Punching Power 101

[LWPD]

What follows are some old yet priceless articles on Punching Power...a topic which never gets old.

Improving Punching Power
Credit Frank Benn

There are a number of ways to increase your punching power. But, the most important way initially is to cultivate good form.

In talking about good form, we'll start with alignment and work from there.

-- Bone Alignment --

With good form, you derive your power from proper bone alignment. From there, any of the other key attributes you develop will just multiply this effect. This is not to blow my own horn, but I've knocked the wind out of people holding the heavy bag for me as I punched it. It came from proper alignment.

-- Leverage --

It starts in your base. Many people neglect this. You need a pivoting, weight-shifting base if you want real follow-through punching power. This pivoting base is what transfers weight down at the feet and legs, which in turn sends the hip, which in turn sends the shoulder. When you throw a cross, for instance, turn your rear heel out (pivot on ball of foot), and shift your weight onto your front foot (toes pointing forward at this time).

-- We Lose Leverage At Our Joints --

One of the most common faults in a person's punching technique (which results in lost power) is that POWER IS LOST IN THE JOINTS. This usually means the shoulder, elbow, or wrist. All bones function as perfect transmitters of force, but where one bone ends and another begins is where we tend to lose it. Misaligned, over-tensed, or under-tensed joints will vent off your power. People who wing their punches, for instance, will tend to lose power at the shoulder and elbow.

People who bend their wrist when they hook, for another example, will tend to lose the power of that punch at the wrist.

-- Never "Lock Out" Your Punches --

Power in a punch also comes from follow-through. You don't lock out your punches. Same goes for kicks (although they look "prettier" when you do them that way). I know a lot of classically trained martial arts teach you to lock out that "reverse punch", but I would differ on that methodology. I spent a lot of years in traditional martial arts, and I've spent a lot of years training around boxers and such. The latter hit much harder. A lot of it has to do with the follow-through allowed by a mobile, pivoting, weight-shifting, bent-knee base.

-- Muscle Grouping --

I'll be succinct.

You need:

Strong lats (pull-ups, seated row maching, shadowboxing, bag work, sparring).

Strong shoulders and traps (upright rows, standing flyes, skipping rope, LOTS of shadowboxing, etc.).

Strong Abs and Lower Back -- for conveying hip torque to the sweep of the shoulders.

Strong Quads and Calves -- Legs and abs should be seen as a pyramid which generates your power and shifting.

Strong Forearms -- for keeping the wrist aligned, and for a dense fist (underrated aspect of power punching). Wrist curls, hand squeezers, fingertip pushups, etc.

etc.

Secondarily:

Strong Pectoralis Major -- this can help in your power (projecting and aligning the shoulder of the punching arm) if you already have good form. People who start with large pec's, though, tend to throw shoulder punches (like a bench press). No real power there.

You DON'T need:

Strong Biceps -- these do NOT add to your straight punching power, and only help in holding the angle of the elbow in your hook, and drawing it in on the end (that's the french curve I talked about before). Same for the uppercut. People with huge biceps are usually the easiest ones to slip.

-- Relax --

I always tell my students that "tension" is the opposite of everything good or favorable in your performance. Tension is the opposite of speed. Tension is the opposite of POWER. Tension is the opposite of nontelegraphy. Tension is also the opposite of mobility. Tension is a drain on endurance. Etc.

In the case of punching power, which is the subject at hand, it is TENSION IN THE SHOULDERS that most often diminishes not only one's power, but also one's ability to land the punch on an opponent -- because of its effect on the aforementioned aspects of a successful punch (speed, nontelegraphy, mobility, etc.).

-- The Body Is What Punches, Not Just The Arm --

When you hit someone, it should feel like a piano fell out of a second story window and hit him on the end of your fist. This is in keeping with info provided earlier in this post about shifting the weight, etc. The reason why you're shifting your weight is SO THAT HE FEELS YOUR WEIGHT IN YOUR PUNCH. There's a Chinese saying that a person who really knows how to hit moves fluidly but his touch is as heavy as a mountain. Sounds like good boxing to me. If your weight is settled on your feet, then that mass is not going into the punches.

For an example, look at Vitor Belfort's debut UFC performance in slow motion. Notice how his body catapults into his opponent as he hits the person, catching him on the end of his punches (not jamming himself).

-- Tight Fist --

At the tail end of execution, the last place you can either add or lose power in a punch is in your fist itself. It should stay loose through most of your execution and tighten up just before impact.

-- The Snap - The Right Time and Place --

The power of your punch is right on the end, where it snaps. This is true of ALL punches -- not just your linear punches. The art of punching then becomes the art of coordinating your own body mechanics (which is most of what I've talked about here) with the placement of your target AT PRECISELY THE RIGHT RANGE AT THE RIGHT TIME, where you hit target as your punch is snapping on the end. When you don't get this right, your power is either jammed because the range and timing weren't right, or it falls short or misses for the same reasons.

This, by the way, is one of several ways in which KEY attributes come together to equal success in your hitting. As far as the above paragraph, you get this ability from essentially two areas of training: sparring and fighting. Partner drilling will never in a million years give you this ability. Secondarily, you can get some aspects of this ability from focus mitt training and the top and bottom bag -- in both cases because they simulate either the chaos or the predictable flow of sparring and fighting, where through timing and range you get your punches to meet up with the target properly.

----------------------------------------------------

There's more to this, in general, as far as learning to punch with power is concerned. Much of it, though, is difficult to convey in text. Much easier to show.

One last point for you, is that you have to develop your kinesthetic perception if you really want to be able to hit with power. There is a correct sequence of muscular contractions for every punch, every kick, which happens very quickly in rapid succession. In addition to contractions, there is a correct series of RELEASES (very important) -- i.e. when a certain muscle in the chain has done its job, and now needs to let go before it starts to hinder your function.

If you apply what I've given here, and with this watch either live or on video a really good hitter, you'll see in a split second what it would take volumes to describe.

Good luck.

Frank Benn

[LWPD]

The Science of Punching Power
Credit Richard Chiang

I'd like to take a little break from "nutrition" for this article to discuss a more general topic because it's a topic I've always been interested in and because clarifying general concepts can help boxers focus the goals of their nutrition/exercise programs. The concept of "punching power" is frequently misunderstood and is actually more complicated than a lot of people think. In this article, I'll address some of the key points involved in the physics of punching power and the relevance of these points in focusing the goals of your training program.
A lot of fighters, especially heavyweights, have told to me that they'd like to bulk up to improve power and thus began to eat more and do a lot of heavy weightlifting. Yet, a great number of fighters who do this don't seem to improve their punching power significantly but end up being slower and develop sloppy punching technique. I can think of a number of examples of this occurrence among professional boxers. (I won't mention their names so as not to embarrass anyone- but you can probably think of examples of such fighters who fit this description.)

This is precisely why many of the old time trainers would forbid their fighters from lifting weights. In fact, during one of the fights on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis/Hasim Rahman rematch, George Foreman remarked that one of the fighters might have bulked up to increase power but did so at the expense of being able to produce the "snap" needed to generate power in his punches. George suggested that this fighter might have had more power had he been ten pounds lighter.

On the other hand, Bobby Czyz, a commentator for Showtime Championship Boxing, often remarks that power is the product of the mass of the fighter and the fighter's speed. So David Tua hits hard because he's a good-sized heavyweight AND because he's fairly quick. Well Bobby gave the simplified explanation because boxing fans don't tune in to championship boxing to hear a physics lecture! I'll spare you a lot of the science talk as well but really quickly, I'd like to point out that power is not actually the product of mass and velocity (which is really momentum) but is the product of FORCE and velocity.

It stands to reason that a fighter who has a lot of muscle mass can produce more force than a fighter with less muscle mass so heavyweights obviously can punch much harder than welterweights. But this observation doesn't always hold true for fighters within a more narrow weight range. For instance, there are a lot of 220-pound heavyweights who can punch much harder than some of the 250-pound heavyweights! Of course, part of this can be attributed to the fact that some of the larger heavyweights carry more body fat. But even if the fighters have a similar body fat percentage, sometimes the smaller fighter still punches harder.

Okay, so nothing I've said so far is exactly a stunning revelation. Most of us are aware that some of history's hardest punchers were guys who were not extremely muscular but were often the thin, lanky types. Some of these fighters include Jimmy Wilde, Sandy Saddler, Bob Foster, Thomas Hearns, and Felix Trinidad. Part of this has to do with muscle fiber arrangement, which I won't spend too much time discussing because there really isn't a lot a fighter can do to enhance this particular aspect of power. (It's something you're pretty much born with). It also has something to do with muscle fiber recruitment, which I discuss a bit later in this article.

But some of the boxing coaches out there might point out that just because one fighter can bench press more weight (and thus can generate more force), doesn't mean that he can punch harder than another fighter who is unable to lift as much weight. Indeed, it should be noted that the strength used in one type of movement doesn't apply 100% to another type of movement. For instance, just because you can squat a heavy weight, doesn't mean you can jump high. Not only are different muscles emphasized in different movements, but also different parts of the muscles are emphasized AND the muscles are recruited in a different manner by the nerves. So just because you have the strength to perform one type of exercise movement doesn't mean you are guaranteed of being able to perform another type of exercise movement effectively even if it involves a similar set of muscles.

Going back to Bobby Czyz's explanation, punching power is heavily dependent on punching speed. Most of you know have heard the expression "speed is power". A bullet by itself can do little damage, but becomes a weapon when propelled at a high velocity. Now here's the key point- when talking about PEAK power a muscle can generate, it appears that FORCE only contributes to about a third of total power output with velocity contributing to two thirds of power output. So what this means to boxers is that they should not sacrifice speed when bulking up and weight training.

Muscle velocity is described as the rate at which muscle fibers can shorten, which depends on the range the muscle fibers can shorten. So to maintain speed, a fighter needs to maintain flexibility. This can be achieved by regular stretching/flexibility training. If a fighter elects to lift weights, her or she should lift with proper form to exercise the muscle over its full range of motion. In addition, all major muscle groups should be targeted if a fighter lifts weights to prevent an imbalance in strength, which can lead to a decrease in mobility and range of motion. (For instance, if you exercise your chest and triceps, you should balance this training by exercising the back and biceps.)

I should point out that muscle strength plays many roles regarding athletic performance besides being a factor in power output. If done properly, strength training can help improve balance, coordination, and mobility and can help a fighter block punches and (regarding the pros) out muscle his/her opponents when clinching.

Some fighters have been quite successful in using a weight lifting program to enhance their boxing skills. Evander Holyfield comes to mind as one such fighter who engaged in a rigorous weight lifting program to match the natural size advantage that most heavyweights had on him. The key is to maintain speed, mobility, and proper punching technique while increasing muscle strength and size.

I mentioned earlier that muscle fiber recruitment by the nerves is a major factor in the ability of a muscle to generate power. Basically, this involves the ability of the nerves to "fire" up as many muscle fibers at once as possible. Obviously, this can be developed through training e.g. hitting the heavy bag, sparring, etc. Much of this involves "programming" the proper neural recruitment patterns into the muscles so as many muscle fibers as possible can be coordinated to produce a smooth, effective movement. Compare a beginning weightlifter with an experienced weightlifter, and you'd probably observe that the lifting technique of the inexperienced lifter is much "choppier" than the technique of the experienced lifter.

Yet at some point, an individual reaches a limit and is unable to improve neural recruitment ability. It is believed that genetics plays a major role in this. However, many exercise physiologists and coaches nowadays believe that individuals may be able to improve beyond what was previously thought to be their natural limitation through such techniques as plyometrics. Plyometrics. is heavily used in such sports as certain track and field events. Many boxers are now experimenting with these types of exercises, but these exercises should be used with caution. Plyometrics. exercises may not feel particularly stressful while they are actually performed but can rapidly stress the muscles and lead to injury and over training if not done correctly.

So far I have been discussing power in the pure sense. This is an abstract concept and several more factors are involved in the ability to produce a hard punch. People often ask me questions like- "Who was the better puncher, Mike Tyson in his prime or George Foreman?" or "Who hit harder- Joe Louis or Max Baer?" Again, to even begin analyzing those comparisons, one has to establish one's definition of "power".

[LWPD]

The Science of Punching Power
Credit Richard Chiang

I recently saw a toughman competition in which these two big guys were just flailing away with punches at each other virtually nonstop but couldn't hurt one another throughout the entire fight! Without proper technique, all the power in the world won't do any good if it doesn't reach its target with precision and accuracy. "Power" as defined in boxing isn't simply the ability to generate a lot of muscular force at a high velocity, but as the amount of damage that a boxer can produce with a given punch. This is based on several additional factors including accuracy, timing, and even defense. (For instance, it's hard to get set to throw a hard punch if your opponent's jabs are constantly knocking you off balance!)

I realize that this is boxing 101 (really basic stuff!) for most of my readers since a lot of you guys are experienced boxers or coaches. But for the benefit of those who may be just starting out, you should be aware that a lot of people who learn to box for the first time often complain that they can't produce much power the way boxing coaches make them punch. That's because boxers are trained to land punches accurately and without compromising defense. As any boxing coach can tell you, just about anyone can look and sound powerful when hitting the heavy bag, but a good puncher is someone who can apply that power in a fight!

Finally, the last factor I want to discuss is muscle endurance and the availability of "fuel" for the muscles throughout competition. If you only had to throw one punch, then you wouldn't have to worry about eating enough carbohydrates and drinking enough water to make sure your muscles can maintain a high power output for several rounds. But clearly, power output can drop dramatically if the body's glycogen supply is diminished or if the fighter becomes dehydrated. Therefore, it's important to eat enough carbohydrates and drink enough fluids during the days and hours leading up to competition.

Also, creatine depletion in the muscles can result in decreased power, which is why some fighters elect to use creatine supplements to help them maintain a high power output during a fight. The efficacy of this practice is debatable, and I discuss this topic in my most frequently asked questions list, which you can find in the articles archives. In addition, lactic acid accumulation in the muscles can also cause the fighter to lose power especially when competing in twelve round bouts.

This article was a little bit of a treat me for because being an avid boxing fan and analyst, I wanted the opportunity to address some of the fundamental concepts of boxing. In practice, the concepts presented in this article boil down to the fact that bulking up and increasing muscle size can be counterproductive if not done correctly and for the right reasons. However, if speed, flexibility, mobility and technique can be maintained, then increases in muscle size and strength can be very beneficial for some fighters.

[blueraider2]

interesting stuff lwpd.