Hammerfist strike
Tettsui uchi (literally: “iron hammer strike”), or hammerfist strike earns its name because it requires you to imagine that the shutō of your closed fist is the head of a sledgehammer.
Hammerfists are incredibly simple and robust; they are the weapon of choice when delivering crushing blows to the hardest parts of your opponent’s anatomy, like the jaw, the temple, or even the skull itself. Hammerfists are versatile, and can be thrown in can be thrown in four directions.
Contents
Downward hammerfist strike
The downward hammerfist strike is a brutal, closed-fist variation of hassō-shutō-uchi.
[videos of downward hammerfists, fast and slow from the front and from the side.]
Inside hammerfist strike
The inside hammerfist strike is a brutal, closed-fist variation of tate-shutō uchi.
[videos of inside hammerfists, fast and slow from the front and from the side.]
Outside hammerfist strike
The outside hammerfist strike is a brutal, closed-fist variation of the winding knife-hand strike, makkikomi-shutō uchi.
[videos of outside hammerfists, fast and slow from the front and from the side.]
Rear hammerfist strike
Downward hammerfist strikes are used to deliver crushing blows to your opponent’s abdomen and genitalia, typically when escaping from a grab from behind.
To throw a rear hammerfist strike, pull your arm back sharply, as far as possible. (Ideally, this is a rear elbow strike.) Then, straighten the arm out and down in a snapping motion. The forearm should not swing freely while the elbow remains fixed in place, like a folding pocket knife. The elbow should drop down as you perform a downward hammerfist, giving it the same crack-the-whip feeling as an outside hammerfist or a winding knife-hand strike.
[videos of rear hammerfists, fast and slow from the front and from the side. Also, show a bad example where the fists swings uselessly from the side, and shout “NO!” or something.]
