How bad does MMA mess up your hands?

[fluffball]

That's the conundrum, doing too much vs doing too little. Where does the balance lie for long term health? I would have thought that certain parts of your body would suffer most from practicing an activity for a long time. For running it would be the knees, for Muay Thai it would be the shins e.t.c.

Not shins, it's always the joints. Your shins will be fine. Wrists and knees, possibly knuckles.

 

[krugansjj]

Look at this fighter's hand

 

[Azam]

That's the conundrum, doing too much vs doing too little. Where does the balance lie for long term health? I would have thought that certain parts of your body would suffer most from practicing an activity for a long time. For running it would be the knees, for Muay Thai it would be the shins e.t.c.

I take the Pavel Tsatsouline approach to kettlebell training to martial arts training.

Don't train to failure. It does more harm than good - especially over the long term.

The joints are probably the number one health problem with martial arts training.

A proper S&C program & having the right nutrition goes a long way also.

I think TMAs do a better job at getting the balance right for long term health but at the expense of slower results.