Palm Heel vs Punch

There is always differing oppinions in the differences of palmheel and punching.

I am here to help shed some light on the subject in reference to self defense usage. Until I started to train in close combat situations. I didn't quite understand the differences.

Growing up in a large family group there was always fighting and fists were king it was all we knew. So as I grew up as I am sure most do without any guidance a fight was always fists and on every occasion I can think of either my hands or my opponents hands got messed up.

You see the beauty of the palm heel strike is that the palm of our hands are very resilient to blunt force just to see what I mean see how hard you can hit the closest brick wall with your fist and then with your palm. Different....oh ya? That is one of the biggest reasons it is so effective for a smaller person to use against an attacker.

Another way to use the open palm it to use a edge hand strike which is like a chop either vertically or horizontally. Your hand can be used to the softer areas of the body and the elbow for blunt force trama.

The punch is an effective weapon. The only thing is that it has a very high percentage of being hurt or even worse (in a self defense situation) being unusable because you went for the face he lower his forehead and now you have a broken hand.

Just think in the same situation above had you used the palm heel strike it would have whipped his head back and opened the throat for an edge of hand strike or elbow smash that could put an end to the situation.

So understand that if you decide to use the punch rather than a palm heel or edge of hand you run the risk of injury and the use of a hand. If that happens just how long do you think you will last in a confrontation? Do you really want that being the deciding factor.

The technique you use is not as important as conditioning your body. You can make it as easy as possible get a punching bag and some mitts.

Your best option would be to find a school with accredited instructors (Hey I happen to know a few world wide even).

Building confidence and stress reliefe plus having fun doing it will happen if you train in a reputable school. Contact me and I will point you in the right direction.

Train hard, Live lite,

Darrin Walton