Striking Technique: Staying Loose

When to be loose: People often find themselves exhausted simply because they’re overly tense in the arms and shoulders. Yes, your legs should be active and ready, with the weight on the balls of your feet, generally feeling like you can hop or sprint at a moment’s notice. But check your arms and shoulders in particular—are they tight and bunched up? You should be able to bounce your shoulders and wiggle your fingers when you’re not actively striking, clinching, or defending.

How to improve: a simple exercise to improve here is to throw a few few fast punches, then immediately wiggle your shoulders, elbows and fingers. Make your arms noodley in between striking out with them.

Strike like a whip—stay loose until you ‘crack’ on impact, then relax again. At the moment of impact, you want every bit of tension in your body directed into the strike. From there, the tension loosen and rise again as you start throwing a new strike; or it may be directed only into efficiently returning yourself to a ready and defensible position.

Loose is still protected—keep your hands close to your face, and don’t let your elbows stray too far from your body. Keep your arms lightly moving. Occasionally tapping around your temples is a good self-check to see that your hands are high enough to actually protect your head.