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: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gs-lftiVvJmraWg.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.

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.

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"

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

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

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

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 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.

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.

"Inches matter in the fight"💀💀

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

Very well thought out and great delivery A+ video

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

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.

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.

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

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.

So nice to hear from great experts.

Superb video!

I love this video way too much. Bravo.

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

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.

This is the most underrated martial arts channel out there.

“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.

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

I love your theme song at the end

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.

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.

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

Great testing at the end.

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

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

Thx for the great information

One of the most valuable and underappreciated martial arts channels on KZfaq

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.

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

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

Love the sword and pool noodle comparison.

Love your vids dude….There Awesome

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

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!

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

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

Another Great Video Man…

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.

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

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

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

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 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 mean, wouldn’t you?” Fkn gold 😂😂

Awesome video

Thank you

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"

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.

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

Your tone is so condescending and I love it.

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

The final scene was gold

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

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

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

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

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

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! :)

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

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.

I love these vids where you show stuff and not only talk. Maybe I worded that wrong, I dont know.

Nice video 👍

WOW! I actually agree this one of this guy's videos . . .

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

I kind of disagree on some points. For reference, I've been doing striking styles for over 30 years, so I do know how to use my fists in a fight. The last couple of years in kickboxing and boxing, I've been mainly doing "light" sparring, with 12oz gloves and no hand-wraps in order to force myself to punch very controlled. When a sparring partner rushes forward and I can't pull enough on a punch, I can clearly feel my knuckles on his skull and that despite the gloves and the comparably light force I use. I certainly would not want to punch with significant (= fight-changing) force against a skull (jaw would be ok, I guess). I would not hesitate, however, to throw a palm strike with full force to the head. Mike Tyson is not the only one who broke his hands in a fight, it's a not uncommon occurrence in boxing and MMA despite the hands being protected with wraps and gloves. Bas Rutten, who has combined about 50 pro fights in Kickboxing and MMA, and a history of brawls as a bouncer before his pro-fighting career, advocates open hand strikes for street fights and would only use fists in a 1vs1 situation where he knows he can hit the target thanks to his superior technique and composure. 1:40 I've had regular "warm-up" sparrings with no gloves and open hands. It's literally no physiological problem to throw an open palm strike at the head of the opponent. Pancrase, where Bas Rutten spent the majority of his early "MMA" career, didn't allow fist punches to the head, so the fighters would throw palm strikes. So, if you have "pain" or any kind of issues throwing palm strikes, you should go and see an orthopedist to let your hands/wrists get checked. 4:35 In a street fight, I don't care about superficial soft tissue damage. There is no ringside doctor to stop the fight because of cuts. And also, cuts and subsequent bleeding of the opponent make me look worse in front of the police and in court. What I want is to shut down his central nervous system so he CAN'T continue attacking me. For that, I need blunt force that impacts the whole head and not just superficial impact. Blunt force can also be transmitted with fists, but as stated above and said in the video, you're more likely not punching with full force if you use your fists. 4:55 Hand-wraps and gloves are there to protect your "weapon" (fists) so you can actually throw them with more force and thus do MORE damage than you naturally would. 5:30 False logic. Only because untrained males "naturally" throw fists (btw. women "naturally" rather SLAP), doesn't mean it's the optimal way of fighting, otherwise, we wouldn't train how to kick, knee, elbow, or headbutt. Naturally, people throw looping haymakers, even though straight punches are superior (in most aspects), but those need to be "artificially" learned. 8:30 if you had to break open a coconut, would you rather do it with a fist punch or a palm strike¿ Back in my Kyokushin Budokai days, I had a training buddy who was a bit "wilder". In street altercations, he would sometimes "give" the opponent the first strike which usually was a haymaker punch directed at his face. My buddy would turn his forehead into the punch, and when the opponent retracted the fist in pain, he would either low kick him or Judo throw him to the ground. And that was usually the end of the altercation.

Hahaha. She’s a keeper!

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

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 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

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

The argument about cushioned fists feels like a perfect time for a Baymax joke

Im so glad someone finally acknowledged you cant make a proper fist in boxing gloves. This is the reason why i would rather compete in amateur mma than amateur kickboxing

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.

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.

Bass Rutten entered chat...

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

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 was thinking the whole time, like, I feel like they’d feel pretty natural on the ground, especially hitting somewhere really hard. But maybe not, I wouldn’t really know. And then he showed it

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.

Two things. I do not hold my hand like you do when I palm strike. I have my hand open and upward at a 45-degree angle then flex the wrist driving forward for the strike. Do it my way around the guard into the side of the head. Palm strikes can come like a hook to anywhere like the ribs too.

"Punch with a big stick, you goof". - your thumbs