to the head. But he DID punch to the body: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LiuKudW3G94.html On targets where he could do either, he chose to punch. He only used palm strikes when he had to. Because he's smart.

I'm sorry, they use palm strikes in Star Trek, so they are the future punches.

Self defense "experts" : "you should never punch in a street fight because you will break your hands" Body shots to the liver and solar plexus : "allow us to introduce ourselves"

Great video. You could've mentioned one more small factor in the Mike Tyson story. Most of us don't generate anywhere close to the "impact force" into the fist-face interface that iron Mike did.

There's also historical evidence to further debunk the "never punch in a street fight you'll break your hand" meme. I read Mendoza’s boxing manual from 1789. There are dozens of instructions about when and how to punch your opponent but it never once mentions a risk of breaking one’s hands. If illustrations from the period are accurate, boxers didn’t even wear wraps back then. So the guy who literally wrote the book on bare-knuckle boxing didn't even think to mention the risk of a boxer's fracture. A lot of people don't realize how far back you have to go to get primary sources on bare-knuckle boxing. It seems most would guess the 1920s or so based on the texts some people quote to try and lend historical support to what I'm going to dub the "fists of glass, palms of iron" myth. It was actually outlawed in England in 1867! It's interesting because after that you start to get these same sort of armchair commentators giving the same basic bad advice.

I was hollering laughing until she hurt her hand. Love that he made his point using humor as well as common sense.

The fist and evolution wasn't your best analogy/argument. Our hands were designed to grapple and hold tools. As an impact weapon, hammer fists are naturally used by most if not all apes. Fists do not equal punching with knuckles.

I fondly remember Bas Rutten knocking people out with palm strikes in Pangrasse. I also remember him putting people to sleep with fists. I think you're bound to break bones regardless of the configuration if you're hitting that hard. The one thing I can see giving palm strikes utility is the fact the it stings more on the face.

Palm strikes are not for throwing from the outside, its for fitting on certain target surfaces while on the inside.

I love the "not a bug, it's a feature" thing

Throughout history, we hit each other with objects HELD in our hands. Apes and primitive humans establish social status by wrestling, but when killing time came, apes used their teeth and humans (with our sad little teeth) used rocks and sticks, knives, spears, etc. All this punching and palming is the artifact of a society where we're so safe that we've forgotten the difference between sport and combat.

This is probably the best clip you put up so far. The conversation in the end is priceless! The ever so innocent "I mean... wouldn't you?" absolutely made my day! The editing of your stuff is really getting better. Keep up the good work, man.

Palms , hammers etc should be used as you mentioned: to solve specific problems in specific positions. I.e. I long fell into the trap of trying to replace punches altogether, when the best approach is honestly what you said which is sticking with punches until I have a good reason to deviate vs limiting myself by taking away my most natural strike.

I enjoy this channel a lot. Sometimes you challenge my beliefs, sometimes you confirm my beliefs, but you always have back up for your claims, and you present it in an engaging way. Kudos to you, good sir.

NGL, if I have to fight for self defense, a couple of broken bones in my hand are better than whatever the other person wanted to do to me

"Inches matter in the fight"💀💀

Palm heel strikes are great and can be used in a variety of ways, but it works differently from fist punches. In the end, it's all about the training. People train for years throwing punches, learn how to do it, get used to them, they become second nature. Then, they decide to try out palm strikes *one day*, with the intent to disprove them from the start. It doesn't work very well (duh), they conclude it doesn't work and ditch it. Please, people... I believe punching is only seen as the norm today because of the heavy influence from the sport of boxing. I also do believe the fist is an invaluable tool to have in your belt.

There's a much more important injury factor than distal radius when palm striking. It's the scaphoid bone, much easier to injure.

I think its important to distinguish between strikes with the heel of the hand and slaps. I agree hitting with the heel of the hand is a bit silly. Slaps have a larger area you can hit with though and their open structure is of benefit when hitting the head. Ignore getting injured and think about reliable transfer of force. When you punch without gloves on you have two hard surfaces making contact and it's very easy to get a glancing blow if things hit at the wrong angle. A lot of your force therefore doesn't get delivered to the target. When punching with gloves you don't have this problem, as the glove compresses to the shape of the face. A slap does the same thing, the hand is able to match the shape of the face and not slip off, delivering all of your force. Use punches and slaps, pick the one that works for your situation.

Bro, the energy and effort you put into these videos is great! I really appreciate them and I love how you can put them in such plain language. Keep it up!

I trained mostly in boxing and muay thai and started adding in some WW2 combatives stuff. I don't really feel anything contradicts. The rule I was taught for palm strikes was “hard weapons to soft targets, soft weapons to hard targets” so punches would still be used to the body. The mechanics for throwing the strikes should be the same as jabs and crosses if someone trained boxing first. I agree that the palm strikes should not be trained on a bag but they feel fine on focus mitts. Someone in the comments mentioned palm strikes were used historically because soldiers needed to be able to still handle guns. I would add that similarly in a self defense situation you would want to avoid injury to your hands to access a weapon (possibly improvised) as well. Don’t misunderstand, I wouldn’t replace punches, I just think the palm strikes can be used in combination as well. At the very least, if someone insists on using only punches they should consider conditioning the hands like karateka do. Our fists don’t real get conditioned through the gloves and wraps. I started conditioning my hands only recently after I started watching bare knuckle boxing matches. Their hands look like hell at the end of the fight.

“In reality the only way to guarantee that you won’t get injured is to *not get in fights.*” This is the smartest thing you or anyone else has ever said about self defense. You should do a video about the bias towards “street fight” situations when talking about self defense. I’d make a video about it but my videos are too dangerous.

Also, all of those "secret technique" palm strikes from kung fu and other traditional (or I guess process-focused) martial arts that "use chi to destroy your opponent's internal organs"... aren't palm strikes. They're pushes/shoves. Their purpose is to put all of your weight into pushing your opponent off balance and make them fall down, so you can either run away or capitalise on their disadvantageous position.

Very well thought out and great delivery A+ video

I've been saving this one for some time now, and it delivered mightily

Palm strikes are crap. I tried one on a heavy bag with my left hand - strained my wrist. I thought it was a coincidence so I tried my right - strained that one too. Grrr! People need to stop telling people to use palm strikes.

Just gonna be a bit of a nerd here: it's important not to overstate concepts like "designed" in biological principles. Nothing about evolution is "designed." Features appear, the net positive traits stay while the net negatives are filtered, but neutral changes or even mild good/bad changes can persist so long as they don't impede survival. And, frankly, our hands are best suited to grasping things. Fists are one way people tend to fight as a default, but so are things like hammer-fisting, scratching, and grabbing (especially grabbing a weapon). I still agree with the main argument, just some wiggles about the verbiage.

I’ve seen people duke it out in street fights, and they’ve always used fists.

I think palm strikes have there place. One good thing about a palm strikes is that you can actively grab your adversary. If you are fighting one attacker. Using palm strikes you can transition from striking to a control lock easily. I learned this on chin na and japanese juijetsu. Controlling your opponent is better than just striking. For looking from out side the fight it looks like you are not beating the crap out of the guy that is trying to mug you. For legal reasons it looks more humane. If you have a lot of witnesses it looks like you are actual just trying to push the attacker away. But if your life is in danger all bets are off, striking, kicking and breaking an attackers limbs are necessary. Especially if you are protecting a love one. Just my opinion.

I'm glad you mentioned turning the slap into a collar ties because thats pretty much the only thing I actually learned about open palm strikes. I was going to comment that at the start of the video but I restrained myself and did this crazy concept of watching the whole video. P.S. why did you abuse your girlfriend by breaking her wrists with your head? Not cool man

I never did like palm strikes, they just never felt powerful like a punch.

This is the most underrated martial arts channel out there.

You know, when I found this channel I thought to myself, 'why is Spider-Man wearing a Batman shirt?' But in all seriousness, your videos have really been a wonderful insight into a world I know nothing about. Except palm strikes on an opponent beneath you. It came up in one of the hatchet books I read many moons ago. Didn't understand why someone would attack that way instead of with a fist, but now I do!

A lot of martial arts and self defense systems that feature sparring as a must will often teach people to throw a hammer fist from guard. This allows you to throw/drop a lot of weight into the strike and has a reduced risk of broken bones compared to straights, crosses and hooks. This makes it a great opening strike, but you'll still need to know how to throw punches since they still work better overall.

Recently got back into fighting at 60 years old and am enjoying your vids. Very informative and delivery is hilarious. 😆 Thanks!

Superb video!

Without gloves, I can hit harder with open hands and that's because of the little padding. Gloves pad a LOT more and allow to hit a LOT harder! Thus, padding can be a good thing! I agree with you on that the slap is better than the straight palm strike for the most situations, but if you got an opening to drill someone in the mouth, you might want to reconsider, or spend some time removing teeth from your hands... PS: I'd avoid punching as much as practically possible. I prefer hammer fists and elbows whenever possible.

So nice to hear from great experts.

I love this video way too much. Bravo.

I’d never replace a jab or straight punch with a palm strike.

Thx for the great information

I've noticed that while we naturally make fists we don't throw "traditional" punches, more like looping hammer fists or close fist slaps.

Nice vid, I liked the training dummy, so life-like

another good use for palm strikes are close range uppercuts, william fairburn who was a phenomenal martial artist who served in the shanghai police for 10 years and later taught hand to hand combat to US and British troops in ww2 had that move in his system of "gutter fighting"

I love your theme song at the end

technically boxing gloves made boxe more dangerous not less...

Professional fighters back in the bare knuckle days had that weird fighting Irish stance because head shots were pretty rare. If you make your living with your hands you have to be pretty selective with where you hit a man. If you on the other hand aren't a professional fighter and you won't be needing to punch someone for 15-20 rounds next week, go ahead and punch them in the nose or cheek good and hard and just put them on ice later so the swelling isn't too bad the next day when you sober up.

Awesome video, I'd be interested in hearing what you find on horizontal fist with first and second knuckle (boxer/karate punch) and the vertical fist striking with bottom three knuckles (wing chun/ jack Dempsey/ bare handed boxing).

I have wonky and inflexible wrists. There's two very specific angles where an open hand strike works better for me than a fist. Those angles pretty much only occur when I'm messing around

Great testing at the end.

I love that superimposed background with the hand you have to stay still for btw

I used to do palm strikes on the bag all the time 6 years ago and to be honest i am surprised i didn't break my hand hopefully no one else does this

Love the video. Lot of good points. Request: can you do a hammer fist video?

Love your vids dude….There Awesome

Love the sword and pool noodle comparison.

“I mean, wouldn’t you?” Fkn gold 😂😂

I like this guy because of his simple yet insightful, logical, practical manner of thinking.

mike tyson only having such a mild fracture against another elite heavywheight fighter seems more like an argument for punches than against it, I don't think most of us can even generate 1/5th of the force he could at the time.

Just for curiosity in how many "street fights" you were involved in your life?

One of the most valuable and underappreciated martial arts channels on RU-vid

Doubt you'll see this but heres a question in your opinion hammerfist vs palm strike on the ground? I dunno been qatching alot of combat jujitsu lately and just wonder why they just dont let them punch already

It was a very smart move for this guy to get into martial arts because he has one of the most punchable faces I have ever seen.

Another Great Video Man…

I remember trying palm strikes on the bag. Immediately felt the over extending of the whatever thing carpal majjiga and immediately dropped the idea.

I think that the slap is undervalued in this video as a grappler slaps would be my main attack to set up grabs and stuff since I suck at striking and do not want to be in that range. I do agree with everything he said

great video very informative and funny i liked the piano man parody at the end. all together thats a subscribe from me

Awesome video

Can someone please provide a link to the song at the end?

Hey what do you think of to shin do? Sometimes it uses a kind of palm strike called happy ken

You are a really good researcher and teacher ! Thank you for the videos they are really informative. Why the sarcastic tone though, it is a bit distracting from your friendly attitude which we see in your collaborations. I believe you have so much to give to the martial arts community, no need for negativity! :)

Very good video! The only reason I like palm strikes is because of my time as a football linemen - hear me out... When you pop your opponent off the line, it is basically the same movement as a straight punch. One way to solve the broken wrist issue (which is a real problem - even in football) is to turn your hand sideways. Much like a hook, if you go palm in it helps.

Great video! 9:08 You missed a chance to make an Oscar's Will Smith slap joke, but that's okay. There are so many by now anyway. If you haven't already, maybe make a video on hitting heavy bags barefisted vs gloved hands.

Apparently bouncers use palm strikes, but most of them are huge, so everything works for them.

Channel's what we needed in the mix. How can I put this?... Ok, it's like the "Lamens terms for the... 🤨 *_especially lamen"_* Bro's got the same cadence and delivery as the voice in my head.

Using full power attacks is similar to smashing and spamming heavy attack buttons on arcades

Anybody make a soundbite of that "blocked, blocked, blocked, none of you are free of sin" yet? I need a copy of that

You ever tripped over? I normally put my hands out involuntarily and land on the heels of my palms, which I can do from standing. Maybe your hands are stronger than mine, but I think if I fell from standing and broke my fall with two fists that wouldn't be good for my wrists... Open hands look a lot better in court when they play the CCTV as well. They also lead straight into the BJJ and wrestling that you seem to be obsessed with.

Thank you for the video, can you send the study please ?

Nice video 👍

I think that palm blows would be more useful if you are trying to make a throwing or are in the thai clinch, because by already having an open hand and being close it is more difficult for you to miss the blow and you generate more distance and the power is: power = energy / time ; energy = force x distance

I like how fighting itself isn’t glorified here. It’s not like the human arms were created with battle in mind. They are made to grab things… But that also doesn’t mean they’re meant for grappling. You can hit someone with a fist easier than grappling accurately without training. Fighting is a battle of the individual, while martial arts are the guidelines that may help more efficiently use your body to ‘fight’.

The title should be: why palm strikes suck in a street fight. Palm strikes are fine and even preferred in self-defence for legal, tactical and infection control when the employee/contractor cannot flee and is not armed. If we consider police, medics and security as employees needing basic self-defence, then punching is not recommended, but pushing is, which is technically an open hand (palm) strike. The video is correct in pointing out that palm strikes and pushes can also lead to grabs, which may result in restraining the opponent etc. If an aggressive person is grabbing or punching you, an open hand, palm or side (knife hand) leading or cross, under the chin or throat is an effective bridge to safety. It can disorient, distract and even make the person question why they are attacking you. Referees and security guards control fights using the wrist or knife hand against the opposite shoulder or larynx. It works because animals, including humans, instinctively divert their attention when their breathing is even slightly compromised. One can also counter after being punched or headbutt causing open wounds (bleeding), applying pressure to the opponent's larynx rather than trying to 'punch on' with them and probably losing due to having blood already in your face. If you are punching first, then you are starting the fight and that is in most circumstances illegal.

"I mean... wouldn't you?" LMAO!!

"wouldn't you" Blank twice if she's abusing you 🤣

Your tone is so condescending and I love it.

Thanks for sharing. Its always people Who have never tried that aleays judge the fisting.

Bas explains his palm strikes: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Gm0SyEqc7ns.html Interestingly, he actually seems to describe his strikes as augmented clotheslines or 'wrist strikes.' It was legal and could get around a traditional guard to the back of the ear.

The best application of the palm strike I've seen is only like, half a strike. The "Chin Jab" seen in Fairbairn's system jams the palm under the chin, gripping with the fingers to also take control of an opponent's head. It takes the open hand and does something with it.

I have a weird move I figured out that I suppose is the "right" way to do this, which is to strike my wrists directly against a surface or each other. The only things I've done with it are break a window and put myself in incredible pain. The police were impressed.

Bas Ruten disagrees I love the channel and I’m still watching the video so I’ll wait for the conclusion but still there’s a tremendous amount of evidence to suggest that slapping and palm strikes are preferable to closed fist punches without gloves.

How do you feel about finger jabs?

Thank you

If your arsenal only includes fist or palm, you are not yet well trained. If you don't know when and how it's appropriate to use each weapon, you are not yet well trained. If you can't strike accurately with your weapons, you are not yet well trained.

in my opinion you're absolutelly right about everything but the first point, because you dont palm strike with your radial bones down, you do it with your fingers up and extended

While the style I practice does use fists with some of its techniques, how we engage an opponent is definitely with open hands with the idea that any strikes will tend to be palm strikes. The primary purpose of this is to not play the expectation game. If you enter battle expecting to hit with a fist then you are not accommodating any number of scenarios that fists don’t cater for. Open hand allows for adaptability, grasps, manipulation and strikes. We like to get close to our opponent, so setting up a palm strike that is efficient is part of our training. Injuries are the least of our concerns, it’s about creating an experience for our opponent that he is desperate to remove himself from.

i agree completely. If you break your knuckles and go home safe who cares about the injury.

A slap leaves a lingering pain and a slap is a palm strike but without the closed fingers

Not hating on ya tho, I do enjoy your videos and you may miss things here and there but you are correct about what you do include.

I’m in with a closed mind but you have some good points. I also saw palm strikes as frames and clinch range entry’s

I agree with everything here. Tho i do practice palm strikes, mainly as a *backup* in case I do break my fist. Or I have to strike someone in a place that would otherwise break my fist. Are there many situations where a perfect palm strike is better than a perfect punch? Ehhh probably not. I just find them fun and they’re an option in case you already injured or broke something.