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Why do boxers rotate their fist so the knuckles are horizontal?
I am new to martial arts in general, and have been taking HEMA, which includes historical English boxing, aka pugilism or bareknuckle boxing. I'm taught that keeping the knuckles vertical (or parallel to my humerus) in a straight punch lines up all the bones in the arm and prevents boxer's fracture or other related injuries. This makes sense to me as my hand, wrist, and arm feels rock solid like this, where the wrist feels weaker and the muscles in my arm feels tense in spots when I rotate it horizontally.
I've been told it's to rotate with your hips better, getting more power, but I can rotate my hips just fine without rotating my arm.
I'd be a fool to believe that modern boxers are throwing punches wrong. So why do they rotate their wrists horizontally?
3 Answers
- lestermountLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
This is called pronation and gets your shoulder into the punch. It is true that your power comes from the ground up, you use your legs and hips to generate power, you use your arms and shoulders and back to get the final amount of power on the punch.
If you punch and keep your hand with the back to the outside rather than rotating it, you will not have nearly the same power as you have when you rotate the arm and fist.
The idea that not rotating the arm somehow prevents injury and give more power is physically wrong. It is true that bare knuckle fighters did not rotate the arm and hand but that was to protect the bones in the hand, were they to hit the opponent's head they would break their hand.
- kalambreLv 77 years ago
I would suggest you follow what the experts told you. And yest you will be getting more power by rotating the fist.
- 7 years ago
Basically what lestermount said. It adds more power if you rotate your fist. Pretty much like how pivoting your feet adds more power.
