Do you have time to pivot your hips to punch when sparring?

Question

In martial arts practice, we are taught to pivot our hips to put power into the punch. However, when we spar, I see me and most of the students just punch with their arms.

Pivoting our hips seems to take too much time and too much thought. In sparring our reaction has to be fast.

What we do in practice like gathering power from the ground and spiraling the power up into our bodies and into our arms as we punch just can't be pulled off in sparring because it takes too much time.

Is there a solution to this problem?

Answer 1

For 1 and 1-2's I can get full rotation. But obviously when you throw a big combination, you aren't going to be able to get full rotation with your hips on every single left right punch.

I just try to get my footwork right and usually the hips and torso follow suit.

Answer 2

If you practice enough it will become the way you punch and does not take any longer. The reason it seems longer is that you are thinking about it. You must train more until it becomes what you do. It is the most powerful way to punch. Speed comes with practice. You of course use a lot of jabs in sparing and that does not come from the hip rotation.

Answer 3

by doing that when sparring, that means that you will do it in a real situation as well.   The best solution is to change the rules of your sparring to make it where you must move someone with your attack for it to count.   This is the largest issue that I have with point sparring, because it does tend to teach people to quickly make contact, then break away.  This is a bad habit in regards to self defense.

Answer 4

That is why we train day after day, week after week, year after year. So that these actions such as pivots and rotations become automatic. I can't say "autonomic", because of course the brain is involved  (unlike true autonomic response) but we can achieve automatic response that is so fast and so ingrained in the technique, that it need no conscious thought.

(note : an autonomic (not to be confused with automatic) response is like a reflex action that does not require a response from the brain, for example the knee jerk reflex etc.)

So the answer to your question is yes it is possible and desirable to use the appropriate rotations and pivots to strengthen your techniques and add snap,even during kumite/sparring, but it can take years of training to make it automatic. The solution is to train hard and stick to correct technique. There are no shortcuts.

Answer 5

M y favorite fighting stance when fighting or sparring is the half horse stance. in this stance your hip near your fight guard hand is already turned and in this stance it looks like  you are getting in position to  execute a side kick.

The element of deception always helps the speed of your hand technique.

From a front stance and back leaning stance your must turn waist to assist legs and arms for more power.  an important element of speed is to be in the moment always aware of yor opponents defense and always anticipating his next move which you will be able to do  with experience.

If you counter and punch  you will have speed turning your hips but if you concentrate on being offensive and are over aggressive you will have to worry about speed when you use both your legs and hips to throw your punch when sparring.

Answer 6

Well, what really depends is how much you are swiveling the hips.

When you first start out, the movements of the hips are pronounced. This is so you will see what the action is and your body will get used to the proper body mechanics. It's the exact same as standing in deep stances and transitioning from stance to stance. While training this type of body function the newer student is generally stiff and sluggish because of it. Even though that's a general starting condition as you progress you are taught more and more to relax. As you begin to relax and as the motions become automatic you will see that the grandiose motions become less and less. You will still maintain the power necessary and will increase in speed, but your motions will just be smaller.  

If you watch somebody who's been performing martial arts for a long period of time 20+years.... Watch their hips and feet especially if they're on camera. You will see that their hips swivel and the rear ankle doesn't leave the ground. However the movement is so constrained and quick you will really only notice when you watch them in slow motion. Their hips look as though they just vibrated... which they did.

So, don't worry about speed, as well as attacking so much. If you're attacking you better be fast or have really good feints. Otherwise it's timing that makes you better not speed. Yes, some speed is necessary, but it's not the end all. If you concentrate on your timing and reading your opponent's thoughts you will be able to execute your techniques propperly. Executing properly in practice will help you to execute properly in life, that's why we train.  

I mention for you to not worry about attacking in practice as in a self defense situation you will not be attacking, you will be defending. In a fight you will attack, as the both of you are aware of what's happening. There are many different ways to defend so don't think that I mean you are just going to stand still and let the other person punch you in the face. Your Sensei should be able to teach you these concepts as your training progresses. If you have other questions about this you can question me if you'd like.

There is an old philosophy of this that is:

Fa Li-large movements

Fa Jing-medium movements

Fa Chi- small movements

Fa Shen- no movements

This is the goal of the martial artist.

Answer 7

This is a big problem in many traditional karate and taekwondo classes that primarily practice by punching the air from a set stance.  

Spend more time hitting a heavy bag.  Try to focus on maximizing both speed and power with every punch.  Don't just stand in one place - move around, in and out of range, while you work your combinations.  After a few sessions of this you should find your punching power while sparring much improved.

Answer 8

The answer is simple. Time and practice.

Answer 9

I would reserve this technique for a "finishing punch".

The first punch or kick as a set up...then whip those hips into a  "HEE-AIIIIIii!" -finishing punch!



To often we focus on "scoring" and forget what the real reason for sparring is---to learn to stop an aggressor in his tracks!

Answer 10

using your hips gives you the power you need, and accuracy

Answer 11

Some schools have  full power body hit sparring using body pads and gloves- this helps in fights later- the old 'you'll fight as you train' idea. Heavy bag punching and Makiwara punching help develop punch - and kick - power with the contact and resistance. The hip snap twist as fist gets close to target becomes conditioned response.

Answer 12

This is easier to show than to try to explain.  In many cases it is not practical to pivot on your feet. In others it is.  I agree with much of what Aaron J said.

If you contact me directly and mention this subject I will be glad to give you additional information and video that will clear up some of the questions you have.

**************************************...

  EDIT: I really thought that I'd hear from you. You could write a book about the subject and not even begin to do it justice. I am willing to make a short video on punching and send it you at no cost to you. It is a lot of work for me and I get nothing out of it except the satisfaction of helping you. Your choice. Oh I was going to contact you directly rather than leaving this message here, but you don't allow email for some reason?  

**************************************...