So about bone density/densifying (sp?)

The end result may be similar, but the mechanisms are entirely different with bones.

 

because they're different types of tissues which are produced by different cellular mechanisms. the overall process is the same though. non-major damage occurs, non-major damage is repaired, continued repetition induces adaptation and reinforcement occurs because the damage is stubborn and annoying and won't freaking quit it

 

Always have SOMETHING covering you hands if you are hitting a heavy bag, or any bag for that matter, getting a staph infection is going to slow you aiming down pretty good.

Enjoy dude!

 

Yup, sports tape, a relatively thin bandage, etc. Heard of people using packing tape, but I don't know if that would work properly.

 

Conditioning such as this has been discussed many times over

The thing to consider, are you going into many actual fighting bouts?

or

Are you practicng for defense and./or fitness?

Age will take its toll

 

I want to do it just for the hell of it. Might come in handy one day sort of thing.

 

Then you are doing it for the WRONG reason.

 

Age can take it's toll, it doesn't mean it will. You don't have to look terribly hard to find practitioners who are still training these methods (Kyohide Shinjo Sensei, Morio Higaonna Sensei and Masaaki Ikemiyagi Sensei all spring to mind - though Higaonna Sensei's hands aren't the nicest to look at) who are in excellent health.

Training like this is no different to weight training. You have to do it with some moderation and respect for your body's limits. The damage only really comes when people get careless, start doing ridiculous things like punching brick walls full contact shortly after starting their conditioning or doesn't give their bodies sufficient time to heal.

As long as Zinowor takes the time to understand what he's actually doing with his practice and trying to achieve and doesn't push too hard or too fast, then he should be OK.

 

Still, it depends on the individual and what ailments they may develop with age.

Those who you speak of doing this had a purpose to do so. I doubt doing this was for "health reasons"

I totally agree upon the moderation, but tend to slightly frown upon the reason why, in these modern times with average lifestyles

 

I do a lot of things for the wrong reasons, I have given up on trying to do everything for the right reasons. Doing things for the wrong reasons feels liberating to me.

Anyway, the skin of my knuckles hasn't even healed completely yet. At the end of this week I think the skin will be 100% and I will give it a go with the added advice people have been giving me. Can't do kicks yet, because there's not enough space at this time.

I have 2 questions now however. Does my hand gripper training increase bone density in my hands? And is there any difference between punching the bag with gloves on or punching the bag bare handed, concerning the increase of bone density in my fists?

 

IMHO, besides skinning up the knuckles, it is always best to use bag gloves when using the bag. Boxers do

Simply, a professional boxer isnt concerned with bone density, per in this fashion, yet are good at what they do, why should you punch bare-handed whereas they do not?

Again, you have NOT been reading posts about this carefully.

Here, I have pasted those who also covered this:

 

Re; hand gripper - technically yes if you follow the principle of Wolfe's Law. In practice, I'm not sure you'd ever really notice a great deal of improvement, but as I've heard a lot of karate instructors say; "If you have a strong grip, your strike will hit harder". It wouldn't hurt to have a good, strong grip anyway for general life purposes - take that awkward jar of pickles!

As for gloves/no gloves - you'll probably find you won't get as many microfractures if you use gloves versus not using gloves, which means less calcium production, which means the bones won't develop as rapidly. But on the other hand, you'll probably go for longer if you wear gloves because your hands shouldn't hurt as much, which means you can put pressure on your knuckles for longer - which should help increase bone density. But not as quickly as going bare-knuckle.

Bare-knuckle will leave you more likely to tear the skin off your knuckles and you probably won't go as long though. Make sure you tape up your knuckles at least - the last thing you want to do is bleed on the bag or get a mix of fibre, sweat and general bacteria in the open sores.

So the choice is really yours to find a mix you're happy with. Take longer but with a safer approach or go quicker but risk the higher rate of injury.

The main thing I find with bare-knuckle heavy bag work is that I can't lay into the bag as hard as I can with gloves on for as long, which means I'm not developing my power strikes as well either. So in my eyes, bare knuckle should be in moderation at best.

 

If you want sausage hands Zinowar, go do physical labor for a few years. Preferably masonry or drywall. Mechanic work is also great.



(That's a joke, but only because it suggests you change your lifestyle to change a body part, not because it wouldn't actually help you achieve your goal because it would)

 

There is scientific literature to support it. It is not based on humans, but data collected from deer and elk antler bone show the effect theorized by Wolff's law is indeed the primary mechanical effect by which mammals strengthen bones.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12485646

http://www.lbl.gov/ritchie/Library/PDF/Acta Bio-antler.pdf

 

I did actually read them though, because it led me to the gloves vs no gloves question.

If high impact isn't necessarily better and bare knuckle will just rip the skin off my hands, why not just use gloves and go all out on the bag? I don't care for having alligator skin on my hands, I just want to have fists that don't break. And yes, for no real reason.

Karatesloth gave me the advice I will probably be going with though. No gloves, no bare knuckle either, I will use hand-wraps instead and see how it goes. I'll start off slow though, because I think there will still be a lot of friction.

 

Just a friendly note:

Having fists that don't break will not always compensate for a lack of skill and/or proper method.

 

Point taken. Still working on that.

 

1st link was nice and short, 2nd link gave me a headache haha