how do I get faster

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Some people become 'fast' by negating their form or not striking deeply. IF you don't strike fast at, on, in and through the target... it's useless.
Force = mass X accelleration
The greater the accelleration, the greater the resultant force.
Accelleration is the rate at which a motions speed and/or trajectory changes.
There's lots of ways to use this.
Your Brother
John

Moving faster IS hitting harder!!!!

Your Bro.
John

While people love to quote the physics formula of F=MA people often forget that generating force and transmitting it are two different things. As far as human physiology is concerned the faster the body moves the less stability it's skeletal structure has and the less stability the skeletal structure has the less efficient it's transmittance of force is because now the practitioners body absorbs much of the force of the impact. Thus higher speed can actually lead to a lesser blow if careful attention isn't paid the structure of the body delivering the blow.

In short -- Moving faster IS NOT ALWAYS hitting harder. You can generate a lot of force but not be able to transmit it. That's why cars have crumple zones these days to dissipate the tremendous force of crashes to other areas. A relaxed body has many 'crumple zones' and you have to relax for greater speed. Something you might want to research, it would greatly benefit you in the application and understanding of the force you wish to generate and transfer to your target(s).

 

[Martial Tucker]

RELAX MORE!
antagonistic muscle drag is one of the greatest hinderances to physical action.
It may seem odd to the western mind, but one of the best ways to move faster is to relax.

Your Brother
John

BINGO!!! This is the essence of increasing speed. You also need to look at your mechanics. Classic punching is often taught to have the back of the hand flat/horizontal. For many people, this isn't optimal. I tell students to close their eyes and reach out in front of their center, imagining that they are
reaching out to take a small object off of a shelf. Then I stop them and have them look at their hand alignment. Often, the back of their hand is at about a 45 degree angle vs. horizontal. This alignment is their "natural" alignment, and will give the least amount of "antagonistic muscle drag", as Brother John so aptly called it. When they do rotate their fist so the back of the hand is horizontal, they then notice tension in the forearm muscle. This will rob you of speed. Other things to check are "flying elbows", and proper hip "snap". Granted, there are hereditary differences between us and some people are born with more "fast-twitch" muscles, vs. other people's more "slow-twitch" muscles, but all esle being equal, proper alignment to eliminate antagonistic muscle tension and relaxation are the best way to improve your speed.

I have read a couple other posts on this thread that have digressed into questions of power, and I agree with those that have equated more speed = more power. The formula for kinetic energy is: (MASS/2) * (SPEED^2).
If I was walking down the street and saw 2 joggers approaching me, and the first was 200 lbs running at 5mph, the second jogger was 150lbs running at 7 mph, believe it or not, the smaller jogger would hit me with more energy if I got in the way.

Between heredity and mechanics, there is just so much you can do to improve your speed, but it is definitely do-able with practice.
Assuming you are striking with as much speed as potentially possible, the only other way to generate more power is increase the MASS, and this is done by proper invovlement of your hips and legs during the punch, such that you get more of your body mass behind your punch. I believe that the most energy is generated when it flows from the largest joint to the smallest, hence when I punch, my hips initiate the motion, which launches my shoulder, which launches my fist. If my mechanics are correct, and I am relaxed, this will happen VERY quickly, and the end effect is similar to that of cracking a whip, but it has my whole body behind it.

 

[Brother John]

While people love to quote the physics formula of F=MA people often forget that generating force and transmitting it are two different things. As far as human physiology is concerned the faster the body moves the less stability it's skeletal structure has and the less stability the skeletal structure has the less efficient it's transmittance of force is because now the practitioners body absorbs much of the force of the impact. Thus higher speed can actually lead to a lesser blow if careful attention isn't paid the structure of the body delivering the blow.

In short -- Moving faster IS NOT ALWAYS hitting harder. You can generate a lot of force but not be able to transmit it. That's why cars have crumple zones these days to dissipate the tremendous force of crashes to other areas. A relaxed body has many 'crumple zones' and you have to relax for greater speed. Something you might want to research, it would greatly benefit you in the application and understanding of the force you wish to generate and transfer to your target(s).

Actually James, I think you'll find that if you pull up that link that I posted... You'll find that as speed was placed w/in a certain list of priorities...that you and I are actually saying the same things in different ways. Check it out. What you are saying doesn't contradict what I put there, just states it in a different way. BUT: I still hold the the important predecesors to "Speed" are 1. Good Form (stability, alignment, accuracy...etc.)
2. Knowing the proper function (how to "transfer" power is a factor in this)
3. Fluidity (thus my mention here of "Relax More")
...speed requires these things...otherwise it's a useless "flitting & flapping" of the hands and feet.

we agree.
Your Brother
John

 

[Kenpodoc]

How do the really fast guys get really fast? I can hit pretty hard. But Im definately not the fastest guy in the world. Not the slowest, but lots of room for improvement. What can I do to improve my punching and kicking speed? Ive got a heavy bag but dont know what to do to improve in that area specifically. Im OK I guess when its only one punch, its really combos that Im lacking in. I could probably hit my bag lots faster if power was no concern whatsoever. Should I do that for a little while? If not, what?

This has been said repeatedly but it's too important to not emphasize.

1. Relax
2. Train slowly and accurately

Both real and apparent speed come from, taking off the brakes, economy of movement, timing, obscurity. apparent speed is both physical and psychological. Time perception is very variable and an important part of percieved speed.

I still believe it is more important to be in right place at the right time than to be fast. The gunfighter who relaxes and hits his target is more likely to walk away alive than the speed demon who misses.

Jeff

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Actually James, I think you'll find that if you pull up that link that I posted... You'll find that as speed was placed w/in a certain list of priorities...that you and I are actually saying the same things in different ways. Check it out. What you are saying doesn't contradict what I put there, just states it in a different way. BUT: I still hold the the important predecesors to "Speed" are 1. Good Form (stability, alignment, accuracy...etc.)
2. Knowing the proper function (how to "transfer" power is a factor in this)
3. Fluidity (thus my mention here of "Relax More")
...speed requires these things...otherwise it's a useless "flitting & flapping" of the hands and feet.

we agree.
Your Brother
John

So in other words you didn't actually mean to type "Moving faster IS hitting harder!!!!" You meant to type "Moving faster IS hitting harder ONLY if moving faster doesn't sacrifice 1. Good Form, 2. Knowing the proper function, 3. Fluidity, 4. etc." OK, fair enough a typo, a large typo that says two different things as one statement is an absolute (as in ALWAYS) while the other is a non-absolute that has several qualifiers. I gotcha. We agree then....moving faster is not always hitting harder unless the other qualifiers are met too.

Yours in Kenpo,
James

 

[Brother John]

You meant to type "Moving faster IS hitting harder ONLY if moving faster doesn't sacrifice 1. Good Form, 2. Knowing the proper function, 3. Fluidity, 4. etc." I gotcha. We agree then....moving faster is not always hitting harder unless the other qualifiers are met too.

Yours in Kenpo,
James

YES! exactly man...that's what I'm sayin.
Basically, if you look....what I did today by bringing up this old thread and add to it the link to the newer thread..I'm trying to clarify what I'd said before.
The "Moving faster IS hitting harder" bit was done 11-30-03. This 'clarification' was done today on 08-16-05....pret'near 2 years later. Guess I've grown up and sophisticated my line of reasoning on this some since then.

Talk to you later bro.

Your Brother
John

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

YES! exactly man...that's what I'm sayin.
Basically, if you look....what I did today by bringing up this old thread and add to it the link to the newer thread..I'm trying to clarify what I'd said before.
The "Moving faster IS hitting harder" bit was done 11-30-03. This 'clarification' was done today on 08-16-05....pret'near 2 years later. Guess I've grown up and sophisticated my line of reasoning on this some since then.

Talk to you later bro.

Your Brother
John

Hey who gave you permission to clarify, refine, and sophisticate? LOL always a blast chattin' with you man. Nice to post with people who can T-H-I-N-K for themselves.

 

[DeLamar.J]

How do the really fast guys get really fast? I can hit pretty hard. But Im definately not the fastest guy in the world. Not the slowest, but lots of room for improvement. What can I do to improve my punching and kicking speed? Ive got a heavy bag but dont know what to do to improve in that area specifically. Im OK I guess when its only one punch, its really combos that Im lacking in. I could probably hit my bag lots faster if power was no concern whatsoever. Should I do that for a little while? If not, what?

Find a good power to speed ratio for your techniques, dont sacrifice speed for power. Focus on your technique, and power is not as big of an issue as before.
Also, learn to relax yourself when you strike out, it easy to tense up when your trying to throw hard, if your tense, your going to loose speed. Hope this helps, I can say more if you found this helpful.

 

[dsp921]

dont sacrifice speed for power.

Is this really what you meant? I think that power and accuracy are more important than speed. I would rather hit my target hard once than hit 4 times off target and with nothing on it. I would have said don't sacrifice power for speed, but that's just me, everyone has their own thoughts.

 

[DeLamar.J]

Is this really what you meant? I think that power and accuracy are more important than speed. I would rather hit my target hard once than hit 4 times off target and with nothing on it. I would have said don't sacrifice power for speed, but that's just me, everyone has their own thoughts.

You dont need much power for a spear finger in the eye, thats what I was getting at, you dont need a chainsaw to cut hot butter.

 

[Shaolinwind]

I hear "Got it? Now do it 10,000 times." from my instructors a lot.

How do the really fast guys get really fast? I can hit pretty hard. But Im definately not the fastest guy in the world. Not the slowest, but lots of room for improvement. What can I do to improve my punching and kicking speed? Ive got a heavy bag but dont know what to do to improve in that area specifically. Im OK I guess when its only one punch, its really combos that Im lacking in. I could probably hit my bag lots faster if power was no concern whatsoever. Should I do that for a little while? If not, what?

 

[CrankyDragon]

Patience, patience, patience, and practice, practice, practice.


Short of Bruce Lee, Tommy is one of the fastest IVE SEEN.

http://www.tommycarruthers.com/

The video on his site is down (bad links) but I hope to post some at our school's site very soon for educational use.

Andrew