Handspeed, accuracy and sharpness.

[Sharla]

Wow it's not often I see X on this board! I do agree with him and Scrap though!

I often throw single punches but I do it too much and I don't think my weight is left in the 'right place' afterwards. I tend to become almost unable to throw multiple punches and I think my combos are often slow because I don't have the fluency I should.

Not good to get into this habit as i'm finding it hard to break! Any tips on how to break it would be great actually!

[Andre]

Yeah hard work n repititon so that you know you have ticked all the boxes so that on the night you are no questions of maybes and what ifs.
Then your completly free in your mind to be freed up everywhere else and it comes out in all your moves. Your mind/body links all fire freely and you enter the zone and you fight your fight.

Reverse;
Put a few questions into the opponents mind while your in the ring (or before as some try to do) and watch his freedom to be sharp and accurate slowly diminish.

[Sharla]

I am often told I think too much. I am also a late starter when i compete which has been the bane of my competitive experience. I take too long to mentally click into that mindset where all of your automatic reactions take over. i guess that's what you mean by repetition.

Maybe I need to list a few combos to use as counters when i spar rather than just single punches, practice them on the bags and everywhere else and hopefully I'll be faster to kick into that mode when things flow well. Sound right Andre?

[Andre]

Sort of .
You know everything you learn you have to unlearn in order to free yourself up.

[Scrap]

Andre, in fairness thats pretty hard to do, its not the mind set thats the problem. Its the muscle memory and how the neurons have adapted through exercise memory. Problem is the eyes and the motorisation given through site is hard to break. There are ways round it, easy its not, you have to know what you are doing, but interesting it is.

[Shamrock]

I have weighted shadow boxing gloves. I used to wear them constantly no matter if I was shadow boxing, running, skipping or whatever. This increased both my speed and my power

[Howlin Mad Missy]

Don't forget the return.
If you throw your punch fast don't leave it hanging out there, the sooner it's pulled back the sooner you can throw it again.

I think this is the book I have that had some good tips in it.
Speed Training: How to Develop Your Maximum Speed for Martial Arts

Don't forget it's not just being able to throw fast punches if you don't train being able to see the openings and it's no good being fast if your accuracy is off.

[Sharla]

Sort of .
You know everything you learn you have to unlearn in order to free yourself up.

Andre, in fairness thats pretty hard to do, its not the mind set thats the problem. Its the muscle memory and how the neurons have adapted through exercise memory. Problem is the eyes and the motorisation given through site is hard to break. There are ways round it, easy its not, you have to know what you are doing, but interesting it is.

I guess I am a bit unsure of whether or not I could actually forget what I've learned.

I have read that the only way to get rid of a bad habit is to overlay it with a good one.

I wonder then how long you can sort of just keep 'layering up' new habits in your brain before you're unable to be as consistant as you could if you were actaully able to erase your past patterns and start fresh?!?

[Andre]

Sort of .
You know everything you learn you have to unlearn in order to free yourself up.

Andre, in fairness thats pretty hard to do, its not the mind set thats the problem. Its the muscle memory and how the neurons have adapted through exercise memory. Problem is the eyes and the motorisation given through site is hard to break. There are ways round it, easy its not, you have to know what you are doing, but interesting it is.

I guess I am a bit unsure of whether or not I could actually forget what I've learned.

I have read that the only way to get rid of a bad habit is to overlay it with a good one.

I wonder then how long you can sort of just keep 'layering up' new habits in your brain before you're unable to be as consistant as you could if you were actaully able to erase your past patterns and start fresh?!?

My thoughts were more in ... once you've got something down ,you've got it down, no need for more prethought (like a 'wellearned' combo in full automatic. hmm > welllearned well earned

Basics though you sometimes have to unlearn or bin them in order to make room for the new stuff you can now get away with since you've progressed.

But yeah neurons firing down old channels can be habitual I suppose .