Develop Lightning Fast Punches
Who doesn’t want to be faster?
Who doesn’t want lightning fast punches that can’t be blocked?
Well you won’t get them hoping but if you are willing to put in the work they can be yours for the taking.
1st you need a drill that can evaluate your abilities and progress. Next you need a list of items to work on improving.
Today I’ve got both of those for you!
The Clapping Game
The clapping game provides instant feedback on if your punch would have been parried or blocked by your opponent without your training partner needing to get punched in the face.
It also allows you to get in a lot of reps in a short amount of time. Then of course your training partner can swap roles with you and they can work on developing lighting fast punches as well.
Talk about a win-win!
The set up…
Have your training partner extend their arms out with their hands about shoulder width apart.
You will now punch between their hands and they will try to clap your punch. Simple…
Key Pointers
Punch Deep – Get your knuckles past your training partner’s wrists. If you pull your punch short you are only short-changing yourself.
Use Good Technique – Don’t practice punching in a way that you wouldn’t use in a real fight. For instance, you should be maintaining a good defense while you punch.
Don’t Drop Your Hand On The Way Back – You do not want to develop the bad habit of dropping your punching hand after your punch. You might need it to defend a counter punch or for a 2nd strike. So it is “OK” to get clapped on the way back. That would be like you landed your punch and they parried it AFTER you hit them. Who cares. So just pull that punch straight back.
Eliminate Your Telegraphs – Telegraphs are movements that you do before your punch that tells your opponent that you are about to punch. Let’s create a list of telegraphs you want to eliminate, shall we?
Common Telegraphs
Pumping Your Fist – Pulling your fist back before you punch is a common telegraph. It is a subconscious attempt to create power but realize this is a lead strike. It is meant to land and create a flinch so you can follow up with a power shot. So learn to move from the fist first, straight ahead without pulling back (or pumping it).
Leading with the Elbow or Shoulder – It is common to start the punch by moving the elbow first. Technically this is internal shoulder rotation… it is a natural biomechanical action that the body wants to do to create more power. The problem is that your opponent will see your punch coming. So once again the solution is to move from the fist first and straight forward from the fist.
Leaning or Getting Set – Nearly every beginner and intermediate will do the “get set > go!” when they throw their punch. Essentially they are standing up tall, flat footed, with an unathletic stance. But in order to move forward with speed and power one has to get coiled and then launch. So the tall unathletic stance will coil first and then punch. This is a HUGE telegraph to your opponent.
If you are doing this then frankly your stance… sucks! Go watch my video on proper stance and footwork for speed to fix this. It will teach you how to be coiled to move in all directions at all times and become super fast.
Punch Before Stepping – As you get better you want to move back away from your partner so that you have to lunge or hop in with your strike. This better simulates fighting on the outside. But the problem is that you are too far away to land your punch. In the case of the clapping drill you are too far away to get between their hands unless you lunge.
What everyone does initially is to step and then punch. But of course your training partner will see you stepping before your punch comes and they will easily clap you.
The solution is to punch and step at the same time. That way your fist is already in motion as you step and your telegraph will go away.
Technically if you want to develop LIGHTNING FAST PUNCHES from the outside… you want to punch before you step…
Huh?! How the heck do you do that?
Slow things down to learn it. Start your fist moving first and then immediately push off of your back leg to lunge forward. Since the fist moved first the telegraph is gone. The more you practice it the better you will get and you will eventually get unblockable!
Develop a Broken Rhythm – Intermediate fighters always have a predictable rhythm and are easy to time. So as you get better at this drill you will catch yourself throwing punches like this. Punch-one-thousand, punch-one-thousand, punch-one-thousand. You may be lightning fast but your partner can predict your next strike by finding the rhythm of your timing.
So learn to change your rhythm and timing up. Develop a broken rhythm as we say in Jeet Kune Do. Do 2 with the timing above, then pause longer before your next punch and then take no pause to throw another… learn to disguise your rhythm and you will be a force to recon with!
Lunging Range
As mentioned in the common telegraphs section you want to start moving further and further away from your partner so you can develop lighting fast punches from lunging range.
The key here is to start your punch either at the same time or even just before you push off of your back leg to lunge in.
If you push off first before you punch then you will telegraph your punch and get clapped.
This will take time and you will need to do some solo practice to learn it. Speaking of solo practice…
Also realize at some point you will be too far away to be successful. Great now you know the maximum and optimal range that you can land a punch from the outside.
Solo Practice for Lighting Fast Punches
You will never truly develop lightning fast punches unless you are willing to do some meaningful solo practice where you pay attention to your telegraphs and actively eliminate them.
My biggest suggestion is to slow down… how slow? PAINFULLY SLOW!
I heard once that Sugar Ray Leonard would throw punches so slow that it didn’t look like he was moving at all.
For now how about this. Try taking about 5 seconds to throw a single punch. You will be amazed what you learn and what you are able to fix.
Get a mirror if you want to see yourself, or you can record yourself and look for telegraphs.
Throw some slow punches and go through the list of common telegraphs and see if you are doing any of them.
Now go and try to fix just one of the telegraphs by slowing down. Get as many reps as you need until you see some improvement.
Now you won’t be able to just go full speed and be fixed. Instead slowly turn the speed dial up while trying to maintain your new found skill.
It might take a single session or several sessions in order to go full speed and keep your new skill.
Repeat this until you have eliminated all telegraphs.
Conclusion
If you want to develop lightning fast punches you will have to put in your reps. But if you are willing then the prize can be yours. And nothing kills an opponent like speed!
Until next time, get your reps and become amazing!
Brian
