How to increase punching power is probably the most common question I get asked.
There are a ton of factors involved in this, so in this video, I break down some of these factors and give you exercises to train them.
I also briefly address the question about tapering for a fight (and where to get more info).
Got a question you’d like me to answer?
The transverse plane is the plane of POWER, if you’re an athlete.
If you’re not an athlete, then transverse plane training will ensure you’re training your obliques for rotational power generation/stability and little-worked muscles in your hips and shoulders.
This exercise gives you all of the above and more and it’s fun to pull off, too.
What’s your favourite rotational exercise?
Let me know in the Comments – I’d love to hear what you’re doing.
You might start getting more videos from me shot in my basement workout corner.
My 6 month old baby girl Livia is the cutest thing ever and I enjoy working from home more so I can bug her often throughout the day. 🙂
Because of this, you’ll be getting more corrective/patterning/activation drills that I do because I typically do these at home versus at the gym.
In today’s video, I reveal one of the techniques that I’ve integrated into my upcoming Shoulder Flexibility Solution, which is about 57% done.
[BTW – I’m definitely going to include much of the feedback I got from the survey responses, so thanks again for taking the time to respond if you in fact did respond]
Poo poo to the rest of ya bums 😉
In today’s video, you’re going to see how to train the skill of transferring force from the ground up through to your hand, like you want to do if you enjoy throwing really powerful punches.
In fact, after learning this skill, you may be able to punch so hard, you could punch down a 100 oak tree from its base.
I’m not exaggerating.
On top of that, I also show you how to activate the serratus anterior, with important coaching cues that many don’t know.
A sleepy/weak serratus anterior can result in:
[+] Pain and tightness between your shoulder blades (due to compensatory action from the rhomboids and middle traps)
[+] Decreased ability to transfer maximum force from the ground through to your hand
[+] A tight pec minor or a pec minor that won’t release even fromthe most aggressive stretching and treatment regimen
This last point is uber-important because a lot of guys have tight PEC MINORs and this limits flexibility and increases anterior shoulder pain and can create nerve impingements.
Yikes.
You’re getting a lot of bang from your buck in this vid ONLY if you put it to work for you.
Best part is all you need is a wall or something you can push up against with your hand, so NO EXCUSES.
Give it a go and make sure you tell me if you felt the serratus activate and if you became aware of any “force leaks” in your body when driving through the ground.
In Manny Pacquiao’s controversial fight against Timothy Bradley, on a couple of occasions the (weathering) commentators mentioned that Bradley was unfortunately one of those fighters born without punching power.
Unlike Mike Tyson, Anderson Silva and Chris Leben, of course, who all came out of the womb and uncorked some monster combos on the unsuspecting OB-GYN and laid him flat out for no other reason than being the first face they saw. Poor docs.
Now I’ve written about the topic before on my blog:
Now, I always question anyone who says that anything is purely a product of “nature”.
Because with respect to life, almost 100% of things in your life are a combination of nature and nurture, that is, your genetics (nature) and everything else (nurture) including your environment, how you were raised, what you ate, what you did, who you lost your virginity with, and on and on and on.
So when I got the question from Santiago Sanchez from Logansport, USA, I decided to think about it a bit more and answer it for you in today’s Ask EricWongMMA.
After you watch the video, I’d love to hear what YOU think.
Here’s the vid:
And because this is a new segment, let me know if you like it.
We’ve had 3 weeks where I’ve done one of these videos now, so let me know if you think I should keep ’em coming.
[———————– UFC 148 SPOILER ALERT ————————]
Don’t read this if you don’t want the event spoiled!
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OK, we should be clear, now, let’s go:
After watching Silva’s win vs. Sonnen, I couldn’t help but feel a bit manipulated…
I’m talking about the pre-fight trash talking between Sonnen and Silva, especially how Silva came out with some very strong words, then afterwards he basically says, “Yeah, we were just messing with you guys, we just do this to build hype. Me and Chael are going to be best buddies now and sleep on mattresses full of the money that we made from hyping this fight up so much.”
Trust me, I know how the game works and I think the fighters deserve every penny that they make.
But still, I think it’s a bit much to go all out with the trash talking then when it’s over, say straight up how you were just doing it to build hype.
Did you feel this way too or am I just being overly sensitive?
Please share your thoughts with me – I need to know if I’m still a man or need to lose the skirt and panties.
Thanks!
Last week I posted an exercise to help you kick higher, so this week, I thought I’d throw in another article that I know is going to be popular on how to punch harder.
Punch is one of those funny words if you say it enough times, it starts to sound comical.
Punch.
Punch.
PU-nch.
Don’t agree? OK maybe I’m just a weirdo or I’ve spent too much time with this article rolling around in my head then. 🙂
Before continuing – take this poll/quiz, I’m just curious to see where you’re at:
There are a lot of myths out and about talking about how to punch harder.
Let’s bust those then get on with how you can actually go about increasing your punching power properly.
I remember watching a video put out by one of those fitness magazines that shows a trainer ‘teaching’ the magazine interviewer guy how to punch harder.
One of the exercises he shows is the standing tricep cable extension, saying that it’s a good exercise because you need tricep strength to punch harder.
He then goes to punch this geek in the gut when he’s not expecting it, crumpling him, “proving” his theory right.
WRONG.
Tricep strength contributes very little to punching power, which comes more from the hips and core.
Your genetics and build play a role in your punching power through their effects on muscle fiber type, neuromuscular activation speed and tendon length, to name a few. [For those with more background about the human body, even tendon insertion points that increase moment arm size to increase force production at that joint]
However, you can take the most genetically gifted freak in the world and if he’s never taught proper technique, he’s probably not going to have ridiculous KO power.
Anybody can wind up and throw everything they’ve got at a bag, but this is useless since something like this will never work in a fight (maybe in the street, but not against a trained opponent).
So we’ve got to talk about punches that have a chance of landing, and with this, technique is first and foremost.
Teaching technique is one way to “make” punching power.
After that, we can train the body strategically to improve two of the genetic components (in italics) mentioned above.
1) We know that before punching power can be developed, you’ve got to master technique.
2) We also know that much of your punching power comes from your hips and core, not just your arms.
Because I’m the S&C guy, I’m going to leave #1 to your striking coach. [f you don’t have one or you’re not confident in what he’s teaching you, talk to Jeff Joslin]
What I am going to do is address #2.
And I’m going to do it in a 2-step process, because I want you to think about this and understand it.
Once you understand it properly, you’ll start to practice the concept in all of your training and you’ll punch a hell of a lot harder than ever before.
Step #1 is for you to watch the video on this page and identify the key concept that I’m cueing my athlete to focus on.
Step #2 is for you to leave your answer as to what you think the key concept is in the Comments section below.
When you leave your comment, scroll right to the bottom of this page so you don’t see anybody else’s answer and it doesn’t influence yours.
Remember – you’re not doing this to prove how smart you are, you’re doing it to deepen your understanding.
There are 2 exercises shown in this video, both of which are in my Ultimate MMA S&C program.
I want you to focus on the exercise that more closely resembles throwing a punch and listen closely to my coaching cues.
Ready?
I also want to encourage participation – so let’s get at least 50 answers here and in addition to revealing the magic cue to punch harder, I’ll also outline why we’re doing what we’re doing in this short clip, so let’s hear your answers!
As promised, here’s Part 2 of the series, and it comes to you in the form of a video
I’ve also got some more advanced exercises that follow these ones that will really jack up your hip stability and punching power…
So give me at least 30 Comments and I’ll be sure to film it for you ASAP.
Picture for a moment that you’re standing on a tightrope…
As you can probably imagine, it’s pretty wobbly.
You’ve got absolutely no stability and at any moment it might feel as if you’re going to fall off.
Now imagine throwing a punch while you’re standing on this tightrope.
How powerful do you think this punch would be?
Obviously, not very powerful and it definitely wouldn’t knock anybody out.
So how does this all relate to your development of explosive KO power in your hands, you might be asking?