A bit slow with combinations, what should I do to improve speed?

I have excellant boxing technique when I throw combinations, especially with straight punches, like 1-2's and 1-1-2's, etc. However though, I notice that the speed of my punches are pretty slow, even when I go full speed, and there is a stiffness in my shoulders when I throw a combination. I have good handspeed, but I'm a bit stiff in the shoulders, do you guys have any suggestions for increasing speed by strengthening the shoulder muscles.

I know punching with weights is one way, but I've already done that and don't see much difference. So if you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Thanks! ;)

Hello
Not being rude but if your shoulders are stiff when throwing punches you are probley not throwing them properly.
Are you new to boxing?
If you are dont worry about throwing the combination fast practice throwing them propperly .ie

step in with the punches
rotate the hip
watch your footwork
bring your hands back to your head
full extension on the punches
turn your hands over to get a snap

do it in front of your trainer or a mirror to correct faults.Once you get the tecknique right the speed will atomatically follow as will power it will just take a bit of time for it to come together so dont be to pissed off your not that fast

To strengthen toy shoulders put your feet up on a table or a high surface and to push ups as you get stronger raise the height
Another one is get a partner to hold you feet and walk on your hands
I like bodyweigh excerises over weights but its up to you

To improve hand speed take a tennis ball get in a boxing stance with the ball in your hand throw it out in front of you and catch it in the opposite hand while maintaining proper footwork and a proper defense use this like shadow boxing and the once you get the hang of it step it up to combinations insead of just single punches.remember movement side to side back and forward if you stick this one out it will work i am a heavyweigh and i have really fast hands and its down to this.

If you cant visualise this excersise just tell me and i will try to explain it again not sure if it makes sense the way i explained it

Im a bit old school when it comes to strengthening shoulders
Heres Mr Axe,go find a tree
Or find a tractor tire and a sledgehammer

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Originally Posted by mrodub

Hello
Not being rude but if your shoulders are stiff when throwing punches you are probley not throwing them properly.
Are you new to boxing?
If you are dont worry about throwing the combination fast practice throwing them propperly .ie

step in with the punches
rotate the hip
watch your footwork
bring your hands back to your head
full extension on the punches
turn your hands over to get a snap

do it in front of your trainer or a mirror to correct faults.Once you get the tecknique right the speed will atomatically follow as will power it will just take a bit of time for it to come together so dont be to pissed off your not that fast

To strengthen toy shoulders put your feet up on a table or a high surface and to push ups as you get stronger raise the height
Another one is get a partner to hold you feet and walk on your hands
I like bodyweigh excerises over weights but its up to you

To improve hand speed take a tennis ball get in a boxing stance with the ball in your hand throw it out in front of you and catch it in the opposite hand while maintaining proper footwork and a proper defense use this like shadow boxing and the once you get the hang of it step it up to combinations insead of just single punches.remember movement side to side back and forward if you stick this one out it will work i am a heavyweigh and i have really fast hands and its down to this.

If you cant visualise this excersise just tell me and i will try to explain it again not sure if it makes sense the way i explained it

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hi mrodub can you explain the tennis ball drill, not sure if im seeing correct in my minds eye

A good stretching program will help with the stiffness and improve your speed.

Try incorporating dynamic stretches before your workouts to warm up your shoulders. Before I start I like to rotate my arms in windmill motions, going slow at first and then gradually picking up the speed and range of motion. You can do this rotating your arms in circles forwards, backwards, or one arm at a time. That'll help warm up your shoulders, but to more thoroughly I stretch my shoulders with a broomstick handle. There's a good demonstration of this in Scrap's Stretch Program in the useful posts section. While you're there check out the other stretches. It'll all help. ;)

Anyways in our gym they focus on getting beginners arms in shape by drilling them constantly after they know how to punch. The speed comes more out of necessity, that is if I don't throw my right hand fast enough and bring it back in time, I'm gonna get caught. :D Working the combinations on shadowboxing and then working them on the bag helps punches flow nicely. From there cranking up the speed comes natural as you don't have to think about it.

P.S. I hope that posting threads about "combinations" isn't going to be a regular thing for you. ;)

Personally I have tried shadow boxing with weights and found them counter productive to speed. Simply because you have to be tense to hold the weights, which is the complete opposite to what you want to be doing. I instead have attached my elastic rope to an old ankle straps from a surf board, then when i want some resistance when i shadow box i simply strap it to my wrists and shadow box away. That was I get the benefits of resistance without the negative of being tense, I hope that helps mate :)

I think flexibility is the key to speed. Building muscle is good to a point until it begins to slow your arm.

My guess is that you're too tense, lacking 'muscle memory' and probably need to improve your Anaerobic fitness/Explosive Strength

Throw relaxed, you only need to tense a fraction of a second before impact... think of it like whipping a towel. When you do that you whip it out loose , give it a tug just before it hits the target to tense the towel and then *SNAP*

1) Loosen up like I have said

It doesn't require a lot of fitness to potshot singe shots or one twos, combinations on the other hand require you to rapidly fire up various fast twitch (explosive type) muscle fibres

2) This predominantly uses the Anaerobic Energy system so that needs a good level of fitness (it's late so I'm not going to go into it much... a quick google of Anaerobic/plyometric training should do... think sprint style training, sledgehammer/punch out drills etc. I'd go mostly for bag work if your hands/joints can take it because fitness isn't out being in shape... it's about being fit for a specific task, which in this case is punching)

3) Practice! Shadowbox, throw the combos in slow motion. Repetition! You need to have built up the neurological pathways so that you can instinctly think of the combo and throw it... you shouldn't be thinking of each shot... takes up too much time and energy... strong body/mind coordination and a strong Central Nervous system will make it less fatiguing for you to perform because your body doesn't have to fire up as many motor Neurons to produce the muscle contractions.

Bottom line is keep practicing

if What I've typed is a bunch of nonesense to you then forget it, don't dive into this, just have patience and with time you'll see the results.

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Originally Posted by walkersmith

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Originally Posted by mrodub

Hello
Not being rude but if your shoulders are stiff when throwing punches you are probley not throwing them properly.
Are you new to boxing?
If you are dont worry about throwing the combination fast practice throwing them propperly .ie

step in with the punches
rotate the hip
watch your footwork
bring your hands back to your head
full extension on the punches
turn your hands over to get a snap

do it in front of your trainer or a mirror to correct faults.Once you get the
tecknique right the speed will atomatically follow as will power it will just take a bit of time for it to come together so dont be to pissed off your not that fast

To strengthen toy shoulders put your feet up on a table or a high surface and to push ups as you get stronger raise the height
Another one is get a partner to hold you feet and walk on your hands
I like bodyweigh excerises over weights but its up to you

To improve hand speed take a tennis ball get in a boxing stance with the ball in your hand throw it out in front of you and catch it in the opposite hand while maintaining proper footwork and a proper defense use this like shadow boxing and the once you get the hang of it step it up to combinations insead of just single punches.remember movement side to side back and forward if you stick this one out it will work i am a heavyweigh and i have really fast hands and its down to this.

If you cant visualise this excersise just tell me and i will try to explain it again not sure if it makes sense the way i explained it

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hi mrodub can you explain the tennis ball drill, not sure if im seeing correct in my minds eye

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Ok imagine your shadow boxing as normal
now you have a tennis ball in your hand while your shadow boxing
All you do is get in your boxing stance tennis ball in your right hand,hands up by your head,
with your right hand just flick the ball straight out in front of you at eye level,throw your left hand out fast like a jab and try to catch the ball,if you catch the ball bring you left hand back to your head just like you would if you were punching.
Repeat but with both hands it great for speed,hand eye cordination and to help get the full use of your range as you have to reach to catch the ball
Do you understand now?

yep loud and clear mrodub, thanks for that will try it now!

just tried it very good drill, similiar to a drill kostya tzyu does on a training dvd where he drops a coin with one hand and catches it with other before it hits ground. go raibh maith agat :cool:

Brilliant Post Adam

considering everything that has been said, newbs tend to throw punches in isolation rather than combinations with rhythm and fluidity. ie, they think in terms of 1...2...3...4.... rather than 1-2-3-4. when you learn wherein lies the tradeoff, you'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by Von Milash

considering everything that has been said, newbs tend to throw punches in isolation rather than combinations with rhythm and fluidity. ie, they think in terms of 1...2...3...4.... rather than 1-2-3-4. when you learn wherein lies the tradeoff, you'll be fine.

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Except its got to be arythmic, If you allow yourself to get in to rythms you become timeable

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Originally Posted by Scrap

Brilliant Post Adam

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Cheers, hope you and your better half are well :)