angry man

Relaxed Striking & Beginner Mistakes This example showcases Dmitry Bivol preparing for his fight against Canelo Alvarez. Bivol has a classic Eastern Block soviet style of striking, where they engrain & teach fighters to stay relaxed and 'whip' their punches. You will commonly see beginners throw punches and kicks where they are incredibly stiff & tense. A common misconception is that to throw hard punches, you need to be tense, similar to heavy squats or bench press. These tasks are very different to the art of striking, where speed & velocity of the strikes play a large role in force production. Force = Mass x Acceleration To move fast - the body must relax. When we punch, we complete what is called a double pulse action, which means: - Contract to initiate the strike (pulse #1) - Relax the limb while it is moving towards target - Contract before point of impact. (pulse #2) This takes months and months of repetition to get used to this. And even breaking the habit of being tense when throwing strikes is very hard to do. I will be covering other ways to train this quality in the gym in a video I am working on. But even just being aware of this concept is a game changer for beginners to martial arts and striking.