thoughening knuckles?

[gabbah]

Two questions:

1. I have seen and read about hitting paper or plants as training. What is the deal with that?

2. I train kickboxning and thoughening your shins is a natural.. is it the same with your knuckles/hands?
Some time ago I hit a bag and injured one of my knuckles. It got all swollen for a long time, then it settled down a bit. Now it's a lot bigger than before, but it feels ok. So I guess my body just has just decided I need more padding there, and gave me a knock-out knuckle or something, lol
Is it normal that the knuckles change when/if you thoughen them by hitting the bag with thin gloves?

Third hidden level bonus question:
Btw, I saw that mirco "crocop" actually hits a very hard wooden plate covered with some leather or something.. bareknuckled.. he said it's to toughen the hand.. comments?

[Thai Bri]

I have heard people in Wing Chun hit paper that is attached form the ceiling by a piece of string. Its supposed to help you "snap" your punches. It seems silly to me.

Knuckles? I have long since converted to open handed strikes for real fight training (not sport). As a society we have become obsessed with punching. But there are far better ways. The hand just wasn't designed for it. Boxing gloves were designed to protect the hand (not the opponents head), yet still people with gloved hands can hurt themselves. And people who do long term "hand conditioning" end up in agony with arthiritis.

[sherwinc]

Two questions:

1. I have seen and read about hitting paper or plants as training. What is the deal with that?

easy to break wooden boards, but hard to deal papers.........

convinced????????

[gabbah]

Btw, right now I work the bag with 12oz sparring gloves. Should I use sack gloves instead? What consequences would that have?