While there are many opinions to where punching power comes from, whether it being genetic, God given, natural, or developed, one thing for sure is that there are certain key attributes in fighters who are known to carry a mean punch. Below are some of the key points observed and may be worth your attention as you work on increasing the power in your punches.
Great balance
Hard hitters usually maintain a great balance when they adopt a disciplined fighting stance. With that, it is worthwhile to take note that every power punch thrown should still allow you to be in a position to follow up with another. Even though when throwing punch combinations, the body should not pitch forward causing you to lose the torque.
How to maintain good balance? Pay attention to your foot positioning. Make sure your feet are wide apart enough to give your upper body support for punching range and movement. Proper foot positioning will allow you to maintain the center of gravity and gives you great control when moving in any direction during combat.
Excellent footwork
Boxing all begin from the legs. If any boxing coach tells you differently, it’s time to look for another gym. Period. Excellent footwork will help you get into your and out of your opponent’s punching range effectively. It also helps you create angles and cause problems for your opponents. When good footwork comes naturally, you will find yourself always in perfect punching range to execute your power shots where it will cause the most damage because of the distance between you and your opponent and leverage you have behind the punch. If you’e out of range or too close, your punch force will be compromised. When you have control over the range, you have control over your opponent.
Proper technique
If you cannot do it slowly, you will not be able to do it fast. Often, we rush our learning process and ignore the most simplest and basic thing, such as making an effort to throw a punch with proper technique. Mastering proper punching techniques will go a long way. This involves bending the knees and maximising your body weight that goes behind a punch.
Staying relaxed
Be aware of your energy levels when throwing punches. It is not advisable to stay tensed before throwing a punch. Tension adds unnecessary weight to your body. Staying “loose and relaxed” will result in a smoother flow of punches and thus, the punches become less predictable and more explosive. After all, it’s the punches that you don’t see that hurts the most!
Above are only some things that can help develop a strong punch from a boxing point of view. There are also ways to work on increasing punching power from a strength & conditioning aspect.
That will be covered another day. Till then!
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