The Hard Fist of Karate Training Makes for an Incredibly Powerful Punch!

By Al Case

When it comes down to down and dirty self defense, a hard fist is especially desired. Of course, what training method does one use to get a fist hard enough to make for a powerful punch? The answer is through the use of good, solid Karate training.

Karate is the martial art Mas Oyama used when he killed bulls, and his hands were reputed to be as hard as rocks. Add in the old legends of the Okinawan Karate Sensei who could twist raw bamboo apart and you really have something. And, the tales of the Karate Masters who could punch a fist right through the body armor of the Japanese Samurai, are icing on the cake!

Currently, karate training methods prefer makiwara training. This is a plank, tapering towards the top, that is buried in the ground. While punching the Makiwara has good effect, it does not return one to the training methods of old.

Bashing a tapered two by four, you see, can only be done for a short period of time, and then the fists start to turn red and ugly and to bruise up. Fifty punches per arm per day is just not enough to make the rock-like fist that we want. No, we need to look a little deeper, go a little more mad dog in our approach to find the perfect punch.

Oddly, the method we used in my karate school, and this was back in the sixties, before Karate had a chance to be 'watered down' by people who wanted t omake money, contests, protective gear, and that sort of thing, didn't actually involve the use of the fist. It didn't strengthen the fist directly, but rather strengthened the fingers. Make the fingers hard, like steel spikes, and you have a hard mitt.

We started out doing simple push ups. These strengthen the whole body, and they work the punching muscles directly. Then we started altering our push ups.

We would do push ups on our palms, then our fists, then our half fists, and finally our fingertips. This was hard as it didn't require just muscle, but an awareness of muscle. Eventually, reaching one single, outstretched finger, our awareness was what had grown, and our awareness is what made for unstoppable punches.

One single, outstretched finger. Not a finger and a thumb, not a bent finger, but a digit straight as a rod. And, our awareness became as straight as a rod...and unbending as steel. This is the type of Karate training I recommend for people who want the hard fist needed for the strongest punch.

About the Author:

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