How can punch harder

The core and hip muscles must be strong enough to transfer this force through the mid-section and to the shoulders and then arms, which must be mobile enough to efficiently deliver the fist towards the target.

This must all be performed with solid technique. In this next section, we will tell you how we improve these 3 key areas.

Generating significant force in a short space of time is the result of many integrated processes, including genetic factors, muscle fibre type composition, the ability of your nervous system to recruit motor units and the structure and ultra-structure of muscle.

Usain Bolt chose his parents wisely because he has a unique genetic code and was raised in an environment conducive to high performance. Despite how much we might train, most of us will find it nearly impossible to run as fast as him. However, impulse and momentum are trainable qualities. Impulse is calculated as force multiplied by time. So the largest impulses are created by large forces optimised for the time it takes to perform a skill. Effective punches are those that transfer large amounts of force in a short space of time.

We all know boxers who have incredible hand speed but seem to lack punching force. In these instances, they are sacrificing punch force for speed. What you need to develop is force and speed, so that you can have an optimal combination to produce a devastating punch, or choose whether the next punch will be fast and light or slower but more forceful. Along with a good amount of technical training, there are plenty of strength and conditioning methods that can help you develop a more forceful punch.

First of all, we need to train the ability to produce force through strength training. This should be the priority as the more force we can produce, the more impulse you can develop and the more effective your punch will be.

From our own research, we think that a few things contribute to punching force. These include lower and upper body strength, acceleration and mass of the core muscles. To develop these characteristics we use sprint, resistance and Olympic weightlifting training.

These methods improve hip extension forces that are important contributors to punching, throwing and striking activities. You can also punch harder by improving the way muscles, joints and limbs co-ordinate with each other motor unit sequencing. Unnecessary squeezing of the fist makes your whole body tense and slow. Johnny, could you elaborate on how legs help with punching power. James This is a great site with v practical articles.

Awesome that you bring this up! Form is crucial but only as far as getting you in a position to let energy flow from your feet to arms. I was taught to be grounded in a good stance and make a ripple through your body ending in the strike. Its the same effect of a whip or snapping a wet towel, but without the exaggeration. Over exaggerating the motion is a good way to feel it, but with much practice it is honed down to extreme subtly as in the case of the immortal Bruce Lee.

Personally when I through a big punch I think of the weight transfer like a baseball pitcher, giving the punch the snap needed to fell a man. Lower center of gravity — A lower center of gravity will definitely help since all the power comes from the ground. For one, you might over-commit and not be able to retract your punch as quickly. You might also unintentionally weaken the power of your own punch since your focus might be on the extension of the leg as opposed to the rotation of the hips.

Ultimately, you will find that advice is just simply advice. Practice what you can in the gym but always keep in mind that fighting in the ring will always be different. Different boxers and different situations will force you to react in a different manner. What works as an advantage over one boxer might be a disadvantage over another. Sometimes, you might want to give up some power for a gain in speed or mobility.

James Many thanks for advice. I totally agree that straightening the legs completely does over-commit you to the punch and interferes with your ability to move your feet when countered. And watching a lot of the greats on YouTube to see how they do it…Alexis Arguello etc. Would doing explosive pushups the one where you clap your hands be worth doing or are they still not worth giving time to etc….

Pushps and dips are great…. Clapping your hands is a good idea or you can also have the platforms on the side and you keep jumping your hands up and down.

You can also use a medicine ball and do push-ups with one arm on it and one arm on the ground and keep alternating hands with each push-up. I use to be a very active boxer but now find it more enjoyable to be helping many people over the internet without having to leave the house.

I have just begun boxing workouts and am concerned about lifting weights. I have big arms for my size and a long reach so I thought they would lend themselves to boxing. One of the excercises I started doing was very heavy, high rep bench press. To me, this would correspond to the last few inches of punch extension.

Or, how about moderate weight, but explosive movement? Also, since my arms are relatively massive, for force I just need to get them moving fast, which I assume would be torso rotation. What would be the best excercise for this? Thanks, great site. It is much better that you practice explosive movement. I prefer resistance band work and bodyweight exercises over heavy weight-lifting. You are correct that working out in your punching range of motion will increase your physical ability in that range of motion.

Bench flies cannot replicate the hook motion because throwing a proper hook uses your legs, abs, torso, chest, and arms. You are probably better served by using that time to practice the punching motion since proper technique will deliver more damage to your opponent than raw muscle performance. The best way to get your arms moving faster is to stay away from heavy weights that force them to move slow.

In the end, I would have to say that doing many clapping push-ups is better than doing many bench presses to increase punching power. An even more critical statement is that time spent working on technique would help a beginner more so than time spent working out. Ultimately, I think for what you are trying to achieve, swimming is a much better exercise for you.

It offers your body resistance at all angles and allows you to build power, strength, and speed. A typical round of boxing would require AT LEAST 50 punches in a 3 minute period; if you are unable to push the weight load explosively as often as 50 times per 3 minutes, your exercise may not be the right one for boxing. Lifting Weights Thanks for your response. Bruce Lee was able to hold a lb barbell straight out! Weights I disagree with what you say about weights.

You say lifting weights your body is becoming stronger, but slowing down. I agree with you, but only with those single jointed movements.

Doing bicep curls are only going to slow you down. All the muscles required for a good punch! And one more thing, about what you said about the middle weight boxer being a great heavyweight boxer. I Think you have this misconception that if you touch a barbell, your going to grow to be the incredible hulk. Building muscle mass is hard, and your not going to gain much weight, especialy if you do those multi jointed movements.

Professional bodybuilds do high-rep, high-weights with single jointed movements to really rip their muscles and grow them huge. Thanks also just to ask how do you feel about combining boxing with wing chun cause both of them to me are kinda the same. Any explosive that is, pushing or pulling quickly, and then returning the weight at a slower pace set can be helpful. If you want to gain mass, you need to eat more calories. I think throwing medicine ball, sprinting and doing plyometric are good to improve punching power.

Punching Im new to boxing and fighting and when i throw any punch especially jabs they feel sloppy and powerless i do the rotations and movements when i punch. I am wondering if you know any exercises that will make my punches feel strong and not feel sloppy. If you want stronger punches, you have to practice throwing explosive punches with explosive breathing.

My advice is to take your time to develop your craft and the skills will come soon enough! There is no shortcut for hours and hours of practice. Perfect form leads to Perfect punches— one good shot is all it takes to cause a knockout. Dex — yes, release the arms upon impact. By doing so you are releasing the punching weight into your opponent… think of it as the gun releasing the bullet.

If im punching right should my arms feel like im barely using them its like my weight carries the punches? I highly recommend that you read the guide on how to throw snap punches. Training I dont see how raising the shoulder increases power or how lifting weights weakens the punches? Brandon, raising the shoulder activates the shoulder into the punch. To expand on this further, there ARE proper ways to lift weights that do add power to your punch.

Thank you for your advice. In any case, the Physics definition of Force is probably what many people would think of as power.

Power in physics is also proportional to Energy, as T pointed out. To deal the most damage, accelerating a larger mass the entire body is going to do better than a smaller mass just the fist. Alignment and technique are really important here. If the fist and the arm crumples upon hitting the target, then clearly, the maximum energy is not transferred to the target. The punch with the proper alignment, with the full acceleration of the body, that is anchored to the feet and into the ground is like a 12 inch sharpened pole angled from the ground that can stop a charging cavalry unit dead in its tracks like in the movie Braveheart.

Johnny N what you mean by raising the shoulders? When i punch i try to keep my shoulders parallel to the ground. Does shadow boxing with light weights help? I do one round of shadow boxing with three pound weights. Going fast injures your joints. Boxing to keep in shape I have black belt in karate. And believe combination of all excercise done properly ligth weights , pushups. And hittin bag. Heavy and ligth for coordination.

Even exercises like yoga for stretching creates power and concentration, also tai chi the slower you move in tai chi better balance and will move faster, works in reverse and helps body to move in a unit. So combing all these exercises in routine will improve punching power, body movement and katas in karate for body movement.

Like being anchored to ground and can move like a cat. Balanced and set ready for next movement. I feel and with practice using all these exercises will improve a boxers punching power speed ,balance. But a defencive. Let us say for gives you better offensive. Like football a defense can stop a good offense and win.

For lack of better words. And dancing like Ali and punching like Marciano for knockout punch. A straith karate punch puts know out punch into let us say a jab done properly. Like sugar ray leornard second figth against Roberto Duran hit him so fast and hard could not counter like first figth they had were Duran one.

For experience and good counter puncher. Especially in close. Shorter reach closer to opponent gives you more power and person with longer arms looses his advantage of longer arms taking that weapon away from him and you tying him up close with good body movement.

Found this out in grainy for 30 years for self defense. Throwing punches should always come from legs to hips threw arms.

Includes any punc or combination. Also strching throwing karate kicks give you better balance. And using hi Speed generated with good body movement will create this loose arms relaxed till ready to strike with any punch combo or hook upper cut and straight jab to set up and open your opponent up. For striking with sped and power. Does not matter what punc you throw but focused like shooting a photo with a camera. And always recoil back into defense position.

You only worry like a cube around your body outside that cube your body can not effect you. Many figthers boxers distracted from what happens outside there body area. And get distracted and then are in trouble. Must move body as a unit. Always in contol and balanced.

The key is balance. I always was say like middle weight and could defeat say a Man 50pounds heaved because he used his size not technique. Since most untrained persons or with little grainy think they can use there size alone to defeat you. Again just boxed, done karate, Ect. Because big kids picked on me. In a period od six months to a year wow do not want to mess with that pd man.

Best weight for me go over Pounds loose sped and power one must find best weight for body bone structure. If you are middle weight keep weight there. At 5th. And move like. But a middleweight can not move well when heavier than he should be for body frame. He will fool beat a bigger man if bigger man fibers his size alone will defeat smaller person. If this means making a sound, a hiss, a shout, whatever it is…the breathing just needs to explode. What you have to be careful about is not opening your jaw and putting it at risk to being broken by a punch.

Either than that, you can make whatever sound you want. Your are really very good and kind person. I have become a regular reader of your mail box and comments.

This site is the king of boxing. Thanks sir. I have some confusions in my mind regarding boxing workout. Pls suggest me do what else I need to modify to make it better And how much should I run and for how many times in a week I also want to know a weight lifting schedule to enhance my performance. Amit — your workout is fine. You should check out the EASY boxing workout that I put out and incorporate some things from there into your routine.

The amateur boxing workout will be put out soon and that may be what you want. Running should be 3 to 5 times a week and should go for miles. If I had to add anything to your routine right now, it would be some balance exercises and perhaps a core routine where you do at least crunches or sit-ups. Your stomach will quickly get use to it where you can do it easily every day. I need to ask you about the substitute of running.

I am not getting time for running because of my daily hell schedule. So please suggest me what can else I can do which is equal to 3 miles running. Amit — riding a stationary bike. Doing cardio is crucial. Some people also use the jump rope.

Not having enough time for running is tough because anything you might try to substitute the running would end up taking more time than doing the running itself. Running is pretty efficient and a great workout using little time. Once you get good at it, doing 3 miles will take you less than 30 minutes. How would you recommend strengthening the leg? Does running and stairs do it all? Further, anything on the fiber-twitch muscles? Plyometrics will develop fast-twitch muscles.

Again, use the jumprope… I mentioned this on one of your other comments. Running and stairs also helps…depending on how you do it. Note: Keep in mind though that sprints have to be hard sprints. The harder you push yourself the better the workout and the better the results. I specially hate running on treadmills or using other sorts of stationary bicycles or whatever.

They get me real bored. Plus I think it has been proven that running not stationary is better than stationary e. This is because when running on treadmills, mostly all your doing is bouncing up and down, whereas if your running outside u have to produce forward force as well as against the gravity IMO.

A big thanks to both of you to give me the ideas.. I would surely implement those now onwards.. Now I am gonna take your more time by asking another query… ha ha ha My question is :: In weight training should I go for light weight higher reps or heavy weight with less reps? Amit — I choose light weight. But it also depends what muscles you are training. Some muscles have more endurance than others and can handle a much heavier load. Amit — Weight training for boxing is one of the controversial topics in boxing.

Some suggest to do no weight training at all and do only body weight exercises, Some say do light weights only. Some say training with heavy weight helps too. As far as I know, training with heavy weights and low reps improve strength and muscle hypertrophy which means to increase the size of your muscle cells.

This type of training used extensively by bodybuilders might not be well suited for a boxer because many say that this kind of training will make you a slower boxer. And strength basically is related to the maximum weight you can lift in 1 repetition regardless of the time it takes for you to do that 1 repetition. Training with light weights and high repetition is associated with gains in muscular endurance which is good for a boxer.

More endurance results in being able to punch and defend effectively for a longer amount of time. Training with light to moderate weight and low to moderate repetition but lifting as fast as safely possible is associated with gains in muscular POWER. Power is the amount of force u can produce in a given time. So the higher the power, the more force u can produce in a little amount of time. I believe this kind of training also makes you faster and more explosive.

I have recently become a fan of power training since I am really into MMA, where explosiveness is very important. MMA has only 3 rounds per fight or 5 rounds in a title fight and 5 minute per round as opposed to 12 rounds in boxing and 3 minute per round. Therefore, I believe boxers need more endurance than MMA fighters. MMA fighters are usually more explosive than boxers IMO specially since they have to be explosive for takedowns and stuff.

But I believe boxers can benefit from power training too and with power training you will be faster and hit harder. Keep in mind though that doing power training require you to move the weight fast while using proper form and technique as to not cause any injuries. Having bad form while lifting weight fast might have dangerous consequences, especially to your lower back. Anonymous — thank you, sir. Thank you, watchman. I used to be bodybuilder earlier..

Is it bad for boxing? Do I need to decrease my arm size or is it ok for boxing? Though I am not doing any special workout now to increase or maintain my arm size however pls let me know is it fine or I need to reduce it?

Johnny N — no problem. I am pretty sure I am younger than you. I am I think the only problem with big arms is speed and endurance. Thanks for advice, if we talk about the punch count per round so according to me I throw more than punches in a round. Earlier my shoulders used to get tired very quickly and my hands used to go down due to tiredness. Then I included speed bag rounds in my workout and could built some more power in my shoulders.

Now I keep a check that how many times my hands are going down even sometimes a make a video of my workout and I could improve my self. Really straighten out that left arm all the way and hold it. That new space in the air that you are looking at now is your strongest punching point. I guess this is related to direction of pivoting foot.

With this way foot, leg and arm are parallel and there is no loss of power. When pivoting the foot, leg and hips direction is not shows the front, it is where you exactly say. Also with this way there is more hip and leg power produced cause it forces to body turn more. Once I asked experienced boxer to learn why we pivoting foot too much heel more outside than the arm direction if we punch in front of us. For my mentality if we punch directly in front of us, foot should be turn enough to show directly in front of us to give power for vertical movement.

Now with your words i guess my thinking is not very wrong but incomplete if i get your words true. I have a big query regarding the skipping surface. I dont have any wooden floor. I have to skipp on concrete floor. So what I do, I wear a couple of towel socks and after that elasting bands at my ankles than I wear sport shoes. The foot rotation is to pivot the hips. Nothing else. Amit — I think most people would tell you concrete is the worst surface.

You need something that slightly absorbs impact. Concrete would give you shin splints. Yoga mats might be too weird of a surface. Gym mats like the ones at fitness gyms are the best, I would say. Maybe it is because of the bad trainers but some way i like this part of boxing when there is people like Johnny N and you who share their experiences and knowledge to others.

Your theory is very much similar to mine. Your theories are definitely covered in it and more. This match i guess is a good suggestion for example of power punch boxing. Prev Post. Next Post. In the unlikely event that you have received a faulty item, please get it touch with via email info aqfsports.

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View all products. MY BAG. Free Shipping. Forgot Your Password? Often, these mistakes are the bad form they developed while play-fighting as a child; other times, the errors are based on misconceptions of what they see professional fighters doing during a televised match.

A formally trained gym coach can correct such mistakes, and with time and training, the proper form rather than the mistake will become second nature. Watch out for these mistakes; instead, incorporate better techniques. Although boxing is ultimately about getting in the ring and fighting an opponent, a lot of training is required before you get to that point.

Obviously, you must learn how to move and punch in the ring, but you also need specific training exercises to help you develop strength and power so you can throw harder punches. These exercises are something our friend Homer certainly could have used in his short-lived boxing career.

The video below discusses how to toughen up your hands, use your whole body, and the difference between hitting and pushing a punching bag.

Without using a heavy punching bag or even a specific boxing workout, there are workouts you can do to improve the strength of your punches. Simple, basic pushups are a great way to build the same muscles you use when punching by leaning on the knuckles of your fists, instead of the typical flat-handed form.