When it comes to Punching Hard...

[Chris Nagel]

When it comes to punching power we tend to lose power in our joints. You can see our bones as pieces of a kinetic chain linked together by tendons/joints which makes up how our body transmits force. Proper technique/body-alignment is important but a lot of force is still lost at the point of contact. It's simply impossible for a man with weak wrists/forearms to punch hard no matter how well executed their technique may be.

Understand?

Now if your wrists or elbows bend and gives in at the point of impact then you're losing a lot of force in your punches. You can understand this point when your wrist is bent when throwing a left hook, or if it bends accidentally when thowing a hard straight. And on all punches the shock of the impact goes right to your forearm/elbows. If you are weak in any of these areas then not only will you lose power, you'll be more prone to injuries.

Now here's the simple solution...

Assuming that your technique is ok, and that you've made the proper adjustment in your stance/body-alignment you can work on strengthening your weak links.

If your weaker link is your wrists (as it is with a lot of people) you should start working on that sticking point. Generally curling or rolling your wrist with a weight will help strengthen the surrounding muscles, and the joints/tendons to a lesser extent. One way I like to do it is a wrist roller which I have posted below:

Wrist Roller


This one is a forearm killer that makes your wrists stronger. This is easy to make and is never combersome, all you need is about a 3.5 ft cord tied or inserted through a pipe or a broom handle or the like, which the other end is attached to a weight which can be improvised.

Here's how you do the the exercise. Start with your arms extended infront of you holding the pipe evenly on both near the ends just like you would grip a bike's handle bars.

While keeping your arms extended the whole time, start by slowly rolling it all the way up, and then all the way down. For a good workout try 3 trips up and 3 trips down. As for some tips make sure you work on getting the full range of motion, and don't try to go too fast. Set a weight that is challenging but not too heavy or light.

The goal isn't to build up massive forearms, just don't get caught up in trying to do more and more weight, work on increasing strength and up repetions.

There's other exercises you can do, I've mentioned wrist curling weights, and another thing helps your wrist is building up your hand's grip strength. You can do this with hard labor, or there's a few exercises with or without equipment. I'll go over a few pieces of equipment that I use to work on grip...

Bruce Lee's Grip Machine

This is the best piece of equipment that I have used when it comes to building grip strength. As you can see it is plateloaded so therefore I can treat it like any other piece of equipment (e.g. sets/reps). This isn't work the forearm as the wrist roller that I had gone over, but it's the best way to improve your grip strength that I know of. It can be downright brutal, if you want to get an idea what this is feels like then try bending a strong piece of metal. It's mind over matter.


Last but not least is a regular hand gripper like the kind you'd see in most sporting good stores. Here's mine with a slight adjustment:

Chris's Hand Gripper

I've put a garden-hose tie around the spring which keeps it from from flexing outwards. This gives it much more resistance.

What I love about it is how small and convenient it is, I can use it while I'm driving, or w/e. With this piece I generally try to get as much reps in as possible, working to squeeze it as hard as I can each time.

Anyways there's other ways to improve your grip strength, but I prefer these devices because how effective they are at strengthening my grip and forearms which means I'll be able to deliver a lot more power in my punches.

[Trainer Monkey]

Actually Chris a great excercise for both the triceps and the forarms is somthing called a kickback

[Chris Nagel]

Trust me on this I've tried it, not as good as good for the forearms as the wrist roller in my experience. I'm not going to argue but I want you to try this, however much weight you're doing in a kickback, try doing that with the the wrist rolls. That'd be enough that Popeye would be bleading from his anchor.

I didn't include the other weight training exercises I don't see it as necessary for a boxer. You could say that doing deadlifts helps your lowerback and your forearms, but it's not going to do make much of an impact on your boxing. There are more constructive ways to build strength, Scrap has a few nifty ones here that are more suited for a fighter.

[Trainer Monkey]

Trust me on this I've tried it, not as good as good for the forearms as the wrist roller in my experience. I'm not going to argue but I want you to try this, however much weight you're doing in a kickback, try doing that with the the wrist rolls. That'd be enough that Popeye would be bleading from his anchor.

I didn't include the other weight training exercises I don't see it as necessary for a boxer. You could say that doing deadlifts helps your lowerback and your forearms, but it's not going to do make much of an impact. There are more constructive ways to build strength, Scrap has a few nifty ones here that are more suited for a fighter.

Oh trust me,Ive done a variation of it,just the kick back is less specialized,and hits two spots at once
So if your on a limited time/excercize budget its a little more bang for the buck,all I was saying

[Chris Nagel]

alright, that I can see

[Trainer Monkey]

Im also stuck in this weird hell,ie keeping weight,that excercize encourages serious muscle growth
Which I loved to death when I was fighting at 210/215
But now that Im older,and trying to stay below 185,not so much
So I have to chase over all tone,and speed,rather then muscle mass
I kinda have to pick and choose my excercises like I pick and choose my food anymore
And after I win in November,Im devouring a cheesecake,and you cant stop me

[Sharla]

You've only picked one food!?!?

I tend to have at least one food from every food group and course on my wish list after dieting - then some

[Trainer Monkey]

You've only picked one food!?!?

I tend to have at least one food from every food group and course on my wish list after dieting - then some

Trust me,the look on my face while eating a good slice of cheesecake is close to the look on my face when....................
Well nevermind

[voodoo_dude]

Chris, I have a question. Over time does hitting the heavy bag strengthen the wrists/forearms?

I usually do knuckle press ups and use hand grippers to strengthen my wrists/forearms but I do it to reduce the risk of injuring myself. I didnt realise it was a factor of punching power.

[Chris Nagel]

Overtime it strengthens them to an extent. At the moment of impact you have to tighten your fist, and tense your forearm to keep your wrist straight. There's an axiom, "There's no wrists in boxing." This simple wisdom just applies to punches. You always have to keep your knuckles and wrist in line with your forearm when you punch.

It's also important to have the proper alignment to your shots and the right distance in between your feet according to the distance between you and your opponent. This has to do with leverage and simple body mechanics. As for power a lot of it due to your feet, because you have to shift weight from one leg to another to generate any power. Bad technique can stop you from thowing hard punches. A common one is that people whom wing their punches lose power through their shoulders, which can also account for shoulder injuries.

Good technique coupled with a strength is the most efficient way in generating punching power. Forearms strength and grip strength go hand in hand. If not just for looks perhaps this is why Bruce Lee trained his forearms so religiously.

I should also note that to prevent injuries you should have your bag hang to where the bottom of it is at waist level. The swinging helps, it's detrimental to your joints/tendons to hit something that doesn't move.

That swinging etc.. i exactly why one hits (or should be hitting) the heavy bag. In old tapes of Marciano, Mickey Walker, evey one I can recall, the bag swung a lot. (The exception being Liston for the first Ali fight; his trainer held the bag so the press would see how hard Sonny hit and not how shot his legs were.
That motion is how you learn a number of things, among them how to move your feet to position your sefl to hit an opponent that is not wanting to be hit, how to punch fast and hard when in position, how to set up particular punches and how to handle a body when fighting in close how to sidestep and step around with minimum movement. You learn to contrl the bas sway with your jab, how to step in andpunch inside and how to punch your way back to long range.
Your bag should swing and spin- I'm not talking about it getting parallel to the florr or like that- and don't hang it too low. Its good if the bottom of the bag is @ at your waist; its good for landing the halfhook/halfuppercuts that you throw to the body and dosn't hurt your wrist as readily. Also, you don't want to be landing punches real close to the top of the bag, as it seem the chain ...well the bag doesn't move as readily and I've always thought that the way it does move lends itself to hand and wrist injuries.

Don't overtrain, or work to intensely some people get carried away with what they are doing and keep going if left to their own devices. Keep true to the technique, and don't work on the bag when you are very fatigued. It isn't necessary to hit the bag everyday.

I think most heavybag's nowadays are too hard which is also detrimental to your joints and generating punching power. Taking some of the stuffing out helps. Make sure you treat the bag like you would a fight, you work in rounds, and treat it like an opponent, incorporating sidesteps, moving out of range, feints, setting up your shots and defense. Just because it is useful in developing punching power doesn't mean its the point of hitting it. Do everthing for a reason.

[Chris Nagel]

You've only picked one food!?!?

I tend to have at least one food from every food group and course on my wish list after dieting - then some

Trust me,the look on my face while eating a good slice of cheesecake is close to the look on my face when....................
Well nevermind

An orgasm , who wants to see that look on your face. Save that for your Mrs.

[AdamGB]

Chris, I have a question. Over time does hitting the heavy bag strengthen the wrists/forearms?

I usually do knuckle press ups and use hand grippers to strengthen my wrists/forearms but I do it to reduce the risk of injuring myself. I didnt realise it was a factor of punching power.

Your body is like a chain - Only as strong as it's weakest link. You're carrying the power all the way up from the floor to the tips of your knuckles!

[Chris Nagel]

That's right, it's what I've been talking about. Who'd want to have all the punching power in the world only to have it escape from a weak wrist.

Anyways it all helps in the end, but it's not going to stop the normal aches and pains. On the bright side you're protecting yourself for the long term.

[Chris Nagel]

It's no big secret, but a lot of people don't even consider training their hands even though it's the hands that are smashed into flesh and bone.

I remember reading that Gene Tunney who admitted that he had fragile hands decided to turn one of his shortcomings into a strength before his bout with Jack Dempsey.

Gene Tunney would squeeze a solid rubber ball hundreds of times throughout the day, sometimes for hours on end, and this he'd keep up on a regular basis. He'd also strengthen his fingers by doing his pushups on them, and working every finger individually py pushing himself off a wall. To strengthen his forearms he took the old-school labor approach by vacationing in lumbercamps in Maine and Canada by shopping down trees and the whole stint.

I recall Jack Dempsey in his book on Championship Fighting attest to Tunney's explosiveness and hard hitting ability that he felt when he fought him. A champion must be a thinking man, doing everything they can do to reach their goals.

[Scrap]

If you want strong hands try rockclimbing, if you want bad elbows and wrists punch a bag hard