Why does rotating your fist increase the power of your punch?

Question

When throwing a straight right punch, I heard that you can increase your power if you rotate your fist 90 degrees at the end of your punch (starting with your fist vertical, ending horizontal). I have experimented on a heavy bag and found that this is indeed true. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

Answer 1

well throw a regular straight punch. you can only feel your shoulder muscle being used mostly. once you throw in a twist you get the forearm bicep shoulder and more adding much more power.

Answer 2

Torque is the thing used here.

The twisting motion adds speed due to the quick, "Snapping" ending. Anatomically, there's a sudden switch and addition of muscles that come into play when you do the twisting. That also adds a bit of power, and Bruce Lee (As with many martial artists) stressed that one should be calm, and then spark at the last minute.

It's VERY subjective in effectiveness though, and depends on the arts used as to what is applicable. Some (As said above) believe it is too time consuming, and can be a subtle telegraph if you will, while in the styles I'm taking now (Kyukido and Hapkido): It depends where you are hitting. The vertical punches are usually quickly at being thrown, but both can be deadly in the right hands.

Wing Chun is a good example of not rotating like that so much but still making good attacks.

Answer 3

There are a number of schools of thought on this, and I'm not sure anyone had definitivaely proven any of them yet :)

I personally believe a few of the respondents already to your question have good answers for you. Within TaeKwon-Do we teach rotation of the striking implement (whatever it is i.e. punch, knife-hand strike, backfist etc) just as impact is made for the following reasons :

1) It causes more muscles to be used which assists in applying more force to the target at the moment of impact
2) The final torqued rotation increases the speed of the striking implement considerably at the moment of impact, and we should all know what speed adds to the equation - even though in this case, it is over a very small distance.
3) In certain strikes, such as a fore fist punch against a soft to medium target, the rotation is designed to twist flesh or increase internal rotation of broken or fractured bones with the intend of causing increased internal damage.

Within HapMoosaKi-Do, our strikes are more diversonary and irritating in nature, rather than being utilized as a final strike, so we don't emply the same turning concept. They are thrown directly and while experienced our more experienced students can generate some good power from this, it is definately not as powerful in my opinion as the rotated strike is.

Certainly, the final turning of all such striking techniques locks them into station when performing forms. Those students who do not do so tend to end up with "floating" techniques that never quite lock onto a target position.

I'm not sure there is any real scientific evidence to support these theories and concepts though - but that is what makes the martial arts so interesting, there are a variety of theories, concepts, and philosophies, and as a student, you can research, adopt, and apply those that make sense and work for you, and discard those that do not.

Ken C
9th Dan HapMoosaKi-Do
8th Dan TaeKwon-Do
7th Dan YongChul-Do

Answer 4

It makes your arm longer, stand arms length away from a wall with your fist held vertically against the wall, now turn it horizontal, you should feel yourself pushed away from the wall, this is because when your fist is vertical the bones in your forearm are crossed slightly and at an angle through your forearm, when its horizontal they straighten out and thus make your forearm slightly longer. like if you twist a string or a rope a bunch of times it gets shorter, but when you untwist it it becomes longer.
In addition the lengthening of you forearm adds velocity to your punch, on top of what you would normally get from keeping your punch vertical. also your bones are in a superior position to transfer momentum to your target, and are in a more solid position so they 'give' less when you make contact, both of which increase the impact on whatever you're hitting.
torque has nothing to do with it(I should know I'm a physics tutor) as since the rotation is at a right angle to the direction of the punch there is possible way for the rotation to have an effect, the effect comes from the lengthing of the forearm and the superior bone position in the horizontal position

Answer 5

If you mean the TKD punch that rotates as it impacts the target. The purpose of the rotation is to increase tissue damage. It may not increase impact force. Remember to use The rule "hard to soft soft to hard" so punch to abdomen with twisting straight punch. use palm strikes to the head neck and face. Of course this is for bear handed combat. padding changes to punches, because you are padded. The TKD punch starts different ways depending on which punch. They do all rotate on impact.

Answer 6

In physics it is called 'torque'.

In my Shotokan, GoJu-Ryu, and Tae Kwon Do days (60s & 70s) we studied this 'twisting' phenomonon closely and brought the problem to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

The application of 'Torque' to a forward thrust increases the P.S.I. (pounds per square inch) on contact.

One 'atemi' (striking) style which does not twist the fist is Isshin-Ryu Karate (Okinawan style) because their philosophy is that it is too time consuming to rotate the fist on its way to the target.

Some styles of Karate and TKD disagree on the application of the 'torque': do you rotate the fist as you throw the punch or just before you hit the target? This issue still remains contentious.

Answer 7

It actually doesn't, rotating yur fist right before impact looks harder because it cuts the skin easier and tears it open as opposed to just a straight punch that might leave a little cut.

Answer 8

once you throw in a twist you get the forearm bicep shoulder and adding much more power.