Fitness Corner
A Stronger Back, For Stronger Punches
By Said Salem
That’s right, a stronger back will allow you to punch harder,
and also reduce your risk of injuries. “But isn’t your back for
pulling?” correct, but before you stop reading this and return
to bench pressing, hear me out!
Boxers tend to have a very dominant and strong anterior
(front side – e.g pectorals and anterior delt) and a weak
posterior (back – e.g Lats, rhomboid and posterior delt).
This happens due to the high repetition of punches thrown,
and the high amount of press ups and other work done for
the anterior. When considering the amount of work a boxer
does for his front (anterior) and the little to no work done on his back (posterior) there is no
surprise that a strength imbalance can occur.
Why should you care about strength imbalances? Well, research[1,2] has shown that such
imbalances can lead to a reduction in the amount pushing force the body produces, due to the
body putting breaks on. Think of it like having a car with a really fast engine, but with bad
brakes. You’re not going to drive fast because you know you can’t stop properly. Your body
works in a similar way. When you have a strength imbalance between your front (anterior) and
back (posterior) you will not be able to produce all the force you can when you punch, due to
your body kicking in and protecting itself by putting the brakes on to protect your shoulder from
injury, because your weaker back and shoulders cannot handle the amount of force that is
transferred thru your arm when you punch.
How do we remedy this? With pulling movements. Be sure to include exercises such as
dumbbell rows and over hand chin ups into your next strength training session. This will help
iron out any imbalances in strength between your anterior and posterior, thus allowing for
optimal transfer of power thru your shoulder onto the other guys face!
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