Dear Experts
Can I know how can I increase my punch speed , I always feel my punch is slow than other students . Is there are any method to train to increase the speed ?

Also how many days per week training is suitable for a beginning to pratise boxing .

Thanks

DickLamtoys,

There are many components to a punch. Let me list them and then discuss them.

These are for an overhand right:

1- Speed of the arm of the punching hand.
2- Speed of the shoulder of the punching hand.
... (Yes, the shoulder does move forward about 6 inches)
3- The speed of the torso or trunk of the body turning.
... (The torso can actually advance the punch another 8 to 12 inches)
4- Inclination of the body.
... (This should actually only be as much as you can recover from, since
... leaning too far will off-balance you)
5- The speed of your step into the punch if it is an attacking punch.
... (Counter-punches normally do not require a step- just a pivot)
6- Proper breath control. You should breathe out firmly from the time you
... start your attack until you have retracted your punch.

Those are the basic components of punch speed. First, let me say that each component adds more to your punch speed. If you leave out a component, your punch will be slowed down. Secondly, If you fail to combine the movements in the right timing it may slow you down. The general idea for the timing is to have all the individual movements finish when the punch is 3 inches through the surface of the target. Punching further causes off-balance and is unnecessary. Breathing is more important than you think.

It is a proven fact that several good things happen when you breathe out:
1- Your muscles fire faster.
2- Your stomach tightens adding power to your punch and…
3- …protecting you from a gut shot hurting you.

Watch yourself in a full-length mirror as you punch. Warm up before you start. Start slowly, but do complete motions. Each time punch a little faster than the last time, until you are moving at full speed and power. Then push yourself farther and try to punch faster. Once you have reached full speed and power try harder at least ten more times. Your speed will not increase over night.

The process may take several weeks until you notice a difference. This is not shadow boxing. Many boxers make the mistake while “shadow boxing” of just bouncing around and popping out punches. They do not use full punching mechanics. This does not improve punching speed very effectively.

Find a book on Plyometrics or find a person that can teach you how to do them. They will give you explosive, powerful movements. Bear in mind that Plyometrics will require some weight training first.

I could go on for several pages, but this should keep you busy for quite some time and it will improve your punching speed greatly.

P.S.- Listen to your Plyometrics coach for a good workout schedule for the weights and Plyometrics. You may work on punching mechanics and speed for 20 minutes every day.

Oldcoach

Dear

The best exercise to improve your speed by far is the ancient traditional candle exercise.

PLace a lit candle in front of you, than try to extinguish the flame with your punch. Keep the distance between where your fist stops and the candle flame to 2 inches to begin with. It will not happen overnight it will take practice and dedication. As you progress you can move further and further away from the candle. When you will get to the level when you can extinguish the flame with a single strike from any distance, than you will feel so good about yourself you will walk around the town telling everyone about it. PRACTICE!

Well , this tehnique is very nice butt howewer it doesn't tribute so many on speed itself... I'm not saying it doesn't , but not so much , I have another way and in my opinion the best way to train for both speed and power of your punch , and if you want your kick , and you must agree with me on this one,. let me ask you a question , have you ever wore heavy shoes for example one whole day and then when you took them down.. you felt light like a fearher , well there you have it , the secret of speed and power of a punch is when you train punches , run , walk or even eat with weight , if you hhave weighted hands and foot , and then you punch and kick for about 30 minutes , and then when you take the weight off you feel like a feather,. and if you train like this for about 1 month.. then your speed and power of your punch will rise very fast , believe me , this is the best way to train the punch for speed and you train the power too , I suggest you buy some weights for around the wrist , for beginers 5 pounds, then 10 and so on , you will see that your speed will increse very fast I stake my life on it :D just push yourself hard ,train every day , and give it some time and you will see

Thank you, FireBoy, for your reply. I was actually interested in the same matter, and I find your answer quite interesting. Will definitely give it a try.

I used weighted shoes and ankle weights when I was coming up through the ranks. You are absolutely right, they do work very well. My only suggestion is that you work up slowly in the amount of weight, because you can injure yourself. Also, start moving slowly and work up to full speed each time you change weights.

OldCoach

I aggree that a speed bag is great for hand speed. It does have it's limitations for martial arts though.
It is at a fixed location with little mobility... So:
1- It is only useful for hand speed and hand / eye coordination, because you
-- do little stepping while working the bag.
2- It does not move erratically. So it does not improve overall accuracy of
-- strikes.
3- Although you can kick it, it has the same limitations for improving kicks as
-- it does punches.
That being said, the speed bag is great for firing the muscles involved in punching over-and-over. That certainly will develop hand quickness.

If you want one piece of equipment that will not only develop hand quickness, but also the timing for full striking motions, accuracy striking a mobile target, and working hand and foot combinations, you need a speed ball. This is a ball suspended from a rope at the top and attached to an elastic rope at the bottom. This thing moves all over the place when you strike it. It wobbles and it bounces. Depending upon how much you stretch the elastic and how long the cords are, you can get it to move in a tight space like a speed bag or in a 6 or 7 foot radius space. What's great about this thing is that it comes back at you from different angles. If you miss your strike it hits you. Here is a tip for more advanced use: Use an elastic rope at the top AND bottom of the ball. Now it will bob and weave.

You can buy these online, out of the ads in magazines, and even in a good sports store.

There are lots of devices out there for training; some new, some ancient, some manufactured, and some home-made. I've even made some special devices to train certain techniques. Some even gage your power in a visual feedback. If you are interested, just ask.

OldCoach

Trooper12,

Here is a quote from the post to which you referred:

"Dear Experts
Can i know how can i increase my punch speed , i always feel my punch is slow than other students . Is there are any method to train to increase the speed ?

Also how many days per week training is suitable for a begining to pratise boxing .

thanks
"

In the first place-
The person did not ask about "hand speed" speed as you said. He asked about "Punching Speed" I read his question and the other posts. I explained the specific benefits of using the speed bag and the draw-backs. I offerred another option that was more benficial to the questioner.

In the second place-
Please try to be contructive and positive. It has been my experience that arguing helps nobody and wastes our time. So let's be positive. I am sorry if my response offended you in any way.

I look forward to reading your posts and being as much help as I can to all the people here. I hope you feel the same.

Sincerely,
Oldcoach

Please try to be contructive and positive. It has been my experience that arguing helps nobody and wastes our time. So let's be positive. I am sorry if my response offended you in any way.

Please use entire quotes and do not take my words out of context. My cooments were ABOUT the speed bag and HAND SPEED.

This will be my last post to you Trooper. Please find someone to help.

Oldcoach

You may be "pushing" your punches. Normally when a student punches (depending on their rank of course) they are trying very hard to punch hard and fast. Does it seem like the harder you try to punch hard and fast the slower and more stuck your punch feels? If this is the case you are proibably tensing your muscles through out the movement. The key to fast and powerful punching in in removing the big muscles of the arm from the equation. Your arm should be loose and relaxed right up to impact (think about a towel snap). At the point of impact the body tightens for a brief moment before becoming relaxed again.

You may benefit from placing your mind on the pull back rather than the punch.

Also the more you can become still (relaxed) the better for all your movements and the overall stamina you will be able to maintain. Muscle is not the secret to speed, acceleration is and reduction of friction (your desire to muscle the movement) increases acceleration (speed and power).

Different styles of martial arts use different types of techniques to get different results. When boxing you are not trying to do a martial art, in the classical sense. You are learning to fight, but without any viewpoint (or philosophy) of (why) that style (boxing) works (,which you would receive in any martial arts if you stayed in a style long enough).

In martial arts we subdivide styles into three major ways regarding muscle tension (hard, soft, hard/soft) throughout techniques.

Traditional boxing is a hard style, and so has a lot of muscle tension.

If you reduce your muscle tension, you will not be doing boxing in the traditional sense, certain techniques are illegal because they are so effective (see rabbit punch). Boxing is a sport, with limited rules by definition. If you make your techniques softer, that may become illegal, or the judges may not score points for you, because they do not judge/see them as well, or like the techniques that would change to the point of what score they give you in a match, because a more effective technique does not mean that it can win you more matches, the judges have to want to give you more points, even if you knockout your opponents, because you can be disqualified for doing things that are not allowed in boxing!

Boxing is mostly strength based since it is a hard style, so increase slowly you stength, but do not strain your muscles too much, because sore muscles will not work as well, and you may have to box often, even when sore. Most pro boxers spend months preparing for any fight, so do not be disappointed if you do not succeed in not getting as prepared as they are, in a short period.

If you are not damaging your muscles, tiring yourself out too much, or similar bad things, then you can continually practice boxing. But some recovery time can be useful, because often we are not the best judge of how much we are stressing our own bodies! Have fun. Do exercise enough to enjoy it. Your health is more important than how great you become at boxing.

Some martial arts claim they can be incorporated into other activities, and I do not want to prejudice you toward or away from any of them, because it would be unfair to suggest whether these styles can do that. Since you cannot do rabbit punches or other enhanced techniques in boxing, there is little point in changing how you are fighting. Build endurance, and practice your boxing to get better at what you know. Some weights can be purchased that give 1 pound weight for each hand, or whatever the weight is of boxer gloves are used in your style/age level of boxing, so that you can practice with weights that exactly mimic what you will wear during boxing matches, but sometimes it is okay to not wear weights and practice. Giving your body a break can be helpful, to insure you are not injured and don't know it. Or perhaps you could buy official boxing gloves and practice boxing with them on, to get the feel (weight, and weight distribution) of really boxing. Some boxers run/endurance training with gloves on, or other weights.
Wearing weights, then taking them off, does usually improve speed, slightly.

If you want you can check out my posting on Martial Arts and Physics?
Hope all that helps.

Isn't the speed bag supposed to be used to increase punching speed, along with rhythm and timing?

Look like it helps this guy...

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=S...ag_Danger-Zone

If you look at the video you mentioned, you will see he is not doing really fast techniques like rabbit punches, or difficult to do on a bag like upper cuts, he is only working the bag as he exercises his legs. He is working his arms toward full extension, then bringing them back in, not really punching the bag, just making glancing contact. He is going for timing and rhythm and a speed increase through repetition, like I explained for you to do. Seldom do you actually see a real boxer making contact with someone on the way back toward themselves, like you see often as people "speed drill" on a bag, so great technique is not the goal of bag work. Shadow boxing can also help boxers, but is not going to greatly increase ability, either. Work on strength, over time, and make sure you do not develop bad habits that are not legal in boxing.

eawoodall is correct in that most boxer speed bag work is based more on rhythm and timing, which is also determined by bag size. I'm not so sure I agree with "...He not really punching the bag, just making glancing contact" Because when hitting the speed bag as hard or fast as you can, the bag (which is full of air under pressure.) can only do one thing - rebound. The contact may seem glancing, in comparison to a heavy bag or focus mitt, with accepts the blow, but it IS being struck squarely with force.

You can alter or adapt a speed bag workout to focus more on speed than just timing. Here is a link to some ideas on this:

Speed bag workouts for SPEED

You can also focus on specific martial arts techniques Martial arts on speed bag

... and to "old coach", referring to the static location of the speed bag and reduced mobility, that is correct, but there are also ways to adapt your workout to focus on footwork.

footwork focus with speed bag

Hope this helps.

Speed Bag

Yes touching the bag would be contact also, but I was trying to point out that it is not great technique to use when you actually want to hit someone, instead of the bag. I did not mean he was not making some contact, sorry for my not being clear. The ultimate goal of working on speed, or any practice is after all not that practice, or even being good at practice, but to actually get better at real techniques. Seldom does a boxer actually hit someone while pulling the hand back toward himself, as is about half the time done when on a bag. Certainly you are correct, and again I am sorry I was not obvious in my words. Thank you for you help.

No offense, taken eawoodall. You weren't really wrong, I was just trying to clarify that fact for new folks that may be unfamiliar with a speed bag. By the way, you have a great forum here :)

Here is a training article about "speed-strength" training that you may find interesting. Speed Strength vs Maximum strength training.

Yeah, I do think the forum is great here.
Of course I am just a humble person who answers questions here, I am sure that the wonderful people responsible for this free to answer and ask questions space on the internet deserve more credit than they usually get! And it is nice to take a moment and thank them. So thank you wonderful people at askmehelpdesk.com

I have been known to be wrong before, and I am sure to be wrong again. Thank you for correcting me, I knew I was wrong to say it that way, I should have found a way to say it better, where I was more clear, but sometimes I find it not easy to live up to the expectations that we often have for ourselves. You can always turn off what others want for you, but at the end of every day you must still face yourself when you evaluate what you did for it's worth, only if you can measure up to what you feel you should be doing.

Certainly many times I am just too stupid, and fail to deliver the goods, and it is well that I can fail and still consider that at best when I try: "i am only doing what i should do, and i am not doing anything that is a profit over the best that should be done". i.e. when you do so much more than anyone would expect or (often) believe then you still have not, no matter how great or wonderful it was, done more than you should have done. That the best that occurs is you do what is right. If I do something that is right thank God, if I do something wrong blame me. Have a safe day.

In my opinion wrist weights are the best solution.But unlike most people I'm not telling you to put on a 5 pounds or 10 pound weight and practice for 30 minutes,I'm telling you to buy a 2-3 pound wrist weight and not take it off at all for about a week (except for when you're taking a shower).When you finally take it off you'll be surprised at your speed and power.

I would like to point something out about the weights on arms and legs. Its just an illusion of speed for a limited amount of time. You feel lighter because you were just wearing weights but then when you take them off you eventually turn back to your normal punching speed but think you have improved.

Actually best for speed training is basically training on a heavy bag. Hit it as fast as you can and bring back your arms to protect your face backas fast as you can then repeat. Also stretching increases speed cause when you are not stretched you are limited to what your full potential.

Lastly lifting weights also helps you increase your speed "not punching with weight but lifting them" your muscle becomes stronger and therefore can give you more striking speed and strength.

I don't know about punching speed, but learning to play the guitar it took practice, practice, and more practice. In sports some people are simply blessed with pure speed. Im sure it is the same with punching. Some people are just going to be faster. If you can't match there speed, try to accommodate with other methods or techniques.