# Measure Your Punching Power



## Christmas

Hi, My name is Michael Bradley and I'm currently developing a product for training Muay Thai.

It's a boxing pad that displays the power of every punch you throw.

We are currently making revisions to our product based on what features fighters would like to see. 

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on this product,
your experience in combat training, and any insight you can share with us is greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to answer as openly and honestly as you would like *(or PM me):
*


Why do you train? What is your biggest motivation?


What is your biggest frustration or fear?


What are you trying to avoid by training?


What situation are you trying to prepare for?


What is one need would something like this satisfy for you?












Thank you for sharing, your input is going to help make something we can all use.


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## SahBumNimRush

The biggest problem I see with products like these is the units of measurement.  If you are measuring power, what are the units of measurement displayed on the pad?  IMO, the best option would be either pounds per square inch, or newtons.


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## Haakon

What happens if someone punches the numbers? Is it going to break? While everyone would like pinpoint accuracy and control many people don't have it, especially when trying to punch as hard as possible, so it's likely that people will hit the display area.

I don't know what kind of features you might want to include, or how fancy it will get, but something to measure reaction time might be fun and useful. Have it "beep" and measure the time it takes for the person to punch the target. If a timer is included you could also have it measure things like time between punches, punches / second and so on. Similar to the shot timers that competitive shooters use.


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## nordin

Or special ratios like power/time for measuring how many how hard punches you can do in certain time. Or reaction time/power for knowing how strong unches and how good is your reaction time. This would help people to fine tune double jabs


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## Christmas

Haakon said:


> What happens if someone punches the numbers? Is it going to break? While everyone would like pinpoint accuracy and control many people don't have it, especially when trying to punch as hard as possible, so it's likely that people will hit the display area.
> 
> I don't know what kind of features you might want to include, or how fancy it will get, but something to measure reaction time might be fun and useful. Have it "beep" and measure the time it takes for the person to punch the target. If a timer is included you could also have it measure things like time between punches, punches / second and so on. Similar to the shot timers that competitive shooters use.



Luckily our engineer is on the case about the display. It will be recessed behind foam and not as big as in the picture. It would be pretty difficult to break the display unless someone was trying to.

The reaction time feature is a great idea. I'll have to add that to the list of top suggestions. 

I keep hearing that a lot of fighters want a combo feature and want to know how many hard punches they can hit in a certain amount of time.

I will look into making training programs that the device can run or some kind of compatible software.

Thanks To Everyone For the posts. Your input is greatly appreciated.


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## Bill Mattocks

Nobody can hang with my awesome power of punch.  You'd have to reinforce the walls you mounted the device on, since I'll most likely punch right through it.


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## Buka

I've seen and tried many versions of these over the last few decades, none of them worked well. I hope yours does, I think it could be a great tool.


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## thegatekeeper

Haakon said:


> What happens if someone punches the numbers? Is it going to break? While everyone would like pinpoint accuracy and control many people don't have it, especially when trying to punch as hard as possible, so it's likely that people will hit the display area.
> 
> I don't know what kind of features you might want to include, or how fancy it will get, but something to measure reaction time might be fun and useful. Have it "beep" and measure the time it takes for the person to punch the target. If a timer is included you could also have it measure things like time between punches, punches / second and so on. Similar to the shot timers that competitive shooters use.



Haha was about to ask the same thing about punching the numbers.

Maybe make the "hitting" space bigger, and put the numbers in an indent so it is protected more.


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## Christmas

Buka, I appreciate your experience in this topic and would like to ask you one question:

What failed in the design of the ones you tested out?

Please elaborate on this, it would greatly help us out.

Thanks!  -Michael Bradley


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## Buka

Christmas said:


> Buka, I appreciate your experience in this topic and would like to ask you one question:
> 
> What failed in the design of the ones you tested out?
> 
> Please elaborate on this, it would greatly help us out.
> 
> Thanks!  -Michael Bradley



Hi Michael,
I first saw a measuring device in the early eighties at a tournament. Billy Blanks told me, "Kick it as hard as you can with a good thrust sidekick." So I did. It measured.....whatever. Then Billy said, "Do a jump kick, and in that second of hang time, flick kick it."  So I did. It measured considerably higher. Billy had played with them before. He wasn't trying to disprove their mechanics, he was just playing around with it for an hour and it was something he noticed. There was also a difference depending on what angle you took. Straight-on sometimes registered less than if you approached slightly to the side. (maybe the attachment of the sensors?)

I saw a few versions over the years and played with them. It was sort of the same thing, not necessarily in the same way as far as techniques go, on some I could get a higher reading with one of those blast-snappy back fists than I could with a hook punch. (And I have a good hook) It just seemed that there were some techniques that measured higher than other techniques that you knew were creating more force.

I haven't seen one since 01 or so. (somewhere in L.A)
 I imagine the science/sensors have improved a great deal. It sure would be fun to play with one again.


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## Christmas

That was amazing. I learned so much from that, I just want to personally thank you out loud in words.


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## Josh Oakley

If you are mounting it on the wall, there is no real need for an integrated display. You could use a plug-in display and pull off the same thing without danger to the electronics.

If you want to take it to the next level, Bluetooth it. It could then pair to a phone, tablet, or laptop and display data through use of an app. 

I would prefer it go to a tablet or phone. It is more portable, and therefore would be easier to use in the gym. What is nice about going the app route is you don't have to worry about a specialized display. In addition, it could record power, time between punches, etc. All at once.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk


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## SahBumNimRush

Christmas, perhaps my post was lost in the discussion, but what type of measurement is the device taking?  What units of measurement are used?  I know this has been one of the most difficult things to accurately measure in the past with these types of equipment, and I can't wait until the technology allows for a high quality (consistently reproducible research quality) accuracy at an affordable price.


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## Christmas

We've decided to go with Pounds of Force. LBF.

It's simple and it's what the pros use. This way, you can compare yourself to your favorite fighter....


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## Jason Striker II

Buka said:


> I've seen and tried many versions of these over the last few decades, none of them worked well. I hope yours does, I think it could be a great tool.





SahBumNimRush said:


> The biggest problem I see with products like these is the units of measurement.  If you are measuring power, what are the units of measurement displayed on the pad?  IMO, the best option would be either pounds per square inch, or newtons.





Buka said:


> Hi Michael,
> I first saw a measuring device in the early eighties at a tournament. Billy Blanks told me, "Kick it as hard as you can with a good thrust sidekick." So I did. It measured.....whatever. Then Billy said, "Do a jump kick, and in that second of hang time, flick kick it."  So I did. It measured considerably higher. Billy had played with them before. He wasn't trying to disprove their mechanics, he was just playing around with it for an hour and it was something he noticed. There was also a difference depending on what angle you took. Straight-on sometimes registered less than if you approached slightly to the side. (maybe the attachment of the sensors?)
> 
> I saw a few versions over the years and played with them. It was sort of the same thing, not necessarily in the same way as far as techniques go, on some I could get a higher reading with one of those blast-snappy back fists than I could with a hook punch. (And I have a good hook) It just seemed that there were some techniques that measured higher than other techniques that you knew were creating more force.
> 
> I haven't seen one since 01 or so. (somewhere in L.A)
> I imagine the science/sensors have improved a great deal. It sure would be fun to play with one again.



I've used a few of these devises in the past. The problems are are listed above: 1) measuring in what units? 2) often inconsistent readings 3) very prone to being quickly destroyed by what it allegedly measures...

I've never seen one that I really liked, but when the technology improves, this type of device will be standard in future schools.


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## grumpywolfman

Hello Christmas,

I like the idea of a wall mounted pad to register striking power. What about having the readout totally seperate from the pad, with just the sensor inside? Since it would be mounted to the wall, you could just plug in the readout from a safe distance to protect the most delicate portion of your training device, and it would make it cheaper to replace if damaged. With this setup in mind, you could have more options available such as an adapter that could be hooked up to a lap top for example, that could run a sophisticated program to measure and compare criteria, and save or print out the data of the workout? Who knows, perhaps one day you might be making 'smart heavy bags' for Muay Thai too 

Good luck with your invention!


- oops sorry, I just noticed somebody else already mentioned this.


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