How to get max power into your punches?

power = speed x mass. Either be very massive or very fast. Or do the calculations to find out the ideal mass to speed. Since more mass = less speed. So you can find the ideal mass before you're too slow.

Anyways, punch faster and harder.
 
freaky said:
power = speed x mass. Either be very massive or very fast. Or do the calculations to find out the ideal mass to speed. Since more mass = less speed. So you can find the ideal mass before you're too slow.

Anyways, punch faster and harder.
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power actually equals = Work / time.
work = force * Distance

I think you meant that Force = mass * acceleration.

power is a bit ambiguous when describing how hard someone hits. In sports science, they usually look to find force since it's a result of an interaction between two objects. Power is more of a way to depict a measurement of energy consumption.

It can be confusing because commentators will often refer to a fighter's power, when actuality, they're describing their ability to generate great force.
 
strike thought said:
power actually equals = Work / time.
work = force * Distance

I think you meant that Force = mass * acceleration.

power is a bit ambiguous when describing how hard someone hits. In sports science, they usually look to find force since it's a result of an interaction between two objects. Power is more of a way to depict a measurement of energy consumption.

It can be confusing because commentators will often refer to a fighter's power, when actuality, they're describing their ability to generate great force.
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Impressive knowledge and intelligence!

So im trying to hit hard, how would you recommend I do that? Technique and training wise or anything that boosts power/force?
 
strike thought said:
power actually equals = Work / time.
work = force * Distance

I think you meant that Force = mass * acceleration.

power is a bit ambiguous when describing how hard someone hits. In sports science, they usually look to find force since it's a result of an interaction between two objects. Power is more of a way to depict a measurement of energy consumption.

It can be confusing because commentators will often refer to a fighter's power, when actuality, they're describing their ability to generate great force.
Click to expand...

A better way to express that is Power=force * distance/time=force*velocity.

Thus power is a combination of strength and speed. It isn't just about a fighter's ability to generate force. It's about the ability to generate as much force as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. There's a physical component to this (maximal strength, RFD, things like that) and a technical component (weight transfer, trunk rotation, leverage, etc). It isn't all about how much power is generated either. It's also about how much of that power actually gets delivered to the target, which is where fist formation and alignment of the wrist come in.

That's just power on a static target. When it comes to applying all that against a moving target, and a target that hits back, it of course gets much more complicated.

If you want to hit harder you first and foremost need to throw thousands of punches with perfect form. A smart S&C program will supplement that technical training to improve your strength and speed which you learn to translate to your technique with practice, but most important is learning to hit with your full body weight from the ground up.
 
a guy said:
A better way to express that is Power=force * distance/time=force*velocity.

Thus power is a combination of strength and speed. It isn't just about a fighter's ability to generate force. It's about the ability to generate as much force as possible in the shortest amount of time possible.

There's a physical component to this (maximal strength, RFD, things like that) and a technical component (weight transfer, trunk rotation, leverage, etc). It isn't all about how much power is generated either. It's also about how much of that power actually gets delivered to the target, which is where fist formation and alignment of the wrist come in.

That's just power on a static target. When it comes to applying all that against a moving target, and a target that hits back, it of course gets much more complicated.

If you want to hit harder you first and foremost need to throw thousands of punches with perfect form. A smart S&C program will supplement that technical training to improve your strength and speed which you learn to translate to your technique with practice, but most important is learning to hit with your full body weight from the ground up.
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When examining how much impact someone produces, It seems to make more sense to look at it in simpler terms of Mass * acceleration rather than looking at power. Assuming we're keeping our mass the same, acceleration is the only real thing left we have control over. Since acceleration refers to the rate of change in speed, conditioning and technique essentially maximizes our ability to produce a great rate of change. Pretty much what you mentioned about conditioning/technique is what the OP should follow.

Power is actually a measurement of joules/time, whereas with force, it's measured in newtons. "Force is an actual physical phenomenon, and power in itself is not." So when we refer to power, it's really describing how many joules of work we exerted to traverse some distance over time (energy consumption over time).

With respect to fighting, it can be useful in telling us why some fighters tend to gas out quickly when striking. Bigger guys will have a greater energy consumption because the amount of joules required to strike compared to smaller fighters like bantamweights.

Edit: Joules/time for power units
 
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BringBackTRTforFairness said:
Give me some advice on how to maximise your power potential?

Namaste
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You are going to have to have a coach or trainer (or boxer who is good at teaching) look at you while you punch, hit the bag, etc. to show you what and how to punch and move correctly. We can give you "tips" on here but they wont really help unless you're punching right in the first place, which requires many things to be done correctly in a way that cant really be explained through text/reading.

You need to pay someone with knowledge and a sharp eye to correct your form, and its going to take more than a week-- probably require several visits over a year or more just like everyone else. That will tell you everything you need to know about how to punch optimally. After you've had your form worked on by a technically skilled observer, you can look for "tips" and they might help then, but not now. The only thing that would do now is be interesting to read, but not actually help your performance in any real way.

Everyone tries to take a shortcut around this, but sorry to say-- there is no shortcut around having a trainer of some kind evaluate and correct you piece by piece over time.
 
strike thought said:
When examining how much impact someone produces, It seems to make more sense to look at it in simpler terms of Mass * acceleration rather than looking at power. Assuming we're keeping our mass the same, acceleration is the only real thing left we have control over. Since acceleration refers to the rate of change in speed, conditioning and technique essentially maximizes our ability to produce a great rate of change. Pretty much what you mentioned about conditioning/technique is what the OP should follow.

Power is actually a measurement of joules, whereas with force, it's measured in newtons. "Force is an actual physical phenomenon, and power in itself is not." So when we refer to power, it's really describing how many joules of work we exerted to traverse some distance over time (energy consumption over time).

With respect to fighting, it can be useful in telling us why some fighters tend to gas out quickly when striking. Bigger guys will have a greater energy consumption because the amount of joules required to strike compared to smaller fighters like bantamweights.
Click to expand...

Two things:

We don't have direct control over acceleration. We have control over force, which causes acceleration. The problem is that maximal force is generated at slow speeds when moving larger masses. This equation fails to account for RFD, which is more imoortant practically because in punching we don't have enough time or mass to generate maximum force. Thus speed is a vital factor, which brings us back to power,

Power isn't measured in joules, it's joules per second or watts. It's widely considered the most important factor for assessing capacity for performance in a sport. This is because it accounts for both strength (force) and speed (distance/time).

Yes, bigger guys use more energy, and also have much more power, but that's not the main takeaway from the power equation. The main takeaway is that we need both strength and speed training to maximize power, then naturally tons of technique training and ideally some sport specific exercises to translate that raw power into punching power.
 
According to some people on this forum, to increase punching power, you need to be hitting the weight room as often as possible.

The short answer is to train under a reputable boxing coach.
 
a guy said:
Two things:

We don't have direct control over acceleration. We have control over force, which causes acceleration. The problem is that maximal force is generated at slow speeds when moving larger masses. This equation fails to account for RFD, which is more imoortant practically because in punching we don't have enough time or mass to generate maximum force. Thus speed is a vital factor, which brings us back to power,

Power isn't measured in joules, it's joules per second or watts. It's widely considered the most important factor for assessing capacity for performance in a sport. This is because it accounts for both strength (force) and speed (distance/time).

Yes, bigger guys use more energy, and also have much more power, but that's not the main takeaway from the power equation. The main takeaway is that we need both strength and speed training to maximize power, then naturally tons of technique training and ideally some sport specific exercises to translate that raw power into punching power.
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F = MA is a general form that's normal to use since most of the dynamics you come across will be derived from it. It's general enough to refer to, which is why we tend to use it in sports science when determining how hard someone hits. But you bring up a good point because It doesn't take into account the various other factors that can come into play, like energy loss due to displacement in your flesh and these other micro-variables involved. There's no function I know of that models the impact of a punch. It would be a complex thing to figure out. The closest thing I can think of is the impact force from collisions.


yeah, sorry about that, meant to write joules/time, which is the same as watts. I think for the purpose of figuring out the impact of someone's punch, it makes more sense to refer to force rather than power because of how the units turn out and because of what they both represent. With force, you're given the units of newtons, which is pretty useful in figure out other things. You could use that to figure out how much of your mass is incorporated when throwing a punch. It's pretty cool to explore those kinds of things. With watts, it's not immediately intuitive what we can do with that information.

Agreed with you there on that. It all comes down the the training and technique at the end of the day.
 
Unless your technique is already perfect, then primarily by working on proper technique (footwork, rotations etc).

Also, once in a while you could train power punches on pads.
 
strike thought said:
F = MA is a general form that's normal to use since most of the dynamics you come across will be derived from it. It's general enough to refer to, which is why we tend to use it in sports science when determining how hard someone hits. But you bring up a good point because It doesn't take into account the various other factors that can come into play, like energy loss due to displacement in your flesh and these other micro-variables involved. There's no function I know of that models the impact of a punch. It would be a complex thing to figure out. The closest thing I can think of is the impact force from collisions.


yeah, sorry about that, meant to write joules/time, which is the same as watts. I think for the purpose of figuring out the impact of someone's punch, it makes more sense to refer to force rather than power because of how the units turn out and because of what they both represent. With force, you're given the units of newtons, which is pretty useful in figure out other things. You could use that to figure out how much of your mass is incorporated when throwing a punch. It's pretty cool to explore those kinds of things. With watts, it's not immediately intuitive what we can do with that information.

Agreed with you there on that. It all comes down the the training and technique at the end of the day.
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The idea isn't to model impact, it's to model power generation. The best way to do that is with the power formula, which essentially tells us we need to increase strength AND speed, which will result in more impact. I don't like F=ma because it constantly gets misinterpreted.
 
It might be relevant to think about, for lack of a more technical term, the "kind" of power we're talking about in a strike, too. If we're talking about punching the body, or kicking the leg, then I believe we're talking about a heavier, more thudding kind of power, in which we're trying to keep the momentum of the body as connected to the fist, or the shin as possible. I would say that the technique for getting good power into a body shot often feels quite different from the one we usually use to land an effective head shot.

I would also say that when striking the head, we're talking about a "snappier" kind of power in which we're still trying to connect the fist to the momentum of the body, but also one in which the speed of the fist matters more, and the connectedness matters probably less.

I would also say that if we're talking about punching the jaw or the temple, then we might even consider the fact that there is probably such a thing as "enough" power. Developing as much measurable physical power is probably less important than getting to an opening quickly, or striking accurately when it comes to striking the head. I would say that if you can hit someone in the head cleanly, it's not terribly hard for most reasonably well-trained fighters to hit them hard enough to knock them out. It doesn't take that much.
 
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Your born with it, can you develop more power, of course you can but your never be that top 1% that hits like a truck, without any training.

Just look at all the sports that use twitch muscles, your born with it, its not like endurance events, which you have a better chance of overcoming your genetic short comings.
 
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