Basic Theory Of Scientific Measurement Of Punching Force

◆ 5 body parts

The head, both shoulders, and both pelvis are collectively referred to as the five parts of the body, which are considered very important when dynamically defining and analyzing the movement of the body. While researching the secret of punch power, Motion Lab found out that it is deeply related to the acceleration of five parts of the body. As a result of analyzing the acceleration of five body parts in the punch video of martial arts players, the stronger the punching power, the more similar the acceleration of the head-shoulder-pelvis tends to come out. [Reference: YouTube video-1]

◆ Quantitative and qualitative measurement of punching force

There are two main categories for scientifically measuring punching force. It is a quantitative and qualitative measurement of punching force. Quantitative measurement of punching power refers to the absolute destructive power of a punch. For example, mixed martial artist Ngannou is said to have the world's best punch power record, as measured by a measuring device that measures the absolute destructive power of a punch. It is similar to comparing the absolute destructive force of a car and a dump truck when they collide with a wall.

◆ Qualitative measurement of punching force

Conversely, what is a qualitative measure of punching force? It refers to measuring the physical characteristics (for example, acceleration) of each part of the body and analyzing the relationship between a movement called a punch. Punching is a complex movement in which all joints of the body are involved, and the maximum punching power comes out only when each joint and muscle function together organically.

◆ Punch power, damage, and impact

What is the purpose of a martial artist punching? It is to damage the opponent's body. Metaphorically speaking, if your opponent's body is an egg, you have to break the egg. Imagine dropping an egg from a high place to the floor. Let's metaphorically think of the force pulling the egg to the floor (gravity) as the force that causes the body to move, and the egg as the opponent. The egg is accelerated downward by the force of gravity. If an egg falls onto a soft net or mat, it will not break. Instead, if you drop the egg onto a hard concrete floor, the egg will inevitably break. This is because the damage is small in the relationship between the accelerated egg and the soft mat, while the damage is large in the relationship between the accelerated egg and the hard concrete floor.

The factor we need to pay attention to here is the impact time. In the case of a collision between an egg and a soft mat, damage was not transmitted to the egg because the impact time was long, and in the case of a collision between an egg and a hard concrete floor, the impact time was short, and the damage was greatly transmitted to the egg. Eventually, the egg will be damaged (broken) by the damage.

Let me give you one more example. Stand with both feet on the floor right now. And jump high into the sky with all your might. And when you land on the floor again, try landing with your knees straight instead of bending your knees. My knee will be smashed and I will have to go straight to the orthopedic. If you do not want to go to an orthopedic surgeon, you should bend your knees as soon as you land to make the impact time longer and absorb the shock with your whole body. If you land with your knees straight, the impact time will be shortened and the damage will shatter your knees. We know this intuitively. Biting is not difficult. It is already in our intuition.

[FIGURE 1-5]

If you look at [Figure 1-5], you can see how the body absorbs shock. I've marked the direction the joints move with arrows, and you'll see that the arrows on the joints are pointing outward and in the opposite direction. By moving the joints outward and outward and staggered with each other, the body increases the impact time and consequently absorbs the shock.

And to emphasize once again, our purpose is to smash the opponent like this, like the <stretched knee> mentioned above. When my punch collides with the opponent, the contact time should not be long so that you and the opponent's body can absorb the impact. It should be the other way around. When my punches contact the opponent, the contact time must be shortened. You need to build a neuromuscular system that controls all body parts so that the contact time is short. Always keep this in mind. Of course legally in the ring and not your opponent's knee, but your face and torso (let's follow the rules of the sport). Taking a moment, I'll try to add a physics explanation. If it is tedious and difficult to understand, you can skip it.

◆ Physics explanation (optional)

Impulse is the change in momentum. Let's go back to the egg story once again. Imagine dropping an egg from a height of 10 meters to the floor. Right before the egg reaches the bottom, it is accelerated by gravity to reach a certain speed. As a result, an egg has mass and velocity, so it has momentum. However, whether the egg falls onto a mat or onto hard concrete, the egg is bound to eventually come to rest (it will come to rest unbroken on a mat and on concrete). freezes broken). So the egg's velocity becomes zero, and eventually the egg's momentum becomes zero. Whether the egg lands on a soft mat or hard concrete, the change in momentum caused by the egg colliding with the floor is the same for both the mat and the concrete floor. It's the same shock.

However, the 'impact' will be different. It is easy to understand by looking at the graph below. Impulse is the product of impulse force and time. In the graph, the area at the bottom of the graph is the same in both cases (red: concrete floor, blue: mat). However, the impact force is much higher in the red graph (concrete floor). The impact force referred to here is the damage that the punch can inflict on the opponent. [Figure 1-6]

[FIGURE 1-6]

​◆ Two stages of punch

Here is a summary of what we have learned from the above chapters: "Punching power is, after all, the damage that a fist inflicts on an opponent, and creating an impact upon contact is directly related to the damage. And the key to creating this impact is shortening the contact time."

Now let's focus a little more on the movement called the punch. Punching can be divided into two main movements. The first is the body acceleration phase, and the second is the collision described above. Collision has been covered in detail above, so now let's think about what it means to <accelerate the body>. accelerate the body What does accelerating the body mean? I mean, what should be accelerated? The word "body" is too vague and covers too many parts. eyeballs? finger ? knee ? shoulder ? neck bone? ribs? spine ? Elbows ?.. You have to define which part of the body accelerates to make the punch stronger.

​◆ Targets of acceleration: head-shoulders-pelvis

In conclusion, tying the head-shoulders-pelvis together and accelerating them at the same time is the first step to increasing punching power. If you've ever played martial arts, you probably already know it intuitively and experientially. Theoretically, this is as follows. You've probably heard the term core muscles or core a lot. In the body, the core may be vaguely defined as the center of the body positionally, but if the core is functionally defined, it can be said to be "all the muscles that move the central axis of the body".

Let's divide the movement that accelerates the body into two parts. Linear motion and rotational motion. As you know, jabs use mostly straight movements, crosses (straights) use half straight and half turns, and punches like hooks and uppers use mainly rotational movements. Whether it is a linear movement or a rotational movement, the reason why the head-shoulder-pelvis, which is the joint that becomes the central axis of the body, must be accelerated can be explained in two ways.​

The first is because the muscles that produce great power are connected to each other near the head-shoulder-pelvis. Muscles that generate great strength, such as the femoral (thigh), hamstring, gluteal (hip), and latissimus dorsi, are all muscles that start in the pelvis and extend to the legs and arms. In addition, the pectoralis major (chest muscle), deltoid (shoulder muscle), and trapezius muscle gather at the shoulder, and the erector spinae muscle penetrates all core muscles and leads to the head. In other words, the head-shoulder-pelvis is a place where the muscles that generate great strength meet and communicate.

The second is about accelerating weight (mass). When you punch, if your torso stays still and only your arms accelerate, the opponent will suffer damage equal to your <arm muscle strength X arm weight, X = multiplication>. However, if you accelerate the whole torso, you can inflict much greater punching power as damage equal to <the strength of the whole body X the weight of the whole body>. This is why the head-shoulders-pelvis must be 'simultaneously' accelerated. This is because the strength of the whole body can be combined explosively at the same time, and the weight of the whole body can be loaded into the punch at the same time. At this time, the stronger the head-shoulder-pelvis is accelerated, the stronger the power of the punch. The point here is 'at the same time'. Please remember !

​◆ Back to Impact (Completion of the puzzle)

Whether it's a straight punch or a spinning punch, we need to simultaneously accelerate the central joints of the body, that is, the head-shoulder-pelvis, and consequently reduce the contact time when the punch collides with the opponent. Let's go back to the collision point where the punch collides with the opponent. Now let's talk about the use of head-shoulders-pelvis at this point of impact.

To start with the conclusion, in order to increase the impact of the punch at the point of impact, you must control the head-shoulder-pelvis. In other words, you have to 'suddenly stop'. It means you have to 'quickly slow down'. This has a tremendous impact on punching power. And how difficult it is to 'suddenly stop' the head-shoulder-pelvis at the moment the punches collide can be seen in practice. The harder you accelerate the head-shoulders-pelvis at the start of the punch, the harder it will be to 'stop' the head-shoulders-pelvis at the final impact (hardpunchers do this easily). This is really great physics. Hardpunchers have this great physique. In a short time of less than one second, the heavy body rapidly accelerates and then rapidly decelerates. This is really beautiful and great physics. Let me explain in more detail with pictures why you need to slow down the head-shoulders-pelvis at the point where the punch hits the opponent's body part.

Basically, when the fist strikes the opponent's body part, the reaction is transmitted to me. The stronger the blow, the greater the reaction that comes back to me. It's like the harder I hit the wall with my fist, the more my fist hurts. If you hit the opponent by accelerating your entire body, the repulsive force is transmitted to your whole body. In the picture below, the movement of rotating the body is emphasized. Then the repulsive force also acts to rotate the body in the opposite direction. [Figure 1-7]

[FIGURE 1-7]

Our body basically has a tendency to relieve tension by dispersing the stress (force) applied to the body when any external force occurs. (Like you instinctively know to bend your knees when you land after a jump). Due to the basic inclination of the human body, when my fist collides with the opponent, the body reacts in two ways. It can be represented pictorially as:

The first is a reaction to dissipate the force by pulling the torso back and sending the head forward. At this time, much of the damage from the punch is absorbed by my body (Refer to the picture in [Picture 1-5] where the impact is dispersed by bending the knee). It is the moment when the original purpose of inflicting punchy impact and damage on the opponent disappears. In other words, the punching power weakens at the end. [Figure 1-8]

[FIGURE 1-8]

The second is a reaction to relieve stress by moving the head and body in the opposite direction of the punch force. This is one of the most common situations where punching power is not transmitted to the opponent. In the end, in all cases 1 and 2, it is a phenomenon that occurs because the body does not have the physical (muscular nervous system) to withstand the repulsive force of the punch. [Figure 1-9]

[Figure 1-9]

​Then, what kind of movement should come out in order to deliver the impact and damage of punching power to the opponent as it is? It is a 'sudden stop' through sudden deceleration of the head-shoulders-pelvis at the moment of impact. At the moment of impact, the joints must be brought to a sudden stop, just like the "unextended knee". Only then will all the impact be transmitted to the knee, and the opponent will be smashed as if the knee is smashed. If so, wouldn't this shock act as a repulsive force for me? Yes, it works as a repulsive force on my body as well. However, the difference is that the other person handles it all with a small area that touches the power of my fist, and I bear the impact with my entire body. If you think about it, isn't it a very good exchange rate? [Figure 1-10]

[FIGURE 1-10]

◆ The beautiful secret behind punching power

Until punching power was scientifically identified, punching power was considered to be "innate" or "can be developed to some extent, but there are unknown limits". Not anymore. Know the exact scientific principle, train according to the principle, and make scientific measurements again. If you continue this process, punching power is no longer an unknown area.

Martial arts is not a science. But a scientific approach is needed.