Kickboxing technique: cross

Video Transcript

" Hi this is Tristan at the Austin Martial Arts Academy. We’re online at http://www.austinmartialarts.com. Alright, this next punch is called the cross; we just did the jab on the other video so make sure you check that out. This is the on guard position, the elbows tucked in okay, a quick review here. This punch is coming from the back hand, okay. This is your power side; the back of the body will always generate more power so this is a big punch. As you recall, that’s the jab. So now, as I throw the cross, same concept with the arm, I rotate the punch at the end, it ends up in what’s called the horizontal position. This is vertical this is horizontal. My head is protected by bringing my chin against my shoulder so that I can’t get hit by my partner if I was sparring. Not this. Not this. Old traditional karate people have a tendency to bring their hand down there, if you’ve done traditional karate watch out for that. For boxing keep it up, protect yourself at all times. Now you might just be working on a bag but it takes more energy to hold your hands up so you’re going to get a better work out if you don’t let them fall. The power comes from rotating your hip; you can’t get power if you don’t twist your foot. Okay watch. That’s as far as I can go if I don’t twist my foot. Think like you’re squishing something, you got gum on your shoe. You have got to rotate your foot, you rotate the foot that engages the knee the knee engages the hip the hip rotates the power comes from the center of your body now your abdominals are working your obliques are working, you’re firing that energy up through your lap and then out your arm and chest. There’s the cross. It’s a good idea when you’re throwing a punch to sink down. People punch and they go ‘Uh’ because they are doing fitness, okay maybe that’s a good work out but that’s not a good punch. Okay. A good punch always screws down into the ground; it’s got a cork screw feeling. Look at my feet, the kind of screw into the floor. This creates stability. That’s the punch. I want to note real quickly that you never put your thumbs inside your fingers. That’s a no-no. You don’t put them on the outside either unless you’re a boxer wearing a boxing glove. You want to put them up under here, punching with these first two knuckles, nice straight wrist. Here’s the cross, elbows tucked in, hands up tight, shoulders slightly raised looking straight ahead. Breathing out. Look at the back foot. There’s the cross. "