Defending punches with shockwaves part 2

Here's a look at a few clips of Glen  Levy here hes delivering a deep shockwave with a hammer fist,the people holding the phone books do not know how to breath properly to absorb the strike and you can see the effects on  the body even when they know the strike is coming

I heard people say this is exaggerated but I've seen and filmed similar reactions myself Ill be having a closer look at a few of them in my next clip.

Alistair Overeem and the shockwaves in his punches

Here's some excellent examples of shockwaves being delivered with different strikes.

Punching with weights

Punching with weights is a good way to get a better understanding of how to deliver the first shockwave.like the paper training here's a short clip showing how we do it

How to hit harder in boxing

here's a new clip with Mat training to improve his understanding of different shockwaves,how each different shockwaves can be used on the end of the same strike,and a look at the ripping shockwaves which is the third and the most powerful shockwaves I teach and at the end you can see Roy using them in the self defence scenarios with the palm heel

Here's an example of a boxer using a ripping shockwave for a first round knockout

controlling your balance when punching

I find that the more weight I throw into the direction of the punch (not forward) the more effective the punch is, even to the point of leaving the floor slightly to commit total bodyweight.  That doesn’t mean I’m any more off balance than when I’m walking really, as long as I stick to the same basic rules of balance I use when I walk, with your head moving from one foot to the other.  when I’m walking I’m throwing myself slightly off balance, by leaning slightly forward using my head,  that controls that balance faster than any other part of my body, and that’s in direct relation with my feet, so if I was walking forward, and my head was leaning past my feet when I was stopped quickly, would be the one thing determining factor as to whether I was off balance or fell over .So this would be no different to throwing and missing a punch, if I throw my head out to far I over commit and this would put my head to far past the foot I was using to balance that punch and put me off balance or even cause me to fall over from excessive torque

if you threw a punch putting all your weight onto your front foot, the best way to get total power in the next strike is to throw your head back over the rear foot that would mean sitting back so it can go both ways.

after looking at that top ten list in my previous blog, there’s quite a few big punches that are throwing themselves off balance, but this is no different than a runner throws himself off balance and chase’s his own balance point down a track, it’s a controlled way off being off balance, just like the boxers does but there only off balance for a micro second as the head and hips help pop the shockwave into the end of the punch. And these are also set up first so there’s less danger if they miss of being countered 

The ultimate punch

Concussive punching is what all the top hitters use and what makes their strikes so effective,through my research I've realised that teaching the concussive punching from the start dramatically increases the results over a shorter period of time,increasing power,precision and explosiveness.Here's another look at Keith and me training to improve our own  individual shockwaves.

Boxers and Hollywood using concussive shockwaves

I thought id have a little look at some boxers who are known for there power and more importantly how there strikes felt,Like foreman says he could feel it through the guard,these are punches using shockwaves

and a clip of George himself who has excellent kinetic chain and a very nice shockwaves in his punches

Here's a top ten list look closely and see which ones you think have the best shockwave?

and heres and interersting angle and a bit Hollywood v reallity, but again the hardest strikes would be the ones with the sharpest shockwaves and the ones where it only takes one clean strike.

Examples of shockwave striking

I held pads for quite a few people and there’s not many who had that  extra talent  there was something else on the end of that strike something very different, when I held a pad of felt a light shot to the body, Martyn Griffiths was the first and the first guy I trained with he had taken his jkd style that was kinetically perfect and he knew how to deliver a mean shockwave in  any strike!, Carl Lewis from Wrexham is another excellent Jeet Kune do instructor who had it, and Dennis Jones who really taught me how to understand my own kinetic chain, and who’s shockwave felt like no other! Serious unrestricted (unrestricted I mean no style, any way is his way) precision bio mechanics. And I’ll throw in a mention to Dean Jones a fellow welsh man who also had that shockwave going on! When you look back at this earlier clip I was developing a way of delivering a deeper shockwave with a Slap (the bear paw) rather than a shorter stinging effect when the slap is wiped across the surface of the body, you can clearly see the shockwave being delivered and the effect it has on the body, in one of my very first bearpaw clips here and the wipe versus plunge clip,you will notice how Ben Smith knows how to absorb a strike with his own shockwave.and you can check out my other slaping clip on Youtube

And heres a short clip showing Dennis Jones and my mate Martyn using shockwaves strikes

Defending a punch with a shockwave

Here’s Liam, in this clip he had been training kickboxing for about 8 or 9 weeks, this was my first lesson with him, though I had watched him down at the boxing gym and chatted to him ,held a pad for 10 mins, I noticed he was having problems flinching when the strikes where coming in and it seem to really frustrate him(besides the fact Mike B was running rings round him) so along with just learning the first few shockwaves in his jab and one two, I also showed him how to absorb strikes using the same sort of shockwaves, watch on the slow motion how at first his head takes a lot of energy then as he understands it he starts to absorb then, at the end he’s absorbing the strike better and his head is hardly moving, this is creating defensive shockwave at the exact same time the strike lands so it doesn’t hurt (as much),and being able to absorb a strike really helps you stop flinching, here’s a short clip from that session

Creating a shockwave? Why not..

Transferring energy? sending out energy..Creating a shock wave? why not? its exactly what i try teach my students,drawing your energy from the earth through your feet,into your body and delivering that,to whatever strike you need to deliver,the smoother and more flowing your body does this,will maximizes your own  ability to build speed and power,Getting a student to understand their own personal kinetic chain, I would see this as the first part of delivering any effective strike,along with helping the individual build there own athleticism to a level that they can achieve the purpose they need,either a sporting context Boxing,MMA etc or through the self defence that it teach

the second part of how to strike is the type of delivery you put on the end of the strike to finish the strike for the desired effect,We train three different ways of delivering that energy,and they effect the person in three different ways.
The first shock wave one is like an bit like a one used in a crisp snapping jab,this can really help build speed and a faster delivery just understanding and can also make a big step in your power.
The second one is a deeper way of delivering the first shock wave,and helps build and understanding of how curves increase power/effect, learning this will again increase the effectiveness and power and precision of whichever strike you chose to put it on the end of.
the third type of impact has like a hooking or ripping through  type of shock-wave has the most effect and is the the most powerful type I teach and covers the most powerful angles and again gives you another step up in power and effectiveness.
The better you can do the first shock wave,the better the second and so on,these shock waves can be added to any strike to increase their effectiveness.this is how Keith at 69 is still improving and hitting harder,here's a clip explaining a bit more detail,on the back of the last clip with Keith

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Well....I suppose in some ways the last clip could be taken from two points of view

You could look at it, like I was the one training to absorb the strike in some Chi Gong body conditioning way or like the Systema clips I’ve seen where they are absorbing punches, sort of training to absorb the strike with my spleen or stomach muscles not I’m not doing that at all, it’s just hurts less when I breath out and helps absorb the strike on the surface of my body, something which if i get the timing wrong passes the surface muscles and is felt internally and causes a sort of spasm and is very painful .if you look closely when Keith is apologizing it’s when his strike has gone deeper than intended and how My body reacts more to the strike, hence the internal striking

Rather than me, training to absorb strikes with my body, He’s learning and refining a few different ways of finishing a hand strike and testing lightly on me to see and feel the effect they have on me and what it feels like when it has the desired effect, then like with the stabbing hook he’s recreating the same type of impact/effect on the water bag, with the human body being "around 60% water and the brain 79%water " and soft tissue etc, I find water bags are perfect for this. Then I’m holding the focus pad on my hand pad to feel if he’s doing a harder version of what he trained on me and on the water bag.

I find the stabbing impact on the hooking strike Keith is practicing is very similar to this clip of Bas Rutten and his Liver/spleen strike. And because of the mma Gloves it allows him to tuck the thumb in and hit with the inside of his middle knuckle, which gives more driving stabbing power

 There’s three types that I teach,a light snap a deeper snap and a hooking or ripping snap these are the same techniques taught to me by Dennis Jones in the earlier clips.and ive found it can trained on the end of any punch or kick to improve explosiveness precision and ultimately has more chance of achieving the desired effect,again this is just my take I'm sure others may see it differently.
hope this helps you guys

An inspiration to us all

At 69 Keith is a real inspiration to me every time we train,here were working some internal punching to improve the explosiveness of his palm heel,hes using his kinetic chain to build power,the internal part refines the finish of the strike and makes it more precise and more explosive,its for self defence so his hands are at different positions and not in a guard etc like for sport. there's a little comparison on speed v power at the end

How to punch 30% harder than a boxer

Here's a clip of Bas Rutten an excellent striker in his own right,hes one of the best ive seen for spot on bio mechanics, hes testing the difference in power between the boxing gloves mma gloves and bare knuckle

Through my research I've realised that the fixed thumb in boxing gloves, seriously restricts your power because the thumb position stops you hitting with the two knuckles,in fact id go so far as to say its impossible to land with two knuckles in modern boxing gloves,if you take your glove off and put your thumb in the same position and try landing two knuckles, you'll notice the end of the thumb hits first,this encourages you to strike with the outside of the knuckle,so if you carry this style learnt in fixed thumb gloves to MMA gloves,you end up hitting with the middle knuckle and the outside of the fist,look closely at the slow motion hes hitting with the middle and outside knuckles. with the thumb properly tucked in MMA gloves this allows you to hit stabbing in with the inside of the middle knuckle(two knuckles) at 45% even with hooks, understanding this will instantly give you at least a 20% increase in power,you also don't gain any power at all from rotating the fist last minute in MMA gloves,in fact this way of striking also stops you from hitting with the inside of the knuckle and greatly increases the chances of a "boxers fracture" as your thowing your fist out pinky finger first,the wrist position stays the same place,because there's only one position that the wrist is at its strongest,its the elbow position that changes,add this to the internal training and id say your looking at about a 30% increase in power,speed and precision when punching in MMA gloves with less chance of a fracture on top of that, however hard or fast you already hit in fixed thumb boxing gloves.you will see a significant difference in every punch you throw and that's Guaranteed if you train with me

for details contact me here

instinctivecombatives@hotmail.co.uk