Devloping Punching Power

[Cody Clark]

Hi,

I was wondering what are some of the best ways to help develop punching power. I know that the gymnastic exercises will help develop it and, hitting the heavy bag will. Will throwing objects like you punch like a med ball or a Shot put develop punching power. From what i've googled it says it only develops the speed of punching. I would like to see if I can build up to or beyond the great boxing champ Rocky Marciano who had one of the best punches in the buisness.

[Blairbob]

It's all in the hips. Yes, getting stronger will help. Anything plyometric will help but obviously there is a skill to it which will depend on which style of punching you intend to develop.

[Julekman]

The most important thing first is to learn proper technique, specific skill for punch. All others then, like strength for example, is only one of the tools to support it. For the explosive speed and power stick with high intensity and focused max efforts, and plenty of rest between sets. Of course, before that, you must poses a fair level of general strength but also endurance. Your CNS is a big boss when it comes to explosive power and speed, so you need to develop it. For general preparation, gymnastics can help, and stick with WODs then. If you want to hit a bag, use max acceleration and power with 100% effort for no longer then 10 sec and then active rest 3 - 5min and wait until your heart rate drop at 120 or below then repeat 4-6 times. But as I say, if your punching techiques are bad, and your general strength is low, there is a good chance that you overload your CNS and injure yourself with power intervals. When we talk about fighters, always remember that power is highly influenced by their skill and techique.

[Chris Hansen]

I'd say it mostly comes from practicing correct technique and spending time on the heavy bag.

Back when I trained in JKD, some of the hardest strikers were these little skinny guys. Every day they would be in the gym before class hitting the bag, hitting the pads, practicing their movement. There were also some big strong guys that really couldn't hit that hard.

[Hivoyer]

I also used to train JKD for a while and one thing my instructor told me was-when you punch it's important to punch like you have no plan to bring back your hand after the punch-to punch like you want to use every muscle fiber possible to throw your arm in the correct motion and in the same time completely relax the muscles that would slow down your punch.With practice you learn to stop your arm right before your elbow reaches 180 degrees and avoid injury.I also read somewhere that part of your brain instinctively doesn't like you hitting stuff with your hands,but instincts can be overcome with training and concentration.Like the one before me said-sometimes the skinniest guys hit the hardest,since they trained their nervous system for 100% efficiency just like the awesome strength to weigth ratio we see in gymnasts.

[Tarun Suri]

Destructive punches require no power. Research systema (russian millitary martial art).

[Julekman]

RandomHavoc

Destructive punches require no power. Research systema (russian millitary martial art).

Not correct. The principles of Russian systema goes from premise that human arms and hands have enough weight to cause the damage no matter if the arms are lite weight (skinny), like a small rock if you throw it on somebody with no tension in arms, just let it go. While this is true, there is the difference if you throw rock slowly with bad technique and only with your arms, or with effective body move with lots of power, just like the human hands when you want to punch. And here we go again, proper technique, timing, effective move, speed, power, tension at minimum, but strong and proper body position and hand at the end of journey (contact). Also dont forget, the experts of Russian systema work on specific strength.