Thinking about punching power a lot lately, mostly because I'm still recovering from a shoulder surgery including torn rotator cuff (supraspinatus as well as labrum with an AC joint separation). Any how, it's been a few years and I'm beginning accepting that as good as it is now is close to as good as it is ever going to be. In addition to the amount of martial arts information that's accurately posted here regarding technique, I'm sure there's many of members have a much better knowledge than I regarding strength, explosive power, and how to build and apply the two. So anyone reading this, try to bare through the rather long rambling in my OP and any replies.
I am left-handed and have always trained and fought with my right side forward; now with my left shoulder being junk, I've begin examining some Bruce Lee fighting concepts. I realize Bruce Lee was not a proven, empirically tested combat athlete (few sparring accounts or footage, plus the absence of any type of athletic combat competition besides dancing) however, having train with some of his original students and researching mostly all his writings, theoretically at least I believe he was very intelligent with regards to training and fighting. The reason why I'm using his ideas, is that due to my injuries it is possible that I may be confined using my training more theoretically than proven practical in actual sparring or competition. And the other reason is that he extensively wrote and believed in fighting with your strong side forward which for me, my lead right arm is now my "strong" arm.
Coming from a boxing background for my base in stand up fighting technique, I have always believed in keeping your power hand in the rear. Later, as I added others martial arts to my repertoire (wrestling, BJJ, judo) I used the Bill "Superfoot" Wallace theory of learning to do everything from one stance, i.e. get really good at everything using the same lead, rather than be be half-assed on both sides. I learned how to wrestle with my power side in the rear, contrary to the way 99% of people learn early in wrestling (strong side forward). This is all just to say, after 20 some years of training, I've always kept my weaker right hand side leading, in front, which is now due to injury my stronger, dominant side.
Since boxers have far and away the most powerful, effective punching techniques, much more so "credibility" than an actor (Bruce Lee) using that discipline and their athletes as an example(s) there is surprisingly some very good antecedent evidence for fighting strong side for maximum power and knock out ability. Incidentally three of the most powerful boxers pound for pound--responsible for some of the greatest knockouts in the modern history of the sport, were actually left-handed and fought with that strong side forward: Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and Oscar DeLaHoya. This is/was mostly unknown by their opponents and their opponent's trainers, and all have been praised for their piston like, powerful lead jabs, and unanimously lauded for their devastating left hook.
Onto the purpose of this thread... (All my questions more pertain to self defense type scenarios, I realize I'm not going to be fighting for any professional titles with one "working" arm.) Is being "forced" to lead with your power hand a detriment for scoring knockouts? Would it be better off re-learning, placing that power arm in the back to generate more force, since I am now basically a one arm fighter? Back to the other purpose of using Bruce Lee and his theories for constructing the most effective way I can train and protect myself, does anyone have any thoughts or experience with regards to Bruce's straight lead or "blast"? How necessary is it to the effectiveness that a vertical fist must be used vs. conventional jab rotating the fist, turning the punch over--something every boxing trainer I've ever used or talked to I assured me this was essential to generating maximum power in a lead jab. Is there any situational factors to consider having a bare fist vs. a boxing glove, when deciding using a vertical fist or a turning the jab over?
Any and all thoughts, ideas or discussion is welcomed. As must be evident by the amount of writing here, I'm going out of my mind trying to find something to fill the void of not being able to train, but still wanting to keep my mind sharp and figure out the best course of my options for the future with the limitations I now have.
