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I hit like a girl

BeFoRe I DiE M3

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I'm not sure if this is the right section to post this, but I couldnt find it in a search.

I'm looking to strengthen my punching power, I guess it's not completely weak, but I don't get to work on striking very much- so it's not what I would like it to be. I've been lifting quite a bit for a few months now and it has definately helped. Are there any excersises, or muscles to focus on to increase my power? is it all in technique?

It just sucks watching my friend who has no MMA or boxing experience hit the bag so much harder than I can, granted he is 35 pounds heavier and has been lifting for so much longer... I'm only a 130 pounder

thanks
 
Put your weight into your shots and use your hips when you hit. You'll hit hard!
 
Be advised that raw muscle strength does not translate directly into punching power; it is one compnent of it, but you will develop most of your genuine striking ability through good coaching and repetition. Concentrate on learning how to put as much of your body into the punch-- legs, hips, shoulders-- instead of simply using raw arm strength, which is the common mistake of the untrained.
 
For good punches, you need a strong core and a very good technique.

Make sure you have somebody who is a good striker (a boxer coach or similar) show you how to properly use your lower body and hips when punching. Punching is not about hands or bench press, it's about hips.

As for exercises to help you, rotational core exercises are the most important. Stuff like full contact twists and twisters. Look in Strength & Power for more ideas. Lower body exercises such as squat and deadlift, as well as ab work is also important.

Only after that's sorted out and you're punching with your hips, should you concentrate on shoulders and arms for the maximum power transfer.
 
Learn to grapple. In sad truth, you're never gonna hit that hard if you don't already. Either that, or become a technical speedy fighter.
 
Zankou said:
Learn to grapple. In sad truth, you're never gonna hit that hard if you don't already. Either that, or become a technical speedy fighter.

rediculous.





here is the real answer: Get a good coach.
 
TwIsTeD&BrOkEn said:
rediculous.





here is the real answer: Get a good coach.

I agree. Technique is the most important thing anyone can work on to improve power. Check this data, it proves the point. Punch force in Newtons was measure for elite, intermediate and novice amateur boxers of the same weight on a dynamometer.

For the elite, intermediate and novice groups, respectively, the maximal straight punching forces (mean - sx
 
BeFoRe I DiE M3 said:
I hit like a girl
Tell that the Laila Ali.
wpe129.jpg
 
Thanks guys,

I have been doing mostly grappling, that's why I've been trying to focus on my stand-up... Technique seems to over-rule, I'll definately keep at it. I appreciate the input.
 
Zankou said:
Learn to grapple. In sad truth, you're never gonna hit that hard if you don't already. Either that, or become a technical speedy fighter.

Nonsense. Any person who has access to good training, works at it, and applies it will hit harder, period. The only question is how much they will improve.
 
One thing to also keep track of is footwork. You don't want to be flat-footed as it's going to rob you of a lot of power. Get on the balls of your feet so you can properly rotate your hips and put some power behind the shot. Most of the boxing coaches I had emphasized putting a lot of weight on your lead leg when you threw a shot. The problem with this is that in mma you will leave yourself open to a takedown and it's difficult to sprawl.

Speaking of the hip-torso relationship, keep in mind that one of the main components of developing a powerful muscualr contraction is the concept of the "prestrecth".

This involves a pre-lengthening of the muscle in order to induce a more violent contraction. It's also called pre-loading.

Now, if you rotate the hips first and keep your upper torso back, the oblique muscles will then lengthen. These muscles will then contract more forcefully when you then rotate the upper body to bring the punching shoulder forward.

Now bringing the shoulder forward and leaving the arm back will also prestretch the shoulder muscles for an ultimately more snappy punch.

Of course, you don't want to prestretch too much as this will give away the punch. Which is why when people are trying to punch as hard as they can, they pull their whole arms way back.

But just throwing the shoulder first, and then letting the punch go will definitely add more to the shot just as rotating the hips before the upper torso will.

And these pre-stretches all have to be lightning fast, or the power dissipates.

For SPEED and STRENGTH you want to use your muscles in order from biggest to smallest (that's using two principles together; velocity and strength).

Throwing a right hand: sitting down in a low position start to expand exploding from your centre (hips, torso, thighs). after a bit of rotation start to release the elbow from your side and extend your leg. your foot should be turned with toes pointing to the target a split second before impact (called the 'critical instant').
 
Zankou said:
Learn to grapple. In sad truth, you're never gonna hit that hard if you don't already. Either that, or become a technical speedy fighter.


i would have to disagree. I thought that i could not punch my way out of a wet pape bag (when i was doing "traditional Muay thai, we used our hands to set up our knees/elbows/kicks so i don't think i was tought power punching). Afer i jacked up my knee i still wanted to train stand up so i started going to a S.African coach that my friend trains with (he is from the same gym as Bernardo and Jan) and he has made wonders with my punching power. It's to the point where my knuckles hurt when i hit the bag with handwraps and 16oz boxing gloves... When i punched my "old way" i could hit the bag with tiny bag gloves and didn't feel a thing. Coaching is everything IMHO.
 
blanko said:
... a S.African coach that my friend trains with (he is from the same gym as Bernardo and Jan) and he has made wonders with my punching power. It's to the point where my knuckles hurt when i hit the bag with handwraps and 16oz boxing gloves... When i punched my "old way" i could hit the bag with tiny bag gloves and didn't feel a thing.

Now I'm sorry but I have to ask this even if it's out of context.
Why would you take pride in having to feel pain doing something that you love? So what if it delivers great power when you hit. It still gets injured and hurts like a bitch.

I want to get good at boxing, but thats not what I want.
 
i mean that's how much harder i am punching. Feeling pain does not mean getting hurt. Shit I feel pain every time someone puts me in the 1000kg position in bjj but it does not mean i am gettign hurt.
 
To you guys picking at Zankou's post. What he's referring to is a standard philosophy in Boxing that punchers are born and not made. Throughout time this has always held true. You can get stronger, you can become better technically-skilled, and you can have more stiff and accurate, as well as faster punches. But having that power like Naseem Hamed had, where you tap a guy's chin and the next thing he knows he's staring at a pen-light with an ice pack on his neck is not something any amount of coaching will give. It's a born talent. Some guys, with all the technical skill in the world, also just don't really hit that hard. See Meldrick Taylor, or Ray Leonard. They defeated their opponents mostly with accumulation of damage and rarely if-ever demonstrated raw punching power, even with nearly flawless technique.
 
To echo what some have said (e.g. Zankou, King Kabuki), Jens Pulver can probably hit harder than Tito Ortiz, who outweighs him by around 50 pounds.
 
kk,
well it's just that before i diem3 said that he has had no traing and is jealous of a guy who weighs 30lbs more than him. Come on it's not impossible for a guy with no training to improve punching power. If he has been training, ofcourse it will be different. But to tell a guy who has had no training that he wont' punch harder is a bit harsh imho.
 
King Kabuki said:
To you guys picking at Zankou's post. What he's referring to is a standard philosophy in Boxing that punchers are born and not made. Throughout time this has always held true. You can get stronger, you can become better technically-skilled, and you can have more stiff and accurate, as well as faster punches. But having that power like Naseem Hamed had, where you tap a guy's chin and the next thing he knows he's staring at a pen-light with an ice pack on his neck is not something any amount of coaching will give. It's a born talent. Some guys, with all the technical skill in the world, also just don't really hit that hard. See Meldrick Taylor, or Ray Leonard. They defeated their opponents mostly with accumulation of damage and rarely if-ever demonstrated raw punching power, even with nearly flawless technique.

Well King im still gonna have to disagree with you....

It may sound TMA but I believe that you can definitely learn how to harness and cultivate your internal energy and use it to your benefit as well.

noone has to agree with me, but I truely believe it.

when I hit someone to hurt them, like Musashi says, Im not only hitting them with my fist, but my whole body and spirit.
 
technically you can't really hit like a girl, run like a girl, throw like a girl, etc.

since girls can be pretty good at all of the above
 

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