Vertical Fist

One of the first things I noticed in Chinese Martial Arts when I was first exposed to them was be it in Yang style Tai Chi or Choy Lay Fut, the basic straight punch was thrown with a vertical fist instead of a horizontal fist.

As I got into kickboxing I used vertical fist punches mostly at close range to the body, and horizontal fists long range to the head. My aspiring kickboxing career ended after my first two fights were cancelled because of chronic wrist pain in the mid 90's, which is were a lot of my aversion to punching to the face comes from.

Over the last few years I have gotten into cross training with MMA and Muay Thai fighters. My wrists are so sensitive that I can't hit focus mitts for more than a few rounds without the pain coming back. But I recently discovered that if I strike with a vertical fist I don't get that wrist pain:

I figured old people teach kung fu forms, so as they get older, of course they teach old people ergonomic moves like vertical punches. Imagine my surprise when Fight Perfect recently produced a video advocating this style of closed fist strikes (Update 3/14/2020, Fight Perfect has been censored on YouTube, but the following video covered more ore less the same material as the now missing Fight Perfect video):

It is interesting to note that the vertical fist straight punch has been around a long time in western boxing as well:

In today's world there is a lot to learn about martial arts in general and striking specifically. Where I personally lost power on my straight punches wasn't on under rotation of the punch, but on my elbow coming up. The easiest way to keep my elbow down has always been vertical punches, and now that I see they are also more ergonomic, it seems to me that this is the fastest way to teach people to throw an effective straight punch.