In this article, you are going to discover the best training methods and exercises on how to improve punching power. First, we are going to explain each method separately before putting together a weekly training plan that you can do alongside your regular boxing sessions.
Strength Training
Build strength in your upper body by improving key muscle groups involved in generating power and stability during punches.
Exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, pull-ups, and rows can help increase overall strength, which contributes to more powerful punches.
- Deadlifts – Focus on conventional deadlifts and sumo deadlifts to strengthen your lower back, glutes, hamstrings, and grip strength. A strong lower back and core provide a solid foundation for generating rotational power.
- Squats – Perform back squats, front squats, and goblet squats to build lower body strength, which contributes to generating power from the ground up. These muscles play a crucial role in generating force from the ground up during a punch.
- Bench Press – Strengthen your chest, shoulders, and triceps with bench press variations such as flat bench, incline bench, and dumbbell bench press. Crucially, stronger chest and shoulder muscles allow you to deliver punches with greater force and speed.
- Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups – Target your back, biceps, and grip strength with pull-up and chin-up variations.
- Rows – target the muscles of the upper back, including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, and traps. Strengthening these muscles helps improve shoulder stability and scapular retraction, which are essential for generating power and maintaining proper punching form.
Explosive Plyometrics
Explosive plyometric exercises target fast-twitch muscle fibres, which are essential for generating quick and powerful movements. Thus, you must incorporate exercises such as medicine ball throws, box jumps, and explosive push-ups to develop fast-twitch muscle fibres.
Explosive Plyometric Exercises For Increasing Power:
- Medicine Ball Throws – Perform overhead medicine ball throws, chest passes, and rotational throws to develop explosive upper body power.
- Box Jumps – Box jumps primarily target the lower body muscles. This includes the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Stronger and more explosive lower body muscles allow you to generate greater power and speed in your punches.
- Plyometric Push-Ups – involve explosive pushing movements that engage the chest, shoulders, and arms. By pushing yourself off the ground and aiming for maximum height with each repetition, you train your upper body muscles to generate rapid and powerful contractions.
Improve Rotational Power
To improve punching power, focus on rotational power as most of the force in a punch actually comes from rotation. Exercises like wood chops, cable twists, and medicine ball throws with rotation can help improve rotational power.
Rotational Power Exercises:
- Wood Chops – Use a cable machine or resistance band to perform wood chops. It is simple, just simulate a chopping motion across your body. This exercise targets the obliques and transverse abdominis, which are essential for generating rotational power during punches like hooks and uppercuts.
- Cable Twists – Stand sideways to a cable machine and pull the handle across your body with controlled rotation. By resisting the tension from the cable and generating forceful rotation, you enhance the muscles’ ability to generate power and transfer it efficiently during punching motions.
- Medicine Ball Throws with Rotation – Stand perpendicular to a wall and throw a medicine ball against it with a twisting motion. This exercise targets the muscles of the core, shoulders, and hips, emphasizing explosive rotational power.
Improve Core Stability
Strengthen your core muscles to improve stability and generate more power in your punches. Exercises like planks, Russian twists, and hanging leg raises can help strengthen your core.
Core Stability Exercises:
- Planks – Hold standard planks, side planks, and plank variations such as plank with leg lifts to strengthen your core muscles. A strong and stable core provides a solid foundation for transferring force from the lower body to the upper body. As a result, you will improve punching power by landing shots with more control and power.
- Russian Twists – Sit on the floor with knees bent. Next, hold a weight or medicine ball, and rotate your torso from side to side. By rotating your torso from side to side while holding a weight or medicine ball, you strengthen the obliques and improve rotational power in the core.
- Hanging Leg Raises – Hang from a pull-up bar and lift your legs straight up to work your lower abs. By hanging from a pull-up bar and lifting your legs straight up, you engage these muscles in a dynamic movement. Strong lower abdominal muscles provide stability and support to the pelvis and spine. This is crucial for generating power from the lower body and transferring it through the core during punching motions.
Speed Training For Efficiency
Improve your punching speed through drills such as speed bag work, shadowboxing, and focus mitt training. Faster punches can generate more force upon impact.
Speed and Technique Workouts:
- Speed Bag Work -Practice hitting the speed bag to improve hand-eye coordination and punching speed. The repetitive motion of hitting the speed bag requires quick and precise movements from the arms and shoulders, which helps develop fast-twitch muscle fibres.
- Shadowboxing – Perform rounds of shadowboxing focusing on technique and speed. By focusing on proper technique and maintaining a high tempo, you can develop muscle memory and improve the efficiency of your punches.
- Focus Mitt Training – Partner with a coach or training partner. Do focus mitt drills to work on accuracy, timing, and speed of punches. Essential drills for delivering effective strikes in real combat situations.
Weekly Training Plan For Improving Punching Power
Now, here’s a weekly workout plan designed to improve punching power and to be incorporated alongside your regular boxing or kickboxing training. This plan includes strength training, plyometric exercises, core stability workouts, and speed/technique drills.
Feel free to adjust the sets, reps, or exercises based on your fitness level and goals. Also, recovery is important so listen to your body.
Day 1: Strength Training
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Deadlifts | 4 x 6 |
| Squats | 4 x 8 |
| Bench Press | 4 x 8 |
| Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups | 3 x Max reps |
| Rows | 3 x 10 |
| Overhead Press | 3 x 8 |
Day 2: Plyometric and Core Stability
| Exercise | Sets x Reps/Time |
| Medicine Ball Throws | 3 x 10 reps (overhead, chest passes, rotational throws) |
| Box Jumps | 4 x 8 reps (varying heights) |
| Plyometric Push-Ups | 3 x 10 reps |
| Planks | 4 x 30 seconds |
| Russian Twists | 3 x 15 reps (each side) |
| Hanging Leg Raises | 3 x 10 reps |
Day 3: Rest or Active Recovery
Day 4: Speed and Technique
| Exercise | Sets x Rounds |
| Speed Bag Work | 3 rounds x 3 minutes |
| Shadowboxing | 3 rounds x 3 minutes (focus on technique, speed, and footwork) |
| Focus Mitt Training | 20 minutes |
Day 5: Strength Training
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Deadlifts | 4 x 6 |
| Squats | 4 x 8 |
| Bench Press | 4 x 8 |
| Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups | 3 x Max reps |
| Rows | 3 x 10 |
| Overhead Press | 3 x 8 |
Day 6: Plyometrics and Core Stability
| Exercise | Sets x Reps/Time |
| Medicine Ball Throws | 3 x 10 reps (overhead, chest passes, rotational throws) |
| Box Jumps | 4 x 8 reps (varying heights) |
| Plyometric Push-Ups | 3 x 10 reps |
| Planks | 4 x 30 seconds |
| Russian Twists | 3 x 15 reps (each side) |
| Hanging Leg Raises | 3 x 10 reps |
Feel free to adjust the sets, reps, or exercises based on your fitness level and goals.
How To Throw Punches With More Power?
Technique is crucial for maximizing the force of your punch. Ensure you are using the proper form, including proper alignment of your body, hips, shoulders, and fists. Engage your core muscles and maintain balance throughout the punch.
Next, shift your weight from your back foot to your front foot as you rotate your hips and torso into the punch. This generates kinetic energy that transfers through your body into your fist.
The power comes from the torque generated by the rotation of your body. Rotate your hips and shoulders forcefully in the direction of the punch. This generates power and momentum. As you rotate your body, initiate the punch with your arm with proper mechanics.
For straight punches (e.g., jabs, crosses), extend your arm directly toward your target, keeping your elbow slightly bent to prevent hyperextension. For hooks, use a horizontal arc motion, and for uppercuts, employ a vertical upward motion.
Coordinate your breathing with your punches. Exhale sharply upon striking to engage your core muscles and increase the power of your punch.
Further, Mmaintain a straight wrist and align your knuckles with your forearm to ensure proper punching form. Aim to make contact with the first two knuckles (index and middle fingers) to maximize impact and minimize the risk of injury.
Fully extend your arm upon impact to transfer maximum force to your target. For straight punches, aim to drive through the target. For hooks and uppercuts, follow the natural trajectory of the punch while maintaining control.
Final Thoughts on How To Improve Punching Power?
The key lies in improving specific muscle groups responsible for generating power, speed, explosiveness and rotational power. Also, all the strength, flexibility and explosiveness means nothing without proper technique. Thus, it is essential to regularly work on improving your form and ability to generate and transfer force.
Overall, improving punching power requires patience, hard work and consistency. It’s impossible to achieve any results in a week or two. Be patient, humble, and work hard. The results will come.
How To Increase Kicking Power (Workouts Included)
