A punch is a

striking Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

blow with the

fist A fist is the shape of a hand when the fingers are bent inward against the palm and held there tightly. To make or clench a fist is to fold the fingers tightly into the center of the palm and then to clamp the thumb over the middle phalanges; in ...

. It is used in most martial arts and combat sports, most notably boxing, where it is the only type of offensive technique allowed. In sports, hand wraps or other padding such as gloves may be used to protect athletes and practitioners from injuring themselves. The use of punches varies between different martial arts and combat sports. Styles such as boxing,

Suntukan Suntukan is the fist-related striking component of Filipino martial arts. In the central Philippine island region of Visayas, it is known as Pangamot or Pakamot and Sumbagay. It is also known as Mano-mano and often referred to in Western mart ...

Russian fist fighting Russian boxing (russian: Кулачный бой, Kulachniy Boy, fist fighting, pugilism) is the traditional bare-knuckle boxing of Rus' and then Russia. Boxers will often train by punching buckets of sand to strengthen bones, and prepare minutes ...

use punches alone, while others such as

Kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

Lethwei Lethwei ( my, လက်ဝှေ့; IPA: ) or Burmese boxing, is a full contact combat sport from Myanmar that uses stand-up striking including headbutts. Lethwei is considered to be one of the most brutal martial arts in the world, * * * a ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

may use both punches and kicks. Others such as wrestling (excluding professional wrestling) and judo (punches and other striking techniques,

atemi In Japanese martial arts, the term designates blows or strikes to the body, as opposed to twisting of joints, strangleholds, holding techniques and throws. Atemi can be delivered by any part of the body to any part of the opponent's body. Th ...

, are present in judo kata, but are forbidden in competitions) do not use punches at all. There are many types of punches and as a result, different styles encompass varying types of punching techniques.

Basic types

This is not a comprehensive list of all punches and may need to be updated, due to the large diversity of schools of practice whose techniques, employing arm, shoulder, hip and leg work, may invariably differ.

Styles

Boxing

In boxing, punches are classified according to the motion and direction of the strike; contact is always made with the knuckles. There are four primary punches in boxing: the jab, cross, hook, and uppercut.

Karate

Punching techniques in

are called '' tsuki'' or ''zuki''. Contact is made with the first two knuckles (''seiken''). If any other part of the hand is used to strike with, such as the back of the fist (''uraken'') or the bottom of the fist (''tetsui''), then the blow is classified as a strike (uchi). Karate punches include the thrust punch '' oi-zuki'' made using the lead-hand, straight punch '' choku-zuki'', reverse punch '' gyaku-zuki'', made from the opposite (lead) hand, and many other variations.

Gallery

Seiken.png, Seiken Brawl.jpg, A brawl is a large scale fist fight Lead hand uppercut.jpg, An American soldier demonstrating an uppercut

References

External links

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How to punch harder in a street fight
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punch (Combat) Pain infliction methods Martial art techniques Kickboxing terminology Articles containing video clips