Punching Power

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by nightcrawlerEX, Dec 28, 2005.

  1. nightcrawlerEX

    nightcrawlerEX Valued Member

    Most people think that to have alot of power in your punch you need to sacrifice speed and bulk up your arms. In my oppinion this is not true

    Here are my thoughts (May be wrong, But Worked for me)

    Power = Speed

    Think about it, What would you rather get hit by? a tennis ball going at a slow speed or one going at a high speed?

    Therefore any hit you do, if it is fast enough is going to be hard. The Power of your punch is also effected by the force behind the target. So if you are doing a punch and you are verry muscular then the punch will probably be verry hard. But you are losing alot of power just by hitting with your arm. You need to put your whole hip into it and use your whole body behind the punch (without leaning foward too much) use your body like a corkscrew and twist while pushing the shoulder doing the punch foward while pulling the other shoulder backward.

    Weight training can affect your punching but there are differences in types of strengths gained by weight training.

    You have both Fast and Slow twich muscle fibres. By training slow twich muscles you are gaining Strength for slow movements. By training the fast twich fibres you are gaining strength for fast movements (punching).

    Therefore by training your fast twich muscle fibres you are gaining strength for fast movements like punching.

    Power = Strength & Speed

    By combining a good technique and the right type of weight training you can greatly increase your punching power and speed.

    There are 3 stages of a punch (My Thoughts)

    1. The throwing of the punch (The movement of the body and the punch moving toward the target)

    2. The inch Power (Where your arm is qalmost fully extended)

    3. The Follow Through (Pushing Through the target for extra power)

    In My oppinion the best time for a punch to make contact is during the second stage (when the arm is almost fully extended) beacuse this is the stage of the punch when the most resistance is requred to stop the punch (From the Bag or Enemy) and the least force is required by you to complete the punch. This is also the time of the punch when the most power is in the punch.

    Thanx,
    NightcrawlerEX

    P.S. Please Feel free to discredit my oppinons or make any corrections. I was self taught with my punches and these things i mentioned above helped me to increase my punching power by at least double.
     
  2. Checkhands

    Checkhands New Member

    Everything you've said is valid and pretty much on point.
    One thing you can do to increase your power is to snap your punch at the right moment. It's a little hard to explain because if you snap too early you lose power. Snap too late and you'll be leaning into it. Also w/ a good power punch, your front foot should land slightly after your punch. This will keep the kinetic energy from splitting into two different directions.
    Putting your hip into your strikes will indeed increase the power of your strikes, but you have to be careful not to over torque yourself for obvious reasons. The secret behind true hitting power is to pull the power of strikes from your legs. To push off and use that power will more than double your striking effectiveness.
    Finally, maintaining that relaxed attitude is essential to having fast, accurate, powerful strikes, throws, and effective locks.
     
  3. Developing

    Developing Valued Member

    All very true. The principal behind the various motions of throwing punches, implementing locks and throws remains constant of being relaxed and not too "stiff" as you have pointed out. I only commented because your points reminded me of guy I used to train with who had excellent boxing skills demonstrating fluidity and looseness with his punches during sparring sessions but for some reason was unable to translate that movement into implementing locks. And I'm not even talking about under grappling conditions I mean during the simple exchange between uki/tori. During a sparring session he would remain agile and loose working combinations and throwing fluid strikes but as a tori he would stiffen up and try to muscle all his techniques which was often extremely painful for his uki.
     
  4. Shrukin89

    Shrukin89 Valued Member

    You're right on the dot nightcrawlerEX.

    Not only the snap, increases the power and speed, so does yell KIAP!
     
  5. freak

    freak Valued Member

    great post....its always good to learn and perfect your techniques, thanks!
     
  6. kyokutsuki

    kyokutsuki Valued Member

     
  7. kyokutsuki

    kyokutsuki Valued Member

    fluidity is the key to a good punch. Yes. drunken style kung fu
    wen throwing a punch tence you are restricting the muximum extend speed and so a weak punch!
     
  8. BloodWolf806

    BloodWolf806 New Member

    Well, I'm 6 feet tall, 250 pounds, I don't need to worry about power. And I'm also fairly fast. It's all in speed and technique.
     
  9. Captain Karate

    Captain Karate New Member

    No offense but that's really bad physics. I think your on the right track though.

    I'm pretty sure this is the correct formula. Though not 100% sure as I stopped doing Physics ages ago.

    Kinetic Energy = 1/2 x Mass x Velocity²
    or
    Ek = 1/2mv²

    Which means in the long run speed is where most of the "power" as you say comes from. Not to say mass is not important, and mass comes from proper structure and technique (getting all your body weight behind the punch) and of course bulking up dosen't hurt either :D.

    Also you have to think about impulse which is when something going very fast stops very quickly (i.e. Bruce Lee's fist smashing into some guy's face.) the quicker the deceleration the more the energy. That's why high speed car crashes are so disasterous.

    I think this is also what's going on with assault rifles these days, since they fire 5.56 rather than 7.62. Because even though 5.56 have less mass, since they go faster they end up with more kinetic energy. And yes I know I'm ignoring surface area. :p

    If I'm wrong then please mighty Physics gurus correct my ignorance. :cry:
     
  10. yodaofcoolness

    yodaofcoolness New Member

    What about the part of the fist you are hitting with? Will you not get more power per surface area by hitting with just the two "punching nuckles" rather than the whole fist?
     
  11. eddiehizo

    eddiehizo New Member

    I disagree with that. Speed isn't always necessary. i've studied ninjitsu for 10 years and instead of using muscle strength use your whole body motion for the punch. This mean using your legs and your whole body mass to execute the punching power behind this. Speed is easily to add to but doing this leverage create more devasting blow.
     
  12. nightcrawlerEX

    nightcrawlerEX Valued Member

    http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46659
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2006
  13. Trick Nasty

    Trick Nasty space monkey

    I think your analogy woul dbe better worded like this:

    Would you rather be hit with a basketball going 5 miles an hour or a tennis ball going 30?
     
  14. yodaofcoolness

    yodaofcoolness New Member

    Just a thought...
    It seems to me like different punches would do damage differently. Like the difference between being hit with a whip VS. being hit with a stick. For example, a punch with a lot of speed but not much mass behind it would do more damage to the surface of the skin and cutting. A punch with not as much speed and more mass might not do as much damage to the surface of the skin, but would have more potential for breaking bones or a knockout.
     
  15. nightcrawlerEX

    nightcrawlerEX Valued Member

    Force = mass X accelleration

    so yes
     
  16. HanzoHattori

    HanzoHattori New Member

    less surface area you hit with more pressure ( per square inch)
     
  17. TigerDude

    TigerDude Valued Member

    This equation does not apply to the "force" (how hard) of a punch. Force is the force muscles apply to the fist. Mass is the mass of the arm. Those two then determine how fast the fist accelerates, & therefore how fast the fist can go.

    Captain K had it right about kinetic energy.
     
  18. Mark_Campbell

    Mark_Campbell Valued Member


    Physics leans into what you have said, theres a simple formula

    F=ma

    force (power as you have it)= mass (how much you weigh and how much of that your putting into it) x Accelaration (different from speed)

    constant speed is different from constant accelaration, you attain accelaration by relaxing the smaller muscles in your arm and shoulder and accelarate the punch,then tense them and breathe out sharply( something which tenses the abdomen which if you have been twisting into the movement focuses the twist) at the right moment to focus the whole effort and give the technique a big boost in accelaration


    Im not criticising at all in fact i agree, but i think it will be easier to understand the physics behind the technique with this added in
     
  19. yodaofcoolness

    yodaofcoolness New Member

    More than just the arm is involved in the mass behind a punch.

    [EDIT] - TigerDude, I see what your saying. Nevermind.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2006
  20. yodaofcoolness

    yodaofcoolness New Member

    Force = Mass x Accl.

    So if my fist slows down a little right before impact, then I would be hitting with negative Accl. and therefore negative force... like less than zero?

    Also if a car is going a constant speed, 90mph, then its Accl is zero right?

    Isn't inertia what should be considered rather than force?
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2006

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