Developing punching power

[JoeSaunders]

Ladies and gents, I was wondering if anyone out there has some drills or exercises I can do to develop good striking power. Watching footage of Sosai makes me envy the kind of power all his strikes seemed to have. How would one go about developing this kind of power? I'm not quite sure how I'd pay my mortgage if I left work and retreated to the mountains for three years, so if anyone has some more, erm... practical, methods that would be great.

[tmd]

Depends what level you're at Joe as a fighter. But the basics are always right - Technique first; then Speed then Force then Endurance.

Work on getting the feel of the technique using your whole body movement, hips, footwork etc. Then, preferably using a bag work on your speed using any of the numerous drills around such as jab the bag once then twice then...up to ten, then do the same exercise with a jab n cross combination; always focusing on hitting it as quick as possible rather than as hard as possible.

In the background of this work on strengthening the muscles used for punching, basics like bench press, shoulder press, push ups etc work well.

Speed plus force = power, too many of us (guilty as charged officer) work too hard on force without putting the hours into our speed training but this is the key to real power in your strikes.

Endurance comes into it's own when you want to compete, again don't jump to it or you'll tend to be sloppy which costs serious Newtons

[MilkManX]

I used the SEARCH function and found some we went over before.

Try these threads!

http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...and-kicks.html

http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...lp-needed.html

[JoeSaunders]

Osu,

Thank you for the replies gentlemen. To clarify, I've been active in the martial arts for over a decade, but haven't really done any "hard" striking arts since my early teens, so I was curious to know if Kyokushin has any traditional methods for developing power beyond the basic boxing "hit stuff, and hit it lots" methodology. Yes, I agree it is very important to learn the technique first. I must learn not to get ahead of myself. It's the curse of being a beginner again for the first time in a while.

Osu!

[tmd]

Originally Posted by JoeSaunders

I was curious to know if Kyokushin has any traditional methods for developing power beyond the basic boxing "hit stuff, and hit it lots" methodology.

Add to this get hit lots and hard and you've just about summed up Kyokushin .

In all seriousness I have seen too many Kyokushin practitioners rely on force and aggression rather than developing good technique and speed so with your background in point scoring where it's all speed and tech you should have a heads up over the average newbie .

What I will add is check you're stance, I don't know you from Adam but I have seen a lot of semi contact guys who's stance is not ideal for knockdown, work on this as a priority as it will leave you less exposed and more able to take the punishment we crave.

[kyokushin4life]

Welcome aboard, Joe. Please read this thread too.
http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...in-kumite.html

[JoeSaunders]

Well actually my background is in Judo, jujutsu and wrestling, having done some boxing a long time ago. So at the moment, my grappling stance IS making me a glutton for all kinds of punishment! Talk about an open target!

[tmd]

Originally Posted by JoeSaunders

Well actually my background is in Judo, jujutsu and wrestling, having done some boxing a long time ago. So at the moment, my grappling stance IS making me a glutton for all kinds of punishment! Talk about an open target!

I'm not right often but hey when I am work on this first! I was ex Jujustu when I first walked into a kyokushin dojo and know the fealing. You can't hit while being hit so get this sorted first, mirror training helps as does semi contact sparing.

[amokbel]

After I left my first dojo, I joined a kick-boxing school and the teacher was amazing.

He taught me that to have power in ANY strike, the power must come from the HIPS and not the shoulder (punches). Once you do that, your strikes will not only be quick and snappy, but extremely powerful.

I found that many kyokushin fighters use their shoulder and back muscles to punch and are usually short punches. Once you use your hips as the source of your power, you'll find that you'll take full advantage of your reach and do some serious damage. Also, kyokushin fighters don't expect that and don't know how to respond to it.

[niceguy]

Originally Posted by amokbel

After I left my first dojo, I joined a kick-boxing school and the teacher was amazing.

He taught me that to have power in ANY strike, the power must come from the HIPS and not the shoulder (punches). Once you do that, your strikes will not only be quick and snappy, but extremely powerful.

I found that many kyokushin fighters use their shoulder and back muscles to punch and are usually short punches. Once you use your hips as the source of your power, you'll find that you'll take full advantage of your reach and do some serious damage. Also, kyokushin fighters don't expect that and don't know how to respond to it.

Don't know about the kyo dojos you have been to, but any half decent kyokushin instructor will explain the use of the feet, legs and hips in the sweet science of punching, IMHO.Ous

[amokbel]

I believe you are correct. There are many good instructors out there.

However, I must re-iterate what I stated earlier, from my experience most fighters I've seen are using their shoulders and back to put power in the punches. Even reading the different posts on K4L shows that.

Anyway, that could just be the fact that my old teacher taught "old school", meaning: stand in front of your opponent, give as much as you get if not more and let's see who stands at the end.

[niceguy]

Originally Posted by amokbel

I believe you are correct. There are many good instructors out there.

However, I must re-iterate what I stated earlier, from my experience most fighters I've seen are using their shoulders and back to put power in the punches. Even reading the different posts on K4L shows that.

Anyway, that could just be the fact that my old teacher taught "old school", meaning: stand in front of your opponent, give as much as you get if not more and let's see who stands at the end.

Sounds like fun! Toe to toe, bring back old school thats what I say!

[amokbel]

yeah, there was something positive about this training philosophy... you can resist pretty much anything they can throw at you.

[amokbel]

you could still fight that way if you wish

[BigAl]

I've tried out candle training twice so far, it's tough but fun. Set up a candle at about chest height, get a cheap lighter, and throw reverse punches about 2 inches away to extinguish it. You throw a lot of wax around, but it's pretty fun. Just don't wear a gi or long-sleeved shirt, otherwise that'll blow it out before your punch gets there.

[ANTSAN]

When talking bag work We're taught to try to get the technique right rather than aim for speed, ie left punch power from hips return ganmen cover follow up with second punch drive through with hips and back leg, return ganmen cover so-on and so on. It then becomes a matter of joining all this together seamlesly, though in saying that im sure its a matter of asking 2 different instructors and getting 3 different answers

Osu!

[blazindave]

Originally Posted by amokbel

yeah, there was something positive about this training philosophy... you can resist pretty much anything they can throw at you.

Can you elaborate?
And i'm surprised people can't figure out the hip thing on their own. I figured that stuff out at like 7 years of age.
Oh well.

[ANTSAN]

I echo what you say dave Hips/abdomen are where all your power is generated whether it be kick, or punch.

If I may loosely quote Matsui "draw a line down the centre of your nose to the ground and cut along it so the body is in two, measure halfway along this line and cut horozontally, now measure a line from the ears and cut to the ground. Where all three lines meet is where the power is generated, try to visualise this when practicing"

[tmd]

Originally Posted by blazindave

Can you elaborate?
And i'm surprised people can't figure out the hip thing on their own. I figured that stuff out at like 7 years of age.
Oh well.

Did you figure this out on your own Dave?

Most of what most people know is what they have been taught rather than found out for themselves, if you have been taught in a dojo which doesn't do a lot of bag work or sparing you might think Zenkutsu-dachi is an appropriate fighting stance and that keeping your shoulders square is the right way to punch - if this is all your taught then this is all you may know.

A lot of Kyokushin fighting is done at a much closer distance than say boxing or kick boxing so it is common to 'see' fighters just using their shoulders and back for punching but there is a subtle uplift that most learn to add that momentum, hip twist etc to add power to the strike, it's subtle but it should be there.

[blazindave]

Originally Posted by tmd

Did you figure this out on your own Dave?

Most of what most people know is what they have been taught rather than found out for themselves, if you have been taught in a dojo which doesn't do a lot of bag work or sparing you might think Zenkutsu-dachi is an appropriate fighting stance and that keeping your shoulders square is the right way to punch - if this is all your taught then this is all you may know.

A lot of Kyokushin fighting is done at a much closer distance than say boxing or kick boxing so it is common to 'see' fighters just using their shoulders and back for punching but there is a subtle uplift that most learn to add that momentum, hip twist etc to add power to the strike, it's subtle but it should be there.

I did on my own and no one had explained it to me. I just realised that when i swung my body with it, i could get more power. This was true for baseball, soccer, kicking, punching, shoving, throwing stuff...so i figured it.
Dunno.