Sir Whirlysplat
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Originally posted by StyleTime
Those gloves actually allow fighters to punch harder. They actually protect the hand rather than the other person's head/body. Most good fighters will actually injure their hands if they punch full force without gloves. I have had personal experience with the gloves and have hurt my hands punching as well.
Indeed
Knuckles and wrists break with "proper punching" - not traditional oriental martial arts punching (hiyahhh), but "proper punching" for the reasons I outlined earlier and will again.
Martial arts punching has no power, it can break boards but its actual force is limited.
Problems with martial arts strikes. Most people think because boxers don't break boards that they do not hit as hard.
Board Breaking v Real Punching - reposted fot the glory of Whirly 😖hifty: 🙂
A martial artist will tell you that 4 elements are involved
1) Equilibrium (Balance)
2) Breath Control
3) Reaction Force
4) Concentration
To translate that in to the real world we need Science
Physics 101 coming up
Force = Mass x Velocity2
In other words, force is accumulated in the form of speed, and at the end of the movement, speed is converted into striking force.
But were does the fourth element (concentration) come into play?
The concentration aspect of power, is not one of mind, but of area. As we concentrate that force into a smaller area, the power is increases proportionately. It is like putting a small nozzle on a garden hose... the stream of water exiting the hole is much more powerful than if we just let the water flow without. OR if you look at it from the other direction... a 200lb man standing on thin ice wearing skis... He does not fall through the ice because his weight is dispersed over a large area..
And finally the element called "Reaction Force"
Reaction Force is a very important factor in two ways... In the first way Velocity is affected. i.e. If a car traveling 50mph crashes head on into another car traveling 50 mph, the combined velocity is 100mph. Same is true with a punch or kick... If your opponent is moving in on you when you through your punch, the speed of the punch increased due to the advancement of your aggressor. This is good to know, but reaction force plays an even greater role in our power.
Newton's Law states, "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". In the martial arts, we are constantly retracting one hand to our belt as we send the other one out in a punch. The resulting reaction-force is passed on through the body and arm to the striking hand. In an even more complex fashion, when the hand actually strikes the target, the shock of the blow is passed through the body to the legs to the floor and then is reversed back to the punching hand, adding further force to the blow.
So often in the arts you hear, that size doesn't matter. We demonstrate this with a little person throwing a big person to the ground. But does size matter in breaking? It is my opinion that YES it does, but it can be overcome with the increased speed that smaller people often poses.
The faster you punch, the smaller the area you make contact with, and how fast you pull that hand back after the strike, are bigger factors in the break than size or "Mass".
So Why don't Boxers break Boards? In Mr Lees own immortal words
"Boards do not fight back"
Of course, the best boxers can punch as quickly and powerfully as any black belt. Why can't they break concrete blocks too? The answer lies in the nature of their punches. When a boxer throws his fist, he usually ends the movement with follow-through. This gives the punch maximum momentum (golf and tennis players follow through for the same reason), and it can help knock an opponent down. But the impact itself is diffuse: It's meant to jar an opponent's brain, not break a board.
So why are martial arts strikes crap?
Solid as they seem, all materials are at least slightly elastic. Whack them in the right spot and they will start to oscillate. A punch with a follow-through would dampen such oscillations, but a karate chop, by pulling away at the last moment, lets them move freely. If you tweak a rubber band it goes up and down, and the same is true if you tweak a board or a brick with a much greater force. When they reach their elastic limits, they start to yield. In other words, they break.
Fortunately for most of us, reaching that limit in bones is no easy matter. Bone can withstand 40 times more force than concrete, and a cylinder of bone less than an inch in diameter and 21Ú3 inches long can withstand a force of more than 25,000 newtons. Hands and feet can withstand even more than that, because their skin, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage absorb a great deal of impact. As a result, a well-kicked foot can absorb about 2,000 times as much force as concrete before breaking.
So Martial artists strikes are effective at Breaking boards but to break bones you need force (unless your very lucky) a martial arts strike simply cannot deliver.
However the momentum from a Boxers punch which actually generates more force. if you wish I will explain why in another post.
For this reason alone Ali will knock Lees block off
I hope this ends the Argument to everyones satisfaction
Keep the faith
Stay Whirly