In the last post, I went over some things that don’t work when trying to develop your punching power. Today, I want to go over 3 exercise’s you can fit into your mma training workouts that simply kick-ass if you really want to develop that knockout power every mma fighter desires.

The following exercises should be trained together, no more then 2 to 3 days a week. Start off doing about 5 to 15 reps, 2 to 4 sets each exercise, with about 60 – 90 seconds rest between each set and exercise.

Remember that the key is to focus on technique and power in each rep, this isn’t your typical mma strength and conditioning routine where you’re trying to exhaust your muscles or test your endurance.

In fact, if you find yourself slowing down or getting tired then you’re not developing power at all, but performing a half ass conditioning workout. You need to either lower the resistance in each exercise, rest longer between sets, or perform less reps/sets.

Here are the exercises below:

1) Medicine Ball Side Tosses

Medicine Ball Side Toss

Start Position: Start standing perpendicular to a sturdy wall with your feet roughly shoulder width apart, holding the medicine ball in front of you at arms length.

Movement: With your arms nearly straightened out and your feet firmly planted in front of you, cock the medicine ball to the side slightly before you use your core and hips to rotate as fast as possible to throw the ball across to your other side.

Notes: The key is to use your core and torso to throw the ball, not your arms, and remember to keep your feet in the same position throughout the movement.  Start off with a light medicine ball, around 6 – 10 pounds depending on your weight and strength level. Remember, the key here is developing a powerful and “snappy” movement, you’re not supposed to be looking like a StrongMan lifting 500 pound Atlas stones.

2) Sledgehammer Slams

Starting Position: Start off with standing in front of a piece of equipment that will give, such as a tire or other strong rubber. Word of Caution: don’t slam it against something that will cause the sledgehammer to bounce back – unless you plan on developing your chin simultaneously (that’s a joke). Stand with one foot forward, and the sledgehammer in front of you as seen in the above picture.

Movement: Slowly raise the sledgehammer in an arcing, half-circle angle vertically, and use your back, shoulders, and core to slam the hammer down on the tire as hard as you can.

Notes: The key is coordinating the movement with all the muscles for maximum speed and power. Really focus on using your core, back, and shoulders to develop the power. Your arms, just like a punch, should only be the delivering mechanism for the force, not the cause of it.

3) Power Push-Ups

Starting Position: Start off in the bottom/finishing position of the push-up.

Movement: With all your power, push with your arms and chest as fast and hard as you can, elevating your body off the ground as high as you can.

Notes: Power push-ups are a good supplemental exercise to develop that extra snap that just doesn’t get developed in the bench press. By starting from the bottom position, and ending the moving as powerful as possible (unlike in the bench press where you actually have to slow down at the end to avoid throwing the weight), you are coordinating the correct muscle movement where your arms, chest, and shoulders are used in a punch.

Summary

Progressively integrate these three exercises in your mma training workouts, and after a few solid months of consistency, you should notice considerable increase in your punching power.

This of course, is assuming you’ll still be working on sharpening your technique as well.

Give them a try, and let me know by commenting below if you have any questions.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Training Workouts