Transcription
Have you ever wondered why some people punch ridiculously hard without even looking like they're trying? Well, in this video, I'm going to show you what actually creates effortless punching power, why size and strength don't matter nearly as much as people think it does, and the one simple drill that you can do to obtain knockout power right now.
Before we get into it, you might be thinking, "All right, why should I trust this bloke on my screen?" Well, I'm a former amateur boxer and a current boxing coach, and I've taught thousands of people how to box online by giving them clear systems to follow and correcting the bad habits that hold them back.
Right, let's jump into point one. So then, what actually creates knockout power? Well, if your punches feel weak or slow, it's usually not because you're weak. It's because you're arm punching. I see this all the time with people when they first start training with me. One of my students was desperate to get more power in his punches so he could command a bit of respect in sparring. He sent me a video and he was clearly trying to throw his hands harder, really forcing the shots. But when I watched the clip, it was obvious what was happening. His arms were doing everything. His body wasn't involved at all. That's when I explained this to him. Your arms aren't meant to produce the power. They're meant to deliver the power. Real punching power is generated by your entire body. So, if we take a cross as an example, it starts by pressing into the floor slightly, then rotating your rear foot, which opens up your hips. Then that allows the shoulder to turn into the shot. and only then does the arm turn over and carry all that power onto the target. Think of your body as the engine and your arm as the delivery system. Once he understood this and practiced it in shadow boxing, he went into his next sparring session and told me that he felt 10 times better than before and was finally landing good shots on his opponent.
Now, here's the thing most beginners don't realize, and it's the reason a lot of people never fully apply this. One of the most common questions I get is, "Don't I need to be big, strong, or muscular to punch hard?" And in order to respond to this, I ask them to think about a whip. A whip isn't heavy, but when it cracks is violent. Why? Because the energy traveling through it is in sequence from the handle through the length of the whip and then it snaps right at the end. Punching works the exact same way. I see this all the time with my students. I'll have a bigger, stronger lad punching next to a smaller boxer next to him. And the smaller boxer shots look and feel more powerful. Not because he's stronger, but because the energy is traveling cleanly through his body. There are no breaks in the chain. Whereas the heavier boxer is basically trying to whip someone using just the last bit of that whip because he's relying on his arm. So the takeaway here is simple. You don't need to be big, strong, or muscular to generate knockout power. You just need to make sure that you're moving your body in the correct order.
Now, for the final point, none of this theory matters unless you've got a simple drill that you can use to integrate all of this into your boxing straight away. And this is where most people mess it up. They hear use your body and they go straight into bag work and start throwing harder. That does absolutely nothing. It just means you're practicing the mistake faster. Before you add speed or power, you need to train the sequence intentionally. Remember, ground, hips, shoulder, and the arm goes last. So, here's one of the drills I give my students inside my online boxing academy. And after practicing this, one of my members went on to get a second round knockout in his most recent fight. This drill is for the lead hook. We start with the hands down and from there we twist to the lead side. Then we rotate our hips which naturally shifts our weight back onto the rear leg. The key thing here is keeping your hands low at first. In the next round, we extend across. Then repeat the exact same movement again with our hips. Again, focus on turning the body and loading the back leg. In the final round, we bring the lead arm into it and actually throw the hook. What this drill does is it conditions your body and hips to generate power, not your arm. Once your body can rotate properly, the arm becomes an extension of that movement and you automatically stop arm punching.
Now, you might be wondering, what do you do if someone throws a really powerful punch at you? Well, watch this video next where I'll break down a simple strategy to defend against any punch with ease.