gravity takes over about 3/4 of the way into the upward arc, which causes the bar to drop the rest of the way to your shoulder. This does not happen in the water. For example, consider doing an uppercut punch, a motion similar to the curl. When you execute the movement under water, don’t stop the punch where you normally would, but continue pushing your fist up and into a big arc until it’s 2 or 3 inches from your shoulder, just as you would curl a barbell. Since gravity has little effect under water, the resistance remains constant throughout the movement.
Here is a good underwater workout to exercise your arms and legs in all the basic directions. To stimulate the fast-twitch muscles, the ones that make your movements fast and explosive, do the following movements as fast as you can. But, and this is a big but, do so only after you have done a set or two at slow to medium speed to thoroughly warm up your muscles and joints.
Reverse punches
3 sets, 10 reps
Backfists
3 sets, 10 reps
Uppercuts
3 sets, 10 reps
Roundhouse punches
3 sets, 10 reps
Backhand blocks
3 sets, 10 reps
Palm sweep blocks
3 sets, 10 reps
Front kicks
3 sets, 10 reps
Sidekicks
3 sets, 10 reps
Roundhouse kicks
3 sets, 10 reps
Back kicks
3 sets, 10 reps
For sure there are many other techniques you can do, but this is a good starter workout because it stimulates your foundation techniques in all basic directions of force.
Let’s say you feel strong in the basics, but you want to train a couple of other techniques that you consider weak. Working them once or twice in the constant-resistance environment of water will bring them up to speed in a month.
By the way, skinny-dip training is another option.
10 ways to Improve your Hand Techniques
Kicking stylists will probably disagree, but real fights involve mostly hand techniques. While my approach to training has always been 50 percent punches/50 percent kicks, I’ve used my feet only a few times in my many physical confrontations as a police officer. Most often, I had my hands on the guy when the fight exploded, so I was at a range that was too close to get off a kick.
I’m definitely not saying that kicks are unimportant. When I did use them, they worked like a charm (one time in a Saigon bar, I sidekicked a guy coming at me with a barstool. He flew backwards across the room, crashed through a door and landed on his back out in the kitchen. He started to come back at me, but changed his mind and ran out the back door). But in my experience, and in the experience of others who have survived lots of real-life encounters, hand techniques are used the most often.
Here are 10 ways to make your fists fast and powerful.
1. SHOULDERS
Far too many students raise their shoulders when they punch, in particular, when reverse punching. Sometimes they look down their extended arm as if looking down a rifle barrel at a turkey shoot. Lifting the shoulders at the completion of the reverse punch weakens its power because it eliminates the involvement of the upper back muscles and the latisimus dorsi muscles, commonly referred to as the lats.
Try this test. Extend your reverse punch with your shoulder down and feel your lat muscle just below and to the outside of your armpit. With your shoulder down, your lat muscle is flexed because it’s contributing to the punch. Now, with your hand still on your flexed lat, raise your shoulder. It’s no longer flexed, is it? When your shoulder is hunched it becomes the weak link in your power chain because it eliminates the involvement of your major back muscle.
An Exception to the Rule
But are there occasions when you can raise your shoulders when punching? Mike Ferguson, a Muay Thai fighter based in Canada, says there are some techniques that require it.
“While I shadowbox,” Ferguson says, “I try to stretch and loosen my shoulders by throwing hooks and uppercuts, allowing my shoulders so much room to move. My shoulders generally pop up and slap my jaw a little. This ‘jaw slapping’ happens when you get enough rotation and you are really relaxed. It’s a good sign that you are loose.”
As a Muay Thai fighter, Ferguson uses a stance similar to boxer’s. “My stance is a little high and I lift my shoulders so my hands can cover my face better. As far as the delivery of straight punches, I don’t change the position of my shoulders. When I have my guard up by my temples, my shoulders are up, and when I throw a punch, my shoulder slaps my face. My fist comes right from my jaw. If my shoulders are down all the way, and I’m relaxed, I throw the punch from my chest, but still my shoulder touches my chin a little.”
While Muay Thai fighters raise their shoulders for a few of their punches and therefore negate some involvement of their upper back muscles, they make up for the loss by rotating their shoulders and waist further than do most karate styles (more in a moment why you should incorporate this rotation).
Mike Ferguson says that having relaxed shoulders is important for speed and power. “You want to keep your shoulders relaxed because you want to be really loose. If your shoulders are all tight, chances are you will be using your arms to punch instead of your whole body. When doing a lot of punches, tight shoulders will actually slow you down, while relaxed shoulders improve your snap. Most importantly, you want to keep your shoulders relaxed so you don’t lose power.
2. ROTATING YOUR BODY
I can still remember my first instructor telling the class of the importance of snapping the hips forward when throwing a reverse punch. “You will increase your power by 80 percent,” he told us. I don’t know if he just grabbed that percentage out of the air to make his statement sound more official, but for sure, rotating the hips adds tremendous power to some hand techniques.
Rotating While Exercising in Horse Stance
Let’s consider the reverse punch. Hopefully, you understand that sitting in a deep horse stance and punching straight ahead from the hip is just an exercise. You would never - heavens forbid - ever do that in a real fight. As an exercise, it serves as a pretty good way to simultaneously strengthen the legs while working the involved punching muscles in the arm, chest, back and shoulders. However, many styles, especially the more rigid traditionalists, don’t rotate their hips or turn their shoulders when punching in horse stance. In fact, many traditionalists consider it blasphemy.
I still remember my kong su instructor shouting at the class, as we sat low and pounded out rep after rep, “Stop turning your shoulders!
