There are 7 main rules that you should practice to deliver a strong penetrating punch or strike. Before description those 7 rules, I assume that you already have the foundational knowledge about strikes, punches & kicks, such as:
- Type of strikes (single strike, double strikes, triple strikes)
- Strike variations (fist strike, punches, elbow, shoulder strikes, open palm strike, figure strikes etc.)
- Primary striking zones & pressure points
- Striking distance (closed, middle and long distance strikes)
- Striking directions (linear strike, side strike, etc.)
If you just started learning martial arts, then I recommend to learn basic striking techniques and then come back to this article. For beginners, I recommend Systema Spetsnaz DVD #4: Strikes, Punches, and Kicks (see the DVD preview below).
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #1
Deliver a strike with a soft part of your body to a strong part of your opponent’s body (and vice versa). For example, if you are punching an opponent into his face, use “open palm” striking with the soft part of your palm. Person’s face contains a lot of small bones that can be easily broken during a strong punch. If you deliver a strike with your fist you can easily damage your hand. In a worse case, if you damage your hand you can get infected with opponent’s blood. When you are striking with your palm, you are distributing your strike against the bigger area of little face bones, making a strong impact for the whole face area. The strike will affect a lot of pressure points simultaneously, bringing very painful effect.
Another example, when you should strike with your hard part of your body against soft opponent’s part. Let’s assume, that you are punching your opponent in his stomach. A stomach is a very big area, there are no small bones, but there are a lot of muscle. In this case, deliver your strikes with a fist, side of your hand or an elbow. This way, you can concentrate all your energy and power into one point vs distributing it along the muscles.
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #2
Deliver your strike in depth of “one and a half figure”. Imagine that your target is inside of your opponent’s body (1/2 figure in depth) or behind him ( 1 figure in depth). When you want to deliver a strike to opponent’s chest, your “imaginary” target should be his back. When you deliver your strikes just to the chest, you are stopping your energy and your power at the impact level. When you are targeting deeper, your energy goes through the opponent affecting his inner organs, breaking his inner body structure. This will cause your opponent not only pain but also it will affect his balance system and he will fall down or lose space orientation at least for a second.
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #3
Create a spiral motion by adding a rotation at the point of contact. When you deliver your strike, at the last moment, add a rotation and create a spiral motion. The inertia from your spiral motion will generate impulses into different directions inside the opponent’s body, sending feelings of pain to different parts of the body. You deliver one spiral strike, but your opponent feels like he was punched several times simultaneously.
The most advanced technique is to create a spiral rotation within the wave motion. See the clip below for more details:
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #4
Send multiple signals affecting different modalities. Human brain proceeds information quickly, performing one task after another immediately. If you send multiple signals using different modalities simultaneously, it will break your opponent’s state of “clear” consciousness. Your opponent will be distracted and if one punch was not enough, you will win 1-2 seconds to deliver a second punch. Sending multiple signals means: combine physical and psychological elements. There are 5 physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste) + psychological influence + working with opponent’s energy(his breathing pattern). The more you can use, the more effective your strike is.
For example:
– physical strike (affects the sense of touch, creating a feeling of pain)
– add a sound while striking (affects the hearing system)
– look at the point between your opponent’s eyes without blinking(create a visual connection)
– make your motion precise, do not do any extra moves, your motions should be quick and precise (affects your opponent on a psychological level)
– synchronize your breathing with your movements and your opponent breathing pattern and his attacking speed (see the next rule)
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #5
Breathe out with your strikes. Do not hold your breath. When you breathe out, you are also releasing your inner energy. Your body should be relaxed during the fight. This is called “combat trance”. At the last moment, generate your power into your fist and release your power at the point of contact, then immediately return back into the relaxed state. This way, you can be in sync with your inner energy and your strike will be powerful and effective!
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #6
Strike at 45-degree angle. This rule is an addition to rule #3 (creating a spiral motion). Remember, a human body is vertical, not horizontal. To make your strike more effective, deliver a strike at an angle together with the spiral motion. This way, you prolong your strike within your opponent’s body making it penetrating and painful.
How to deliver a strong penetrating punch/strike: Rule #7
Use your body weight every time when delivering a strong strike or punch. Use your entire body in your strikes. No matter how strong you are, you can generate at least twice stronger power if you use your bodyweight. Your strike energy should start from your heels, go up through your hips (where you generate a spiral motion), then through your chest into your fist. At the last moment, collect all your inner energy into your fist using 45 degrees angle, rotate at the point of contact and strike 1.5 figure deep while breathing out. Your opponent will not have any chance of resisting such a powerful penetrating strike!
To master your striking techniques, we recommend to get the following set of DVDs:
- DVD #4: Strikes – Punches – Kicks
- DVD #5: Internal Wave Energy
- DVD #10: Energy Strikes
- DVD #14: Powerful Joints
- DVD #20: Spetsnaz VS Boxing
You can buy them individually or buy as a custom Spetsnaz DVD set and save 25% Off!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by email at info@systemaspetsnaz.com or visit Spetsnaz Training Tip section at our website.
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