Why Strengthening With Weights Will Give Youa Stronger PunchPart 2This article isnt really about lifting weights. Its about identifying the right muscles for power punching. Weight lifting is STILL an effective way to develop powerful muscles, unfortunately it just isnt the best at targeting the most powerful punching muscles.Power comes from the groundTo be more precise,power comes from your RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GROUND(in relation to gravity.) And not just punching power, but ANY kind of power. It doesnt matter what type of force you use to punch (push, pull, lift, drop, rotate, etc)you will have to do it USING THE GROUND AS YOUR REFERENCE. (push from the ground, pull from the ground, etc).

The ground is your point of reference,
from which to generate powerful force.

The point of reference is NOT YOUR BODY, its the ground. Do not forget this. The moment you forget about strengthening your contact to the ground, your power will fail. Imagine if I was to be swinging in the air with my legs off the ground, I wouldnt be able to generate ANY POWER AT ALL (regardless of my punching technique).Moving onYou can only go UP OFF THE GROUND, or DOWN INTO THE GROUNDRemember, the ground is your reference point.All *powerful* movements you make must originate from the ground or else its ungrounded and wont have any power. (If I was to punch on one leg, it wouldnt matter what technique I used; the punch would be weak.) Being that the ground is your point of reference, all movements are either going away from the ground or into the ground.ALL POWERFUL MOVEMENTS are either going UP off the ground or DOWN into the ground.The choice is yours. Obviously going down when you punch is so much more powerful than going up. You have the added force of gravity to increase your body mass (making you momentarily a heavier object) and aid rotation. You can also punch going up (useful for some tactical purposes) but much of your energy would be spent just to OVERCOME gravitys forces and then whatevers left is applied to the punch. A forward movement is still an indirect angle of going UP off the ground. The reason being that there is nothing behind you to push you forward. So the only way to go forward is to either push yourself up at a diagonal angle from the ground or to push yourself UP off the ground and then fall forward. Its not a fall in the sense that you lose balance but its a fall because youre letting gravity project you forward rather than you being able to move yourself forward.So lets review again:GOING DOWN uses the added force of gravity

GOING WITH gravity takes less effort and increases body weight

INCREASING BODY WEIGHT gives you more punching power

INCREASING BODY WEIGHT gives you more punching powerQuite simply, going DOWN IS BETTER THAN UP!Punching power comes from INCREASING YOUR BODY MASSYour ability to punch harder,
comes from your ability to make yourself heavy at the moment of impact

Your punching power is a resulting combination of your grounded body mass, rotation in the hips, speed of the fist, and controlled tension at point of impact. There are many forces at play but for the sake of easier explanation, I have over-generalized it to these 4 major ones.1)GROUNDED BODY MASS means how heavy and how dense you can make yourself.The heavier you are at impact, the more powerful your punch (which is why big guys naturally hit harder than small guys, they have the weight advantage). Likewise, becoming a dense object at the moment of impact makes you more powerful than being loose (just like how a tight fist transfers more energy than a loose fist).2)HIP ROTATION refers to the circular acceleration of your hips in force generation.Of all the accelerating forces in a punch, this one is probably the most importantNOT FIST ACCELERATION. Fist acceleration alone does not guarantee hip acceleration; which is why some fast-handed boxers still dont have any power. The hips are rotated to the spine, and rotating the hips powerfully rotates the spine powerfully which sends out the hand with power instead of only speed.3)HAND SPEED refers to the speed at which your fist travels when it makes impact.Hand speed alone however does not guarantee any added power. What matters is THE ORIGIN OF YOUR HAND SPEED. If your hand is coming out fast because you have fast twitch muscle in your shoulder and triceps, it wont add any power. Only when your hand speed originates from your CORE ROTATION, will you have more power from faster hand speed. Nonetheless, any hand speed (whether from the arms or core or both) is useful because it can catch your opponent off guard and surprise punches tend to hurt more.4)IMPACT TENSION refers to the integrity of your form at the moment of impact.This is THE ONLY TIME when you should be stiff during a punchits right at the impact. The reason you must become stiff is to transfer energy. Just like how when you play pool, the white ball must completely stop in order to transfer all energy to the ball it hits. If your white ball was still moving after hitting, that means it retained some energy still. Likewise, a puncher that doesnt stiffen his punches will only bounce the energy off his opponent when landing a punch. Fighting, however is a tricky game, you most stop only long enough to transfer energy and then must keep moving again for fighting purposes. The fight itself is still constantly flowing, but do know that there are microscopic moments of stillness. Too many people overdo the impact tension and say things like you must push punches all the way through! which only wastes energy and slows down your combination rate because your fist is unnecessarily waiting around after impact.A punch requires multiple accelerations of different masses
working together simultaneously.

If you DO know how to punch, then youll realize that all these movements are basically ONE MOVEMENT. Yes, its beautifulgrounding, rotating, hand speed, impact tensionALL THAT CAN BE DONE WITH ONE MOVEMENT!

The core ALONE canincrease body mass,
rotate the hips and spine,
release the hand, and create impact tension.

The secret to punching power LIES IN THE CORE . The core alone can ground you, making you heavier and denser as you punch. The core alone can rotate your hips. The core alone can send out your hand quickly. And the core alone can tense up your entire body at the moment of impact.Havent you ever noticed that when youre tired of punching, your stomach is tired or youre out of breath or you lose balance? Its because your muscles at your center are no longer holding you up. Youre punching like a hollow skeleton which falls and bends as it struggles to move. The other muscles of the body such as the arms and legs fail too, but your punching suffers the most when your core fails.Try running or squats until you collapse and then throw punches. Then try doing sit-ups until you collapse and then throw punches. And tell me which exercise affected your punching power more. Tired legs can still punch and let you fall into punchesbut a tired core will always be too weak to do anything!INSIDE MUSCLES vs. OUTSIDE MUSCLESI know Ive said core but its actually more complicated than that. Instead of thinking about only your core, another way to look at your body is inside muscles vs outside muscles.

OUTSIDE MUSCLES are the muscles that help you move your body OUTWARDS. Outwards movements can be characterized as pushing, reaching, forming, releasing power, and moving your limbs quickly.

INSIDE MUSCLES are the muscles that help you move your body INWARDS. Inwards movements can be characterized as rotating, grounding, balancing, pulling, squeezing, hardening, and generating power.Train the INSIDE MUSCLES first.If you want to increase your power in any movement, start by training your INSIDE MUSCLES first. I would consider the following as inside muscles: abs, lower back, pelvic muscles, inside the hips, and adductors. The inside muscles are what make you SUPER SUPER HEAVYand hitwith more torque.Watch a pro boxer train and you will see that they all do tons of exercises when targeting core muscles. Its common for champions to do 30-60 minutes of pure core work everyday. Strong inside muscles is what makes that old former champion feel heavy when you try to move him. Strong inside muscles can make you powerful even if you have skinny arms or even bad technique. These inside muscles help you stand and balance better, too.What about the OUTSIDE MUSCLES?When it comes to generating punching power, OUTSIDE MUSCLES (legs, arms) are pretty much useless.They have a low impact on punching power, maybe 20% at best.This doesnt mean all non-core muscles are useless -it just means that you have to understand how everything fits together.

INSIDE MUSCLES generate the power.
OUTSIDE MUSCLES deliver the power.

INSIDE MUSCLES GENERATE POWER the core anchors you to the ground, rotates your body, and hardens it for impact. Nobody can see these because theyre on the inside of your body. OUTSIDE MUSCLES DELIVER POWER arms and legs are for extending the mass of your core (connected to the ground) toward your opponent to transfer the force. When it comes to power punching, outside muscles are most responsible for maintaining the form of your punch. For example at the point of impact, having strong triceps and shoulders would keep your arm from collapsing and breaking the transfer of energy.You could also say that outside muscles are important for RESISTING FORCE, or maintaining IMPACT TENSION. But this still means you need a strong core first to generate the force, and then strong arms to make sure all that power transfers through. Strong arms and legs ensure that your lines of power throughout the body stay connected when theyre stressed at impact. You could say outside muscles need more ISOMETRIC STRENGTH (stationary resistance strength) than CONCENTRIC STRENGTH (moving strength). As long as your arms and legs are strong enough to resist a ton of force, theyre strong enough for power punchingyou dont actually need to be strong enough to lift heavy weights.Outside muscles are also useful for speed and endurance. Strong arms will make sure you can throw many punches. Which is why the traditional boxing conditioning program focuses on speed and endurance. And the power and strength increase comes as a result of balanced conditioning, not necessarily because of an all-out focus on power.So its impossible to generate power with outside muscles?No, of course not.Lets say I had no understanding of how to punch with my core. If that was the case, my only method of throwing punches would be to go UPWARDS. And if my punching technique is nothing more than pushing my legs up off the ground, then that will *unfortunately* be my punching technique.If my legs are 100% of the power in my punch, THEN OF COURSE LIFTING WEIGHTS would in fact increase my power. The question you should be asking yourself iscan I use my muscles in a more effective way for throwing punches?Its possible to increase your punching power
by weight lifting,
if youre punching with poor technique. (push punches)

Punching with outside muscles is not necessarily bad but it has many limits and definitely will not produce the strongest punch. Any time that you use outside muscles to PUSH YOUR PUNCH, you basically take yourself off the ground. You can try it now. Throw a punch while extending your legs. Sure, you can generate a hard punch but then youd be shooting your weight up off the ground. You wont be able to punch again until your legs reset. Some people argue that pushing with the legs is still fine as long as you dont over-extend, and to that I disagree. The moment you push (whether a little or a lot), you upset your grounding and that alone decreases power. Its terrible for combination punches, but perhaps useful for something like say for example: a leaping hook.How can I tell which muscles are inside or outside?The differentiation is simple. If the muscle MAKES me heavier and/or denser, it is an inside muscle. If the muscle MAKES me lighter (in relation to gravity), it is an outside muscle. I would imagine this to be an amazing discovery for some (open minded individuals) and a painful discovery for others (particularly, the stubborn ones).Here are some over-generalized examples:My upper shoulder muscles can only project force upwards, so I would consider them outside muscles.

Lats pull me down and tighten/stabilize my core, so I would consider them inside muscles.

The tricky one THE LEGS!If Im going to punch with my legs, I would be using the INSIDE LEG MUSCLES to help me ground, pivot, and rotate for more power. Which is better than using the outside leg muscles which only pushes me off the floor and away from my centre . At some point, its less about inside vs outside butmore-soaboutHOWyou use your muscles.I like weight lifting for stabilization strength, injury prevention, integrity of impact tension, and overall core strength assistance. Having strong outside muscles can help you stabilize your joints to ensure better energy transfer and withstand repeated impact to your joints/tendons/ligaments.If you do any heavy weight lifting, it should be limited to only 5-10% of your boxing training. I wouldnt recommend doing so much because: 1) lifting heavy weights makes you sore and hampers your ability to do other boxing training. 2) you might gain weight which is terrible for fitting into smaller weight class, any increase in punching power rarely beats the naturally bigger guy. Your body is NATURALLY DESIGNED for downwards power!All your inside muscles are functionally stronger than your outside muscles. Notice how muscles that project downward force are stronger than their counter-parts. The legs are bigger than the arms. The back is stronger than the chest. The lats are stronger then the shoulders. Your backside is stronger than the hip flexers.The best to way to stand/punch/move/etc is to go DOWN (with gravity) rather than to go up (AGAINST gravity). Therefore all the muscles you should develop are muscles that make you project downwards force, muscles that make you HEAVIER. If youre going to train, train to increase your downwards force (not upwards or forwards).Develop the muscles that make you heavier!

Strengthen the muscles on the INSIDE of your body, before the outside. Try to develop muscles that are around your spine, also on the inside of your abs and hips, NOT THE OUTSIDE. Also work on the muscles on the inside of your legs (adductors). Outside muscles are only good at going UP and OFF the ground (terrible for max power, and fast combinations).Its not that outside muscles are useless, but they are more for moving purposes like hand speed, running, jumping). If you want true power, you need muscles that drop you, help you grab the ground, and make you a HEAVIER mass as an extension of gravity.The Limitations of Weight LiftingI have nothing against weight lifting or any other forms of resistance training. There is nothing old school or new school about them. They are simply methods of strength training with many variations going in and out of popularity over the years. The way your body responds and adapts to its environment, on the other hand, has stayed constant over the years.If you train one muscle in a certain way, you get a certain effect. If you train the same muscle in a different way, you get a different effect. Getting the effect you want depends on your understanding of punching movements and the required training to stimulate the right muscles in the right way.With that said, here are the LIMITATIONS of WEIGHT LIFTING:1. Inability to prioritize the core and inside musclesI dont doubt the effectiveness of weight training to increase contraction strength and power in your muscles. What I doubt is their ability to target the MOST EFFECTIVE PUNCHING MUSCLES. If you can find an invention or method that makes my core lift weights, then by all means SIGN ME UP!2. Ineffective in increasing torque strengthTrue punching power comes from rotation. If Im working my legs, I want to work my legs so I can ROTATE HARDER not push harder. If Im working my calves, I want it so I can pivot my foot harder, not necessarily so I can jump higher. I can see how squats might make my legs stronger and more powerful but I dont see how they are the most effective exercise for increasing my hip rotation.3. Poor angle coverageI feel that lifting weights, especially heavy weights, becomes an isolation type exercise where you increase your strength at only a few angles. Its like I can push a lot of weight at one angle but then if I shift my arms to a different angle 20 degrees away, I become much weaker. For some of you, this is the difference between free weights vs machine weights, or weights vs calisthenics and I agree. Id rather be a monkey hanging off the trees to develop all ranges of strength than to use a machine specifically designed to develop only your best looking muscles . On the other hand, if I have a strong core, I can just stick out my fist at any angle and generate a hard punch through the core. This is more realistic for fighting, because my core doesnt move around much but my arms and upper body do.4. Decrease in speed and enduranceAs Ive already said before, one of the main functions of outside muscles is for speed and endurance. The arms job is nothing more than to reach out to your opponent. Its not built to generate power and it shouldnt be. The best thing you can do for your arms is to have speed and stamina. I should also clarify that when I say speed, I dont mean the maximum speed of movement. I mean the overall consistency of speed. When it comes to a weaker outside muscles like the arms (and to some degree, the legs), longterm speed has a direct correlation to endurance. The better your arm endurance, the faster your hands will be throughout the fight. If your arms get tired easily, they will slow down quickly!Youre welcome to lift weights to aid the development of MAXIMUM HAND SPEED, but dont forget that arm endurance greatly affects their speed in a fight. Likewise, you should do the same when deciding whether to workout for endurance or power.

5. Weight lifting exercises the muscles that go AGAINST GRAVITYThe problem with weight lifting is that is has less to do with moving your body than it does with fighting gravity. Weight lifting exercises are almost always going against gravitybut the best punching muscles and best punching techniques are the ones that go WITH gravity. If you want to be powerful beyond your mind, you dont resist gravity, you find more ways to go WITH GRAVITY.So lifting weights is OK for fighting after all?Well, yes. You can do whatever the hell you want. You can train, squat a thousand pounds if you want to. But if you wanted to be effective, developing the inside muscles would come first and then outside muscles come second. If you prioritize your training this way, I GUARANTEE IN TWO MONTHSyou will quickly realize how unnecessary it is to develop excessively strong outside muscles.

I like weight lifting for stabilization strength, injury prevention, integrity of impact tension, and overall core strength assistance. Having strong outside muscles can help you stabilize your joints to ensure better energy transfer and withstand repeated impact to your joints/tendons/ligaments.

If you do any heavy weight lifting, it should be limited to only 5-10% of your fighting training. I wouldnt recommend doing so much because: 1) lifting heavy weights makes you sore and hampers your ability to do other punching training. 2) you might gain weight which is terrible for fitting into smaller weight class, any increase in punching power rarely beats the naturally bigger guy.

Once you achieve what feels like a good punch then the real secret is to practice , practice , practice and , when you're fed up with practising , then practice some more . As Bruce Lee said , ' I don't fear the man who has practised 10 000 kicks , I fear the man who has practised one kick 10 000 times . 'With thanks to Johnny MVal O'HalloranMassage Therapist