Open Hand vs. Close Hand Striking

I have been asked quite a few times in the last 2 weeks or so when I would use a palm heel strike or a hammerfist or a punch in a fight and/or why I would use one over the other. This is good! It means that you all are thinking about your options that your self-defense training has given you! Different options will work for different people depending on many factors - mentality, strength, orientation of the striking (against an object, standing, on the ground, etc), and of course your training.

When you would use either can be answered by addressing the pros and cons of Open Hand strikes and Closed Hand strikes. After that, we will address some gray areas.

The Upside to punching:

- A punch uses your bones, your hard knuckles: these are very powerful
- For this reason, a punch has a better chance of knocking out your opponent
- Punching is pretty natural for us, even for those without any fighting experience, making a fist and punching is a natural movement

The Downside to punching:

- Many people with little to no training, non combatant types, and women (I most frequently see) do not know how to properly make a fist. It sounds simple, but in reality, this can actually be a challenging task and even more so when asked to make a proper fist and keep it while throwing a high quantity of punches in a drill type setting. If you have ever noticed in my class, I rarely do straight punches when there is a guest in my class, I always start with the open hand strike. It is for this reason that I do so.

- Punching can lead to broken hands. Even the most experienced fighters can break their hands if they miss their target or hit a hard surface in a high stress situation. Boxers frequently break their hands in street fights because the protection of the glove is not there. For those that are in law enforcement, the risk of breaking ones hand can mean you losing the ability to fire or operate your gun.

The Upside to open-hand striking:

- The risk you pose to your hand when striking with an open hand is significantly reduced! When you strike with your palm you are taking your fingers and knuckles out of harms way.

- The palm strike allows you to strike very hard surfaces and come away injury free. This is especially useful if you are ever found punching in the direction of the ground, against a wall, or towards the harder parts of the body, specifically, the head.

The Downside to open-hand striking:

- It is not as penetrating as the hard knuckles and therefore does not cause as much damage.

- In a more advanced scenario involving guns or knives, when a punch becomes the punch of your life, realize that the punch has slightly more range than that of a palm strike. This range translates to a fraction of a second but realize that every fraction of a second counts when your life is at stake.
(To try this, extend your hand straight out and touch a wall with your top two knuckles, then, without moving your position make your fist an open palm and you’ll see that you are no longer in contact with the wall - this is the range difference I am talking about)

Addressing some Gray Areas:

- For the reasons listed above, to be truly effective at using a punch involves a lot of training and understanding the fundamentals of combatives and when and where they are appropriate on the body. Through training we learn not to just strike wildly, although this is important in the beginning to build aggression! But after training, we learn to see open targets on our opponents and almost instantaneously determine whether its better to strike with an open hand or a closed hand. Trust me, this is tougher than it sounds but it will come to you with more training. Keep this in the back of your mind and apply it to your training and it will help you become a more proficient practitioner of self-defense.

- A general rule that can be applied is this: Hard to Soft & Soft to Hard. This means using a hard weapon to soft targets (a punch to the body or any other soft tissue) and soft weapon (palm strike) to hard targets (the head).

- Gray Area: What about hammer-fists, those are closed-hand strikes are they not? Yes they are, however, realize that the point of contact is the SOFT muscular portion of the hand, not the actual knuckles. So, this particular close hand strike is a “soft” weapon, but much more devastating than a palm strike.

- Gray Area: A palm strike can also be made in the same fashion as a “hook punch” - you using your palm instead of your fist. This reduces risk of injury and at the angle of the strike allows the palm strike to be a little “harder” of a weapon.


The best thing to do is to keep training (obviously) and ask questions. Learn how to strike effectively. When doing self defense take a few repetitions SLOW and asses your targets and strike with the appropriate weapon. Slow work seems boring but it is invaluable. During this time your brain is thinking and remembering how to asses the targets its sees which will you make you faster at target assessment in the long run - AND - your muscles are taking notes as well creating muscle memory of your body’s movements (so remember, FULL EXTENSION on ALL counter-attacks)


Train Hard. Train Smart.


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, email me: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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