Punching power - natural ability or learned?

Being slow and weak is a massive deficit to make up for. Strategy is only going to get you so far. And even that's a big maybe.

I really hate when the convo descends to this level... it such BS.
You need a combination of factors to arrive at good punching ability it's dead obvious.

There aren't all that many ways that are going to multiply a the force and speed of a strike if you are slow and weak... lol... this isn't the Jedi powers forum FFS!!!

 

I tend to agree with you mate. Since I started training I’ve had a serious interest in power striking with the hands first the open hand and now with power punching techniques, I’ve spent a lot of time studying, training myself and teaching others to hit harder. And like you I don’t believe punchers are born, I think it’s all down to training. But I do think some people are born with natural athletic ability. And if you’ve already athletic, your ability to learn increases and you learn much faster.I’ve seen people from both ends of the scale go from beginner to hitting with serious power and I’ve found that power striking/punching comes down to a few factors.

Natural ability
To start with natural “genetic “ability is the biggest factor this can really help and get you started with a big step forward, if you haven’t got it might take a little longer initially but once you’ve past a certain stage in training, you will both reach a similar level .I’ve had one person reach a level in two lessons, that another has taken 20 lessons to reach.
The more athletic you are the easier it is to mimic what someone else is showing. I’ve found this is also very good way of learning powerful striking techniques.

Confidence

Confidence in ability you have to really believe that you can do it, if your confident to start with you learn quicker, again if you’re not this will also come with proper training.

Time spent practicing/visualising

This is a biggie and in my eyes one of the most important parts because quite simply the more time spent doing it the better you will get, visualising can be extremely beneficial as well when you’re not in the gym or dojo or you’re getting over an injury.

Quality instruction
This is another one that sits at the top you need to have someone that can really break down the individual parts that put together a powerful strike, keeping it as simply as you can so real beginners can understand it as well, this is one thing I struggled to find through my learning, there’s lots of skilled guys out there, but I think there’s only a few that really understand what they’re doing and can explain that in simple terms presenting the basic building blocks, I've also found that any system I’ve trained in, that was set in stone also restricted my power striking.

Heavy bags
I good heavy bag can teach you a hell lot about power striking, improve technique and strengthen any weaker points, with a softer bag you don’t get any real feedback you can hit it how you want, but with a harder and heavier bag, the angles, the arm positioning and knuckle position all of become very relevant and the amount of angles you can land from various positions also become greatly reduced, I’ve found the only power punches that are left and that you can safely throw bare knuckle, without injury are the most powerful strikes with or without gloves. And they also help with conditioning your knuckles and again with or without gloves.

So just a few of my thoughts on the matter

 

Now we've disposed of most of the lunatics, back to the discussion.

Made, probably. It's a superstition, which in some circles amounts to an article of faith, in the boxing world that really heavy punchers are born. But the reasons given why this is so are never very clear, and evaporate entirely in the cold light of day.

The important thing to grasp is that a punch is explosive. This is why some large, strong people do not have hard punches- they have developed strength qualities other than the ones necessary for a good punch.

But explosiveness is not a god-given attribute, and it can be trained. Granted, after a certain age you do seem to lose the ability to recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibres. But provided you start training at a young enough age, that shouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps the most important step in this direction would be to include more explosive strength exercises in a fighter's weight training program. I personally tend to favour exercises which are fundamentally explosive in nature, such as cleans, rather than exercises in which you have to force yourself to be 'explosive'. Thoughts?

 

Its something your born with.

Ok, I specialise in stand up grappling, but I have spent what must be hundreds of hours on the punch bag, floor to ceiling ball and pads....result two KO's in over 20 fights and one of them was on a guy who just wanted to lie down.

Me, not KOing a guy: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLjQPpTaqCQ"]YouTube- Ouch![/ame]

 

Two exercises I really like are kettle bell swings single or both arms and sledge hammer on a tire,I find these two can both be done explosively and they both use the full body to build power.Swings and tires certainly help to build core strength, but personally I find for serious power punching it's all in the technique and your understanding of it,so the more time you spend punching powerfully the better you get at understanding how your body works as a whole.

I also think training specifically for impact(the bit on the end) and target delivery is also very important when it comes to knockout power.

 

I've always disliked the tyre and sledgehammer thing purely on the grounds that I come from a long line of engineers and the abuse of tools fills me with horror. I can see the k/b swings working very nicely though. One of my favourite exercises is actually cleans.

The technique thing IMO is something of a myth. Correct punching technique in terms of power can be learnt in a day or so. But yeah, you are never going to be good at hitting things unless you hit things.

 

It's a fun exercise, gets out a lot of stress, and you'll feel it in your abs the next day. It's one of my favorites.

 

Too bad I live in an apartment. I would purchase a tire and a sledgehammer and just swing away.

I have to agree with heavy-hands. I've met this guy who had hands that can grab a basketball. I felt the power of his punch one time, he's was being playful, but I am sure if he had actually put power in it, it could have easily knocked me out.

Brute strength can only get you so far. Speed and timing are as essential for knock-out punches. From the boxing matches that I've seen, the guy who gets KO-ed never sees the punch coming.

A powerful punch comes for the guy who knows his body.

 

Born and honed.
Genetics and good training.

You really think Tyson wasn't born to be an explosive striker ?

He isn't well built for basketball..

Take a look at other boxers that don't have "it", what's missing? You can't always explain it away with a lack of the right training.. No one is denying how far training can take you as far as your own potential, but genetics will always play a major role in what your best attributes are and aren't, to the extent you can say so and so was born to do this, "he was born to do xyz".

Simply becasue they are so good at it

It has nothing to do with superstition and everything to do with genetics. We are not all born carbon copies of eachother. Some people are born with talent. Some excel at music, others academics, and others excell at various athletic and sport persuits.

Take Maradona for example. Can you explain his ability just by training ? There must be thousand of kids in South America that played as long and hard growing up. By all accounts He was ahead of the pack from ver early on. How dif that happen. How was he made that way growing up as a kid. He just had "it" plain and simple.

There are people with different body types. It's always struck me that the leaner taller body types are not as powerful or explosive as the more thick set, shorter body types.

I have no real proof that that is the case, other than observation. But it does seem to make sense.. if two people weigh around the same, are both equally lean in terms of body fat. The shorter guy is very likely to be packing more muscle per square foot, In terms of density.

That, for example, could make a difference in terms of explosive punching power in my opinion.

 

From my experience real punching power takes years to perfect and it's up to the individual to put the time in,I could show it all to someone in a day but they would never remember it and never really understand it,or be able to do it unless they put in the hours

very true,mr warrior sir

 

I have heard both frank shamrock and mike tyson say power is a born skill not a learned skill. A lot of strength trainers say the same thing. I guess to an extent they are right. I think you have an upper limit to perhaps the amount of power you can possibly generate and that is governed by genetics, but a hell of a lot of it is also technique. I think it is a lot like golf. The guy with the most fast twitch fibers may not be the one that hits the ball the furthest.

 

Glad you agree. Although we can leave the formalities out Mr. karl Sir.

 

so do I.

 

And that's the key, in my eyes you have to understand good technique.you have to work with what your born with, this can benefit you or indeed hinder you,but I think most people can learn to hit with serious power and it's just a question of learning from a good power punching teacher and putting in some serious quality hours on the heavy bag

 

Technique is v important, I couldn't agree more, and everyone can learn and improve through working on and perfecting technique. But let's not also forget that fighting is one of the sports with a weight class. You get the same in powerlifting.

If you take away the artificial weight categories, which are there to make sport more interesting and level the field - in some cases (that in itself should be a clue). The role of nature and genetics is even more obvious. Not many guys can move up weight classes and increase their punching power to challenge the punching power of naturally bigger more powerful men very easily. And that's not taking the role of fast twitch fibers into account.

It's certainly a bit of both, but if you factor out weight classes, strength and power is influenced by genetics even more.

If we assume that everyone ideally has equal access to the optimim training information/ teachers and time. Then It seems to come back to natural attributes and talents again.

However, I doubt it will be too long before we can choose to have our kids genetically modified..

 

For the average Jo punching power is all about technique. Its always the people with **** technical skills telling me 'genetics this, weight class that'.

 

I whole heartedly agree...

Everything in MA (to include Western Boxing) is a learned skill, being born with natural ability size, strength or etc. doesn't matter. A skinny kid grows up to be a fat adult because of the life style they choose, likewise the world is full of fat kids who grew up to be well muscled and physically fit adults. I think things are never a question of nature versus nurture but instead how you nurture your nature. Not being big enough, strong enough, smart enough or anything else enough is an often used excuse to not work harder...

 

And it is often not used as an excuse. Good punching is one thing, measuring power in good technical punching is not exactly the same thing.

And why exactly should we stop the discussion at the average jo anyway? It's just a discussion..

A bit of both, making the most of your natute - nurturing it. Where's the issue anyway ?
The question asks about power, to ignore physical attributes is pointless isn't it. It's part of the reality of the situation.

A heavy weight punches harder than a middleweight. No need to read more into it than that is there. Should it make any difference in the persuit of technical skills, hell no.

 

I believe knockout power comes more naturally for some than others. However, I feel with the proper technique, pretty much anyone can achieve strikes capable of KOs. I'm 6'1" about 190-195 lbs right now. I'm not usually the strongest guy in the room, but 9 times out of 10, I'm confident that I could KO everyone in the room. Only because i know how to throw a punch. Of course some techniques work better for different individuals, but I'm a firm believer of Bruce Lee's stance on punches. Keep it loose until right before the point of impact, then tighten and and aim for about 6-8 inches through your target. This in combination with a turn of the hips for even more power, has been the key to my success so far.

 

IMHO it's not simply raw power that counts, nor perfect technique... it's catching someone sweetly. The reason some people shine in the striking game is their aptitude with rhythm and movement.

You can teach technique, you can build power... but to have the rhythmic quality needed to bring it all together meaningfully is what makes a great striker. Pacman, Ali ...Is it sacrilege to mention Anderson Silva?

Not at all to take away from power or technique... I'd be happy with either!