One Simple Concept to Increase Punching Power ~ MMA Boxing Techniques from The University of Mixed Martial Arts

	January 26, 2011 Jonathan Stamey Editor/Dir of Operations

Those who think power punchers are born, not made, are idiots. I am my own example of that. I think my sister used to have more power than me…now I got a right hand that’ll move a tank.

There are plenty of technical pieces to the punching power equation such as: footwork, rotation, weight distribution, the delivery, and even a strength & conditioning component.

But the title says concept, not technique, and that’s because today’s post is more about an approach to training as opposed to the breakdown of an individual skill.

I’ll explain.

Train One Side at a Time to Increase Punching Power

This isn’t a concept I came up with out of genius or anything, (hell it even took two times to figure out why one hand was better than the other) it came out of necessity.

The first time being when I injured my left hand, and the second time being when I injured my right.

When you injure a hand, life only leaves you one option. And wouldn’t you know it? Each of those injuries provided me with my most significant periods of improvement.

I’d always wanted to learn to fight southpaw because my favorite fighter, the late Edwin Valero, boxed southpaw. After brutalizing my pinky knuckle by incorrectly hitting the heavy bag with my bottom three knuckles instead of the top three (don’t ask…read it in a book) I was presented my chance.

So I switched around to the other side. It was awkward at first, but after months and months of training southpaw, it began to feel natural. So natural that I decided to remain there with my right hand leading.

I stayed southpaw until this past year when I found some new boxing coaches. I voluntarily switched back orthodox to make catching me easier for them. From that point forward, despite switching back, I still favored the right hand. Mostly because punches from that side just felt more comfortable and coordinated, not because I’m genuinely trying to blast people with power shots.

My jab improved, but power punches coming from my left hand were non-existent.

I hook like a girl, and I couldn’t throw an uppercut to save my life.

That is…until I injured my right hand. It’s nothing serious mind you, my handwraps just rubbed the skin off my knuckles and I decided just to train my left hand so it could heal.

After only two weeks of training jabs, double-jabs, hooks, uppercuts, jab -hook, and jab-uppercut combinations, my left side legitimately became 10 times better.

To put this in proper perspective…I spent the last 9 months training from the orthodox stance and I’ve seen more improvement in my left hand in the last two weeks than in those 8 months combined.

Kinda trippy right?

Why did Training One Side at a Time Increase my Punching Power?

Honestly, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the answer. Focused training helps…a lot.

There are times when things need to be put together, obviously, but I would suggest that before you do anything in succession you first try it separately. In this particular case, training punches one side at a time.

Delving into it a little deeper I’d say that the biggest thing for me was weight distribution. I simply put more weight on my right foot than my left, making it difficult to bring any type of weight with my left hand to create power.

There were also some coordination issues. I am right handed, and it appears that the whole right side of my body, from my hand down to my foot, has more dexterity than my whole left side.

By repeated action I’ve gained comfort with putting more weight on my left side, and improved coordination on the left side of my body—THUS increasing the power of my punches.

Each individual will have different quirks to their movements, but if you train each side individually and pay attention to what the more powerful side does so you can apply the same movements and body position to the other, then I think you’ll be on your way.

For more technical tips to increasing the power of your punches please check out my MMA Boxing DVDs: Fast Feet or Fast Hands

CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW OR THE LINKS ABOVE TO PURCHASE

Comments on “One Simple Concept to Increase Punching Power” (5)

By Daniel on Jan 30, 2011 at 11:35PM EST

Hey Johnathan

Good article,But I think what you need is to learn how to shift while punching.

This is an old school way of striking were you change leads as you move and punch.

As for that three knuckle landing I've always used the middle,ring and pinky side knuckles to strike with.

I've done it this way Bare knuckled for over 30 years and have never had any problems.

I think what you need to do to make it more solid is to tilt the fist upward slightly, this will allow you to hit with all three knuckles instead of the last two.

This is how the bareknucklers would throw it, they would also throw it at a vertical or diagonal angle in a straight line.

Hope this helps, take care
Daniel-
By stames22 on Feb 01, 2011 at 12:22AM EST

Thanks for the in depth insight Daniel! I'll make sure i give your suggestions a try
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