Do Broad Shoulders Help You Hit Harder?

[Darkstranger]

olympic lifting will broaden your shoulders.

No they won't! They can stimulate your traps alot though.

Shoulder width is determined by your clavicle. All you can do is work the shoulder muscles to stimulate growth. You won't need to do 8 different types of shoulder exercises, just simple standing overhead press with a barbell would be enough.

[EzzardFan]

Alternatively hit the speedbag a lot. That works your shoulders really hard, and in a way that is tailored towards punching.

[#1Assassin]

Marciano was arguably one of the hardest punchers in boxing. All those who faced him attested to that fact. He repeatedly punched La Starza's forearms in an attempt to bring down his guard, and ruptured all the blood vessels in them. He also had 43 KOs in 49 bouts.

Marciano was 185lbs and 5'11" with a 42" chest, a freakishly short 68" reach, and stoop shoulders.

There's a sound argument that shorter reach actually provides a better basis for punching power by making it easier to leverage weight behind the punch, because the arm reaching vmax plus the transference of weight better coincide with the punch connecting, and because the momentum to force translation occurs more quickly due to greater rigidity and faster deceleration.

I can go into more detail if required.

But having said that, punching power is mostly down to technique, particularly speed and weight transfer, so make the best of what you got

The single best way to improve punching power is to practise hitting the heavy bag. The heavier the bag the better

marciano fought bulked up Lt.HWs with ****ty punch resistance, his power is overrated.

i look at the kronk fighters, proven punchers. tall, lean guys who generated leverage from their height and reach aswell as usually broad shoulders. tommy hearns obviously being the best example.

marciano had wide hips and was very strong, thats where he got power from in addition to hitting glass in most of his fights. im a huge fan of moore, walcott and even more so ezzard charles, but they were blown up 175lbers who couldnt take a punch at HW.

shorter reach is preferable to shorter fighters who generate more power in hooks than straight punches, mike tyson is a good example. but these fighters need wide shoulders and hips instead.

taller guys with long reach can use that reach to generate power when punching with a fully extended arm. i agree the key is always technique and speed though, like i said, before mcclellan and hearns were shown how to punch properly neighter was considered a puncher. but once they were shown how to punch properly they got leverege from their height, reach and wide shoulders.

[Lokotron]

marciano fought bulked up Lt.HWs with ****ty punch resistance, his power is overrated.

i look at the kronk fighters, proven punchers. tall, lean guys who generated leverage from their height and reach aswell as usually broad shoulders. tommy hearns obviously being the best example.

marciano had wide hips and was very strong, thats where he got power from in addition to hitting glass in most of his fights. im a huge fan of moore, walcott and even more so ezzard charles, but they were blown up 175lbers who couldnt take a punch at HW.

shorter reach is preferable to shorter fighters who generate more power in hooks than straight punches, mike tyson is a good example. but these fighters need wide shoulders and hips instead.

taller guys with long reach can use that reach to generate power when punching with a fully extended arm. i agree the key is always technique and speed though, like i said, before mcclellan and hearns were shown how to punch properly neighter was considered a puncher. but once they were shown how to punch properly they got leverege from their height, reach and wide shoulders.

I heard alot about marciano and the italian mafia theres alot of rumors.

[EzzardFan]

walcott and even more so ezzard charles, but they were blown up 175lbers who couldnt take a punch at HW.

Walcott fought at HW from 1933-1953, that's 20 years. Only the first four fights in his career were at under 175lbs, the other 67 were at HW. Far from being a blown up LHW he typically hovered around the 195lbs mark. Aside from Marciano he was only KO'd 4x in his entire career, and one of those was to Joe Louis in 1948 when Louis was still champion and weighed 211lbs, and another was to Abe Simon who weighed in at 256lbs!

I reckon that trashes your Walcott was a blown up LHW with poor punch resistance theory.



And that is most definitely a hard straight punch coming from a 185lbs fighter to a 195lbs fighter - by anyone's criteria.

[EzzardFan]

marciano fought bulked up Lt.HWs with ****ty punch resistance, his power is overrated.

In actuality Marciano campaigned 49 fights at HW and scored 43 KOs. 11 of those KOs were against fighters weighing in excess of 200lbs.

Rex Layne was 193lbs and Rocky hit him so hard his teeth sheared off inside his mouthpiece which flew across the ring.

Carmine Vingo almost died in the ring after being KO'd and spent some time in a coma.

[Lokotron]

Okay guys so basically no excersize will increase my shoulder width but natural growth will.Lately I've been doing loads of pull ups and I feel my back people have been telling me my back and shoulders have grown.

[Spartacus Sully]

Okay guys so basically no excersize will increase my shoulder width but natural growth will.Lately I've been doing loads of pull ups and I feel my back people have been telling me my back and shoulders have grown.

im sure the muscles have grown but if you measure the distance from shoulder blade to shoulder blade it should always be the same.

[And Still]

If so how do I grow broad shoulders so I can have a large back.

They don't. But long arms, if used properly, can give you the leverage to generate alot of power. See Corrales/ Funeka/Hearns.

[F l i c k e r]

Broaden your back not your shoulders. So do alot of back exercises like pullups and such. You want your shoulders flexible and nimble not hulking like Dwight Howard.

Then afterwards work your technique.... a.k.a keep your non-punching hand close to your body while you punch. That way you get the leverage from your back(one of the biggest and strongest muscle on your body) not your chest.



Being born with the body type of a big puncher helps too but that doesn't automatically mean you can't get power. Just work out, getting strength in your lower body can help to. That way when you sit on your punches, the kinetic energy travels through strong quads and hamstrings, up your body to your back, and through your arm. Perfect technique will aid in delivering the kinetic energy more effectively through your arms(waist turning, punching form) and then.... in the words of Lampley "****"