Kickers--How well do you punch?

[joesteph]

When I was tutored in sparring by an Isshinryu friend some years ago, it consisted mostly of punches and simple, low kicks. I've taken a Korean art, Soo Bahk Do, for two years now, and its emphasis on kicking (like other Korean arts), especially against a WaveMaster or kick shield, is far greater than punching.

Well, tonight I had my intro lesson at/in Universal Warrior Arts, which is grounded in the Japanese arts. The lesson included O Soto Gari (I want to study throws, which are lacking in my MA background) and watching me punch a heavy bag to test my boxing skills. I loved the punching, but Sensei pointed out certain flaws when I threw those punches that I know I didn't have in the past. When he held the bag, I punched better than when it swung free, and the flaws diminished, but I realized that I'd spent so much time on kicks for the past two years that something I'd once known better, punching, was now in need of being brought back up to speed.

When punching, I was encouraged to add in my elbow/upper forearm against the heavy bag. I'd like to include that strike under the umbrella of punching for this topic.

So, if your art is heavily into kicking, how well do you feel you punch?

[Toptomcat]

I'm all right. On the bright side, I jab quite well, my cross follows naturally from it, my hooks are intermittently useful, I have an okay sense of distance and rhythm when on the outside, and I have a neat couple of tricks revolving around the spinning backfist. On the not-so-bright side, my uppercuts are so rough as to be nearly useless, I have a distressing tendency to get tagged in the face with crosses, I don't tend to put together more than two punches at a time, and I'm fairly helpless on the inside if I'm not allowed to clinch and I'm against someone who knows what they're doing.

In short, my punching has noticeable and problematic holes, but it's still good enough to be broadly functional against those who haven't specifically put serious time and energy into their hands.

[Spodo Komodo]

My straights and crosses are pretty feeble considering I used to box regularly for my hall at university (I did win sometimes ). My uppercuts and elbow strikes are a different matter, I am fairly short and barrel-like so I can get quite a bit of power into these but then my useful kicks tend to be knee-strikes to the thigh/kidney rather than long range high-level jobs. I think I am about equal on the kick/punch ratio I just lack in the long-range department versus the close-in nasty stuff. Always so much to work on...

[Toptomcat]

Heh. Sounds like you and I would be good sparring partners.

[Spodo Komodo]

Sure does, I would love to see what you do with the spinning backfist, I don't know anyone locally who gets any mileage out it and I am always wary of using it myself.

[GeoGiant]

Punching is something that I need to work on. I'm more of a kicker that follows up with a punch. I've been trying to put more time in on the bag to correct this issue.

[MMA_Jim]

Coming from thai, I think I get a fair amount of both kicking and punching. Punching is obviously more important though, as a punch will always be faster than a kick.

Kicks work exceptionally well when used well- that is in conjunction with punches. One of the last fights I did I was able to counter a strong kicker by simply stepping into his kicks and counting with 3 punch combinations.

[DWx]

You'd think my style (TKD) would be all about the kicking but the heavier weight category you fall into, the more you'll be punching. I'll use the legs to get in closer then finish up with the hands. On the punching front its pretty limited though, for competition, only backfist, straight jab and reverse knifehand (ridgehand) are allowed although we all throw a sneaky uppercut or cross when the refs not looking. We also have this rule that limits the number of jabs in succession (bit stupid if you ask me). Anyway because of this, we tend to train only these techs so my proficiency is lacking in other types of punches.. But what do you expect from a kicking art?

[ninjanurse]

In our sparring style, punches must cause "trembling shock" to the body to score so we do train to punch hard. Otherwise, all kicks-punches-blocks-elbows, etc., are trained in numerous ways on equipment to develop speed, power, and accuracy for self-defense purposes. Generally this is an area where most TKD stylists are lacking so we train it more.

[RW]

You'd think my style (TKD) would be all about the kicking but the heavier weight category you fall into, the more you'll be punching. I'll use the legs to get in closer then finish up with the hands. On the punching front its pretty limited though, for competition, only backfist, straight jab and reverse knifehand (ridgehand) are allowed although we all throw a sneaky uppercut or cross when the refs not looking. We also have this rule that limits the number of jabs in succession (bit stupid if you ask me). Anyway because of this, we tend to train only these techs so my proficiency is lacking in other types of punches.. But what do you expect from a kicking art?

Funny, it was the same way for me in Shotokan.

It also annoyed me a little bit. I'd never use a ridgehand in a real fight.

So yeah my punching needs some work. I noticed that after I switched to kickboxing.