is there a trick to doing boxing punches correctly?

[angel nee nee]

hey I totally forgot about this drill and just remembered! Try practicing your jab against the wall. Stand not facing, but sideways to the wall and punch with the arm that is right against the wall to throw a jab. This exercise helps you not to stick your elbow out, but to punch straight.

[Helen S]

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

hey I totally forgot about this drill and just remembered! Try practicing your jab against the wall.

At first, I read your post too quickly and only saw the part about jabbing against the wall. LOL!!! I was thinking, "OUCH!!!" Glad you clarified it with the rest of your post.

[angel nee nee]

Originally Posted by Helen S

At first, I read your post too quickly and only saw the part about jabbing against the wall. LOL!!! I was thinking, "OUCH!!!" Glad you clarified it with the rest of your post.

Don't you know that's how ninjas strenghten their fists? But only the sissy ones. the real tough ones practice jabbing on the hard rocks.
And master ninjas practice headbutting on huge swinging chunk of rock.

[Helen S]

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

Don't you know that's how ninjas strenghten their fists? But only the sissy ones. the real tough ones practice jabbing on the hard rocks.
And master ninjas practice headbutting on huge swinging chunk of rock.

LOL!!!

[RedPanda]

While I agree with much of angel nee nee's post, I have to disagree with some aspects of it.

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

IF you want to do kickboxing for exercise purpose and not self defence or sports purpose, it does not really matter what form you have as long as you don't hurt yourself (or others. lol!)

This is true for shadowboxing up to a point, but if you are aiming to hit a mitt or heavy bag, you do need good form or you could injure yourself. It's always best to start with good form because poor form is difficult to "unlearn" later.

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

For example, Some might liek to turn fist from vertical to horizontal as he/she punch (for boxers, this could rub against the skin of opponent and could irritate the opponent.)

If you're trying to punch someone in the face, you're not going to be too fussed about "rubbing the skin of your opponent".

Also, it is important to twist your fist so that it is parallel to the ground when you strike the bag or mitt. You want to strike with the knuckles of your hand because this is the strongest part of your hand (and the part of the boxing glove with the most padding). If you fail to land a punch with the correct part of your glove, you will not only lose a lot of the power in your punch, but are also setting yourself up for injury, for example, but putting too much strain on your wrist or the delicate bones in your forearm. One woman has dropped out of my classes due to recurrent wrist pain, and I suspect this was the culprit.

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

Keep tight fist. Do not put your thumb inside other four fingers. It could be very painful in self defence> you can basically break your thumb.

This is incorrect. One of my boxing instructors, who has a lot of experience in bare-knuckle fighting, told me in my very first lesson to keep my thumb inside my fist (ie when not wearing a boxing glove).

[angel nee nee]

thanks redpanda. (cute name. love it. )

sorry if I was confusing you or someone else about my comment that correct form is not that necessary if you are only doing it for exercise as long as you don't hurt yourslef or others.
When I said as long as you don't hurt yourself or others, that's what I meant, you do need to practice in a fashion you don't hurt yourself or others. You might not have to punch perfectly, but you do want to have basic structure like tight wrist so you won't injure yourself when you hit something. (plus, another thing is, it is always good to aim for good form just in case you decide you do want to try the self defence or sports later in life. )
Everyone please do be careful not to get hurt. Lots of warm ups.


As for the punching and rubbing against sking, don't worry about that comment. IT's sport thing. not every boxers do it, in fact, I think only few do this if any.... so your boxing instructor might think it's totally dumb and nonsense. ANd it might very may be... I never did a boxing match myself. It's more of a mind trick thing to try to annoy your opponent than anything.

Maybe I was confusing about horizontal and vertial punch.

I'm little bit curious about thumb thing, you mean the way your instructor taught you is to wrap the thumb inside other four fingers so it's totally covered?

Thanks.

[Kyra]

Angel, what is your background? Your comments have me curious.

I really don't know how to respond to your post. I know you want to be helpful but to me it's difficult to tell someone what to do when you don't know what they're doing.

As for horizontal vs. vertical punching - there is no right or wrong; it's style dependent. My MA style (shotokan) uses a cork screw punch, while others (kenpo, isshin ryu) use the vertical punch. Red panda has described what boxers do. Also, we punch with the first two knuckles, not all four.

But none of this technical discussion might be helpful to someone who thinks they are flailing around. Perhaps her base form is really pretty good and it's just the tempo of the workouts that prevents her from completing the movements correctly. I don't know. You don't know.

I am sure I am highly biased toward live instruction because I am used to getting/giving it, but I highly recommend it. Most white belts' punching improves dramatically within their first month of training. It's a beautiful thing to watch happen. Kicking takes much longer, years for some people. I agree with Red Panda in that it's better to start with good form than to unlearn bad form.

Enough from me.

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by pattyd0319

I have a lot of kickboxing & boxing workouts but the first one that really helped me with form is Gaiam Core Cross Train Kickbox, particularly the punches warmup.

I agree, that's an excellent one for training and practiciing engaging the corte when punching and punching with the whole body.

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by RedPanda

One of my boxing instructors, who has a lot of experience in bare-knuckle fighting, told me in my very first lesson to keep my thumb inside my fist (ie when not wearing a boxing glove).

IMO, if you keep your thumb inside the fist, it has to be the top part of the thumb only, just the tip, to protect it from getting jammed (if you put the first joint of the thumb in there as well, a hard punch could definitely break that joint by pushing the covering fingers down onto it---try both ways and you'll see what I mean).

Also, earlier Angel-nee-nee, you said to strike with all 4 knuckles. All instruction I've seen (on DVD's by black belts, and some in-person instruction at a karate studio) say the striking surface is the first two knuckles (the two strongest ones). Because of the way the top of the hand rounds a bit when you are making a fist, it's impossible to strike with all four knuckles unless you turn the hand in somewhat, which breaks the line of the wrist, risking injury, and are hitting a soft object). Try striking your opposite palm, and you'll see what I mean.

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by angel nee nee

Some might like to turn fist from vertical to horizontal as he/she punch

It was also my understanding (might be wrong) that the turn at the end of the punch adds a bit more power to the punch.