Punching with weights

[Vi3tcong**]

I was just curious and couldn't find anything on the forum discussing if holding weights and punching can injure you. At my dojo we train with 2-3 lb dumbbells while shadow boxing sometimes. I used to hold a 20 lb dumbbell and practice punching in order to gain speed and power but stopped in order to get professional advice.

 

[flak]

Think about what the dumbbell does -- it's pulled straight down by gravity. So a dumbbell doesn't train your body to punch against resistance in the opposite direction, it forces your body (mostly your grip, shoulder and core) to cope with something that's trying to push your hand down.

I used to take boxing/kickboxing classes and the coaches had us punch with 1 lb. or 2 lbs. weights all the time. But as I understood it, the purpose was to improve the endurance strength of our front delts so that we would get better at keeping our hands up in a good guard position when we got tired, rather than dropping our hands.

So personally I would just stick with the little dumbbells. Or get into band training, which can provide resistance in the opposite direction of the punch.

 

[ghostwipe]

It always seemed to me like that would be worse for your elbows.

 

[No Quarter]

There is another thread on this subject somewhere.

 

[Lusst]

I forsee an eventual injury if you go too heavy (ie: 20lbs), hell, I forsee an injury with just 5lbs.

It brings to mind someone sprinting with ankle weights...just unnecessary pressure on the joints.

 

[maori rule all]

hhmmm

 

[Vi3tcong**]

I stopped using heavy dumbbells and started using cables from time to time. Cables wouldn't have any negative effects would they? even if I had 40lbs of resistance?

 

[Standard]

Spend your time punching without weights, just a pair of heavy bag gloves 14 - 18 oz. You will generate more power and more speed from punching properly than trying to add resistance at any plane of motion and comprimising your form.

Adding in lifts for rotational strength is a good idea but training your punching and your strength should be seperate. Adding weights for punching even when light (couple pounds) is only a good idea for conditioning and muscle endurance.

 

[Vi3tcong**]

thanks for the advice

 

[JSN]

if you're trying to develop core power, tehn you're much better off doing things like shot put and olympic lifting where you're not pulling the weight back to you and putting tons of stress on your joints.

 

[Stonebreaker]

There's some stuff on motor path usage ("muscle memory") that shows that putting resistance training too close to an actual sport movement results in a decrease in speed even when a weight isn't being used: if you practice basketball with a medicine ball, you are adding resitance to all the movements you'll need and will gain some strength, but you're also teaching your body to play slow, weighted basketball, which doesn't carry over well to fast, un-weighted basketball.

That, and as previously noted, you're putting a lot of stress on the connective tissue of your elbows and shoulders for comparatively little gain in terms of strength or power. Lift for strength, train for technique.

 

[hunto]

I was just curious and couldn't find anything on the forum discussing if holding weights and punching can injure you. At my dojo we train with 2-3 lb dumbbells while shadow boxing sometimes. I used to hold a 20 lb dumbbell and practice punching in order to gain speed and power but stopped in order to get professional advice.

Punching power comes from your legs. You wanna hit harder? Strengthen your legs.

 

[JSN]

Punching power comes from your legs. You wanna hit harder? Strengthen your legs.

really, it's coming more from your hips and core than your legs. it's not like you're using your quads to any high degree or antying like that. i don't think there's any way to make a joe average into a one punch kayo type of guy, but you're going to punch harder if you either gain weight, or are able to develop a faster core, not to mention refining punching technique.

 

[joshetc]

Punching with weights really only works your delts and stability muscles. If you want to "resist" your punch you should use resistance bands. Or just punch more without weight. (other than gloves)

 

[BayAreaGuy]

Fedor and Aleks shadow box with 2lb db's.

 

[stylesbjj**]

Try using cables instead so resistance is opposite direction of punch.

But you're better off doing other exercises that'll help develop power, such as overhead squats.

 

[Bubble Boy]

Ross Enamait throws 2 lb dumb bells at a heavy bag in a punching manner for speed.

 

[BlastBeats]

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