Most important muscles required for punches and kicks?

YoungGrasshopper · July 27, 2003

Okk I want to get my punches and kicks stronger, faster. Butt...I'm not sure which are the correct muscles to build. I have no interest in the muscles to build that are useless for punching and kicking. These are the muscles that I don't know if they are involved with any punches or kicks:

Biceps: Do I need these for punching? I mean heck they look nice when I flex, but when I hit something with a direct punch for example a wall, I notice that the biceps lack in getting stiff.

Triceps: Goes as well for the biceps.

Shrug muscle: Might as well ask.

Back muscles: Might as well ask.

Buttocks:

Ok the muscles that I'm pretty sure that are involved:

Shoulder muscles

Forearms

Wrists

Calves

Quads

Hamstrings

Ok I don't think I missed any. The reason I came up with this idea is because I experimented what muscles lack in getting "stiff" in certain techniques. Now I'm sure a lot of ppl or if I'm wrong someonE can correct me on this perspective. Please do so by replying .

Thanks in advanced.

P.S: Forgive me if this related subject has already been previously posted.[/i]

Icetuete · July 27, 2003

if u want to get better at kicking, u'll have to do some kicking. same goes for punching. thats the best way to train the muscles that are involved in kicks/punches.

a good way to do more powerful kicks is to kick a sandbag (or whatever u got at hand) for a short amount of time the powerful and the fast u can.

Martial_Artist · July 27, 2003

The most important muscle is your brain. You must first be able to perform the movement with proper form. If you spend time doing a kick in bad form you will poorly develop the muscles required to kick with power and speed. Once you have good form. Then the best thing to do is punch and kick like a mad beast. Can you punch 100 times full power on a heavy bag? Or do you tire out after 20?

Kirves · July 27, 2003

Lower body: legs (hamstrings, quadriceps), buttocks (glutes), calves. They make the base and generate power to the hip movement.

Upper body: Chest and triceps help thrust the fist forward, while the back (lats) help pull the opposing side back for additional speed in the torso rotation (if you want fast punches, you not only thrust with your right side when punching with right, but you also pull with the left so your torso's and hip's shake is more violent and powerful). You also need to retract the fist fast into defencive position or follow-up strikes, so biceps are also very important. Forearm muscles help keep the wrist and fist tight instead of breaking the form and damaging the wrist.

YoungGrasshopper · July 27, 2003

Aight cool thanx guys. Yah I was originally training naturaly without weights, but I see in some posts that a lot of ppl are using weights. So I was planning to use weights also, but I just didn't know how to use weights with martial arts correctly. Aight anyways I'll just stick to naturally kicking and punching. Thanx. Love your sig btw Kirves.

Tibby · July 28, 2003

Lifting is good, but you need to pratice form. That is the most important, lifting is just to supplament this. I'd suggest working all your muscle equally. If you only work the muscle that are important, you will risk developing a muscle imbalance, and that can lead to injury! Just find a boxing or Kick Boxing weightlifting program, and use that.

BladeLee · July 31, 2003

You will need to build everything. When you punch, your tricep is your agonist muscle and your bicep becomes your antagonist muscle. Your antagonist muscle will act as a brake against your agonist muscle to prevent injury, so lets say you triceps would allow you to punch 30mph(totally made up numbers), but your biceps could only brake your arm at 20mph, well then your only going to punch at 20mph. The same goes with the hams/quads abs/erectors and so on. Every muscle group is used in some way with the basic kicks and punches, so work everything!!

SilentCrusader107 · August 2, 2003

MY sensei says that the hips help in puching and blocking, but that is only what he has told me and the ohters in my class.

Thuggish · August 3, 2003

all of them. your back may not seem important- nor your biceps, but theyre all necessary to have a strong balanced body. why do you think every boxer and kickboxer out there builds their backs? boxers build their legs and they dont kick. dont neglect any muscle in your body- back, legs, abs, calves, anything. thats how you become a more fit fighter. obviously chest is the main punching muscle, but its not the only muscle.

RJOTweet · August 4, 2003

I agree with all the other posts on which muscles that work for you. Another grop you might want to add is the neck muscles, esp. the sternocleidiomastoid (sp) ( the main neck muscle for moving your head down). It would be handy in case you need to head-butt someone. All you need to do for exercises is rotating the head, turning it from side to side, etc.