by Thomas Kurz
Question:
I am reading a book by a former European and multiple Italian national kickboxing champion. In one section he debates elastic band training vs. light weight training (throwing a punch with a light dumbbell or a kick with an ankle weight, or throwing a medicine ball) as methods of increasing explosiveness. He states that “due to its nature, elastic resistance worsens techniques (punches or kicks) because of increasing tension during the moment of impact instead of exploding exactly in that moment.”
This statement has some logic to it. But I did elastic band training, as shown on your DVD Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up!, with good results, even kicking and punching the bag with the resistance of elastic bungee cords. A boxing instructor once warned me to train without combining a thrust to the bag, for the same reason the kickboxing champion stated. Now, I’d like your opinion on this subject: For increasing power is it better to throw punches and kicks with light weights, or is it better to use elastic bands?
Answer:
How much an elastic band or cord slows you down depends on its tension and length. Experiment to find the best combination of tension and length so your strikes are not slowed too much–with the right resistance they should flow if you want to improve your explosiveness. With weights, too, you need to find the weight you can move quickly without injuring your joints. If the weights are too heavy for a given technique, you will instinctively slow down your strikes as well. What is too heavy? Whatever slows your technique down. . . . But if you think you are moving at full speed yet you wince or grimace, then the resistance is too great for keeping good technique and is damaging your joints.
Now, if you want to find weak points in your technique and strengthen them, then you may use heavy resistance, whether weights or elastic bands, but you must do the movements slowly.
Either way, fast or slow, you must know your techniques well, to the smallest detail, to benefit from doing them against resistance.
Resource for Further Study
Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up!
The best instruction for power in high kicks!
Learn everything there is to know about kicks: fundamentals, footwork, drills, developing power, and technical tips for power and great height with no warm-up. See proven sequences of exercises that develop all these kicks:
Knee kick • Front kick • Side kick • Back kick
Roundhouse kick • Crescent kick • Hook kick
If you have any questions on training you can post them at Stadion’s Sports and Martial Arts Training Discussion Forum
There’s a study about basketball players and how they had them train with a weighted ball. When they switched back to the regular ball their accuracy was worse. They attributed it to the movement being too similar to the skill they were trying to improve which caused nervous system recruitment during the actual skill to be adversely effected. I have no idea where I saw this study (could be it was in one of your books; I can’t remember at all). I looked for it but I couldn’t find it. Nick Tumminello mentions it in the video on this page (he doesn’t say it was a study, but he uses it as an example):
nicktumminello.com/…/why-not-to-do-resistance-band-shadow-boxing/
I agree with Sam above. It seems that adding resistance to striking techniques would change recruitment patterns and alter the technique. Direct exercises like medicine ball throws seem to be a better idea since they use the same muscles in a similar motion, but without recreating the technique exactly.
What is the book you are reading?
Throw a too heavy medicine ball and you won’t be doing much better than pulling a too tough bungee or moving a too heavy dumbbell. This is why I wrote:
“How much an elastic band or cord slows you down depends on its tension and length. Experiment to find the best combination of tension and length so your strikes are not slowed too much–with the right resistance they should flow if you want to improve your explosiveness. With weights, too, you need to find the weight you can move quickly without injuring your joints. If the weights are too heavy for a given technique, you will instinctively slow down your strikes as well. What is too heavy? Whatever slows your technique down. . . . But if you think you are moving at full speed yet you wince or grimace, then the resistance is too great for keeping good technique and is damaging your joints.”
Recommended reading: Sports Skills and Strength Training, Part V
I saw this and would like to throw this nugget out there:
“Dear Sia Sadjadi,
Yes, the too heavy dumbbells could interfere with patterns for normal boxing.
For this reason it needs to choose the optimal weight for every athlete in relation with his physical preparedness level and body weight.
Vasily Filimonov normally uses Shadow Boxing with dumbbells of 250 g to 1 kg.
The dumbbells of 1 -2 kg could be used only by very strong boxers of high weight category.
Yuri Verkhoshansky”
“Dear Alex Gold,
1. With the punching with weights do you recommend hitting a target? It seems that with extra weight in the hands and not hitting a target you risk injuries hyperextending at end range or whilst attempting to decelerate the weight.
First of all, in that thread we were talking about the specific physical preparation exercises for boxers by general point of view, without any specification for the concrete aim of the exercise.
By this general point of view, the Shadow Boxing with the dumbbells in hands could be most specific training means because it’s the “model” of competition exercise that could be used as element of specific endurance training. If you need to increase the power of punch you have to use training means system that includes:
· traditional overload exercises (for arm and leg extensors muscles and for trunk rotator muscles);
· specific exercise “Punching of cushion” used without overload with the goal to hit faster, with more precision or to hit faster and stronger. These hits have to be carried out in a regime with 3 minutes of work and 1 minute of rest (8-10 repetitions in 1 training session). During these 3 minutes of work must be executed 50 – 60 hits (1 hit every 3 seconds).
2. Would punching with elastic resistance on the horizontal plane not be more specific (using your dynamic correspondence criteria as a guide)?
In the Shadow Boxing with the use of elastic resistance on the horizontal plane the regime of the muscle work is not specific because it is not ballistic.
Yuri Verkhoshansky”
There are translated versions of the studies from where he is getting a lot of information in the Soviet Sport Review (or one of its iterations). I kind of look at shadow boxing with dumbbells as a similar type of exercise as throwers using lighter and heavier implements. I would say the frame of reference in this regard would be the weight of your competition gloves. Shadow boxing with no gloves would therefore qualify as lighter resistance or shadow boxing with 16 ozers or shinguards (provided you are not required to wear them in competition) on as increased resistance.
Just saw this article that talks about this very topic.
http://heatrick.com/2015/04/14/how-to-increase-punching-speed/