When one thinks about increasing their punching power, there a lot of theories and ideas out there; some a warranted, some seem absolutely ludicrous, and others, well, the jury is still out on them is the best way to describe them. One of the more intriguing theories comes from the world renowned, world famous, Sensei Aldo. I would be doing Sensei Aldo a great injustice by trying to paraphrase his unique philosophy in my own words so here is what Sensei Aldo had to say about the video below…

We all want to punch harder. But if you add speed and power to your strikes while ignoring proper alignment, you’re only going to hurt yourself.

That’s why I recommend testing full power strikes on heavy bags and pads every chance you get. Especially if you practice karate, tae kwon do, or kung fu. If you spend a large amount of your training time punching and striking in the air, you may be building bad habits without even knowing it.

But how can you test your punches if you don’t have a heavy bag? Simple–use a wall!

I’m not recommending that you actually punch the wall. Instead, you should push it. Why? Because a punch is really just a fast, explosive push. They both rely on proper body alignment for maximum power.

Start off by placing your knuckles on the wall. Then lean on your punch. The wall will tell you immediately if your alignment is off. You may teeter off balance or find your wrist buckling. Keep pushing into the wall to reveal all of your weak lines.

Once you know what proper alignment feels like, go back to shadow boxing and practicing kata. See if you can make your body connect the same way it did when you pushed against the wall.”

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More from Sensei, “I highly recommend that you test ALL of your strikes on the wall. Elbows, hooks, overhands, jabs… even head butts. Test them frequently. Bad habits can seep into your practice at any time or rank.