[Vi3tcong]

I was just curious and couldn't find anything on the forum discussing if holding weights and punching can injure you. At my dojo we train with 2-3 lb dumbbells while shadow boxing sometimes. I used to hold a 20 lb dumbbell and practice punching in order to gain speed and power but stopped in order to get professional advice.

[re-animator]

20lbs is to heavy.

dont train a movement you want to be fast at slowly.

real light weights is fine.

[flak]

Think about what the dumbbell does -- it's pulled straight down by gravity. So a dumbbell doesn't train your body to punch against resistance in the opposite direction, it forces your body (mostly your grip, shoulder and core) to cope with something that's trying to push your hand down.

I used to take boxing/kickboxing classes and the coaches had us punch with 1 lb. or 2 lbs. weights all the time. But as I understood it, the purpose was to improve the endurance strength of our front delts so that we would get better at keeping our hands up in a good guard position when we got tired, rather than dropping our hands.

So personally I would just stick with the little dumbbells. Or get into band training, which can provide resistance in the opposite direction of the punch.

[ghostwipe]

It always seemed to me like that would be worse for your elbows.

[No Quarter]

There is another thread on this subject somewhere.

[Lusst]

I forsee an eventual injury if you go too heavy (ie: 20lbs), hell, I forsee an injury with just 5lbs.

It brings to mind someone sprinting with ankle weights...just unnecessary pressure on the joints.

[maori rule all]

hhmmm

[Vi3tcong]

I stopped using heavy dumbbells and started using cables from time to time. Cables wouldn't have any negative effects would they? even if I had 40lbs of resistance?

[Standard]

Spend your time punching without weights, just a pair of heavy bag gloves 14 - 18 oz. You will generate more power and more speed from punching properly than trying to add resistance at any plane of motion and comprimising your form.

Adding in lifts for rotational strength is a good idea but training your punching and your strength should be seperate. Adding weights for punching even when light (couple pounds) is only a good idea for conditioning and muscle endurance.

[Vi3tcong]

thanks for the advice