Form Are shoulders/delts THE most important muscle in combat sports?

[godhatesacoward]

Part of punching power. Part of kicking power. Literally changes how much space is covered by some MMA guards. Helps in grappling too but so does basically every muscle group in the right position lol.
also probably my worst muscle group....

I wouldn't say my shoulders are weak (My overhead press is 145 pounds for 15 reps as of last set most I've done for 1 is 195 pounds) but given my punching power and strength are already my best attributes how much better will they be once my shoulders are up to snuff?

 

[TYR-I]

Part of punching power. Part of kicking power. Literally changes how much space is covered by some MMA guards. Helps in grappling too but so does basically every muscle group in the right position lol.
also probably my worst muscle group....

I wouldn't say my shoulders are weak (My overhead press is 145 pounds for 15 reps as of last set most I've done for 1 is 195 pounds) but given my punching power and strength are already my best attributes how much better will they be once my shoulders are up to snuff?

Hips and glutes possibly.. the hinge muscles

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Part of punching power. Part of kicking power. Literally changes how much space is covered by some MMA guards. Helps in grappling too but so does basically every muscle group in the right position lol.
also probably my worst muscle group....

I wouldn't say my shoulders are weak (My overhead press is 145 pounds for 15 reps as of last set most I've done for 1 is 195 pounds) but given my punching power and strength are already my best attributes how much better will they be once my shoulders are up to snuff?

upper back and lats actually

Try grappling a heavyweight that can chin his bench press max.......it isn't fun.....punching is actually a pulling movement if you think about it akin to a baseball pitch.

If you dont have good rotation power which is a virtue of your rotational musculature you will end up losing like cm punk trying to throw punches

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I don t think that I have ever noticed a correlation between muscles and punching power as I have seen fat fucks and skinny fucks with bricks in their hands as well as strong looking guys with weak punches.

However, if I had to give my intuition, I would say that weak shoulders (narrow, no muscles, falling construction of the joints) are indeed rarely seen in strong punchers, but it doesn‘t go the other way.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Glutes, hips and back are the prime movers when it comes to generating power. An old boxer once told me that the upper back is the, "puncher's muscles".

Even more true with Grappling, where the vast majority of techniques involve some kind of pulling motion.

 

[Trabaho]

All matters. Maybe legs. Hips are a key joint. Core mater. All maters. I'm weak at the core relatively. Strong shoulders.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

 

[1rawdog]

These "what is the most important part" threads are so subjective as to be almost useless as far as serving the purpose of improving the percentage chance of success in combat sports. Or any sport. Or life in general.
Not like I've never sat around and shot the shit like everyone else has but IMO the tact here is put a disproportionate amount of effort into whatever is the most limiting factor in one's quest. IOW to work on the weakest link.
I can paint you a hundred scenarios to demonstrate the point but if you have half a brain (not naming names here) you should be able to figure out how to apply that advice.

Balance my friends.

PS - If I was a troll I'd have said - No, it's the brain...

 

[Flower2dPeople]

The joy in Shaq's face tells me that his parent stopped carrying him when he was 2 yrs old.

 

[Intermission]

Part of punching power. Part of kicking power. Literally changes how much space is covered by some MMA guards. Helps in grappling too but so does basically every muscle group in the right position lol.
also probably my worst muscle group....

I wouldn't say my shoulders are weak (My overhead press is 145 pounds for 15 reps as of last set most I've done for 1 is 195 pounds) but given my punching power and strength are already my best attributes how much better will they be once my shoulders are up to snuff?

Well they say triceps for punching.

For kicking -thighs and back.

 

[Intermission]

 

[godhatesacoward]

Well they say triceps for punching.

For kicking -thighs and back.

tricep play a role but I'd say it's relatively small compared to hip back and shoulders

 

[godhatesacoward]

I don t think that I have ever noticed a correlation between muscles and punching power as I have seen fat fucks and skinny fucks with bricks in their hands as well as strong looking guys with weak punches.

However, if I had to give my intuition, I would say that weak shoulders (narrow, no muscles, falling construction of the joints) are indeed rarely seen in strong punchers, but it doesn‘t go the other way.

fat fucks in combat sports still have a lot of muscle under the fat though

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

fat fucks in combat sports still have a lot of muscle under the fat though

Abdolutely - we have all seen very strong, fast and mobile fat fucks. It‘s much harder to judge fat people than skinny people based on looks alone. Of course in some extreme cases it‘s obvious.

 

[period]

Glutes, hips and back are the prime movers when it comes to generating power. An old boxer once told me that the upper back is the, "puncher's muscles".

Even more true with Grappling, where the vast majority of techniques involve some kind of pulling motion.

Delts are critical for pummeling, though. And in boxing, while I wouldn't say the delts are primary for power, again delt strength endurance is important for punching volume. So unless one competitor manages to overpower or out-tech the other early on, they will come into play. It's also worth mentioning that more strength endurance often also means smoother technique in these scenarios, because it allows the competitor to get more practice hours of it.
I have come up with an experimental theory: if you watch a match in either boxing or Greco and don't know anything about either competitor (including watching them warm up - you can tell a lot based on how people move), bet on the one with more developed delts (especially if the developement is asymmetric - e.g. big delts, alts and traps, but only medium arms). So far, it's the most successful prediction mechanism I have been able to devise - not that that means much

 

[Fluffernutter]

Core: abs, obliques, lower back, and glutes

 

[ChickenBrother]

Delts are critical for pummeling, though. And in boxing, while I wouldn't say the delts are primary for power, again delt strength endurance is important for punching volume. So unless one competitor manages to overpower or out-tech the other early on, they will come into play. It's also worth mentioning that more strength endurance often also means smoother technique in these scenarios, because it allows the competitor to get more practice hours of it.
I have come up with an experimental theory: if you watch a match in either boxing or Greco and don't know anything about either competitor (including watching them warm up - you can tell a lot based on how people move), bet on the one with more developed delts (especially if the developement is asymmetric - e.g. big delts, alts and traps, but only medium arms). So far, it's the most successful prediction mechanism I have been able to devise - not that that means much

+1 and particularly for boxing, the asymmetric shoulder development is key. Boxing ammy, I noticed the guys with big arms AND big delts tended to gas out quicker and that makes sense because big arms = heavy arms. You simply cannot continue throwing with big arms late in the fight unless you have disproportionately stronger delts and shoulder girdle to sustain that.

 

[1rawdog]

tricep play a role but I'd say it's relatively small compared to hip back and shoulders

yeah despite what I said in my last post the triceps would be among the wrongest answers out of the top 10 major muscle groups

 

[GolovKing]

I would say your core is the most important regardless of style. A lot of punchers tend to have more muscular delts though while grapplers tend to have more muscular backs and lower bodies

 

[Deaths Head]

There is no one muscle that is directly more important because punching is compounded movements and everyone has a different style of fighting .

Power in general is greatly generated by lower back / core and the driving force is shoulders , with the forearm absorbing most of the impact through the hand and wrist structure so the stonger the forearm the greater impact you could absorb and throw harder , stronger shoulders allows more drive into a punch .

Everything works in sync though .