help with uppercuts

I was just wondering what is the correct way of performing the uppercut, sometimes when i uppercut it feels awkward and weak when i do a left uppercut i transfer the weight to my lead foot heel down and up on the ball of my right foot and same for the right uppercut i transfer my weight to the right foot heal down and up on the ball of my lead foot, however it feels like im doing the right uppercut wrong and i can gain more power from it by dropping the weight to my lead foot and on the ball of my right foot similar to a cross type of footwork.

The uppercut is a very awkward punch to throw, and yes with both hands the weight should be transferred to the front foot. When you use it make sure you bend your knees as you drop your arm down and come up with the punch. That will generate more power for you. If you have an uppercut bag (sideways hanging bag) its a good way to practice. Watch some fighters on tape throw it. Mike Tyson had short stubby arms so he threw his from the floor and somewhat unorthodox, but if your tall and lanky watch Diego Corrales he had a pretty decent uppercut for a tall guy.
The punch is somewhat similar to the hook in where your arm from your elbow to your glove stays locked and you generate the power from bending your knees, dropping your shoulder and rising straight up with the punch so that the power comes straight up the pole having the force of your body behind it.
Its kind of the same principle of all punches in that you want to generate the most amount of power in the shortest amount of distance to the target. I hope this all make sense to you?

A good way to learn the Biomechnics of the uppercut is with a fit Ball. Putting it against a wall with your back against it, rolling your back against it up and down while squating and throwing the shot and not taking pressure of the ball notallowing it to drop. While turning the backfoot and turning the fist palm upwards. Dont let the fist go past your nose.

I used to also have trouble with uppercuts. When I used to throw them I was not using my torso at all. I used dip my head and throw a complete arm uppercut. I worked with Tim Witherspoon for a couple of hours and he showed me how to correctly throw them. Who better than a former heavyweight champ.Anyway one of the tricks he told me to do was sit on a stool,keep your hands up as if your were defending yourself dip,and come straight across with it. Many people get confused with throwing these straight up and down uppercuts and that is NOT the way to do it. It is slightly angled. If you are sitting down and throwing a right uppercut you should end up on your left side not centered up in front after throwing. Sorry I don't explain thing's well through typing. Just remember it is your torso not your arm that will give you the most power. A little bit fancier of a style but just check out my sigi below of Ray Robinson. That came from a slight angle not up and down through I believe it is Kid Gavilan's guard.

thanks for the replys fellas it all makes sense now im gonna try the fitball trick, i dont quite understand the stool one ;D

This video helped me with my uppercuts, hopefully does the same for you if you decide to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpvsblb3z0

Good luck.

Right i have been working on my left uppercut like a man posessed theyre definently getting there but not quite as good as the rest of my punches, i still think theres a little something wrong with how im doing them at the moment because it makes a left uppercut followed by a left hook a bit slower and more awkward than it was before while shadow boxing and sparring, and i believe its got to do with dropping the shoulder or how to bring it back up with the shot with good biomechanics, when i rest my weight on the lead foot and drop my shoulder how do i then bring the shoulder back up with the shot? i tried to sort of pivot on the rear foot by pointing my toes right out to my right but doing this seems to bring my left shoulder more across my body towards my right rather than pulling my shoulder back up with the shot, it puts me in an awkward position to follow with the left hook with my left shoulder well forward and upper body turned almost fully facing to the rightas i land the punch i believe i struggle getting my body back into position to then start the left hook a bit more than i should be if i were throwing it properly, so yes this is my problem i feel its slow to return to position after ive thrown the shot this way pivoting on the right foot, ive gathered as much info on the uppercut as i can i saw a video with freddie roach saying not to pivot on any foot to ground both feet and when throwing the punch he also sort of pushes his left shoulder through to centre line to his right, so i was wondering if maybe i should try to throw it that way but that didnt feel right either one way i can get a lot of power on the bags is by dropping my shoulder down with my lead knee well bent and throw the shot sort of standing up with it straightening my lead leg to bring me up with the shot, but to be honest all 3 ways ive been trying the left uppercut it seems a lot slower at some point in the movements while shadowboxing and sparring, i want to get this puinch down properly as i have a guy ive been sparring with and hes a sucker for a left uppercut left hook i was told i did well opening him up with it for the left hook when i was just throwing it as an arm punch before but now he knows about this and its taking a stronger uppercut to open him up and catch him with it like i did the first time i want to be able to throw it with a bit of power behind it aswell as speed, any help would be much appreciated i bet your sick of me going on about these damn uppercuts :-\

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Originally Posted by Scrap

A good way to learn the Biomechnics of the uppercut is with a fit Ball. Putting it against a wall with your back against it, rolling your back against it up and down while squating and throwing the shot and not taking pressure of the ball notallowing it to drop. While turning the backfoot and turning the fist palm upwards. Dont let the fist go past your nose.

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Thats great!

oops i must have missed the bit at the end in your post scrap i never noticed where u said turn your back foot so uve already answered my question to an extent ;D well ill try with this little bit of extra info for a few week n let u fellas kno if its better for me thnx 4 all the info