When you think of boxers with speed and fast hands Muhammad Ali probably comes to mind. He was a fast boxer with quick punching speed and great agility. Other fast boxers include Prince Naseem Hameed, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Paterson. But the thing is they weren’t born punching fast and never always had quick hands.
When you increase your punch speed it also increases your reflexes, not only that but it also helps your footwork to get faster and trains your mind to fight quicker. You know what they say, speed Kills!
The best boxers train hard, put in the hard work and discipline themselves everyday day. They are consistent with what they did and train everyday to get faster and improve their punching speed. It doesn’t just happen overnight.
With that being said there are exercises and tips you can implement to punch significantly faster and increase your punch speed.
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee
When you look at great boxers like Muhammad Ali or Manny Pacquiao you will notice that they are extremely fast at punching.
Before anything it is important to perfect your technique and mentality to be able to improve your punching speed. First thing you can do is visualise yourself punching faster. This might sound odd or hard at first but this is what some professional boxers do before their boxing match.
If you picture in your head how you want to punch and visualise in your mind punching quicker it will translate to you punching faster in reality.
To do this all you have to do is close your eyes. Once you have closed your eyes imagine you are boxing and are fighting in a boxing match. Imagine yourself punching quick and launching a barrage of punches your opponent can’t see, let alone cope with. Do this technique daily while also training and you will notice your punches start to get faster.
You do still have to train hard and practice your punching skills but visualising is the first step to getting quicker punches. Visualising alone will not improve your punching speed.
Increase your Punch Speed
To properly increase your punching speed you have to make sure you punch with the correct technique and style to fully maximise the speed of your punch.
When you throw your punch bring your hand back quickly and back to your guard. It is important to bring back your punch back to your quickly. Keep practising this and you hands and punch will start to get faster.
You can even stand in a difference stance which is suited to punching faster. If you look at Floyd Mayweather for example, he has a different stance which can suits his speed and his style of boxing. He stands with his one hand kinda down with his hands slightly forward. This suits his style of boxing and means he can punch faster.
Because his hands are slightly forward his hands have less space to move and thus meaning he can punch faster and bring his punch back. You can try this technique out and see if it works for you.
Never telegraph your punches and let your opponent know where you are going to punch. This way he or she will be able to anticipate where you are going to punch and either block or counter you with ease.
And always stay relaxed and calm with punching. The worst thing you can do is get worked up over over your punching speed and why you’re not punching quick enough. Let your punches come naturally and let them flow naturally.
Exercises you can do to Increase your Punch Speed
Once you have the technique perfected of punching it’s time to move on the exercises that you can do to increase your punch speed. You might need some basic equipment, if you haven’t got these – go to your local boxing gym or invest some money into them. All in all it won’t cost you much and you can get second hand equipment even cheaper from eBay.
Skipping
Skipping is a great exercise and one of the best exercises a boxer can do. Not only does skipping improve your stamina but it also tones your body, makes your reflexes quicker and is good for your coordination among many other things. You can get a skipping rope for a few quid from your local sports shop and then away you go.
Pretty much all professional boxers have skipping included in their workout routine. Start skipping today and you will start seeing the benefits real quick.
Shadow Boxing
Shadow boxing is when you start throwing different combinations of punches as if you are fighting an actual opponent. You can throw a number of different punches and combinations.
Aim to punch fast and try punching with as much speed as you can. You can even hold light weights in your hands and start punching. Not only will this tone your arms at the same time but it can increase your punching speed as well.
Speed Bag
The one pro boxers use. You might have seen videos of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis or any other boxer hitting the speed bag real quick. But the reason they are good and fast is because of the countless amount of hours they have put into training and honing their craft.
It is harder than it looks to hit a speed bag but its not impossible. It’s all about following and keeping a rhythm. You should stand reasonably close to the speed bag and hit in in circles make and follow a rhythm, right twice, left twice. Once you get good at it, you can start punching however you want on it.
The speed bag does wonders for your speed , agility and stamina.
Floor to Ceiling Bag
Another thing that is vital in any boxers daily workout routine is the floor to ceiling bag. There’s no wonder why boxers utilize this exercise. It has so many benefits to it including increasing accuracy, hand eye coordination, improve dodging and slipping movement, speed, timing and much more. The bag swings back and forth so it makes for realistic training.
Tons of boxers use the Floor to Ceiling bag like Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan, Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno.
The key to the floor to ceiling bag is to use speed instead of power. Don’t try to smash the bag as hard as you can instead try putting combinations together and try punching faster. You might find it hard at first and the bag might be going to quick for you, but use your keep training on it and you will get better. You will find it is great for building accuracy, coordination and speed.
Explosive Exercises
In your workout add some explosive exercises into the mix. Explosive exercises are defined basically as any exercises that make you do quick movements in a short amount of time. These exercises can help build and improve your punching speed.
Clap Push Ups
Clap push ups develop explosive power and speed. To do a clap press up go into press up position and go down when coming back up make an explosive movement and push your upper body up and do a clap when and go back down. Keep doing as many as you can.
If you’re not able to do clap press ups yet then do plyo press ups. Plyo press ups are when you go into press up position, lower your self towards the ground, then in one explosive movement push yourself back, your hands should be off the floor. Doing this exercise also develops your explosive speed.
Squat Jumps
Squat Jumps not only develop explosive speed but they also agility, leg strength and movement. You will notice your significant improvement in your leg strength and speed as well as maneuvering ability.
To do a squat jump all you have to do is first stand up right and straight. Slowly bend your legs and go down so your legs are bent at a 90 degree angle while keeping your back straight. Come back up by explosively jumping up. That is a squat jump.
Overhead Medicine Ball Slam
This one looks kind of easy but after a short while it will tire you out.
Grab a medicine over your head with your arms extended straight all the way. Now slam the medicine ball down against the ground as hard as you can. Pick it back up and repeat.
Use a medicine ball that is heavy enough that you can lift it over your head, but you don’t want to make it too heavy. You want to be able to keep doing this movement with the same weight for 30 seconds. Use a medicine ball that doesn’t bounce.
If you don’t have a medicine ball then improvise and find something that is heavy enough for you to lift over your head but durable enough so when you slam it against the ground it won’t break or smash to pieces.
This develops shoulder strength, explosive speed and your core.
Putting it all Together
Now you now what exercises to do and how to do them, its time to put them all together. You can do them in quick bursts of one minute rounds, rest for fifteen seconds and after three rounds have a 30 second break.
So for example you would do skipping for a minute, then rest for fifteen seconds, skipping again for a minute followed by fifteen second rest, back to skipping for a minute and then a 30 second break.
Skipping 3 rounds
Shadow boxing 2 rounds
Speed bag 3 rounds
Floor to ceiling bag 3 rounds
Speed bag 2 rounds
Floor to Ceiling 2 rounds
Skipping 2 rounds
Clap/Plyo Press Ups 2 rounds
Overhead Medicine Ball Slam 3 rounds
This is just an example workout routine, you can do the exercises however you want. But we do guarantee this, you’ll need a bucket after you’re done with this workout. Because you’re going to be sweating buckets!
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