What does anybody think about the practical reality of combining closed fist striking arts with grappling arts? IMHO it's not such a great idea for the street for some obvious reasons that go unnoticed in the training hall:
1. Hitting the bony parts of your opponent's body can damage your hand, making grappling problematic.
A. Some arts like Filipino Kali practice "destructions" that involve intercepting the fist with the elbow (ouch). Old style bare knuckle western boxers often caught punches
on the top of their heads(ouch).
2. In this age of rampant blood born diseases, do you really want to tear open your
knuckles and your opponents face?
Now I suppose a good Beng Chuan to the solar plexus avoids three of the above problems, but it seems to me that open hand techniques avoid all of them.

Boxers wrap their hands. The best hitters aren't 100% sure of where they will land their punch in a fight because the other guy might move. Hand and wrist damage could be significant with a closed fist.

Open hand can be just as powerful as a closed fist if one knows how to use it. An open hand can also be used for so many other things besides just hitting, and the switchup is faster than with a closed fist.

In the NHB fights without gloves they appear hit most ofetn with open hands.

Open hand strikes can result in hand damages too(especially fingers), so it's not a panacea at all.

I guess mixed approach is the best.

Yeah, you're right Anvar. Although the only times I can remember hurting my fingers were during sparring in my Kenpo days- seems it was always due to blocking kicks with a loose open hand. Perhaps the answer is just enough striking to setup a lock/throw/projection. I'm not entirely sure that hitting is necessary (in the realest fight I've ever been in I never hit the other guy once and managed to win- but he wasn't particularly skilled, just drunk and enraged). However, a Chen style coach from Taiwan that I had a chance to interact with was insistent regarding hitting the opponent before trying anything else, " you hit him first, you try Chin Na without hitting, he kill you" was the way he put it. It would be nice to be as skillful at throwing as someone like Tim is. Reminds me of that Arnold flick "Twins", where Arny throws one of the bad guys and then says with an innocent tone, " the ground was his enemy".

On the training side, it might be worth to spar with minimal (or absent) hand protection.

For example, Koshiki karate practitioners use headgear with plastic shields and no hand/foot protection at all. In a short time you get an idea of which of your techniques are relatively safe and which are not.

I aegree with Anvar in a sparring technique you should use minimal contact on hands and feet. An alternative could possibly be to shadow box with a partener in your style(or freestyle). However you should get used to your hands and feet making contact without protection.

Concerning the original posting:
Brazillian Ju-Jitsu (Gracie Ju-Jitsu) is a fine grappling art. Japanese Ju-Jitsu & Western Boxing (a fist art) were combined & refined.
Using open hand (palm) strikes is no guarantee that bloodshed will be avoided (consider what could happen if you hit an opponent's teeth, nose, or glasses, or if you are wearing a watch with a metal band when you strike).

Isn't it a general rule to use a yin hand on a yang target and a yang hand on a yin target? You know Softer target like solar plexus, pecks, large muscles and eyes ect would get the harder knuckles and elbows. The harder targets or boney areas would get an open hand.

Ty

Ty Rivers,

As a general rule, yes -- but with a lot of exceptions: (if I understand your meaning correctly) some yin-to-yin can work well and yang-to-yang delivered in a driving manner from close range can also work well (all without hand damage). I've been exposed to hard & soft (external & internal) systems & they all have some similar types of blows (it's just that some tend to emphasize one type over another -- especially in the beginning stages of some).

For those hard knuckles on hard targets: approach the target at a somewhat slow speed with a loose fist (appropriate distancing, timing, angling -- basically matching torso speeds -- will allow you to do this...READ TIM'S BOOK: EFFORTLESS COMBAT THROWS), then once contact (or if you wish, near contact) is made, align your skeletal frame & DRIVE your fist through that hard target. Big effect & no hand damage.