The proper way to throw a punch is simple but takes practice to build up the coordination. I learned this during two years of amateur boxing.

Your goal is to hit hard, hit fast, and avoid injury to yourself. Why? So you can punch again!

Your first priority is to avoid injuring yourself.

-To do this, make sure that your thumb is resting on the outside of your index finger, on the second bend from the tip.

-Next, when throwing the punch, make sure that your fist and fore arm are aligned in a straight line that goes through to your elbow.

-When you punch a target, try to aim two inches deeper than the target actually is. This means that your arm won't quite be fully extended when your fist makes contact doing two things. One, your arm is bent which cushions the blow for your arm, and second, you actually hit with more power because your muscles are still accelerating your arm.

-Finally, make contact with your middle knuckle. This prevents the wrist from bending awkwardly to the right or left.

The second priority is to hit fast.

-To increase your speed, make the punch and pulling your arm back one motion. This has a strange neurological effect of increasing the actual punching speed of your arm. If you watch the fastest professionals you will notice they always punch and withdraw their arm in one motion.

-Make sure you are motivated to punch. If you have any mental reservations about punching someone, then your arm will not function as well. Also, if you think that you will hurt your hand by punching something, your brain will automatically slow your punch to reduce the injury. Go throw a punch at a spiky metal wall and watch how slow your arm moves!

-Punch through the target. If you aim at the actual target, your brain will begin slowing your arm down as you reach your target. To counter this, punch two inches deeper than the target so that your entire punch is all acceleration.

The third priority is to hit hard

-To increase the power of your punch, use correct form! Align the punch so that your arm is a straight line from your middle knuckle through to your elbow. Think of your arm as a battering ram. And you have to hit your target dead on for full effect. If your blow glances off you won't do much damage.

-Twist your hips into the blow. This puts your back muscles behind the force of your blow and your blow will be more powerful.

-Finally, if you are going for a true power punch, then put your shoulder into it! This means that the first motion of your punch should be a twisting of your hips and back, where your fist remains still and your shoulder actually begins moving forward first. By the time you use your triceps to throw the punch your arm is already moving forward.

-Good rule of thumb when doing any power movement is to start with big muscles first and work your way down the muscles according to size. So in a punch, you start with your legs... twist the hips and back... then use your triceps muscle... and finish with your small stabilizer and wrist muscles to deliver a perfect blow.

Learn more about this author, Jonathan Jones.
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