The Almighty Wallop- How To Increase The Power Of Your Punch

img. from http://img.youtube.com/vi/g-478QGV9pc/0.jpg Tyson’s Punch!

Firstly I wish to apologize to all readers for my 1 year long absence, however I had few things going on in my life, meaning I could not devote the time necessary to run the blog, however now I am back, hopefully stronger than ever!

Now isn’t it a dream of every fighter, to possess that Tyson-esque punching power, sending opponents to sleep with one punch? Of course it is! Many fighters have different ways of increasing their punch power and we will outline the few main ways of increasing the power of your fists.

1. Increase the size of your muscles- Now this seems like a no brainer, bigger muscles are able to generate more power, leading to harder punches! However, while doing this we must take the fact that our weight will increase with the muscle size into consideration. This is of paramount importance in competitive fighting, where there are weight classes. Also be sure to bulk up all muscle groups, as most punches utilise the entire body and thus power transfer happens across most major muscle groups. Working on just triceps, will not increase the power of jabs and crosses until other groups, such as back muscles and core also bulk up.
2. Develop functional strength- It is crucial to make sure the increased muscle size translates into harder punches by training your functional strength. If someone works out just on weight machines, the movement happens on single plane every time and same fibres are activated every time, which may not necessarily be the ones required by punches, therefore adding functional strength exercises to your regime is a must. Rope climbs, towel pull ups and heavy bag work are a great start, as these exercises work different muscles on different planes every time, promoting the muscle’s efficiency. Of course heavy bag work might include punching it, which of course is a great way to improve punches.
3. Improve your punching technique- This is probably the most important and efficient way of increasing the punching power. Punches were designed by various martial arts and fighting systems to be as effective and as injury free (to the thrower) as they can be, therefore following the technique precisely will yield greater power. For example moving the hips through the hook punch and twisting the foot right way will yield much bigger force on impact, than arm-punching without engaging the body or legs.
4. Tactic- While this strictly speaking does not increase the absolute punch power, utilising punching in clever ways will help you increase the impact your punch has on the opponent. Firstly punch in a way that your opponent is always moving towards your punch, if opponent moves to your left throw left hook! This causes additional impact due to opponent basically ‘walking in’ on the punch. Another trick is to strike vulnerable areas. Hook to jaw hinge will hurt opponent significantly more than hook to temple. Examples of areas to aim for include tip of the jaw, nose, liver, and groin (self-defence only!).

So, these are few ways of increasing your punch power. Of course most of these tips also apply to other strikes such as kicks, knees and elbows! Do you have any other ways to increase your striking power? Comment below!

 Article written by: Hubert Bieluczyk

How to overcome pre-fight anxiety

Silva knee stomps Leites (image from prommanow.com)

Your competition is soon! You feel tightness around stomach and chest, your head hurts. Your muscles feel weak and you are incredibly tired. In two days’ time you are going to have to fight. First you thought you will come out happy and relaxed and walk out with that win Rocky Balboa style, but now you somehow feel stressed and anxious. All competition fighters know that feeling. This is our body’s natural fight or flight response to prepare us to deal with this situation and even the best of best get those symptoms. Even the middleweight UFC champ and pound for pound best fighter admitted that he is scared when he walks into the octagon. You are not alone and never fear, as you are going to find out how to fight your inner self before fighting the opponent.

1.Your opponent is not out there for your blood-The opponent is there to have fun on the competition just like you and may also be nervous just like you (unless it’s a pro bout). Nobody is going to kill you and you won’t lose any limbs. You will be fine. Just relax and enjoy yourself!

2.Visualise- Visualise the whole fight. Visualise yourself putting gloves on, walking out, going through all the procedures before fight and visualise every single detail of your fight. Visualise yourself dishing out blows to your opponent and also yourself receiving some. Slow down, rewind and repeat whenever you feel appropriate. Visualise your stamina level and how you not going to be gassed if you fight relaxed. This will certainly reduce your anxiety and the technique itself is used by thousands of professional fighters around the globe.

3.Meditate- This is another really effective technique of reducing your stress levels. Meditation is based around the concept of clearing your thoughts and thinking processes therefore achieving total calmness relaxation and serenity. Start by sitting down, or lying down in comfortable position. Close your eyes and focus your mind on your heart beat (you can put your hands on your chest to feel the beat). Just focus on this feeling and try to stop thinking. If any thoughts intrude your mind, gently push them out. Continue to do so for next 5-10 minutes and then open your eyes. You should feel bit calmer if done correctly. At the beginning it may be very difficult to keep fighting those thoughts, but you will get better with practice and benefits will grow as well if you do it regularly.

These are my main tips on how to overcome pre fight anxiety or stress. Do you have any more techniques? Please share!

Article written by: Hubert Bieluczyk

Mamed Khalidov – My favorite MMA fighter

Mamed Khalidov (image from fcfighter.com)

I have been a martial arts fan for a long time and watched many fights in many fighting sports. Of course I love the brutal, yet exhilarating sport of MMA- The Mixed Martial Arts. There are many brilliant fighters in the sport, yet there is huge amount of debating over who is THE best fighter. Hence organisations such as UFC, or Bellator were established where the fighters could prove their mettle in the cage. Each fighter has their fans and I’m a big fan of Mamed Khalidov.

Mamed Khalidov is a middleweight Polish MMA star who currently competes in polish MMA promotion KSW where he is undefeated. His current MMA record is 32 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws. There were talks about him moving to UFC, however he refused, as the contract didn’t meet his terms such as fight pay and he wants to promote growth of KSW. The reason I love watching his fights is that they are really exciting bouts full of action on par with the top UFC fights.

Here is some of his handiwork:

Mamed Khalidov vs. James Irvin (uploaded by KonfrontacjeKSW)

Mamed Khalidov vs. Matt Lindland (uploaded by VIDEOSPORT7)

Mamed Khalidov vs. Jesse Taylor (uploaded by VIDEOSPORT7)

Mamed Khalidov vs. Rodney Wallace (uploaded by Movie360)

Mamed Khalidov vs. Kendall Grove (uploaded by Ksw21walki)

 

So, what do you think about Mamed? Who is your favorite fighter and why?

Article written by: Hubert Bieluczyk

 

Ob Klar: A forgotten technique?

Today I was watching Human Weapon on Cambodian blood sport. As always the show was intriguing educational and fun to watch, however at one point in the show, Khmer wrestlers have demonstrated an Ob Klar technique to Jason Chambers and Bill Duff. It is a very old and simple technique that uses some nifty physics to maximize its effectiveness in combat. However It got me thinking, why is it so under used in MMA and other arts such as judo?

Ob Klar technique:

Uploaded by Henry Ho

The technique is very simple to apply due to clever shifting of opponent’s gravity center and it works well even on larger and heavier fighters.  Try it (In safe environment of course)! You’ll be surprised how easy it was even if you had no previous take down experience. Another advantage of Ob Klar is that after attaining that slam down it leaves you with plenty of opportunities. If your opponent is rather inexperienced you are likely to end up in half guard or even full mount without him/her clinching and controlling your position from where you can posture up and rain down those punches ending the fight. Or you could opt to lock in kimura or arm bar instead. The move is also a really safe one, as it isn’t very easy to reverse.

On the other hand, Ob Klar requires you to achieve body lock clinch which many fighters wouldn’t risk. Yet we see many supplexes to side control or half guards on televised MMA bouts. Also it is an ancient technique which simply may have been a bit forgotten, just like not many people seem to be playing those classic old games such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time despite it being an awesome game.

What do you think? Is there some major problem with using this move in systems other than Khmer wrestling? Or was once famous, rehearsed and practiced Ob Klar simply forgotten in the time like many great generals, kings and entire civilizations?

Article written by Hubert Bieluczyk

Is Trash Talk Hurting The Sport?

from fearlessmen.com

Today in combat sports we see huge amount of trash talk and plenty of publicity stunts. Think back to 8^th July 2012 where in UFC 148 Chael Sonnen challenged middle weight champ Anderson Silva. Silva endured Chael’s merciless verbal onslaught disrespecting the champ and his family. It was largely the ‘American Gangster’s’ trash talk that has led to such publicity of the fight. Then we can also think back to Dereck Chisora vs Vitali Klitschko boxing fight, where the loudmouth Chisora slapped Vitali during weigh in and spat on Vitali’s brother just before the bout started. This has led to the great success of promoters putting the fight in boxing history. However the trash talk certainly does not reflect the values initially taught by these disciplines. This taints the reputations of each fighting sport. So, is trash talk hurting the sport?

One may say the trash talk is harmless to the combat sports and in fact beneficial. After all it does raise the fight’s publicity and builds up the hype. Such is the human nature that if we see two individuals staring at each other ferociously with eyes flooded with hate and anger; we will love to see what happens in fight and who comes out on top. We will side strongly with either of the fighters, hoping loud mouth gets punished, or that the foul mouthed fighter will back up his/ her words with actions. Also these publicity stunts can raise the profile of the fight so drastically that it gets through to general population that normally is uninterested in the fight sports and martial arts, which is what all the promoters want- to expand audience. Also such behaviour may benefit fighters themselves. Aforementioned Chael Sonnen got pounded out by Silva in second round. He lost. What happens? UFC recognised ‘American Gangster’s’ entertainment value and Chael gets a title shot at Jon Jones in light heavy weight division straight away.

On the other hand, there is a dark side to this practise. Firstly, it may harm the fighter if he or she does not prove words with action. There is plenty of mediocre fighters who tried trash talk and now are despised by entire countries. Also these publicity stunts harm the sport and art by altering its core values. For example, boxing represents courage, strength and indomitable spirit, yet some boxers, unjustly, seem to try to make it look like an art of swinging tongue and blabbing random insults.

In my opinion the trash talk benefits the propagation of sport and pushing it into mainstream. It also aids all the sport’s business ends by flushing some extra profits into fights, however I believe it harms the martial arts’ and sports’ representation of its core values that took so long to be established.

What are your views on trash talk and publicity stunts?

 

Article written by Hubert Bieluczyk