Thread: Punching and Pushing: Is it better to tense up or stay relaxed at the moment impact?

Do you clench your fist hard?

You turn the fist over?

Do you tense your arm chest and shoulder at impact (not before) or is this a no no? (do you tense isometrically ie to hold the arm static and ridgid or concentrically to add a little force right at the end of the punch? Or will doing either just impede the lower body power and turn my punch into a push?)
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You aim at the back of the opponents head or you aim through* the heavy bag, (through the target) but at what point you you tense the fist? At the "surface"? Mid way "through" Or At the "end"? (My bag is a little soft so I dont know and im not sure on a person either)
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Also how long do you tense the fist for and how long do you continue to keep trying to drive through the target?? I can let my snap bounce me off my target automatically for a very low contact time (despite aiming through the target and connecting hard) or I can continue to try and go through the target continue to drive, is that a bad idea that turns it into a push or is it good only for body shots?

(ive got the hips and legs doing the right thing im not off balance, im transferring all my weight it feels very heavy, my punches are very fast, im pulling my punches with my midsection and shoulders im not pushing them, im getting snap from the shoulders, im just not sure what is to be done with the chest shoulders arms and hands apon impact.

I would work this out for myself but I cant use my punch bag now its too late and its often best to get someone elses advice who knows what they are doing.

Hi OMGWTF,
You asked:

Do you clench your fist hard?

You turn the fist over?

Do you tense your arm chest and shoulder at impact (not before) or is this a no no?
-
You aim at the back of the opponents head or you aim through* the heavy bag, (through the target) but at what point you you tense the fist? At the "surface"? Mid way "through" Or At the "end"?
-
Also how long do you tense the fist for and how long do you continue to keep trying to drive through the target??

Hey buddy, you're getting too caught up in minutiae. So much so, that you'll be a victim of "paralysis by too much analysis." Whenever applicable, keep things as simple as possible. And this is an applicable case.

Generally speaking, it's best to keep as relaxed as possible (in the context of fighting - offensive and defensive execution). In regards to punching, staying as contextually relaxed as possible promotes speed and striking power (as your antagonistic muscles will not be impending performance).

As far as tensing the fist before or at moment of impact, don't worry about that. You'll "unconsciously" tense it at the moment of impact as contact with the target will elicit that naturally. The phenomena of tensing or not tensing your fist at the moment of impact actually works in reverse, consciously speaking. You have to consciously think about keeping your punching hand "relaxed" (i.e. a loose/untightened fist) at moment of impact if that is actually what you desire (which you shouldn't do). So, to reiterate, when it comes to tensing the punching fist at the moment of impact, that will come naturally without any conscious thought. So, don't think about it; let it go. There are more important things to concern yourself with on the road to mastering boxing.

On a tangential note, here's something to bear in mind when to comes to learning/mastering any facet of any skill - you go through four stages:
1) Unconscious incompetence > 2) Conscious incompetence > 3) Conscious competence > 4) Unconscious competence (which is what you should aspire to in attaining any skill, in this case, boxing).

I'm bringing this up because when a student is in the limbo realm between the "conscious incompetence" and "conscious competence" stages of learning, the "disease" of "paralysis by analysis" rears its ugly head to detrimental effect. So, be mindful of this in your training. Don't be sucked in by its charm...

Anyway, just let your punching fist do what it will naturally do on its own - tense itself at the moment of impact via reflexively-elicited tactile reaction. By the way, this "naturalness" also goes for the other related questions you asked (i.e. what to tense, how long to tense, drive through, etc). Just focus on the bigger picture (i.e. macro body mechanics and associated elements) and let the "micro" stuff flow naturally...

Take Care,
Lito

Do you clench your fist hard?
No, the fist is tensed only on impact and not very hard, you are not squeezing anything, you tense it only enough to make a closed fist.
You should experience no tiredness or fatigue from closing the fist, if you do you are tensing to hard.

You turn the fist over?
Yes
Four basic punches, jab, cross(straight right), left and right hook, should all finish with the palm facing the ground.

You do not contact/tense your shoulder/chest on impact of a punch

You contract your fist on impact, punches should go through the target to successfully transfer the weight/power.
You hit much harder punching through the target.

Also how long do you tense the fist for and how long do you continue to keep trying to drive through the target??

The fist is contracted for a very short time thousands of a second.
You drive through the target because it is more powerful, hitting the heavy bag, pads or opponent will give resistance, so you might not be able to to fully extend the arm, but this should be your objective, standing to close to a heavy bag you will be unable to fully extend your punch.


(ive got the hips and legs doing the right thing im not off balance, im transferring all my weight it feels very heavy, my punches are very fast, im pulling my punches with my midsection and shoulders im not pushing them, im getting snap from the shoulders, im just not sure what is to be done with the chest shoulders arms and hands apon impact.

Delivering a punch is like kicking a ball, all your muscles are involved, but you do not need to over think which muscles need to contract,(calf, hamstring, quadriceps, gluteus maximus, hip-flexors, abdominals, trapezium, latissimus dorsi ) or be in such a position because you are preforming a technique.
If kicking a ball, tensing the muscles would be counter-productive

Punching is a complex technique and moving your limbs will contact and relax hundreds of muscle fibers.

Do not tense any muscles, they will do this on their own accord.
Eventually like walking you will just walk instead of thinking about how to walk.

It is worth noting that 'punching through' refers just as much to turning the hips and shoulders through the center line of the body as to anything else. Even on a short punch where there is no extension of the arm at all.