One Tip for Powerful Punches

Is there a secret to throwing more powerful punches? Nope! It’s just a question on applying what you already know.

In that spirit, here’s one tip you probably already know, but may have forgotten or never turned into a good habit. So, consider this a friendly reminder!

If the video doesn’t play, try this link! Transcript below. Happy punching!

One Tip for Powerful Punches

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, my friend. Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts.

So, you want to throw more powerful punches, huh? Yeah—me, too. I’ve already made a couple of videos on this topic. If you haven’t seen them, that’s cool. I don’t take this personally. But I’ll put the links below so you can check them out.

Add Power to Punches, Kicks, and Everything!

Build Stronger Punches with a Belt

But right now, here comes one more tip to add power to your punches, because let’s face it—you can never have too much power.

Okay. One bad habit I see in a lot of martial artists is not extending their shoulder joint to its full range. Instead of throwing a powerful punch, they end up looking like they’re doggy paddling in the kiddie pool.

Wait— maybe that was me! Yes, that could definitely be me. Especially if I get tired or if I’m being eaten by a shark, I start short-arming my punches. And that’s not effective for self-defense, fighting, or battling sharks.

Now, joking aside, there are two main reasons why you might find yourself short-arming your punches. You may not want to hear either one of these, but I’m going to tell you anyway.

#1: The first reason is a very common disease called Lazy Bonesa.

Flapping your punches from the elbows is a lot easier than using your shoulders and core. Engaging more muscles, engaging bigger muscles, means burning more oxygen, which means it’s harder.

But good news! There’s a cure for Lazy Bonesa—work. Hard work! If you want to throw more powerful punches, you have to invest some sweat.

You see the same thing happen when people do push-ups. Someone says, “I can do 100 push-ups.” You say, “Oh, really?” Then they drop to the ground and do this.

Now, if you’re 100 years old, I’d probably just say, “Good for you, Old Timer!” but for everybody else, I’d say, “Come on, man—those aren’t push-ups.”

If you’re doing push-ups, I want to see your arm fully extended—not locked out—but I want to see that you’re engaging all of the muscles of your arm, including your shoulder.

I talk a little bit more about push-ups in my video about shoulder flexibility and strength in the martial arts. If you haven’t seen that video, either, and you want to save yourself some wear and tear, check it out.

Shoulder Flexibility and Strength in the Martial Arts

Remember, in training, you want to practice the best habits that you possibly can so hopefully, they’ll hold up under pressure. Hey—in a real fight, under stress, if you start short-arming your punches out of necessity or desperation, so be it. But that doesn’t mean you should practice that way!

Never practice a weaker version of the skills that you want to achieve. Instead, practice the ideal. That means throwing full power, full range punches as often as you can. Then whatever happens, happens.

#2: The second reason you might find yourself short-arming your punches is our old friend fear.

Specifically, the fear of getting hit. Fear can move you backwards, like flinching, or, in this case, fear can keep you from reaching out with the full range of your shoulder. Instinctively, you feel the farther you stick that hand out, the more vulnerable you are to getting hit.

You’re brave enough to throw the punch, but not quite brave enough to land it. This is an emotional problem.

But just know this—half-punching will never have the stopping power that you need to be effective. Heck—forget about stopping power, you won’t even have touching power. Because without extending your full arm, including your shoulder, you’re never even going to reach the target.

Especially when you’re hitting a bag, you can hypnotize yourself into thinking that you’re throwing full power punches. Why? Because you’re touching the bag every single time.

“Hey—I never miss! What’s the problem?”

The problem is you’re building a habit of only using half of your range and half of your power. See?

So, be careful—when you’re training on a stationary target, don’t practice close up fighting without knowing that you’re practicing close up fighting. That’s something you want to be aware of and practice on purpose.

Instead, have the discipline to step away from the bag!

That will not only force you to extend your shoulder to reach the target, it might even encourage you to shuffle in behind that punch, so you’re adding your bodyweight. That will make your punch even more powerful.

The big lesson? Stop doggy paddling. Don’t be afraid of extending your arm, extending your shoulder, engaging your core, and throwing full power punches. Because the bad guys sure aren’t afraid of throwing theirs.

If you liked this video, thanks for subscribing to the channel and sharing with a friend. Until next time, don’t hold back and keep fighting for a happy life.