Breaking Down a Punch

Punching well... is an art. Unfortunately, most punches miss because of the pre-punch - what happens before the punch.

In Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, there is a saying that goes something like if it's three moves make it two and if it's two moves make it one... it's all about economy of motion.  

A trained punch, generally, is step and hit... 2 moves. The untrained punch usually breaks down into 3 moves: cock arm back, step forward, and hit. Ideally though, it's just... hit. One movement that includes forward motion and hitting the target simultaneously like Bruce Lee would. There is no cocking of the arm or any backward motion when hitting in front of you.  

Cocking the body, shoulder, and arm -- before a punch are quite common in new martial artists. In the more advanced, this phenomenon usually shows up as preparing to punch... the little wiggle or hyper concentration before the strike.  

Bruce Lee would say punching is like getting milk out of the refrigerator... you just grab it. You don't prepare to grab it by deep breathing, concentrating, relaxing, or by walking in the opposite direction beforehand... you just grab it.  

When cocking a punch, you are going backwards to go forwards which slows your punch down making you an open target for a longer period of time. It also announces you are about to punch; thereby inviting your opponent to hit you first... anyone who's present will either move out of the way or just hit you... every relationship is also this way, if you are not present, it will get out of the way or just smack you.  

Back to punching... Worse is that this pre-punching routine defeats your own punch because you don't get to hit anyone... the pre-punch routine is one of the most common reasons why people miss (aim is another story for another time). This counter productive habit seems like a good idea because people don't usually trust themselves or their power so they have to prepare and end up over compensating... some people get stuck in the preparation phase and don't act at all... this applies to life as well as fighting. In a fight, this usually happens because they've just been interrupted by either getting hit or falling off balance because the target moved.  

This is really about relating... instead of disconnecting... relating to what IS instead of what's going to be, which is in the future and doesn't actually exist in the now. So they key here is that during a fight, do not prepare for what's going to be happening in a few seconds from now and just react to what is… because what's going to be isn't happening in the moment and what is... is.

This disconnection sends you off course and makes you resist... resist yourself... resist what is... resist the relationship... instead of being present and direct about who you are and what you want... another word for this is procrastination.  

As we all know, procrastination and not being direct in life has it's consequences... like missing opportunities or being counterproductive.  

You rehab this by slowing down so that you can become aware of your every movement since most people move unconsciously. Once there is awareness, you create new points of references. For example, you take an arm that's been cocking back to strike and retrain it to go straight from the chin to the pad, punching bag, or target. Simple, though it takes lots of practice to change this mental and physical programming. This is one of the reasons Bruce Lee would practice 1000 punches, kicks, etc.

The good news is that by removing the pre-punch to your punch, your punching power will increase. Plus, as a bonus, you will be more direct and therefore more successful in all areas of life… and that’s one of the beauties of martial arts. Improve your punch, improve your life.