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There’s a big difference between an untrained novice and an experienced puncher or striker. It’s not strength or power, and it’s not size or reach. The difference is technique.

Experienced boxers and martial artists know how to make every part of the body work together during a punch. They maximize power while minimizing extraneous movement. Every punch is defined down to the smallest detail until it becomes powerful enough to render a grown man unconscious.

Here are some pointers you can use when you examine your own punching techniques. When you improve your technique, you add power; and when your technique is good, you’ll have more than enough power in your punches.

Arm punching is weak: don’t do it

Tip number one for adding power to your punches is the most important: don’t arm punch.

Arm punching is what most untrained guys do when they get in a fight. The flail their arms around like a demented windmill.

But even if one of these wild punches lands, it won’t have any real power. To get truly powerful punches techniques, you have to use your entire body. The feet shift, the legs and hips pivot, the torso twists, and the arms deliver all that power right where you want it to be: onto your knuckles.

Step in to pack power into your punch

Just as I said that it’s not enough to simply use arm power to punch, you have to use everything you have to pack dynamite into your punches.

One of the most important ways to get maximum impact on your strikes is to step. Now, don’t get ahead of me here. I don’t mean that you should jump in like a crazed grasshopper every time you throw a punch. In this context, a step is simply a slight shift in your center of gravity towards your target.

Your feet might move only an inch, but it’s still a step. And if you’re throwing fast and loose combinations, your step might only be a slight foot tap. But it’s still there, and it contributes to the impact you’re creating with your strikes. Bet on it.

Shift your bodyweight to land heavy punches

So, in the last section I taught you that a step was integral to every power punch. But there’s more to getting your body behind a punch than simply stepping and moving your center of gravity. You can shift your body weight without really moving your entire center of gravity.

You do this by moving the torso — forward, backwards, or side to side — during your punches.

Picture the left hook. If you don’t shift your body weight when you throw a hook, the power just won’t be there. It doesn’t matter if you’re stepping forward or back, you can still shift your torso during the hook to get power and pop on your punches.

A boxer’s job is to knockout their opponent. It’s a tough job. Hitting a trained opponent that is moving to evade your punches is hard enough, but when they are also trying to hit you it can become almost impossible. So boxers train to make every punch count. When they hit, they have to know how to hit hard and they have to be in good enough condition to keep hitting hard, round after round.

To achieve this goal and do their job, boxers use heavy bags. A heavy bag is a long, cylindrical shaped bag, densely filled with foam and hung from the ceiling. It can weigh anywhere from 40 to 200 pounds. The lighter bags move when hit, so the boxers have to chase them around and use their footwork. The heavier bags hardly move at all, unless the boxer has developed tremendous punching power.

To make a bag move takes two things, proper technique and proper conditioning. Proper technique will let the boxer hit with all the power their body can generate. A 140 pound fighter with proper technique can move a punching bag much better than a poorly trained man twice his size, even if that bigger man is very strong. Proper conditioning lets the fighter execute their technique over and over again with tiring enough to make them use poor technique.

Boxers hit the bag in rounds of two or three minutes, the exact same way they’d fight in the ring. They use gloves to protect their hands. In a typical heavy bag workout a boxer will move around, throwing combinations as hard and fast as they can. They’ll simulate punching to the head and the body by punching high or low on the bag. The bag will swing back and forth and the boxer will move out of the way when it swings toward them, the same way they’d move away from an opponent.

The purpose of using a heavy bag in boxing are the excellent benefits that result. Consistent work on the heavy bag will give a boxer a toned upper body from all the punching. If they stay on their toes and move they will also develop phenomenal stamina in their thighs and calves. Finally, because of the aerobic and anaerobic demands that non-stop punching places on the body, a boxer will leave their heavy bag workouts with excellent cardiovascular conditioning.

The complete origin of this devastating martial art, and now respected athletic competition, is unclear. It is safe to say however, Muay Thai, or “Thai Boxing“, was developed in Thailand as a hand-to-hand combat method to protect individual communities. At the time, only short-range weapons like knives, clubs and spears were used during armed combat. Loss of a weapon during a battle was not uncommon. This is where Muay Thai combat techniques proved their worth. This art, as opposed to other hand-to-hand combat arts, utilizes, not only fists and feet, but the head, elbows, knees, and shins, for debilitating strikes during the fight. During combat you would likely see a warrior incorporating crushing headbutts, violent punches, and crippling kicks to the legs, head and groin. It is one of the only unarmed combative styles that has been considered just as brutal as the armed combat techniques it replaced. However, more recently, Thai Boxing has become a regulated sport recognized around the world that uses safety equipment such as mouth guards, gloves and groin protection. And just like boxing, wrestling and MMA, Muay Thai competitions have weight classes for the competitors. When Muay Thai competitions first began there were no weight classes. Competitors simply needed to display the will to fight. Furthermore, Sport Muay Thai no longer allows the kind of strikes and attacks that other modern combat sports have made illegal, such as headbutts or strikes to the groin.

Modern competitive Thai Boxing, an exciting and fascinating sport on its own, has also been an integral part of mixed martial arts (MMA) events such as the UFC and now is considered a necessary component to a mixed martial artist’s arsenal. The Chute Boxe Team from Curitiba, Brazil, is famous for their punishing and aggressive style of Muay Thai. One team member and expert at the art, Anderson “The Spider” Silva, has received a frenzy of media attention after competing and winning easily against some of the best MMA fighters in the world. The main techniques in mixed martial arts training that are taken from Muay Thai are from the clinch, a position in which fighters are in close contact and attempting to control their opponent’s body, especially the head. From the clinch, some Thai Boxing techniques include, knees to the body and head and elbow strikes. The clinch is also used in mixed martial arts training to control the opponent in the ring and against the cage for, not only striking techniques, but also to set-up takedowns and throws to bring the fight to the ground.

As previously noted, although Muay Thai originated in Southeast Asia, Muay Thai training has been recognized around the world as an important component of the martial arts community. With the popularity of mixed martial arts growing in the United States, martial arts schools in many major cities across the country host not only mixed martial arts training, but also Muay Thai St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York included. If you are interested in mixed martial arts training or simply Muay Thai training, the Internet is a great resource for finding information about the schools and instructors in your area.

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Boxing is a fun sport to get involved in, no matter your age or individual level of fitness. It is a discipline that stays with you long after you’ve learned it.

The misconception about boxing is that it is all about aggression, but that just isn’t true. Boxing, like other martial arts, is about self control and being disciplined more than anything else, and while a certain amount of aggression can potentially be useful at any level of boxing, it is not necessary.

Proper boxing equipment is paramount in any boxing program. Compared to most other sports however, boxing equipment is relatively inexpensive, and can be very rewarding both mentally and physically. Rubber mouthpieces are an essential piece of boxing equipment for all boxers. They are a good investment and they’re inexpensive. Furthermore, it will save you the hassle of the dental work which may be required when no mouthpiece is used. Wearing a mouthpiece will eliminate practically all teeth injuries and mouth lacerations which are caused by the lip coming in contact with an irregular tooth. Many boxers find it beneficial to secure a mouthpiece made from an actual impression even though it’s a bit more expensive.

If you plan on entering into competition, headgear is a wise investment. “Competitive headgear” is lighter weight than the headgear used in training, but affords the same amount of protection to the eyes and ears. It includes extra padding at the base of the skull as protection against occasions when the boxer hits their head on the canvas as they fall. The minimum boxing equipment used in sparring is headgear, mouthpieces, and protective cups. If a mouthpiece slips out, or headgear becomes improperly adjusted, time should be taken to replace the mouthpiece or to properly adjust the headgear. Pay proper attention to all boxing equipment to help reduce the number of accidents

Boxers need stamina. By consistently heightening the intensity of training, as fitness allows, the body become accommodated with harder fitness routines which leads to increased stamina. Once the fitness routine is developed, time can be taken to improve specific techniques and skills. Physical and more importantly mental tolerances play a role in all boxers. If an individual has low motivation and low tolerance for physical exercise they won’t get far. Therefore it makes sense to do some mental conditioning as well as physical. Training with more experienced boxers is a great way to learn from example and keep your goal right in front of you. Keep in mind though they are much more experienced so go at your own pace, not theirs.

During practice and training there are 3 general things to keep in mind:

1. Take Your Time:Your mind and body need time to adjust to the extra physical and mental stress its enduring. Instead of pushing an extra minute or going for ten more reps try half a minute and five more reps. This way you’re intensifying the workout but not burning yourself out. One of the best lessons boxing can teach is patience.

2. Physical Training is a Must: There’s no way around it you have to train. If you don’t have the stamina to go the extra championship rounds you won’t have the energy to focus on taking the guy across the ring down. It’s important not only to build skills during training, but to use these skills during rounds. If you aren’t focused on being winded in the last rounds then you can allow the techniques developed during training to shine.

3. Technique before Power: Don’t focus purely on developing power. Power will come with the execution of proper technique. Before you learn to land a one-punch knock out, you have to perfect movement, timing, distance, balance and most importantly momentum of movement when punching. If you focus only on the one-hit KO, you will lose the match before it has even begun. Remember-Technique Before Power.

Psychological endurance coupled with physical stamina and technique are the components of a well rounded boxer. Once you have found out what training routine works for you, you can play with it and specialize it to your specific needs. This will help build endurance and land those punches when it counts.

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About the Jab

After learning the stance and on-guard, the very first punch that a boxer is taught is the jab. Ask any practicing boxer, if they were restricted to using only one shot, then that shot would be the jab. There is a myth that needs to be dispelled here also; the jab is not only for tall boxers! I regularly used to watch Mike Tyson give away a significant reach advantage and still beat his opponent to the jab. If a boxer combines the jab with effective feints, footwork and body movement, then it is a shot that literally wins fights single-handed! The jab allows you as a boxer to control an opponent, be it on the attack or on the defensive. The jab provides a main method of commencing an attack and is consistently proven as a fight winner. Few things are more demoralizing to an opponent as being continually popped in the face with a fast, accurate and well-timed jab.

All of this said, whilst we can talk about a fast and accurate jab, it is surprising how many boxers allow bad habits to creep in when using the jab. As mentioned, if the jab is thrown correctly it’s a winner. On the other hand, if the jab isn’t deployed appropriately then an opponent will punish you badly over and over again!

The Mechanics of the Jab

The key requirement of a jab is that the opponent does not see it coming. Remember that the human eye is much better at identifying lateral (side-to side) movement than it is at identifying straight-line movement (forwards and back). For this reason, it is critical that you take notice of step 2 (below) in that the elbow follows the same line as the fist i.e. a vertical plane should be drawn from the left fist. The left elbow should not deviate at all from this plane at any point during the execution of the shot. Achieving this will ensure that the opponent has little or no warning of the impending shot because the elbow does not ‘flare’ to the left before the shot lands (a common fault).

So, the basic steps of delivering a precision jab are:

From the stance and on-guard position, the first action is a push from the front foot which in turn rotates the upper-body slightly (in a clockwise direction) so that the hips and shoulders will align with the opponent.
As the rotation is taking place, the lead arm is thrust out, ensuring that the lead arm elbow follows the same line as the fist i.e. there is no lateral movement of the elbow at all, whatsoever! As the lead arm is moving towards the target it accelerates.
As the fist accelerates towards the target (having covered about 75% of the distance), it rotates inwards so that the palm is facing down towards the floor.
At the last moment, the fist clenches and ’snaps’ on to the target.
The fist returns along the same line as before, returning to the ‘home’ position as per the stance.

Common Faults with the Jab

There are a number of common problems that can occur when throwing a jab:

There is an urge to try and hit too hard. The desire to throw the punch hard often results in the boxer’s weight transferring to the front leg. This has the effect of impairing the balance and making the boxer very vulnerable to counter-attack. Remember, the jab will often be thrown as you move forward, so throwing the weight onto the front leg is very high risk. If a shot comes back towards you, then your momentum will increase the impact of that shot!
The punch is ‘telegraphed’, or tell-tale movement takes place as the punch begins it’s journey. These movements are often the elbow lifting to the side or the fist dropping slightly, both of which are dead giveaways.
The boxer allows the punch to become an upper-body movement. Ensure that the rotation of the upper-body is generated by the push from the front leg.

And that’s about it really. A good, reliable jab is worth it’s weight in gold. I think that the trick is not to take the jab for granted. Use a mirror to ensure that none of the common faults are creeping into the shot. Once an opponent ‘makes’ your jab, then the chances of coming out in top at the end of the fight are minimal! As a basic next step, follow the jab up with straight right hands as both shots combined form the ‘meat and drink’ of the competing boxer.