Subject: Faster Punches and Kicks
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 11:47 AM
Hi
If you've seen the current issue (December 2004) of Black Belt Magazine, you may
have noticed my article on speed hitting. When I submitted it I think I titled
it something really clever and inventive like, um, “Speed Hitting.”
The editor changed that to “Hands Like Lightening!” Which is probably why he’s an
editor, and I'm just a freelance writer who gets his titles changed.
Following on the lightening fast hands theme, here’s some simple advice that will
help you put some speed in your strikes:
Bring them back faster.
You can practice this both if you’re actually trying to hit something or are just
punching or kicking in the air. There are pluses and minuses to each. When
students don’t have a target and I tell them to focus on bringing it back faster
they tend to abbreviate the strike and not get good extension. This is
especially a problem with kicks because one of the benefits of using kicks is
that the legs offer greater range than the arms so you don’t want to lose out on
one of the main advantages of kicking by failing to extend fully.
When punching you actually want to punch “short” so you can better employ upper
body rotation and avoid hyper-extending the elbow. Because of this, it’s not as
much of a problem if you abbreviate your punches as you focus on bringing them
back fast.
Keep in mind that when people hit a target the tendency is to work power and they
end up forgetting to stay relaxed.
So there you have it. For faster strikes, concentrate on bringing them back
faster, and work a mix of hitting a target and striking in the air.
I hope you have a great holiday!
Rob LaPointe
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