Fist Moves First

A list of the primary parts of the body used in a punch, from the beginning to the end of the punching motion, is as follows: fist, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm, shoulder, torso, hip, upper leg, knee, lower leg, ankle, and foot. This sequence of bones and joints I similar to the three-sectioned staff used in some martial arts.

Lay a three-sectioned staff on the floor and try to move end “A” of the staff along the floor make it strike an object. If you push the staff from end “B,” it will bend at the two joints and make it difficult to strike the object with end “A” with any force. If you push end “A’ toward the object, you will be easily be able to strike the object with some amount of force. However, if, while pushing end “A’ toward the object, you also push end “B” toward the object, you will add more force to the strike since the additional force will be transferred through the aligned joints to the point of impact.

The same principle may be applied to the sequence of adding forces the force of a punch. If you start a punch by pushing some body part in the punching sequence of body parts toward the target, you will upset the punching action and lessening the impact force of the punch. Power is lost because the additional applications of force by the different body parts are not applied in sequence, so they are not transferred efficiently through the next joint in the sequence. For a powerful punch, move the fist first, then the wrist, then let the forearm apply its additional force through the tensed wrist, then the elbow moves, then let the upper arm apply its additional force through the tensed elbow, etc. until finally, the foot pushes against the floor.