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Check with your doctor to see if karate is safe for you.
If the general public thinks about different types of hand strikes in karate, normally only two will come to mind. These are the forward punch and the karate chop that Capt. Kirk used to subdue so many of his adversaries.
Although they have seen Stephen Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme use another innumerable times it almost always will slip their mind. Think of their movies for a moment and remember all the times you have seen the bad guy rushing towards them and the hero seeming to take a small step back only to appear to stick their arm out straight. As the bad guy reaches them, the flat hand of the hero hits them in the throat and evil is vanquished, as he lies moaning on the floor. This strike is called the ridge hand and although it is more complicated than it appears, it is highly affective.
The ridge hand can come off either the front hand (forward ridge hand) or the rear hand (reverse ridge hand). The actual striking part of the hand is the bony ridge that makes up the side of the knuckles. Lay your hand flat on a table and place the thumb so it touches the rest of you hand. The bony area it touches is the spot that will hit your opponent first.
When delivering the ridge hand your thumb should be tucked just under the palm so it touches the crease of the index finger to form a flat striking area. Do not lay the thumb across the palm because it causes the hand to bow or form a cup. To be affective, the side of the first knuckle must make initial contact and the hand itself must be flat and rigid.
Most students first attempting this strike will try to throw it like the old-fashioned haymaker punch. The haymaker is the one John Wayne would bring his fist way back and with a long, circular motion hit his opponent in the face while throwing his body weight into the punch. This is not what you want to do when throwing a ridge hand.
The ridge hand is a quick strike that comes straight out from your body towards the target. As it is coming out, have your hand in a loose fist held so it is in an up and down position. In other words, the thumb and index area are facing upwards and your pinkie will be towards the floor.
As your hand gets close to your opponent, open the fist so it is flat, then tuck the thumb as described before. As you do this, use a sharp snapping movement to rotate the “ridge area” towards your target. While doing this, remember to keep the elbow slightly bent so a retaliatory block or strike doesn’t take a chance of hyper extending the elbow.
To become proficient with this hand technique, lots of practice is required. This practice can include “air time” but use of a punching bag is mandatory to get the feel of the actual hit as well as building the ability to put power behind the strike.
While practicing this strike, you will want to start out in a fighting stance with the side of you body facing your opponent. This opponent can be real or imaginary. As stated, your side is forward with your hips and shoulders facing at a 90degree angle from the opponent. Your head is turned so you can see the person you are fighting and your guard is up with elbows kept close in towards the body. Body should rest lightly on the balls of both feet which are set apart at shoulder width. Knees are kept unlocked to lower the risk of a knee injury and you want to keep your back straight and set over your hips. Don’t lean forward with any hand strike as it shifts your center of gravity and causes you to become off balance.
When executing a ridge hand, one of the best spots to go for if you are in a life-threatening situation is the front of your opponent’s throat. A good, solid ridge hand strike can cause serious if not permanent injury to the throat so use caution when deciding to make this area your target. Other areas that it can be affective on are the temple, bridge of the nose, chest, solar plexus, last two ribs in the back as well as over the kidney area.
As with any technique, nothing replaces the instruction of a qualified karate instructor (sensei) nor will any technique be affective with out enough practice so it becomes second nature. Proper execution of the ridge hand requires speed and you lose this if you have to stop and think about using it.
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