Thread: Plyometrics

A lot of people come on here looking for ways to increase hand speed, and I know very well from years of baseball that weights will only slow your hands down. But what about plyometrics? ie, a shot-put motion with each arm with a medicine ball, or various tossing motions up in the air. etc.

Any thoughts?

Von the way to do it is to stretch the arm and muscles on the shoulder and upper back. theres lots of little ways to do this, I think Ive mentioned a few in passing on other threads. the secret is making the elbow to move faster, you have to spend time stretching the triceps upper and lower tendons. Plus the muscles which make the thumb work attached to the elbow. This will make the mechanics of the movement so much easier to perform. It will make the extension and recoil of the elbow faster, thats the joint where we get arm speed from.

Originally Posted by Von Milash

A lot of people come on here looking for ways to increase hand speed, and I know very well from years of baseball that weights will only slow your hands down. But what about plyometrics? ie, a shot-put motion with each arm with a medicine ball, or various tossing motions up in the air. etc.

Any thoughts?

in order to get my fighters to throw with speed and that "snap" in their punches I would have them imagine that they were trying to strike out and take something out of my hand......kinda like Van Dam in "Bloodsport"....it worked great......snatch it and bring it back....relax as much as possible......almost throw the punches with your hands completly relaxed and open.....making it a fist at the last possible moment......see how that works......

Well, I've actually got some pretty good hand speed now, especially with the right hook and cross. I'm just looking for a little more. The left is coming along nicely. Repitition.... one left hook after another , all in front of the mirror.

Scraps. I don't have a clue what you said. lol. But I'll search your old posts. Thanks.

BigR. you're definitely right. I leave everything as relaxed as possible until I need to make a fist. I just let my hands go and throw from my body. Good advice. It confirms what I've been doing.

cc's all around.

Actually, Scraps, I read your post again and think I know what mean. I applied that principle to my jab a while ago and I instantly got more pop hitting the mits. I have to remember to keep that in mind though.

I was tinkering with the med ball last night and came up with a good way to work the hooks and uppercuts. make a 90degree angle with your arm... tuck the ball in and hold it snug (you may have to use your hand a bit until you get the hang of it.) Then work your punching motion as if you were hitting the bag and throw the punch hard as you can for 90seconds. go through the entire range of motion and each time and at the end of the motion catch the ball (and stop your arm) with your free hand. The ball shouldn't come out since your free hand will push it back snugly in place on catching it. It's simple and many of you might know it already but I found it to be effective after only a couple sets. It works your torso and gut muscles since your twisting, the bicep since you're trying hard to keep the ball tucked in, and chest and shoulders just like a normal punch would.

Von try it with a Space hopper, nice to see your thinking about it. cc

best way to increase hand speed is repetition throw punches with speed dont worry about power when shadow boxing or hitting bag also concentrate on technique throwing with the right movement will help them flow easier...your body will max out on its own...as for power it will be there by itself again technique increases that to

The best way to increase to speed is to shadow box 5 rounds which last 3 minutes each, and with a 1 minute break between training with dumbells in your hands. Add this to your current training schedule. Start of with light weights (1 pound) and increase the weight by half a pound every 2/3 weeks until u get to 4 pounds. This will definitely increase your hand speed and your power.

The thing about dumbell punching is it works the biceps more than the triceps. Plus speed comes from the first 3 inch of any movement, with the movement coming from the triceps forward, biceps for the recoil. But while holding weights in the hand your making your adductor muscles in the shoulder have a response so it will stop the nuromuscular system working as fast. With elastic it solves the problem

Spot on Scrap, not only do you get a good natural resistance thing going on on the way out but you get an assisted overspeed on the way back.

Plyometrics are fantastic for speed and power development...i love them.

Munky, have you tried e-lifting? Basically it's plyometrc weight training. ie, lift as explosively and fast as you can to 90% extension (so you don't hurt your joints).

Originally Posted by Von Milash

Munky, have you tried e-lifting? Basically it's plyometrc weight training. ie, lift as explosively and fast as you can to 90% extension (so you don't hurt your joints).

I have done that but not heard the term before. We do plyometric combative conditioning at a combatives class i attend. Lots of plyometric push ups, work with medicine balls etc etc, we also use things like sandbags with uneven weight distribution to help stabilise and strengthen core muscle groups. All with a view to gaining KO power under duress and that powerful snap at the end of a punch,plamfist. As ive said before though punching out with weights whilst standing is useless for power development.

puncinh with weights, imo, is dangerous as well.

I have one where you do side-to-side push-ups in the corner of a room (standing, where the walls meet) since not everyone can do plyo push-ups. Just lean against one wall, push up and over to the other wall... back and forth. the stronger you get, the more you can angle your body, or even do one-armed ones.

Another I have is shot-putting a med ball as high as yuo can into the air against a wall. anything that works the fast twitch muscle is good. I think it's also important to do the smae exercises with no weights to keep your movements as fast as possible. one set with weight, one set without. (I don't think we (science) know enough about weight trinaing and fast twitch muscle to conclusivlely say, more weight is better than less or vice versa. I think they THINK they know, but we'll see in 20 years what we didn't know then (now).