HOW TO FIX YOUR PUNCHES TODAY

Page 1 of 9 | YourKravMaga MARCUS KOWAL

Marcus Kowal has been training in for almost 30 years. He is originally from Sweden, but has lived all over the world: England, Germany, France, Mexico, and now currently resides in the United States. He has competed in multiple matches all around the world for several promotions. His passion for fighting has led him to train others so that they may learn the skills of self-defense and possibly gain the same passion. He's opened Systems Training Center, a gym located in Hawthorne, California. The mission philosophy at System's Training Center is to offer family-oriented type of environment where anyone can feel comfortable coming in and learning. He has also trained a wide variety of clientele and now trains via online forum of YourKravMaga. YourKravMaga (YKM) is designed to give professional training of , but from the comfort of your own home. Marcus's passion for fighting and teaching stems from his belief that self- defense is a very imperative skill to learn.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE YKM PROGRAM

Page 2 of 9 | YourKravMaga The following information is important and something that every level of fighter needs to know, whether you’re stepping into a gym for the very first time or if you are a seasoned professional. It also doesn’t matter if you are doing , , or thai boxing, Krav Maga or Lethwei. I know this because a lot of the information and knowledge I’ve been able to attain over the years, I didn’t learn until later on in my martial arts journey myself and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to train with some great coaches in different parts of the world. THE RIGHT ALIGNMENT

KNUCKLES The very first thing to focus on is making sure THE WRONG ALIGNMENT you with the first two knuckles. The reason you want to do that is to make sure you minimize the chance of breaking your hand. The hand has 27 brittle bones and when they make impact with a human cranium, there’s a chance they may break. If boxers and MMA fighters break their hands with hand wraps and gloves on, chances are even higher in a street situation when you are wearing no gloves. Hence, precision is important! A good way to practice it is working both the heavy bag and focus mitts with no gloves in order to condition the hands as well as making sure that you are making contact with the first two knuckles. The reason to do this is because it can be hard to “feel” the contact point through a pair of gloves. Page 3 of 9 | YourKravMaga THE INCORRECT ANGLE OF WRIST PLACEMENT

WRIST PLACEMENT

Secondly, you want to make sure your knuckles are level with your wrist. It’s a very common mistake to keep the knuckles slightly higher than the wrist, which in turn both increases the risk of injuring the wrist as well as makes the punch weaker.

THE PROPER ANGLE OF WRIST PLACEMENT

Page 4 of 9 | YourKravMaga SHOULDER RELAXATION

This is by far the most common mistake I see to why people lack punching power and speed: Tense shoulders. It may sound counterproductive to stay relaxed but to look at it from a scientific standpoint: Force = mass x acceleration. If your shoulders are tensed up, it’ll slow SLOUCHED SHOULDERS your acceleration down. It’s like trying to drive a car, pressing both the gas pedal and the break at the same time and there’s nothing more dangerous than a slow punch, since it’ll leave you vulnerable to being hit yourself. Relaxing your shoulders is one of the most important but also hardest things to learn, especially if you’re in a real fight and there’s someone in front of you who is trying to hurt you. Hence you need to focus on this all the time: When you shadow box, when you are hitting the bag and pads and especially when you’re . RELAXED SHOULDERS

Page 5 of 9 | YourKravMaga WRONG SHOULDER ROTATION HIP AND SHOULDER ROTATION Once you’ve learnt to truly relax your shoulders, it’s time to maximise your power- output, which is done by rotating your body and especially your hips and shoulders. The more range of motion and the faster you can rotate your hips and shoulders in CORRECT SHOULDER ROTATION conjunction, the harder you’ll be able to punch. Here’s a quick tip to see if you rotate enough: If you’re fully extended in your punch, can you see your other shoulder? If so, you’re not rotating enough! At the full extension of the punch, it should be as if you were looking down the barrel of a gun. If you can’t get full rotation in a calm and stress- free environment, it won’t happen during WRONG HIP ROTATION the heat of the battle.

CORRECT HIP ROTATION

Page 6 of 9 | YourKravMaga AND STACKING

By focusing on all these points, from your knuckles, to your wrist and all the way up to your shoulder, you will, what we call, “Stack your bones”. Stacking your bones means that you will have as much mass behind the as you possibly can, which is the second half of the formula F = M x A.

Now, go do!

Make sure you have a good stance. If it's too narrow, you won't have good balance and if it's too wide, it'll be hard to rotate the hips and shoulders.

WRONG STANCE

CORRECT STANCE

Page 7 of 9 | YourKravMaga DON'T DO THIS

IN CONCLUSION Hit with the first 2 knuckles Level of the wrist vs knuckles. Relaxing your shoulders Once you’ve learnt to relax your shoulders, you need to learn to create acceleration, which means rotating your shoulders. Rotating your shoulders (only able to see one shoulder in the mirror). "Looking down the barrel of a gun." Rotating your hips is what rotates your shoulders “Stacking your bones." DO THIS

GET 30% OFF YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR LIFE BY USING THIS DISCOUNT CODE: FFYYPPSSPPEECCIIAALL3300 LIMITED TIME OFFER!

Page 8 of 9 | YourKravMaga THANK YOU!

Thanks for reading! We hope that you keep these tips in mind when punching, whether it's the bag, thai pads, sparring, or in a self-defense situation.

Remember, you have to actually practice to get improve your punches.

For more self-defense and everything Krav Maga, check out YourKravMaga.com.

We have a special just for you for 30% off your online Krav Maga Academy for life! But act now because the special will end soon.

GET 30% OFF YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR LIFE BY USING THIS DISCOUNT CODE: FFYYPPSSPPEECCIIAALL3300 LIMITED TIME OFFER!

Page 9 of 9 | YourKravMaga