Correct way to strike?

[Viper555]

Today I got to thinking about the correct way to strike. I know that prior to the strike you want to be relaxed so that you car throw the strike with speed and precision. My question is: when do you tense up, if ever? Like do you want your striking arm to tense while its on its way to the target or right when you make contact? Or do you want it to tense the moment before contact or perhaps it should stay relaxed(to a certain extent, not lose or anything like that)throughout the entire strike? I tried all of these and I seem to get the most power from tensing my arm up while it travels through the air to the target. Maybe im just not doing it correctly when I try it the other ways? How have you guys been taught to do it?

[rubthebuddha]

each person has been taught differently. i don't intentionally tense my hand or arm up at any point. i just extend it through a target, and let my hand and wrist naturally tense on their own.

[IronFist]

I find that if I don't tense up at impact, I have a greater chance of my wrist bending and possibly getting injured.

Oh, you were asking whether to tense suddenly at impact, or continuously on the way to impact? In that case, I personally tense at the moment of impact (maybe an instant before). But I suck at fighting so don't necessarily listen to me.

[blooming lotus]

Originally posted by IronFist
I find that if I don't tense up at impact, I have a greater chance of my wrist bending and possibly getting injured.

But I suck at fighting so don't necessarily listen to me.

yup..me too, but gotta agree wid dat...besides, exposive power is better...


I think by tensing on impact it helps in draw back..works for me :D

[IronFist]

Originally posted by blooming lotus
yup..me too, but gotta agree wid dat...besides, exposive power is better...

I think by tensing on impact it helps in draw back..works for me :D

Holy crap! Did we just agree on something? :D

I have to agree also that contracting on impact helps with the draw back. As a possibly similar note, when I first started shadow boxing, the next day my rear delts were very sore (as they're partially responsible for retracting the strike), but none of my "pushing" muscles were.

[dwid]

As a possibly similar note, when I first started shadow boxing, the next day my rear delts were very sore (as they're partially responsible for retracting the strike), but none of my "pushing" muscles were.

This is the second time in a week that someone has made a plural "delts" reference on this board. Just out of curiosity, when you refer to the delts are you referring to all the rotator cuff muscles plus the deltoid or what? I'm not trying to be an ass, I just want to be able to visualize what you're talking about.

:)

[IronFist]

Originally posted by dwid


This is the second time in a week that someone has made a plural "delts" reference on this board. Just out of curiosity, when you refer to the delts are you referring to all the rotator cuff muscles plus the deltoid or what? I'm not trying to be an ass, I just want to be able to visualize what you're talking about.

:)

The "delts" (deltoids) are your external shoulder muscles. It has three heads. Anterior (front - lifts your arm up in front of you), Lateral (middle, lifts your arm out to the sides like if you make a big "T" with your body), and Posterior (rear - lifts your arm up behind you).

Illustrations and descriptions:
Anterior (http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidAnterior.html)
Lateral (http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidLateral.html)
Posterior (http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/DeltoidPosterior.html)

As far as I know, the rotator cuff is not considered part of the deltoids.

[dwid]

The "delts" (deltoids) are your external shoulder muscles. It has three heads. Anterior (front - lifts your arm up in front of you), Lateral (middle, lifts your arm out to the sides like if you make a big "T" with your body), and Posterior (rear - lifts your arm up behind you).

Makes sense. The main action we focussed on in anatomy for the Deltoid was abduction of the arm (Lateral (middle, lifts your arm out to the sides like if you make a big "T" with your body)). I'm still a little weak on separating different heads of muscles, though it should have been obvious to me given that the deltoid originates across a wide span of bone and inserts on a narrow one.

Thanks.

Is it possible to use one head of the deltoid without recruiting the others? It seems to me that using the middle head particularly would also (perhaps to a lesser degree) recruit the other two heads. Is this the case?

[IronFist]

Originally posted by dwid
Is it possible to use one head of the deltoid without recruiting the others?

Well, the front and rear delts do opposite things so I don't think they're going to be working together too much (unless you consciously flex them together, which, unlike with pecs, is hard to do).


It seems to me that using the middle head particularly would also (perhaps to a lesser degree) recruit the other two heads. Is this the case?

I don't have any scientific proof to this, but from my experience it seems that way. Like if you do flies for the middle head, the front and rear seem to come in to play a little bit as well.

[dwid]

I don't have any scientific proof to this, but from my experience it seems that way. Like if you do flies for the middle head, the front and rear seem to come in to play a little bit as well.

Well, I don't have any scientific proof exactly, but since the different heads of the deltoid aren't segregated like they are on triceps or biceps, it seems more likely that this is the case. The muscle originates across the lateral parts of the clavicle and the scapula, and inserts onto a little protuberance on the outside of the upper arm, so the entire muscle should probably pull to raise the arm, maybe with slightly more load on the middle delt than on the anterior or posterior.

Anyway, I'm just trying to put what I'm learning about anatomy into some practical perspective, so thanks for the helpful replies.

[norther practitioner]

tense at the moment of impact

Thats what I try to do.

[inic]

I personally tense when i feel my fingers touch the target. I have my fingers loosely extended on the punch. I don't suggest this though since it takes a long time to get it down. get a lot of messed up fingers and bloody knuckles doing this.

so it basically looks as if you were extending your arm/hand for a handshake and when your fingers touch the target, snap the punch hard and fast and a lil up. I practiced on hard boiled eggs for loooong time. hold the egg with one hand and have the other hand loose and the fingers barely touching the shell. now snap the punch, but dont move the egg-holding-hand. If you did a good snap, the shell will crack. This is hard to do without cheating though from moving either hand or pushing the egg, etc.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by dwid
so the entire muscle should probably pull to raise the arm, maybe with slightly more load on the middle delt than on the anterior or posterior.


Probably. But try getting your rear deltoid to flex while you're doing front shoudler raises. I bet it doesn't :)

Of course, you were talking about raising your arm out to the side, in which case I agree with you in that I think they all contract.