Hello, my friend. Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts. So, you want to throw
more powerful punches, huh? Yeah, me too. I've already made a couple of videos on
this topic, so if you haven't seen them, that's cool-- I don't take this personally.
But I'll put the links below so you can check them out. But right now, here comes
one more tip to add power to your punches, because let's face it-- you can
never have too much power.
OK. One bad habit I see in a lot of martial artists is not extending their
shoulder joint to its full range. Instead of throwing a powerful punch, they end up
looking like their doggy paddling in the kiddie pool. Wait-- maybe that was me.
Yes, that could definitely be me. Especially if I get tired or if I'm
being eaten by a shark. I start short arming my punches and that's not effective
for self-defense, fighting, or battling sharks. Now, joking aside, there are two
main reasons why you might find yourself short arming your punches. You may not
want to hear either one of these, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. The first reason
is a very common disease called Lazy Bonesa. Flapping your punches from the
elbow is a lot easier than using your shoulder and your core. Engaging more
muscles, engaging bigger muscles, means burning more oxygen, which means it's
harder. But good news! There's a cure for lazy bonesa--work. Hard work. If you want
to throw more powerful punches, you have to invest some sweat. You see the same
thing happen when people do push-ups. Someone says, I can do a hundred push-ups.
You say, oh really? Then they drop to the ground and do this.
Now, if you're a hundred years old, I'd probably just say, good for you old-timer.
But for everybody else, I'd say, come on man.
Those aren't push-ups. If you're doing push-ups, I want to see your arm fully
extended, not locked out, but I want to see that you're engaging all of the
muscles of your arm, including your shoulder. I talk a little
bit more about push-ups in my video about shoulder flexibility and strength
in the martial arts. If you haven't seen that video, either, check it out.
Remember-- in training, you want to practice the best habits that you
possibly can so hopefully they'll hold up under pressure. Hey, in a real fight,
under stress, if you start short arming your punches out of necessity or
desperation, so be it. But that doesn't mean you should practice that way. Never
practice a weaker version of the skills that you want to achieve.
Instead practice the ideal. That means throwing full power, full range punches
as often as you can then. Then whatever happens, happens.
The second reason you might find yourself short arming your punches is
our old friend fear. Specifically the fear of getting hit. Fear can move you
backwards, like flinching, or in this case fear can keep you from reaching out with
the full range of your shoulder. Instinctively, you feel the farther you
stick that hand out, the more vulnerable you are to getting hit. You're brave
enough to throw the punch, but not quite brave enough to land it. This is an
emotional problem. But just know this-- half-punching will never have the
stopping power that you need to be effective.
Heck-- forget about stopping power, you won't even have touching power because
without extending your full arm including your shoulder, you're never
even gonna reach the target. Especially when you're hitting a bag, you can
hypnotize yourself into thinking that you're throwing full power punches. Why?
Because you're touching the bag every single time. "Hey! I never miss! What's the
problem?" The problem is you're building a habit of only using
half of your range and half of your power.
See? So, be careful when you're training on a stationary target. Don't practice
close-up fighting without knowing that you're practicing close-up fighting.
That's something you want to be aware of and practice on purpose. Instead, have the
discipline to step away from the bag. That will not only force you to extend
your shoulder to reach the target, it might even encourage you to shuffle in
behind that punch, so you're adding your bodyweight. That'll make your punch even
more powerful. The big lesson-- stop doggy paddling! Don't be afraid of
extending your arm, extending your shoulder, engaging your core, and throwing
full power punches. Because the bad guys sure aren't afraid of throwing theirs. If
you liked this video, thanks for subscribing to the channel and sharing
with a friend. Until next time, don't hold back and keep fighting for a happy life.