Had the same argument with someone on another forum years ago when I was a teenager, he showed me why it wasn't better than a normal push up. I'll find the articles....
they can't cause joint problems because there's no impact. just use padding on the knuckle joint itself, or start them on soft surfaces and start building up to harder ones.
they also isolate the triceps a lot more than a normal pushup, and don't cause wrist or elbow strain, which i at least tend to get with triceps heavy pushup variants.
Doing press ups on you knuckles should incorporate the same muscles as doing them normally... IMHO the only benefit is that they will build a layer of callus on your knuckles that should make your hits more effective. Who knows... PS: I do one portion of press ups on my knuckles.
You could just do those variants then? I'm against knuckle push-ups, because they DO NOT make your knuckles stronger or your punches better. They just hurt.
Why would you say they hurt? I never experienced any discomfort when doing knuckle press ups... Regarding making knuckles stronger, I am not sure that I agree with you... Putting pressure on bones will build their density... Remember Jean Claude Van Damme and that small palm tree he knocked over?
There is a variation that gymnasts use to strengthen the wrists (particularly for the forces they are put under in ring work). The wrists should be warmed up first. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIeL0AYygiY"]GymnasticBodies.com - Wrist Pushups - YouTube[/ame] A beginner can do them from their knees
The other day, my instructor was demonstrating some pushups that his instructor made the class do when he first started - including jumping knuckle pushups, where you go from flat to pushing yourself off the floor, slapping your chest and landing back on your knuckles, then repeat. He did say that it wasn't a good idea and that he never does any such things with his classes. Quite impressive as a party trick though!
Hmmmmm... I will definitely try this... I do press ups on my wrists, but do not start with knuckles as the guy on the clip...
A full wrist warm up/prehab sequence can be seen in the following video. The recommendation (for gymnasts) is to do it around twice a week. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2w1PeSR8G4&feature=related"]Wrists and ankles - YouTube[/ame]
Yeah right... Thank you, I don't want to argue! I'll keep doing knuckle press ups, I have found they strengthen my wrists that have better stability for punching, teach me to align the arm/writs/elbow/knuckles better and have a hardening/strengthening effect on the knuckles too... To my knowledge, these are no adverse effects, except maybe a little bit of discomfort at first. Osu!
it would appear you failed to read the part where i said they strain my elbows. besides, knuckle pushups are much more relevant to my martial arts training than normal pushups are. if they do not help make your punches better, you have no idea how to punch. and i'm not going to argue that point with you, because you don't want to argue your own point either, so deal with it.
This is true, in MT they do strengthen there shin bones with various techniques. However they strengthen ONE bone with micro fractures, doing this on your small joints can fuse the smaller bones together. I must find that article.
Well explained! Especially regarding the arm/writs/elbow/knuckles alignment. I felt the benefits when punching the heavy bag. By doing knuckle push ups you do not cause micro fractures! You are just putting pressure on bones...
I've been doing knuckle push-ups since aged 11. I'm now in my mid-40s and can categorically say they've never caused me joint problems. However, I'm aware that some people are congenitally more susceptible to joint problems than others. I think I'm one of those people I do have a number of joint problems, but none - I'm happy to say - with my knuckles. In fact, I MUCH prefer knuckle push-ups because they're kinder to my wrists, which is one area where I do have problems. One of the main risk factors for repetitive strain injury is putting the joint under load when its significantly diverged from its neutral position. For me, push-ups on the palms puts my wrists at an angle of extension that is injurious to me. For others, who have no pre-existing wrist problem, it shouldn't be a issue (unless they do fiendish amounts of normal push-ups). So knuckle push-ups remove the risk of wrist problems for me. Why do them? I was originally taught as a kid that they would help me forge a 90 degree angle (or less) in my fist, which is a good thing when punching with the knuckles. My gut feel is that there is truth in that, though I only have anecdotal evidence of this. I can see that there's probably value in what others have said about wrist alignment too. It often surprises me that people complain about them being painful. A bit uncomfortable OK, but positively painful? Yet some people clearly do. I think its a good idea to condition your mind to accept that pain/discomfort. After all, if you can't cope with a knuckle push-up, how are you going to be able to cope with the discomfort involved in actually punching someone? I doubt very much that knuckle push-ups can cause micro-fractures. For that to occur I think you'd need either a) significant impact, or b) repeated forces applied laterally to the bone causing it to repeatedly bend. I think the compressive forces involved in a push-up are likely to cause a small amount of accretion (ie. bone thickening) of the metacarpals, which for our purposes can only be a good thing. Impact and grip strengthening would likely cause greater levels of accretion though. Mike
Point out where I said knuckles? I said doing the same conditioning as a MT fighter would cause micro fractures.
