Q:  What are the steps to make you punch more powerful? I know some things like putting your hip into it and not tensing  up until impact what are some others? Does having good solid muscle and firm abs have any thing to do with it?

A:  Try dropping your weight "into" the punch as you connect.

Remember, energy equals mass times velocity squared. So to create more power (energy) I have to increase my mass or my speed.

In practice most martial arts practitioners try and do both. They try and get more hand speed plus they try and get more body (more mass) into the punch.

Of course there is diminishing returns too, e.g. trying to put too much body into your punch causes you to over commit and be off balance.

But, dropping your weight into the punch temporarily adds mass to the equation because you are borrowing the force of gravity.

If you stand on a bathroom scale you get a reading of your weight. If you bounce up and down on the scale the reading of your weigh bounces up and down too -- you're "lighter" when you bounce up and "heavier" when you come down.

So you can increase your apparent weight briefly and transfer that force into your punch. To do this you need to punch slightly downward rather than upward and you also need to bend your knees to "drop" slightly as you hit.


Train hard, that helps.

Brad Parker