Boxing: How to hit that your wrist doesn't hurt?

[Titan]

Originally posted by: ndee
Rainsford: Thanks, I will talk to a friend of mine who's also into Karate, I think he could show me how to hit.

tkotitan2: That's also my problem, I have big hands and really tiny wrists(compared to my hands). You mean that the "backside" of the hand is aligned(straight, in a line) with my forearm?

That's part of it. The plane of your forearm and back of hand should be paralell to the ground (if your arm is out straight), but for years I was punching wrong because my wrist was also not aligned (sideways)? Basically, hold your arm out in front of you, make your fist so the back of your hand is straight, meaning at the same angle as your forearm, it won't be perfectly flat cuz of the dip in your wrist. Now, turn the fist outwards from it's more relaxed position until the index-finger knuckle lines up with the inner forearm bone, you should feel some tension in the forearm. Straight means straight in 2 directions, keeping the angle of the back of the hand paralell to the forearm, and keeping the the knuckles paralell to the bones in the wrist. The idea is that a punch is a linear motion, you want the bones in the fist to be supported by being lined up with the bones in the arm.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Damn, I would NOT listen to some of these guys. "Rotate your wrist inward"? Maybe if you want to break your wrist. In fact, I would find someone you know knows about this stuff and ask him or her.

Maybe you'd break a limp wrist but for those who actually want to hit the bag with power you rotate your wrist inward ( nothing to the extreme) which will automatically align you hand with your forearm. I've been using an 80lbs heavy bag for years and I have never hurt my wrist using this technique. It's a natural movement and it tenses up your wrist muscles which will prevent injury to your wrist.

But while we're at it, he's my two cents. Keep in mind I got this from Karate, but we hit heavy bags without gloves or tape, so it "should" work just fine with gloves and/or tape is boxing. You want to hit with the knuckles of your pointer and middle finger mainly (obviously the knuclkes at the base of the finger, not in the middle). To prevent injury, those knuclkes need to be aligned with the wrist bones and your forearm. So actually you want to turn your hand out a little bit. You'll see what I mean.

Terrible advice. If you rotate your wrist outwards you definately will open yourself up for wrist injuries.

But really, I would get a professional to SHOW you how to do it. Back when I helped teach Karate classes, I saw a lot of newer students who thought they were Bruce Lee hurt themselves punching the bag, each other, the wall, whatever, incorrectly. JMHO.

LOL, punching walls does tend to cause injuries to hands and wrists