This goes against everything Ive learned over the years but since Ive stopped doing push-ups Ive gotten much faster (handspeed). The only push-ups Ive done the last while have been within my conditioning routines (pushup burpees, clapping push-ups). Theres a few other things that may have affected this though.

1) Ive acquired the ability to do a pull-up with one arm
2) More stretching for my shoulders ("shoulder dislocations" with a towel)
3) I toned down my training for a couple weeks

Dislocations: hold a towel with a hand on each end straight out in front. Raise the towel up over your head and bring it back till it touches your butt and reverse the motion and repeat while keeping your arms as straight as possible.

-So Im thinking since push-ups essentially train endurance (slow twitch fibers) they may have been slowing me down by training me to use the slow twitch while punching? (wild guess)
-Or could it be because my back is retard strong and it was somehow what I needed? My chest isnt amazingly strong, I can only bench 225lb@ 155lb bodyweight so I doubt it was a balance issue.
-Or is it because I WAS inflexible in the shoulders before and the increased flexibility is making me more loose.
-Or was it simply the break I needed.

Ive also been training with heavier gloves (14oz) as opposed to the light bag gloves I was using before. And Ive been trying to increase reflexes with an online reflex tester (speed of thought?)

There thats everything new Ive introduced to my routine over the last 2 months.

Im not expecting a solid for sure answer but Id like it if somebody could offer some insight on the matter because whatever Im doing right Id like to keep doing it. Im going to comb through my workout logs now. I'll check in on this thread in the morning....punchdrunk?

Congrats on the 1-arm pullup. That **** is hard and takes a lot of work to build up to it.

I really don't know what might have spurred this increase in hand speed, but I personally think it has to do with the whole slow-twitch fiber vs. fast-twitch. If pushups do in fact use more slow-twitch fibers vs. fast-twitch, than it makes sense that your handspeed increases, as I assume throwing a punch involves fast-twitch fibers.

Can't really offer scientific backing though, sorry. Keep it up though.

P.S. Toning down the training might have helped a bit too. I personally know that if I keep increasing the number of reps that I do of a particular exercise, say, pullups, then taking about a 2-3 day rest of no reps of that exercise whatsoever allows me to do even more reps than I was doing when I was intensely training those muscle groups. Don't really know if the same logic transfers over to handspeed and throwing punches.

Remember it's not just the exercise you do but also how you do it that affects what the exercise does for you. If you were doing medium to slow pace pushups til muscle failure/exhaustion sure that's anaerobic and would have worked slow twitch most likely however you can try doing low to medium rep sets of explosive pushups or ones with weight and that may even enhance your speed even more. That's just an idea. But you can try it and see how it works, do some sets of explosive pushups where you mentally strive to push yourself to explode into them as FAST as humanly possible.

Let's back it up a little... how do you know your handspeed has increased?

Well, maybe he finally started to land something on his sparring partners.

Let's back it up a little... how do you know your handspeed has increased?

I can feel it and see it, Im surprising myself. And people have commented on it. When Im doing pads with my trainer hes surprised, I can see it in his face....not to toot my own horn of course.

Its weird because it seems all of a sudden...confuzzled

I can feel it and see it, Im surprising myself. And people have commented on it. When Im doing pads with my trainer hes surprised, I can see it in his face....not to toot my own horn of course.

Its weird because it seems all of a sudden...confuzzled

Maybe its all pycological or your fitness has improved so you can throw more and quicker. :dunno:

i would personally bet it has to do with the flexibility you've gained. lifting weigths and such without stretching slows you down, because you tighten up. if your nice and loose and flexible your speed will do better haha.

You're not a man until you can do 20 **** push-ups.

You're not a man until you can do 20 **** push-ups.

I can do 30 lol

Muscles: awesome avitar dude, Im betting the flexibility has the most to do with it too. The extra rest Ive gotten too...

Flexibility? Not likely. Unless you were actually so inflexible, that you couldn't perform a punch with proper technique, that is. I've yet to see anybody without injuries, who didn't have the flexibility to throw punches. The motions in a punch are pretty compact, and well within the range of normal flexibility, and being more flexible than what is needed for a certain motion is not necessarily a good thing.

Also, the whole "weights make you inflexible" thing is so out of proportion it's ridiculous. In fact, a lot of the time people become more flexible when they start doing compound movements, with a good teacher. When I start someone on squats, 95 out of a 100 have difficulty with reaching a proper squat depth. 100 out of a 100 will be more flexible in their squat depth after a month or two. Sometimes strength doesn't hinder mobility, it promotes it.

Not really flexibility per se but maybe being looser. Like my back muscles arent fighting the out portion of the punch and vice versa. Thats what I meant.

Not really flexibility per se but maybe being looser. Like my back muscles arent fighting the out portion of the punch and vice versa. Thats what I meant.