overview
The vast majority of people don’t realize that there is a big relationship between lean core muscles and punching power. In other words, the more developed your core muscles are, the better your punch will be.
At first glance, this idea may seem strange! Why is the core important when hitting? In order to answer this question and clarify many important concepts, we need to delve into something called kinetic chain.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about boxing and the kinetic chain to help you achieve optimal performance and understand the science behind boxing.
Watch How Floyd Mayweather he uses a kinetic chain to increase his power
The science behind boxing – What is a kinetic chain?
Fitness gurus often say that a healthy body should function like a well-oiled machine. Our machine of the human body consists of fixed segments that can move thanks to joints.
concept boxing and kinetics chain refers to the effect of movement of one segment and joint on other parts of the body. In other words, when someone is in motion, a chain of events is triggered that affects adjacent joints and segments.
In fact, chiropractors, physical therapists, and personal trainers use the power of kinetic chain exercises to accelerate injury recovery, improve performance, and tone the body.
The secret link between boxing and the kinetic chain
The arm muscles contribute 24% to the impact force.
On the other hand, your torso and legs have their share by 37% and 39%, appropriately. The researchers say the coordinated, sequential summation of forces is what dictates the impact of the force delivered.
In one biomechanical analysis, the researchers tested a common boxing technique – the straight back cross. Analysis has shown that most of the power is produced by the combined movement of ankle plantar flexion, knee and hip extension, trunk rotation, and arm extension. Collectively, this accumulative movement is referred to as kinetic bonding.
Early research emphasized the importance of ankle extension and the action of the gastrocnemius, rectus femoris and biceps femoris to produce a powerful punch.
The kinetic chain describes the sum of forces that begins with the involvement of the leg muscles and continues all the way to the fist.
Now that you understand the science behind boxing, let’s briefly discuss the methods that will allow us to practice our new technique:
The first step to landing a hard punch is to rely on your lower body to generate power very quickly. Additionally, the core and hip muscles must be strong enough to transfer power from the lower body to the arms and shoulders. Finally, the joints of the upper body must be mobile enough to transfer the generated energy without excessive losses.
Ryan Garcia style reflective bag
Any weaknesses in this kinetic chain will lead to a waste of strength, making your punch weaker than it should be. Furthermore, a dysfunction of the kinetic chain increases the risk of injury as the power generated will be distributed unevenly, putting excessive stress on certain areas.
Here are the basic tasks boxers should focus on to improve their punching power:
- Improve lower body strength index
- Increase your core strength
- Optimize hip mobility
- Train your shoulder rotational strength
- Incorporate the previous steps into your technique to sharpen your skills
Practical tips on how to improve your boxing and kinetic chain
Here are some practical tips to help you improve your power transfer from your legs to your arms:
- Head to the gym twice a week to work on your lower body strength training, which is especially beneficial for generating strength through the ground.
- The role of the core muscles is more pronounced than you think. Work your abs to improve power transfer. Exercises to train the core muscles should focus on preventing rotation and stretching.
- The next step in the kinetic chain is the contraction of the chest, shoulder and triceps muscles, which is combined with the contraction of the pulling muscles to produce shoulder flexion.
- Once the lower body overcomes the inertia of the ground, heavier loads may be more appropriate.
Boxing exercises and kinetic chains
To achieve the best performance and use the power of the kinetic chain, you must ignore the accepted dogma and start experimenting for yourself. This will allow you to discover new approaches that could potentially work better for you.
Here’s an example of how to find a better alternative:
It is true that there are several exercises that focus on specific areas to strengthen the chain muscles from the ground to the first. Examples include squats and bench presses.
However, static and dynamic solutions can also have value. In this scenario, we’re trying to perfect your technique with a kinetic chain that resembles a punch.
If you’ve tried pushing a car before, you know that the task is difficult and puts a lot of strain on your cardiovascular system. Therefore, you will work on your kinetic chain while training your heart at the same time.
For this reason, we recommend pushing the car regularly to strengthen each segment of the kinetic chain, which is essential for getting a good punch.
As you can see from this example, pushing a car is not the usual exercise you find on YouTube and blogs.
However, it shows that experimenting with the tools available can yield even better results than sticking to the conventional way of doing things.
Of course, you may need the help of a professional trainer to optimize your exercises and prevent injuries.
In fact
Using your knowledge of biomechanics to optimize your performance as a boxer is a powerful tool.
This will greatly increase the power of your punch.
However, you will need to practice the steps we listed until you master the science behind boxing combined with good technique.
We hope this article has managed to clarify the relationship between boxing and the kinetic chain and the science behind boxing.
