pstarr wrote:
Absolutely!

I prefer the post because it forces you to focus your thrust/strike onto and through a small point. A slight grazing punch will be immediately self-correcting.

Training the thrust against a post also develops and toughens the shoulders...and the vibration of the post (if it's properly constructed) every time you hit it gradually increases the density of the bones in the hand which are used for striking.

Again, I couldn't agree more. I have used posts in the past and they are extremely effective. I only prefer the sack of ball bearings because it suits the purposes of many of the strikes in Liu Shui Dao. But I do feel the post to be more superior as a training aid. Especially in the field of gungfu which is your area if I remember rightly.

Also, could you send me a personal message sometime about your (forgive me if I get this wrong) own variation of gungfu - Yiliquan? I'm really keen to learn more about it.

Great talking to you.<br><br>Post edited by: LSD, at: 2007/11/06 17:55

I'd be very happy to do that! I send out a couple of &quot;lectures&quot; every week to instructors of our association and many friends who are interested in my martial ramblings...!

Plymetrics press ups are and will always be one of the best ways to improve your punching power. Use all manner of angles and hand placement because its VERY rare someone stands in one place waiting to get lamped!

Also if you are up for deadlifting do it! Its one way of really uping your whole power.

And then there are jump squats to really help you launch your weight in behind the punch.

These three exercises and you'll make it though walls!

Happy punching

I'm fairly new to martial arts, but speaking from experience of training in parkour, i'd say one of the most important ways to improve power in punching is core strength. As many people have said, the main part of the punch comes from the torso, therefore a strong core and good core control will help no end, in punching and nearly every other movement. It also helps improve balance and co-ordination.

Firstly look at how you punch and then use exercises that build up the muscles that you use in the motions that you use for punching.

I don't see press ups in all of their variations as building up my punching power. Sure it helps with upper body strength, but I don't punch by simply extending my arm.

You can use resistant bands or cables at the gym to mirror the action you use while punching. It means that you use all the muscles that you use in punching. Also in many ways, when your arms get tired, you use your whole body to do the exercise which I think is important.

I see any striking as hitting with my whole body and it just depends on the technique as to what the striking area is. Therefore I use a delivery system for my strikes that uses my body weight and not just say my arm strength.

To achieve this my body moves slightly before the striking tool. I've heard people call variations of it double hip, waveform, etc - whatever it works similar to if your throwing something. Watch any sport movements involving throwing or hitting something with a bat.

I get my students to think about skimming a stone on water. If you want to, stand up and do the action now and slow it down. You'll find that your body moves and then your hand - the body drives the hand out. Note that you don't tense your body when you do this.

Now think of a basic cross punch with the right hand. Stand in a relaxed fighting stance, in my opinion deep fixed stances constrict hip rotation. Think of the skimming of the stone, but keep the movements tighter. Let your rear leg and hip drive forward and then your right shoulder and then fire your relaxed arm straight out and tense on impact. The rear foot is not rooted and if it is you should feel if the hip is in fact slowing the punch down.

Just my thoughts
Steve<br><br>Post edited by: SteveBruce, at: 2007/12/01 20:14

What I have done it to use dumbbell pyramids. Plus just constantly on hand eye coordination sports( ie: raquetball and volleyball)
I start out with 15 lb dumbbells and work my way down to 10 lbs, then 5lbs and then no weight. I start with 10-15 punches w/ the 15 and then 10-15 on the 10lbs and then 15 on the 5lbs and then 30 quick and hard with no weight. each side only counts as one rep and do three sets of those. Also i bought a 1.5lb dumbbell with a strap and constantly practice on the bag and my forms with the weights to get my hand speed faster.

Now can someone exchange some sparring techniques with me?
I train constantly but i would like to learn some more point techniques. I am about to get my 2nd degree BB and now i will be going against bb's with a larger amount of knowledge than i have in the point spar area.


any links or feedback is greatly appreciated, I will also use the techniques to teach the dojo too.

Thats an interesting technique with regards the weights.... Hence being able to put your hand through concrete! Awesome.

My background is point sparring with the ITF taekwondo... Life in general has caught up to me so I dont have the time to really focus on competetion as much as I used to do but key elements of my arsenal were...


Backfist - but real fast.

Blitz - start with a feint then move straight in with a flurry of punches.

Double up the side kicks... as they come in just pick your leg up and jab a side kick...

For me it worked.


Now if you want a masterclass -

Warren Vice of my organisation the TAGB.... hes won several world Taekwondo titles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hV_xkl21g

Thens there another guy from WACKO... we have him in the Martialedge TV section. His style was very different to Warrens but very effective.

Any more ideas guys? Keep them coming.

Hi
If you want real punching power type 'Steve Morris'' on youtube
watch and learn from the guy who is at the top of his game?
just my 2 pennies works for me

Regards
Pike
www.balintawak.co.uk www.balintawak.biz www.balintawakarnis.eu

Here is a Video Lesson and Instructions For Power Punch Qi Gong which is a Chinese qi gong / chi kung technique used to increase punching power.

Yeah that looks awesome. Can you post it through Martialedge TV for the benefit of users that dont use the forums?

Pete,

I thought I might also throw in my two cents.

My wife and I are at odds about punching. She's a boxer, and her approach is to simply bang the heavy bag for 90 minutes a day, with a careful focus on technique as it relates to power generation. It works: she hits as hard as most 90 kg men. It's really quite amazing. But she's always riding the edge of getting stress fractures in her forearms from the impact. Even though she's been training for years, bone density just don't seem to keep pace with power generation. (This is my concern about excessive makiwara and hanging bag practice.) But her approach really gets results for her, and she has a mean six-pack to boot.

I prefer to split my physical training between bag work (for application of technique) and less bone-crunching exercises such as plyometric press-ups, medicine ball throws, and weighted lunges. I might as well join the party and plug my book also in this thread: http://www.martialedge.net/reviews/books/fighters-mind-fighters-body/
Lots of fun exercises in there!

resistance bands are the way to go....they've increased my punching power.