…Start to move your weight forward, pivoting on the toes.
Push the hip forward, and extend the arm (elbow tight).
Straighten the arm, and tighten/clench the fist.
Recoil the arm by pulling the left hip back.
At the same time drive the right hip and arm forward.
To attain full power with the rear hand punch, both hips have to be involved. The left hip should pull back from the lead hand strike and help push the right hip forward. This double hip motion, coupled with the engagement of the back muscles (notice how in the photo the torso is twisted somewhat), means that the whole upper body and hips are powering the punch. If the power of the right leg is added, pushing the body weight forward, the sheer amount of force generated can start to be appreciated. Whenever we strike with full force, all of our body should be utilized to generate maximum power.
By the time the arm is fully extended, your weight should have transferred to the point where 65–70 percent is on the forward leg and 30–35 percent on the rear leg. The head should still be over the hips, rather than leaning forward, with both front and rear legs bent. Your hips should have dropped and feel “heavy,” while the feet should feel light (sinking the hips will also help you avoid over-reaching the strike and lifting the back foot off the ground). While full commitment must be given to the strike (both emotional and physical), you should still be able to move and readjust your body position without major readjustments in body weight first.
For any punch to contain real power:
1. Weight must transfer from the back leg to the forward leg.
2. The hips must turn (one pulling and the other pushing).
3. The back muscles must pull and engage to turn the upper body.
4. The shoulder of the striking hand must turn over.
5. The hand/fist/arm must time the transference of the power and momentum into the target.
It is important that all of your striking and movements have the feeling that it is the body that moves the arms, and not the arms or hands that lead the body. It is the body that propels the arm forward when punching, and the body that pulls it back when recoiling and re-setting the strike. The power of the punch comes from the synergy produced by combining the push of the rear leg with the turn of the hips, along with the pull of the back and the added rotation of the shoulder. The extension/straightening of the arm is merely the means of timing by which this power is transferred into the target.
From your stance, push off from the floor with your rear leg and start to shift your weight forward onto the front leg. At the same time, turn and pivot on the toes of your front foot, pushing your front hip forward and pulling your rear hip back. You should feel your hips sink as you do this—you want to feel heavy in the hips and light on your feet as you strike. As this is happening, your arm should begin to extend. You should extend the arm as if you had a wall on your left side preventing your elbow from moving outside of your “silhouette.”
You should always try to strike out from the body in a way that doesn’t cause your shape to change or “break.” If you move your elbow laterally away from your side, the shape that you present to your assailant will change, giving them advance warning of your punch. We refer to this as “Breaking Shape.” To avoid this happening, we maintain the idea of keeping the silhouette our aggressor sees the same. Conversely, you should try to put your assailant in positions where they are forced to break their shape as part of their attack.
When striking/punching, we want to give as little warning as possible. To achieve this we want to change our body shape as little as possible. You can see in the following sequence that when an attacker throws a big “circular” strike, their whole body shape changes. First they pull back their striking arm—this is when you should start to respond.
Here, the attacker’s shape has completely changed, or “broken,” as their arm comes out to start the strike. Compare this with the minimal change in shape of the body in the sequence demonstrating “straight punches” (see pages 30-31).
Although big, circular strikes are extremely powerful, they are much easier to spot than straight strikes, as the body shape needs to change so much in order to deliver them. This is one of the reasons why, when we deliver straight strikes, we need to keep our elbows close to our body.
This position demonstrates the point where a block would have to intercept the punch. As you can see, there is a relatively long period of time, and several phases, before the punch gets to this point. This makes circular strikes much easier to deal with than straight punches. They are also much more common amongst untrained individuals.
By guarding our silhouette, i.e., putting our arms out in front of us (as in the Interview Stance), we make it difficult for assailants to deliver straight strikes/punches. This can force an attacker to throw circular strikes in order to hit us. Forcing our assailant to break shape in this way improves our chances of blocking their strikes.
As your arm extends, turn the shoulder, making sure that your shoulder isn’t lifted/shrugged up. Don’t lean into the strike, but rather keep your head over your hips and bend your knees slightly to drop your weight. When you judge that your strike will hit, tighten the fist. Make sure you throw your strike from a distance from which you can drive your punch through the target, rather than just connecting with it (this is not a “push,” but a conscious delivery of power into your aggressor). As soon as you feel the power dissipate, recoil the strike.
The recoil is achieved by the body/hip pulling the strike back, not simply by bending the elbow and pulling the arm back.
As you pull the left hip back, shift the weight so that it is more evenly spread between your feet. At the same time, drive the right hip forward—pushing off from the ball of the right foot. As your right arm starts to pass your left arm, begin to extend it, making sure that you keep the elbow down. As it starts to close in on the target, rotate the fist so that the knuckles are up and the shoulder engages—just as with a lead straight punch, keep the shoulder down, seated in the socket. Just before your fist impacts into the target, clench it tightly.
Rear “Crashing” Elbow
To deliver a “crashing” elbow, recoil the right hand by pulling back the right hip. The hand and hip move together. The pull should be strong enough that you pivot on the left foot, as if you were throwing a lead hand punch. Once both hips have turned to face to the right and your weight is on your rear leg, unwind the hips towards your assailant, and start to transfer your weight forward (if your aggressor has moved back as a consequence of your punches, you may need to step forward to reach them—this movement can help you transfer weight forward).