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Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

It's an urban legend at the very least that you can improve the power of your punch by grasping a coin roll. I'm not so sure it's good for your hands but unlike a knife or brass knuckles you have some deniability. (Reminds me of the time that the store manager of a supermarket wrongly thought I was shoplifting and he followed me out with his clipboard which I'm sure he planned to whack me with and say it was an accident if I gave him any trouble.)

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A roll of coins, or any other heavy object, will significantly increase your punching power. Short of ninjas or mma fighters, the average person doesnt have the twitch ability to throw a significant punch. By adding mass, you increase power without needing the speed. Hands are very light. Even a small mass increase will make a big difference.

Nice, this knowledge will help me grab my keys in some self defense scenario. Will practice on sporting bag to avoid injury and verify force increase.

Yup. In fact, while boxing gloves are ostensibly for the protection of the fighters hands, the increased mass (approx 10oz for heaver weight classes) significantly ups the chance of a concussive strike and/or knockout.

So... it is kind of a mixed bag in terms of if they actually make fights safer.

Relatedly: - The padding in fights is much lighter than in practice or sparring. The added weight is good for conditioning, blunts sharp impacts, and slows down your speed. - If you spar anyone, you're expected to have at _least_ 14oz gloves. If your gym says otherwise, don't spar there (and arguably, don't train anywhere that doesn't take safety seriously). - Luis Resto, a boxer, was jailed for swapping the padding in his gloves with plaster. He ended the career and permanently damaged the eyesight of his opponent, Billy Collins Jr.

This seems a bit arbitrary since MMA gloves are lighter than boxing gloves. If you spar someone at an MMA gym you'll be throwing the exact same punches, but you won't be using 14 oz gloves.

I thought it was more because they can punch harder without breaking their hands.

Modern gloves are to spread out the impact to prevent cuts, blood, which was not allowed on TV once upon a time. The big puffy gloves only appeared when boxing looked to mainstream itself, to move out of the bars and become broadcast-quality entertainment.

That protection mostly comes from wraps, which you wear under your gloves

Learning how to throw a punch isn't that much work and gives you a huge multiple on power output.

Also throwing a bare knuckle punch against someone's head has a large likelihood of the puncher breaking multiple bones, though depending on the outcome that may be preferable to other alternatives.

Most people tend to punch with a loose hand to the top of the head: this simultaneously increases the chance of breaking their hand; reduces the impact force; and, strikes one of the most insensitive & hardest parts of the body (the skull). Trained fighters are targeting an untucked chin with a short high acceleration punch (jab, uppercut), with a tight fist. It is technically very challenging to do this, even for professionals.

In general: use your sneakers; if necessary, push opponents away with with your palms and tightly held fingers.

> In general: use your sneaker

This is indeed the 1st, 2nd, and frequently 3rd, suggested strategy from any good self defense teacher!

Well, you're right about ninjas. They have Real Ultimate Power, this website told me so: https://realultimatepower.net/ (Don't click unless you're ready to get pumped!)

OK, "urban legend at the very least" is a confusing way of putting things, it's kind of like saying "this is false at the very least, possibly even true!" (in this case it's true)

I’ll concede it was a poor choice of language. I heard about it first in the 1980s but looking for confirmation I could only find low quality evidence such as discussions on Reddit, quora and the like. No newspaper reports, no confessions that “I broke somebody’s nose”, no criminal charges, no discussions by martial arts instructors, nothing.

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