Martial Arts • May 27, '24

Strike Hard, Strike Fast, Hit those pads

In May, we've been building power. If you want to hit hard, you need proper technique. Solo work, basics and kata, are all good and fine, but sometimes you just need to hit something to know what your body is capable of.

Here are the Top 5 Reasons to Hit Pads
5. Targeting. You need to hit the center of the pads, and you get realtime feedback when you don't. Practicing this, improves your targetting.
4. Speed. Striking an object hard has a different feel than throwing a technique solo in the air. The impact provides feedback. Understanding this feedback will accelerate your techniques.

  1. 3. Power. You only get what you train. If you only ever throw kicks in the air. You will have a fantastic kick hitting air. If you want to hit hard, you need to know what hitting hard feels like.
  2. 2. Technique. No-one is a better teacher than the school of hard knocks. A sensei can talk till they are blue in the face, telling a student to turn over his leg and point the top of his knee at the target, and sometimes the words just don't resonate. But when a student does a hard set of roundhouse kicks against a pad, but he is really only throwing crescent kicks, then his knee will tell him he was doing it wrong.
  3. 1. And the Number 1 reason to hit pads... It is SOOOO MUCH FUN! :) There is a tremendous feeling of strength and power you get from, well, using your strength and power!
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