Punching Power

[old jong]

What insults?...

[Alpha Dog]

If you use a sand/beanbag as a target, you're gonna toughen your hands. My original Sifu had one on his wall and you could have used the backs of his hands to take paint off a railing. But what is your objection to the idea of using the bag to also build power? I see nothing wrong with this.

[arsenal_fc]

Originally posted by vingtsunstudent
nothing will build power except for good technique.
power can be developed in the air alone but using a bag is a good way to test everything stance, alignment & a whole heap of other things.
your main benifits on a bag will be being able to handle the force of hitting something solid & developing a strong wrist & forearm(both of which have a real tendencey to be hurt during a fight due to the target not just standing still & waiting to be hit) due to the return force the bag sends back at you.
vts

when you hit the punching bag, where do you aim your punch?

[Matrix]

The center of mass.

Matrix

[benny]

your sternum height slightly rising. adjust bag so you hit the bag about 5/6" from bottom( depending on bag, bottom half)

[old jong]

But I will try to answer Alpha Dog question...
Punching a wall bag will not develop more power to your punch.It will condition your hands so you can punch harder without damaging them!The hands (and your mind! ) get used to the impact and gradually can endure more.
Good technique gives power and the bag condition the tool.

[Alpha Dog]

Thanks, gotcha now

[cobra]

I have to agree with Roy D. on this one. The wall bag absolutely does improve your punching power, unless you're not using it right. If you're using it right, you will be able to tell. If you can't tell, then you're not using it right. If you are already having trouble with being too tense though, I would stick to air punches.

I gave up a whole dollars worth on this one.

[Roy D. Anthony]

Power is something that you can train, but very difficult to develop, since power is a derivative of mass and acceleration. Usually, due to mega tension, many people hinder their power. Many people mistake things by saying you can develop power, the main way you can do that is by simply increasing your mass. But to utilize more power one needs to train to relax, so that tension does not hinder your acceleration. Thus allowing one to use their full inbred power.
Hope this helps!!!

[Sharky]

I have filled mine with rice.

When you actually hit something, all of your energy goes into that "thing". You are totally relaxing your bicep (in theory) and you are going for it 100%.

When doing air punches, you need to use your bicep to pull the punch and so you don't hyperextend your elbow joint. People often mistake this as a "powerful snap at the end of the punch". It is not. You need to actually hit things to learn how to deliver your power into and THROUGH the object you are hitting.

It repulses me how many wing chunners never actually hit anything at all, and don't spar.

Sorry.

[Killerbee]

Hi,

I do karate and we learn to give our punches extra speed --> power but using hip rotation, my karate teacher told me once that kung fu people dont do this but do lots of arm exercises to gain power, what kind of stuff do you do to give your punches more power?

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

huh?

[LEGEND]

Your instructor must be talking about the CHAIN PUNCHing in most CMA arts. Yes they don't have alot of power but it's more to set up an opponent for a trap or get close for elbows, knees, sweeps etc( Heavy artillery ).

Use boxing drills...they seem to be modern and updated! Not really rocket science.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i had to read that a couple times man.

i hit the bag a lot.

some of the mixed martial arts guys might say i'm full of ****, but i have also had a lot of results by going through all of my movements very very slowly. just repete any movement or set staying very relaxed and extremely focused. the theory behind going slow, the way i understand it, is that you are giving your body much more time to internalize and perfect the movements. it improves your form, makes you more relaxed with the movement, and gives you the chance to feel what your entire body should be doing behind the strike. i have had awesome results in both speed and power training this way.

i have no idea why your teacher told you kung fu guys don't rotate their hips for power. wing chun guys don't (as far as i know), but every other style i have heard about uses hip rotation behind a lot of their strikes. in addition to hip rotation some styles will use sinking, raising, and coiling power as well. i think there are a bunch of other types of jings, but those are the main ones to my knowlege.

[PLCrane]

We put our hips into our punches to give them more power. (surprised?) It helps a lot to have the foot unweighted on the same side that you're punching, so that the hip is free to drive the punch. And it helps a lot to be relaxed; tension will slow down any moves.

Which way did you rotate your hip? Did it rotate around your vertical axis, like you were spinning, or did it rotate around the horizontal axis, like you were doing a pelvic tilt on that side? Both at once is a better way to describe it. Hip goes toward the target.