Unknown Knuckle Damage

Yes when using a technically perfect fist one can strike anything with a density not greatly exceeding bone. That said a eighth inch error in alignment or two inch miscalculation in distance can cause dangerous damage, especially if your in the middle of a real fight.
People say things like this a lot, and I don't understand it. Maybe it's because I started training young, but those "half a second responses" and "2 inch error" aren't things that have ever concerned me. When I'm in the moment, I throw a punch when I plan to throw it, and it generally works. If I throw a punch to an area, I'm going to hit that area, and if I'm not confident that I can, I make a "half second decision" to hit somewhere easier/larger. And I will do so with a proper fist, the same one I have thrown thousands of times in the past. The issues won't come from the timing or accuracy needed, or an issue with how I form a fist, the issues will come from my opponent doing something unexpected, resulting in a different body part/limb in the area I'm expecting to hit. The real issue is variability, not timing or accuracy.

Then again, maybe I just am lucky enough to avoid those two issues because of how early I started training, but I don't think that's the case.
 
People say things like this a lot, and I don't understand it. Maybe it's because I started training young, but those "half a second responses" and "2 inch error" aren't things that have ever concerned me. When I'm in the moment, I throw a punch when I plan to throw it, and it generally works. If I throw a punch to an area, I'm going to hit that area, and if I'm not confident that I can, I make a "half second decision" to hit somewhere easier/larger. And I will do so with a proper fist, the same one I have thrown thousands of times in the past. The issues won't come from the timing or accuracy needed, or an issue with how I form a fist, the issues will come from my opponent doing something unexpected, resulting in a different body part/limb in the area I'm expecting to hit. The real issue is variability, not timing or accuracy.

Then again, maybe I just am lucky enough to avoid those two issues because of how early I started training, but I don't think that's the case.

Your quite right, in a perfect world training trumps most everything. I've been training since I was six, seriously since I was eleven, but a real fight isn't in an ideal world. You can throw a perfect punch at the perfect time and still fail, just like with ANY technique. The person your punching might trip at the last moment and double the power of your hit or cause you to hyperextend your elbow at the sudden lack of a rooted target. The only thing that makes other strikes/movements slighlty safer is it's harder to hurt yourself, with a punch a dozen things can suddenly and unexpectedly work against you and cause you a lot of pain.

Be cautious of being to sure in your skill, it can fail you at unexpected moments.
 
Your quite right, in a perfect world training trumps most everything. I've been training since I was six, seriously since I was eleven, but a real fight isn't in an ideal world. You can throw a perfect punch at the perfect time and still fail, just like with ANY technique. The person your punching might trip at the last moment and double the power of your hit or cause you to hyperextend your elbow at the sudden lack of a rooted target. The only thing that makes other strikes/movements slighlty safer is it's harder to hurt yourself, with a punch a dozen things can suddenly and unexpectedly work against you and cause you a lot of pain.

Be cautious of being to sure in your skill, it can fail you at unexpected moments.
Those issues would fall into the variability aspect though. If someone trips at the last second, it doesn't matter if the spot I was hitting was an eighth of an inch, two inches, or the entire midsection, I'm still going to miss.
 
Well if anyone reads this, I've had this happen to me a few more times. It ends up healing after about 1.5 weeks. To clear some things up the issue isn't loose skin, the sensation I'm talking about is that of inflamed soft tissue that swells up between the knuckle bone and skin causing the relationship between the two in a new and alien way. Seems to be just inflammation. It happened less and less over a year and a half, now I'm doing more damage to the steel dummy than to my knuckles.
 
Well if anyone reads this, I've had this happen to me a few more times. It ends up healing after about 1.5 weeks. To clear some things up the issue isn't loose skin, the sensation I'm talking about is that of inflamed soft tissue that swells up between the knuckle bone and skin causing the relationship between the two in a new and alien way. Seems to be just inflammation. It happened less and less over a year and a half, now I'm doing more damage to the steel dummy than to my knuckles.

That is because your body gets stronger the more you condition your body. Glad to hear you have gotten stronger.
 
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