Learn How To Throw A Powerful Straight Punch.
Learning self-defense is both a mental and physical process. One aspect is equally as important as the other. In order to be effective at defending yourself against an attacker or an assault you must have a no holds barred mentality. You have to be able to fight back as aggressively as possible, for as long as needed, no matter what. That being said, you must also have the physical skills to assert that mindset and take action.
That means learning physical techniques and skills, like punches, kicks, knees, elbows, as well as escapes, grips, plucks, takedowns, and situation specific defenses. One of the most important and fundamental aspects of this is to learn to throw a powerful straight punch.
Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense classes use a systematic approach to training that develops both the physical and mental essentials for the most effective self-defense. In our system, striking techniques like punches and kicks are referred to as “combatives.” It could be argued that the most important combatives to learn are punches.
Some details about punches.
There’s a very wide variety of punches in the overall category of striking with the hands. Punches can be thrown from all sorts of angles, using different surfaces of the hand, targeting different areas on an opponent’s body. However because of it’s simplicity and fundamental importance, students who train in Krav Maga self-defense learn to throw a powerful straight punch in Level 1
Straight punches are a technique that has to be mastered early on in Krav Maga self-defense classes because it’s a vital part of training as students progress through the Krav Maga belt-system and different Krav Maga levels of training.
Many, many people who are not trained in self-defense, a huge population in fact, have a sort of unrealistic belief that they’d be able to just knock someone out if the need, or want, to do so ever came up. The truth is that learning to throw a powerful straight punch, or any punch, takes skill and training. Not just an emotion fueled ego.
Fighting Stance.
Throwing a powerful straight punch, and just throwing effective combatives in general, starts with having your body in the right position. This means learning to get into a fighting stance. In Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense classes, we teach a fighting stance that is somewhat similar to a Muay Thai or kickboxing fighting stance.
It’s a bit more “squared off” than a conventional boxing stance because we want to have equal ability to punch and kick with both sides of the body.
Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense training also addresses the overall alignment of your body in a fighting stance. It really starts from the ground up and the position of your feet. This is super important because the alignment of your body and the position of your feet is what allows you to rotate your body when striking. Check out the video below to see how to get into a Krav Maga fighting stance.
Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense classes.
Make A Fist.
It might be surprising to learn that many people don’t know the correct way to make a fist. The untrained person might think you just ball up your hand and you’ve made a fist. That might be true in terms of the dictionary’s definition of a fist but there are some details to consider when you want to make a fist that will be a tool for delivering a powerful straight punch. The video below breaks down the key points for making a fist the correct way.
Rotate Your Body.
There’s another really big misconception here when it comes to throwing a powerful straight punch. Many beginners rely on just the arm and hand to throw a punch. It’s easy to understand why people think that a punch is made with just the arm. Most of what we see when a punch is thrown is the arm of the puncher moving in order to strike with the fist.
The truth is that there’s very little power that can be generated simply by swinging your arm so that your fist can reach a target. Your fist delivers a punch but it’s really your body that throws the punch. We touched on the position of the feet in a fighting stance earlier, and to reiterate, foot position is essential for being able to rotate your body and send strikes.
One of the key things here is that we want our feet to be connected to the ground. We use that connection of the feet to push and rotate the hips and shoulders into a punch. That’s where real punching power comes from.
If you want to learn how to throw a powerful straight punch you have to learn to rotate your body into that punch. The video below goes over some essential details and breaks this down a little further.
Strike With The Top Two Knuckles.
Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense training and self-defense classes teach a variety of strikes using the hands. We teach students to use different surfaces of the hands to deliver strikes. This could be the palm, the side of the hand, or the fingers. However the most fundamental striking surface for a punch is the top two knuckles of the fist.
The top two knuckles of any person’s fist, or hand, have more anatomical support from the bones of the arm than the bottom two knuckles. Think of it as a powerful straight punch being delivered with the knuckles of the pointer and middle finger, not the knuckles of the ring and pinky finger.
It’s easy to remember but it takes some practice to master. Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense classes teach students how to do this consistently. It’s super important to have this skill because striking with the correct striking surface gives us the chance to make the most damage to an attacker or opponent
Mistakes have consequences.
Further, if you aren’t throwing punches correctly and using the correct striking surface of your hand you could actually injure yourself. It’s very easy to break those ring finger and pinky finger knuckles if you’re punching incorrectly. This sort of injury is referred to as a “boxer’s break” or “boxer’s fracture.”
Recoil.
Throwing a powerful straight punch doesn’t stop when the punch connects with the target. Recoiling your punch and returning your hands to your fighting stance is just as important as throwing the punch out to the target.
Realistically, if you are fighting back against an assault or attack, you might need to throw more than one punch. Recoiling your punch and getting your hands back to their original position in your fighting stance, resets your position and gives you the opportunity to use that weapon again.
Why this is important.
Maintaining a good position and solid fighting stance also means that your hands will be in a position to help you defend against strikes. You don’t want to throw a punch in a way that leaves you open or gives the attacker a clear window to strike back at you.
Krav Maga Worldwide training teaches students to recoil all combative techniques and return to a fighting stance every time. We stress it in early Krav Maga level training and reinforce it in students as the progress through Krav Maga belt levels. This is a combination of physical and mental discipline. It’s a good example of why both mental and physical elements of training are equally as important.
The video below goes into a more detail about recoiling a powerful straight punch and some common, but easily fixable, mistakes that people make.
Krav Maga Worldwide Self-Defense System.
Powerful straight punches are just one of the tools that you need to develop in order to be capable of the most effective self-defense. Krav Maga Worldwide training teaches students to develop power in all sorts of strikes like punches, kicks, knees, and elbows.
Even more important than just being able to throw effective strikes is consistent training that makes these techniques second nature. Krav Maga Worldwide self-defense classes teach self-defense in a way that is easy to learn and easy to recall under stress.
There are no ceremonial elements involved in Krav Maga classes. The Krav Maga system was developed specifically to teach people with little to no fighting experience, to become effective in self-defense in a very short period of time. This really separates Krav Maga from other martial arts. Our training is systematic. It’s designed to produce results.
Krav Maga Worldwide certified training centers offer the best in self-defense, fitness, and fight training. Our classes are taught by expert instructors who have dedicated years of their lives to training and becoming the best at what they do so they can help others become stronger and safer. Many of our training centers offer a free trial class so you can experience our training for yourself with no strings attached.
Start training with us.
If you’re interested in finding “Krav Maga near me” or “Krav Maga classes near me” check out our searchable map at this link. Or give us a call at 800-572-8624 and we’ll help you. If there’s not a certified training center close to you, check out the huge library of training material available on our online academy by clicking here.