I thought I already made this post, but I can't seem to find it.

Are knuckle pushup bad for your knuckles, the same way that heavy bag training without gloves can cause calcification and mess up you hands?

I always thought they were much safer than other knuckle strengthening methods, such as hitting makiwara post.

I used to bruise the hell out of my knuckles hitting one of those things (Makiwara post), and my hands would get skin up pretty bad hitting a 75lb vinly punching bag with no gloves on. That was about 8-9 years ago when I was about 13! (I know, I know, I was just a little idiot then...now I'm just an older idiot

Now the only type of actual knuckle conditioning I do is knuckle push ups on a hard floor.

I never experience pain while doing this exercise. I guess thats why I just assume them to be safer.

When you say knuckle push ups,
do you mean on the knuckles or on the fists.
Because the knuckle one's are done only on the two or three joints that you strike with. The fist one's are done on the whole fist.

I'm talking about the first two knuckles only. I didn't know people do fist pushups as well.

I too am a big fan of knuckle push ups. Do them on a hard floor with the first two knuckles and keep your wrist straight.

I think it is a very safe conditioning method, because there is no impact, therefore you are unlikely to damage the joints themselves. You might want to start on a softer floor, before moving on to hard wood, since it prepares your wrists for the strain.

They are best used IMO for preparing the wrist for striking and teach one to keep the wrist straight when punching. Certainly a good excercise and pretty safe.

Isnt it index forefinger on a horizontal knuckle pushup
and ring/pinky on a vertical...or how did it go?

I do knuckle push ups with the weight on my pinky, ring, and fore finger knuckles (last 3). Never on my first two knuckles, (index, fore finger knuckles).

And the knuckle push ups I'm talking about are done with a vertical fist.

Interesting...I have always done them on the first two knuckles. Since those are the two that ya hit with.

Do you think it has toughened up the last three knuckles?

Sure, I feel like its a safe way to condition my knuckles for hitting. And it just feels so much more natural, to me, to hit with my last 3 knuckles.

Where you trained to use the last three, or just adopted it because it feels natural? I am hesitant about hitting witht he last three, cuz one time I did and broke those knuckles...