Some people just hit harder.. myth or fact?

Frode Falch

Frode Falch

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Many people claim this. That the reason why some people hit like they got dynamite in their fist, is because they where "born" with better punching power.

So lets discuss this. I believe its just a myth. Its a combination of good techinque, power, speed, and timing.

All those four factors can be trained.

what do you think?

do you believe in that x-factor that you either got or dont?
 
I believe it's a purely speculative and opinionated topic that has no clear answer. There are a myriad of scientific arguments and 1000 other variables that can be cited in making an argument about "born punchers" vs. "trained punchers".

So in avoiding the argument, based solely on personal experience. Yes, some guy's just hit harder and some guys don't. Don't know why, but I do know that I have been hit by a countless number of guys, many of whom were the exact same size and similarly built and all with good/comparable technical ability....... Nonetheless, some of them had feathers in their gloves and some of them had bricks.......... again, not sure exactly why, but I can say with absolute certainty that there are those guys who just hit harder (even with all things being equal).
 
But how can you be sure that all things are equal?
 
In the same way that some guys are just faster, or some guys are just stronger, yes. Some people, given the same training, etc. are simply going to be better at a given activity than others.

That having been said, nobody is going to just roll out of bed and win the Olympic 100m, nobody is going to dominate a powerlifting meet without a ton of weight training first, and nobody is going to be a good fighter without a ton of training to hone that natural talent.

...but yes...there's certainly something that makes certain people special. Again, they still need all the training, technique, and such to really make use of it, but some guys just have "it."
 
I think a pretty easy example would be Bo Jackson. Certainly, Bo worked his ass off to be the athlete that he was. However, he wasn't better than everyone because he worked that much harder. If 99.9999% of people did the exact same workouts as Bo for their entire life, they still wouldn't have been the athlete that he was.

Some people simply have more potential than others.
 
Frode Falch said:
Many people claim this. That the reason why some people hit like they got dynamite in their fist, is because they where "born" with better punching power.

So lets discuss this. I believe its just a myth. Its a combination of good techinque, power, speed, and timing.

All those four factors can be trained.

what do you think?

do you believe in that x-factor that you either got or dont?
Click to expand...

While those 4 things can be train, i believe each and every one have their own genetic ceiling that cannot be passed no matter how hard you train. You can improve your skills and attributes? Yes. But can you train hard enough to give you hands of TNT of guys like Prince Naseem Hamed, Mike Tyson who have knockout power naturally? I don't think so. Prince Naseem Hamed is a very clear example because he is shit at his punching techniques, yet enough knockout power to daze guys just by tapping their chin lightly.
 
Everyone has a genetic potential,so you can train to improve hitting harder but not reach the amount that others are at.

Just like I would never be able to run a 40 in under 5 seconds no matter how hard I ran everyday.
 
in short answer, you're born with punching power.
 
Beginners are good examples, most guys with no training walk off the street and hit with power that's poor to middling, then every now and again you'll get a guy that almost rips your arm out of the socket when your on the pad. My completely uneducated guesstimation is that they are naturally able to co-ordinate and link muscles together in a fluid motion.
 
Frode Falch said:
But how can you be sure that all things are equal?
Click to expand...

I can't, pure observation. All things appearing equal, yet two drastically different guys to get hit by. Hence, pure speculation......... But experience tells me that guys who look like they should hit hard, often don't..... Just as guy's who appear like they don't hit hard, often do.
 
Punching power comes from the shifting of body weight out through the fist. Everyone has more or less body weight in certain areas of the body, some it benefits and others it doesnt. That's what I believe.

Also comes with training, technique, and athleticism.

Also comes with the opponents chin, how hard the fist is clenched, where the opponent is hit, which direction the opponents head is moving(momentum)




Like ssulivan said thousands of variables.
 
The question of hitting harder in boxing can be likened to many other athletic attributes that just don't have any clear concise answer. This relates to any elite athlete

I.E: Nfl quarterbacks. Some Qb's can set their feet and throw that ball as far as they can and still not throw it nearly as far as others QB's can while running and launching the ball off one foot across their body 70yds down the field. Why, who knows?

- MLB pitchers- some of them will never throw a 100+ mph fastball, other's can throw them inning after inning with seemingly relative ease.

- Golfers, some guys (and Girl for that matter) can drive the ball 300+ yds consistently, others just cant.

The interesting thing about all these examples cited above. Age, physical size and physical strength aren't the determining factor and often are complete opposites of what one would assume given appearances.
 
It's hard to identify really - honestly put & like ssullivan80 rightly said - people are opinionated in this respect.


That said, I'm a believer that training is pretty much the end all & be all of martial arts - by that I mean you can have all the dynamite you want in your fists, if you don't put the training in as much as the other guy, it doesn't really amount to much --- also guys you face might not have dynamite in their fists but might be gifted in other aspects your not - so it's all relative.

That said also - punching power can be trained too a degree like Frode mentioned with the proper combination of factors - some of which he mentioned.

But it also has to be acknowledged that some guys have physical attributes that make them hit harder than anyone else (provided they train enough lol) - there's a reason why everyone isn't a heavy hitter & why some guys stand out from the rest - like Earnie Shavers, Tyson, Foreman, Liston, Prince Naseem, Hearns...etc etc ----- but that's where the difficulty lies & why this question will keep popping up - was it a result of training, lifestyle and the way they were brought up - that gave these men their attributes or was it a result of genetics & simply being born with it.

I'm of the opinion that it was training, lifestyle & the way they were brought up.


EDIT: NLM - I wouldn't say Prince Naseem had shit boxing technique lol just very unorthodox.
 
Azam said:
It's hard to identify really - honestly put & like ssullivan80 rightly said - people are opinionated in this respect.


That said, I'm a believer that training is pretty much the end all & be all of martial arts - by that I mean you can have all the dynamite you want in your fists, if you don't put the training in as much as the other guy, it doesn't really amount to much --- also guys you face might not have dynamite in their fists but might be gifted in other aspects your not - so it's all relative.

That said also - punching power can be trained too a degree like Frode mentioned with the proper combination of factors - some of which he mentioned.

But it also has to be acknowledged that some guys have physical attributes that make them hit harder than anyone else (provided they train enough lol) - there's a reason why everyone isn't a heavy hitter & why some guys stand out from the rest - like Earnie Shavers, Tyson, Foreman, Liston, Prince Naseem, Hearns...etc etc ----- but that's where the difficulty lies & why this question will keep popping up - was it a result of training, lifestyle and the way they were brought up - that gave these men their attributes or was it a result of genetics & simply being born with it.

I'm of the opinion that it was training, lifestyle & the way they were brought up.


EDIT: NLM - I wouldn't say Prince Naseem had shit boxing technique lol just very unorthodox.
Click to expand...

Prince Naseem's boxing techniques mainly lied in his atheleticism. He have shit balance (which masked by his atheleticism, again), and does not really sit down in his punch, and other things like leaning his head over his foot, which really not what proper boxing techniques is about. Now does it works for him? Yes. But do you recommend such punching techniques to someone else? No.
 
It's very difficult to determine that because the physics behind the biomechanics of a single punch is already difficult add in an opponent who may be moving, target area, increases the difficulty significantly. Some people naturally have better kinetic linking and their genetics puts them at a level above the norm. Sure you can train them to a very high level, but think about your base level compared to the genetically gifted right next to you. It may take years for you to reach his base level if you will and during that same time, he was training as well. At some point, you will reach a limit on your ability and the guy next to you may very well have a much higher limit than you. The Olympics offer evidence towards this view.
 
Nuclearlandmine said:
Prince Naseem's boxing techniques mainly lied in his atheleticism. He have shit balance (which masked by his atheleticism, again), and does not really sit down in his punch, and other things like leaning his head over his foot, which really not what proper boxing techniques is about. Now does it works for him? Yes. But do you recommend such punching techniques to someone else? No.
Click to expand...

I'd actually say that Prince had excellent balance, uncommonly so. He found angles and threw powerful shot's from positions that should of seriously compromised his balance, yet they didn't.

As for "proper technique", holistically speaking there is no such thing, it's speculative and opinionated at best. There's "effective" technique, and if it ain't effective then it ain't proper........ but if it is, well....... who's to say it's not proper?

Just my opinion. Proper technique is more about developing the base fundamentals, it's applicability is most relevant as a newbie and becomes less relevant as the individual fighter progresses. At the "elite" level, it's nothing more than a reference point for lesser fighters to emulate in their development.
 
Every part of a hit has a measurable component. It is just physics. I don't believe in magical striking.

There may be a psychological element that isn't being trained. I'd believe it if you said that most people have inhibitions about hitting as hard as they can because nature blessed them with the desire to protect there fist. If most heavy weights have an element of this, and George Foreman doesn't pull it back because nothing in his brain cares about protecting his body, the pads and gloves catering to his nature, then maybe that's something.

I just made that up. But it shows my opinion that whatever the difference is, it is a real thing, maybe even a trainable thing, but it isn't dynamite in the fists.
 
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