I coach Mickey in boxing for self-defense and survival, not competition, so we stay with the open hand a lot. With a karate background, he was throwing the open hand as a heal-palm thrust, which I doggedly try to eradicate from his arsenal. This is a bad strike, and is not to be in the serious survival arsenal.
I recommend the use of the cupped open hand over the palm, because the cupped hand—as soon as the forward finger portion has touched—can be turned into palm thrust. You have a dude on the floor and you want to crack his head open but not ruin your hand?
Do not thrust with the palm, but jab with the cupped hand and then, when your fingertips touch his forehead, thrust with the palm. The palm thrust is a “fire and forget” “dumb bomb” which is committed from the start and imposes no control over the opponent.
Boxing with the open palm allows you to jab with the finger tips, peck with the finger tips, rake the eye with a spear hand jab, palm thrust on a dime as described above, and most importantly, operate as a checking hand to avoid and control body-to-body contact and deal with a person who punches harder and—God forbid—better, and deal with weapons like—yikes—knives!
Here are the specific mechanical and tactical problems with the karate palm thrust.
1. The strike develops tension early, slowing it, breaking impact.
2. The palm is shone face first before finger impact, making the striking surface that may be interfered with by intervening limbs—perhaps hands—as large as a 16 ounce boxing glove.
3. The strike ends tensely, to with pliability, and develops tension all the way back to the torso, setting the palm striker who does not finish the fight with the strike up for an arm drag lock.
4. The hand position upon hitting or missing is preconfigured for a wrist lock.
5. The tensing of the arm encourages passage of a missed stroke and precludes control.
6. The tensing of the hand in thrusting the palm forward exposes the arteries and tendons of the wrist to possible blade cuts.
7. The blind power commitment virtually insures a clinch with any human combatant that might be rated as dangerous or adaptable.
8. The forward thrust heal of the palm encourages push-past contact on control surfaces like the skull and shoulder.
Look, the palm strike is for use against giant, immobile dodos pulled out of an audience at a martial arts demonstration. This is a stroke with far more tactical pitfalls than advantages and might be classified as a weapon with a primarily negative tactical profile.
