Help! I can't punch.

[StarKodama]

Hi. I have a seemingly unique problem that I've struggled with since I started karate-- I have, if I may say, a pretty good arsenal of kicks, but I can't punch to save my life.

I think I'm afraid-- afraid of hurting my wrists or fingers. Kicks just seem so less risky. Plus I often find it hard to even land punches against a skilled opponent. My arms have a tendency to fold in to protect my chest as I over-rely on kicks.

I've been aware of this problem for a while and I'm working hard at it. I do seiken pushups and when we practice with mitt in class I always do so without gloves, to try to get past the fear. But when it comes to actual kumite, I can never land anything. I can't punch straight and I usually end up with a sprained thumb, of all things.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[chen3141]

Makiwara
Makiwara
Makiwara

[Dent]

Osu!

I'm going to head in a totally different direction. Pad up as much as possible, including full arm padding, from knuckles to elbows, and strip the gear as your confidence grows.

Make a game of it too. Hands vs hands. Hands vs feet. Left side vs right side. etc etc. Karate is play. Sometimes we play hard, and sometimes we play for fun. Ideally we marry those two over time.

I wish you every success

Osu!

[homer_simpson]

Nop. I personally don't think that makiwara helps much in this case.

You often had sprained thumb. That means you don't make the proper fist upon impact. Start loose, and clench your fist tight upon impact, particularly the ring finger and the pinky. Use a punching bag to practice.

Then, practice the correct punching mechanism. Generate the punching power from the legs and the waist. Punch with the whole body. Punch the air and practice several reps slowly until you get the correct movements. You should be able to 'feel' it when you do the correct punch. Then, you just need to practice it so that you will be able to perform the proper punch every single time.

Next, get one of the biggest senpais in your dojo. Ask him to play defense while you practice your punching. Now you should be able to get the feel of punching a live opponent - an intelligent, moving target who can block and evade your punches. Focus on the timing, faking, and attack combinations to home in your attack.

[Bloke]

I just watched video footage of myself sparring fifteen years ago and I realised that I couldnt punch to save my life. I was exactly like you - pretty good kicks but my punches never landed and had no power.

I stopped Kicking above gedan for a while and gave myself no choice but to improve my punches. It was a long process but I feel I have improved because of this.

So you are not alone in this dilemma.

[Aunty Ichigeki]

You're not unique. This seems pretty common for girls so maybe it is an upper body strength thing. If your punches aren't effective there's not much incentive to use them. See if you can work out how to make your punches effective so it feels worthwhile throwing them. I'm a small female and never really liked punching until I learned to double up on the jab (into your opponents opposite shoulder). It wasn't a strong punch but by doubling up you can really affect your opponents movement (ie. off balance them & take the impact out of whatever they're throwing at the time). Maybe worth a try. Also, I notice women tend to punch short ie. elbow bent or shoulder never fully extended. See if you can add 4 inches to your punch by twisting the body more. The extra reach means you can get them in without moving too far out of comfort zone (which for you is prolly kicking distance), they will be much stronger and your body will be in a great position to throw a leg. Finally, stop kicking for a while. We tend to do what we're most comfy with so go hard & don't kick - boxing is a fun game & if you do nothing but hands you'll get over the bogey much faster.

[Martin H]

Do not try to learn to swim by diving into the deep end, that don't really work very well and is more likely to make you more afraid of water.

Tool up with gloves and protective gear.
Limit the contact level. Maybe do a lot of Tanshiki Kumite ("free" kumite with a limited set of techniques. -punches/hand techniques only in this case) when you get the opportunity.
Then gradually up the contact and lose the gear piece by piece, as you get more confident.

Oh, and try to use vertical Tate tsuki instead of regular horizontal tsuki.
It helps me punch straighter.

[hasbeen]

i would go in a different direction, you obviously know how to it`s just the application...i suggest boxing training for a short period.

i was lucky enough to have friends that were boxers,i taught them how to kick they helped me with my punching...just another option?

[powerof0ne]

Originally Posted by hasbeen

i would go in a different direction, you obviously know how to it`s just the application...i suggest boxing training for a short period.

i was lucky enough to have friends that were boxers,i taught them how to kick they helped me with my punching...just another option?

I have to agree with you...boxing/kickboxing/muay thai will definitely help you feel more comfortable with punching but then you will have to "unlearn" punching to the face for knockdown kumite rules.
Work on some punching drills with a partner, using proper form.."one step, two step, three step" etc.
Keep at it, since if I remember right, your boyfriend and you train together..work on just working hands with him. Do sparring with just tsuki, no geri allowed.
I honestly don't think you need to do makiwara unless your wrists are extremely "weak".

[jcc]

I would guess that 90% of the problem is mental - simple lack of confidence. Rather than makiwara stick with the seiken push-ups and maybe a bit of light weight work to build up strength. One exercise we did quite a lot at one dojo I attended was to fight kneeling, so you don´t have much choice but use your hands

The problem of sprained thumbs most probably comes from the mitts. Most mitts don´t allow for thumb to be properly folded away. Try fitting your whole hand into the main part of the mitt - you may need bigger mitts for this, but it will protect your thumb, or better, just forget the mitts completely!

[jcc]

OOOOOPS: Just re-read original post properly forget the mitt thing...

[Martin H]

lol
Many advices, mostly very different.

[nzproud]

I used to hate puches because I couldnt connect them well but I like doing shitazuki now Practice & practice! Watching a lot of k-1 and boxing fights helped me for some reason.. lol

[seienchin]

I'm going to give you a variation on Chen's...
Bagwork
Bagwork
Bagwork

and
seiken pushups
seiken pushups
seiken pushups.

the Bag is your new best friend.

For speed and stamina:
Every day - do this set:
Boxing position , right foot forward, left hand covering head...and staying there - not moving.

Jab right - 1, jab right 1, 2,, jab right 1,2,3, jab right, 1,2,3,4 etc etc up to a set of 10. About 3 seconds between sets. Focus on speed, and not telegraphing the move. Imagine your front hand is connected to a ground to air missile that just takes off! (no recoil, just straight out of the chamber). Left hand steady, covering face, not moving.
Make sure you bring the right home "high" = that is to boxing (ganmen cover position) not chudan-tsuki position, which is what will tend to happen when you are tired.

Change feet
Jab left - 1, jab left, 1,2, etc etc all the way up to 10. Right hand covering face, not moving.

Change feet.
jab right. then right, left right combination. jab right, 1,2, then right, left, right combination. jab right, 1,2,3, then right, left , right combination. all the way up to 10, each set followed by a right, left right combination. Focus on speed off the jabs (right) , and power on the cross (left)
Change feet.
jab left, then left, right, left combination. repeat the whole lot with a leading left.

Now: to learn to use your hips:
Stand at the bag, with your dogi and belt on, but belt a little lower and looser than usual (hip height).

Put your left foot forward, and put your right arm through your belt, so that your right elbow is tied to your hip.

Now -hit the bag with a short jab off the left hand, followed by a shita-tsuki off the right arm. You won't be able to do this without bringing the hip through. This will feel really, really weird. But actually, it is really, really right, and now, when I do a shita-tsuki for real, my elbow is usually sitting on my hip or close too. the hip comes so far through, that the arm doesn't need to shoot out. The back foot lifts heel off the ground and the hip twists through. Power +++. and when it works, it is magic. First time I ever knocked another fighter over was with one of these, after I learned this drill.

You can do the second exercise above, but as jab-rip-jab insterad of jab-cross-jab.

for a bit of hilarity - put both arms through the belt, and do a session of double rips....(you can keep ganmen cover, with your elbows tied down, you just have to tuck your chin). This isn't just for fun...you should start to feel the difference in the movement for a rip off the front foot vs a rip off the back..they both need hip behind them, but it is different.

Finally - for one month, no use of legs in sparring. Ban yourself, and explain to partners what you are doing. give yourself pushups every time you kick. If you are getting sick of doing pushups, get a bicycle inner-tube, and tie a knot in it so you have one small loop (about 20 cm long) and one big loop. then tie another small loop in the other end. Thread your legs through this "hobble", and pull it up to your knees. You will still be able to move, but you won't be able to kick.

You CAN do this. It is what sets kyokushin women aside from most other styles. We punch for real.

[niceguy]

Originally Posted by seienchin

Bagwork
Bagwork
Bagwork

the Bag is your new best friend.

The bag is now my best friend

[StarKodama]

Wow!! Thank you EVERYONE for the fantastic advice! See, this is why I love this community.

To seienchin-san--

I know you said that the heavy bag is my new best friend, but just to be sure-- the punching drills you suggested should be done on the bag, right? Only problem is my dojo only has one bag, so I may have to do without it on most days. :/

Also, regarding not kicking in kumite: Just to clarify, I can't kick then, but my opponents are allowed to kick me, right? Sounds pretty challenging.... but I'm ready for a challenge!!!

Thanks again everybody!

[seienchin]

Well - you could always buy yourself your very own best friend :-) and drive the neighbours crazy as you punch your way through the night.Don't know how feasible it would be in a Tokyo apartment tho....

Get on that dojo bag at every possible opportunity, and practice the drills without a bag if you have to, but do them as close to every day as you can manage. Punching the air will not develop your punching anywhere near as much as punching a bag.

I truly do not know any woman who has managed to get through shodan without her very own "best friend", or at the very least, open access to her boyfriend's heavy bag. We all eventually (men and women) confront the "Oh God - I punch like a "girl"!!!" crisis....and then we fix it. Maybe it's time????(And to be honest, the hands thru belt thing...you might feel more comfortable doing it in private at first--it feels pretty dorky).

As an aside..in my more mischievous moments, when people say things like - "Don't worry about fighting XXXX....He punches like a girl"...I like to say"Oh, you mean like this"...slam the heavy bag, and set the rafters rattling.....

It is really, really worth investing in developing your punches. Strong punches help the men take you more seriously (they expect girls to be able to kick, but punching...well, that's supposed to be secret blokey business). And an unexpected thing - I have found that as I have aged, my punches have continued to improve, while my kicks are definitely less snappy. I remain confident of my ability to defend my self because of the strength of my punches and low kicks. If I'd only ever had high kicks as repertoire, I'd be feeling pretty useless by now.

[smoothsake]

My advice: watch your distance and look for openings.

I think many people have problems with punching because they are too far. They are comfortable in kick territory and when they try a 1-2 from the same distance it just won't land. Or they try a shita-tsuki and it probably would have been better if they threw a chudan-tsuki. If you watch your distance and choose your punches wisely to match you will see more of them land.

The other thing is to watch for openings. With the opponent's arms in the way you have to be a little more guile about where you are going to punch. Kicking gedan is much easier because well it's the opponent's thigh and for the most part it's not going anywhere and it clearly can't be covered. Look for those openings in the body, control your distance, and fire away.

After you get over the fear of punching, following my advice should garner you some nice results.

[Nix]

smoothsake's last post made me realise something. I do not think it's generally women who neglect punching, but people of small stature in general - you will also see that many large people focus more on punching than kicking. I like punching, but I never hit anything, but my kicks are horrible, so my choices are limited. I've thought about this a lot, and figured that I am fighting at a wrong distance. Speculation: Your kicking zone may be your safe zone, so you avoid getting too close. Which is actually silly, because it's often easier to fight larger people at a close distance, the problem is getting close enough without getting pommeled. I've found out that larger people are not as quick on their feet, so move around them, and move quickly in to punch them - if things get too critical, move away again. That at least opens up the opportunity to get some punches in, next challenge is to hit the openings, and not so much elbows and forearms.

Other than that, I can only echo what others have said already. Bagwork, practice and determination.