How to punch harder?

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How to Punch Harder?
Mistakes to Avoid Tips to Follow
Punching your opponent hardly isnt as easy as it
seems to be. It requires practice and continuous
hard work. Follow these tips on how to punch
harder and the terrible mistakes you need to
avoid!
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Table of contents
Introduction Rookie Mistakes Basic Theories You
Need to Know to Increase Punching Power How to
Improve Boxing Punching Power Bottom Line
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Introduction
Are you looking for ways to increase punching
power among other self-defence skills, or are
you contemplating signing up with a professional
boxing gym? Then mastering your punching
technique and improving it is a must. Factors
like your expectation of your opponents skills,
your balance, timing, and coordination decide
the quality and boxing punching power. However,
regardless of how coordinated your punching
skills are, you wont be able to, predict the
type of blows that happen in the knockout. Most
of the boxing punching power comes from the back
and the shoulders, therefore, if you work on
your upper body muscles, you land a powerful and
fast punch. You can do workouts like shoulder
press, pull-ups, and push-ups to target your
shoulder and back muscles. However, before we
dive into the ways you can achieve a powerful
punch, lets understand the mistakes people make
that can impact their punch strength. If these
mistakes are not corrected, they might affect
your prospect as an MMA fighter or boxer. See
Also Crash Course on Basic Martial Arts Training
at Home Rookie Mistakes Leaving Your Feet Do
not leave your feet because it will comprise your
balance. The superman punch may look amazing in
films, and it may make your jaw drop in some
styles of MMA fighting, but it never pays off
during a traditional boxing match. Wildly
Throwing Punches You do not just need to plan
your punches intelligently, but you need to time
and place them in an optimal manner and land
them with a precise aim. Wildly thrown fast
punches never find the target. They either get
blocked by the opponent or the opponent moves
out of the way.
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Telegraphing This is a mistake that every rookie
makes. Do not telegraph or cock your punch by
pulling your hand back before you throw your
punch. This gives your opponent the time to come
up with a defence against your punch. Reaching O
verreaching may assist you in achieving a more
powerful punch, but it is ultimately a
self-defeating move because it can result in
joint injury or pain. Boxing is an amazing
sport, and, it is meant to be fun while
simultaneously promoting lifelong and daily
health. No good professional coach will allow
you to reap the short-term perks possibly
obtained by a bad form that will eventually lead
to an injury. Related How to Use a Punching
Bag for a Punch Bag Workout?
Basic Theories You Need to Know to Increase
Punching Power
Speed Is Not Power Remember that power is
acceleration times mass. So, power is not just
speed, you also need to have a weight or a force
behind that speed. A fast punch won't hit your
opponent hard unless you add some body weight
behind it. Move Your Body Just like Bruce Lees
concept behind his renowned one-inch punch
moving your entire body 1 inch has a harder
impact as compared to moving your arm 1 foot.
Move your body to obtain maximum force (or
weight) behind your punch. The trick behind this
is to not focus on moving your body for a great
distance but instead focus on moving it all at
the same time. Use Your Legs
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The biggest muscles in your body always generate
the most power when punching. People who punch
by using their arms only never punch with real
power. So, use your legs. Stay in Your
Range You dont land the strongest punch with
your arms completely outstretched. Punches hit
harder when they land a little shorter than your
actual range of motion. Do not reach. Stay inside
your range. Use Different Angles If you punch
from different angles, you will get more boxing
punching power, more opportunities, and even
more damage to your opponent.
How to Improve Boxing Punching Power
Plyometric Push-Ups Plyometric training, also
called jump training, comprises exercises in
which the muscles exert maximum force and effort
in short bursts. The aim is not just to improve
power but also speed. Plyometric push-ups are
one of the most underrated drills for increasing
punch power. You can do different variations of
this increase, just ensure that your glutes and
core remain tight throughout the exercise. When
youve enough strength, you can try lifting your
feet and hands off the floor. This works amazing
for explosiveness and also translates well in the
boxing ring. Work on Your Form Work on your
style, determine your reach and make sure that
your punches never go outside your reach. More
importantly, train extensively and spend most of
your time doing energetic training sessions with
a trainer that can help you adjust the punch bag
and can spar with you.
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When training, focus on keeping the hands up and
your back straight. As you master the right
form, your coordination will also improve, and
punches will have more weight. Related How To
Fill A Punching Bag? A Step by Step Guide! Start
Slow Many people focus too much on their speed
that their shoulders and torso never end
rotating in their blows. They practically throw
fast yet underpowered punches. To solve this
problem, learn to note how energy moves into your
fist. Take it slow. Pause at the start of a
punch, and check your form and then throw the
blow at half speed. Involve your bodys all
muscles in the punch. Once you know how to add
your bodys strength in your punches, then focus
on your speed. Cardiovascular Exercise Condition
your cardiovascular strength if youre
competing. It can make the difference between
landing blows, harder and harder, hit after hit,
and falling into exhaustion to make your hands
move to land a single punch. Aerobic workout is
mandatory for cardio strength. Incorporate it
into strength training by doing circuit
training. Do 30-60 minutes of rope jumping,
jogging, swimming, and other intense cardio
during the week to gain cardio strength. To
achieve a similar effect of doing a cardio
challenge in the ring, perform a cardio workout
first, then mimic the weariness you might feel in
the ring by working on your strength
training. Note Your Distance In a fight, you
will have many opportunities to punch. If you are
too far away or too close to your opponent, your
punch will not pack enough power because it will
lose its momentum because of overextending, or
you just did not twist far enough.
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Its not about waiting for the other person to be
at the correct distance, its also about
correcting the distance between you and your
opponent and learning the right distance for you
depending on your reach. Shadow Boxing The best
way to learn how to punch harder is to do
intensive shadow boxing almost every day. You
can use shadowbox to warm up before you train,
but you must first do warm-up exercises before
you shadowbox. Shadowbox before your spar or hit
the heavy bag. The real concept behind
shadowboxing is to exercise the correct form and
boost your punching speed. For more strength,
you can also hold weights when you shadowbox.
Shadowboxing can also be transformed into
cardiovascular strength training by performing
it while jogging. Also Read Strength Training
for Runners Complete Guide, Benefits, and
Mistakes Bottom Line In order to learn how to
punch harder, you need to be willing to try new
things. Plus, there is always room for
improvement. Keep an open mind and pay attention
to different strategies and techniques. As you
become a better boxer, and your punching
technique improves, your power also increases.
These tips will help you improve your punching
technique to come harder on your opponent. Read
our other related articles Tips for Choosing the
Right Boxing Gloves for Beginners! How To Clean
Boxing Gloves Naturally? References Main
image Sergey Nivens, Shutterstock
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