An Olympic Boxer Shared 7 Exercises to Boost Your Punching Power

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You may think that simply lifting weights will be enough to help you increase your strength and improve your hitting power in the ring, but the truth is that the more size you build, the more you can count as “non-functional” muscle that actually gets in the way. in the way of his speed and mobility. In a new video on his YouTube channel, Olympic medalist and undefeated boxing champion tony jeffries is accompanied by the author and former men’s health fitness manager BJ Gaddour CSCSwho shows you seven exercises that will help you hone your agility and speed, as well as your raw strength.

Self-assisted one-armed push-up

“One thing that people overlook when it comes to punching power is that a stronger muscle has the ability to create more power,” says Gaddour. “This is going to put more weight on one side of your body, so you’re strengthening each arm independently, and if you can start to get good at this, you’ll have a lot of power behind your punches.”

band resistance

Incorporating resistance bands into some of your punching exercises is a great way to put extra pressure on your muscles, Gaddour explains, as the tension increases as you stretch and then bring your arm back to its starting position.

single leg hip thrust

Your legs and hips are your biggest sources of energy, so you need to train your lower body enough. This is essentially a glute bridge progression, which helps strengthen imbalances on each side and engage the hips without recruiting the back muscles. And since it involves very little stress on the spine, Gaddour suggests it as a safer alternative to the deadlift.

swing with kettlebell

“Form is everything in this,” says Gaddour. “It’s one of the few moves that trains ankle, knee and hip extension in a horizontal trajectory, like your punches will be.” It also works the back of the body, bringing balance to all that earlier work you’re doing as well.

Ball hit above the head

This is a great move for building total body power, and as Gaddour points out, it has the mental health benefit of allowing you to unload your stress. The key to doing this is to make sure you don’t bend your spine too far forward, but rather drop your hips.

Medicine Ball Shot Put

This mimics the range of motion of a punch and can be done against a wall alone or with a partner. “This is something you can tell if you’re hitting straight or if you’re hitting across,” Jeffries says, explaining that hitting diagonally wastes the power you’ve been building.

weighted pull-ups

“Boxers tend to be very round and hunched forward, because they really work the muscles in the front of the body and not much in the back,” says Gaddour. “So this will help increase your overall upper body strength, and yes, you also punch with your legs and hips, but a strong upper body increases your overall power potential.”