How to Punch Faster, Guide to Increasing Hand Speed

It is a famous adage in boxing that it isn't the hardest punch that knocks you out, but the one you don't see coming. This happens to be extremely true and it's a big reason why hand speed is important. Especially because basic physics tells us that “Speed x Mass = Power.” So the faster you throw, the better the chance you have of beating your opponent.

Blinding hand speed can provide you with a big edge in the fight. Guys like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones, and Manny Pacquiao have proved it to be true.

So let's discuss the benefits of hand speed. Then, we'll dive right into how to punch faster and what you can do to increase your hand speed.

Benefits of Hand Speed

There are a few things that throwing fast punches will help you within a fight. Let's list them out here.

Landing More Punches

One thing that will happen when you're the faster guy in the ring is confidence. You’ll know that your opponents will have a hard time reacting to your punches so you will throw with confidence, knowing most of the time, you are going to land. Having fast hands will provide you with more opportunities to find openings. It allows you to take advantage of counters more readily and confuse your opponent when you throw combinations and in turn, landing a higher percentage of your punches.

Controlling the Fight

Another benefit of hand speed is fear that your opponents will have after getting hit a few times. After the first few shots, they will realize they didn't see them coming and this will allow you to dictate the pace of the fight. They will slow down their output if you continue to land blazing shots over their lazy attempts. This will make your opponent less likely to engage and be more careful with how they pick their shots.

More Knockouts/TKO’s

If you have a good sting to your punch already, increasing hand speed should definitely help you get more knockouts. Not only will it help increase your punching power, but also land those shots that your opponent doesn't see coming. As far as TKO’s, it’s much easier to bewilder your opponent when throwing fast combinations. This means stoppages by the ref or corner are easier to come by, due to high volume punching that yields a lack of response from your opponent, think Joe Calzaghe.

Of course, this is all assuming you have a good foundation of boxing IQ. Just hand speed isn't enough to win fights but it will definitely improve your chances. Most guys don’t know how to deal with hand speed and are plainly scared of it, so it will definitely help you in fights.

I’m assuming you already knew most of the benefits which is why you want to know how to throw faster punches. Well, let’s dive right into it, here is your guide to being lightning fast.

The 5 Steps to Punch Faster

Some things you can do almost immediately to increase your hand speed and some things will take time to develop. Overall it will be a combination of training both your body and mind to work together to make you a speed demon.

#1 Punch Faster

If you want to throw faster punches, well then, you have to throw faster punches. This may sound confusing at first but let me explain. A lot of times boxers throw at a certain speed just because it's a habit for them to throw that way. They don't consciously realize that this isn't their full potential. A lot of times we fight how we train and throwing subpar punches in practice will turn to throw subpar punches in the ring. The worst part is now you’ve built these neurological connections so when you’re in autopilot mode, you will throw at the speed you train with.

The solution is simple. Start off by throwing one punch, this can be any punch you choose. Now ask yourself, was that the absolute fastest you could throw it? I guarantee you it isn't. So throw it again but faster. Now try and throw it even faster than that. Then faster than that last one until you are absolutely maximizing your effort and speed. This will make you realize you have been throwing lazy punches and holding yourself back from your full potential. Keep doing this until it becomes a habit for you to throw every punch as fast as you can. Take this exercise seriously and you will be surprised by the result.

This is a piece of wisdom I once inherited from my coach when I was a young kid. I asked him “How can I do more pull-ups” to which he very wisely replied, “do more pull-ups.” This simple, yet brilliant logic can be applied to everything in life, including hand speed. I’ve done this drill successfully and increased my hand speed dramatically.

There are tools you can use to track your hand speed, as well. See below under "Tracking Your Hand Speed."

#2 Relax the Punch

This is a lot easier said than done but it a must to throw at your full speed potential. For this, you will have to channel your inner Ali. Too many fighters are engaging every muscle in there arm as they throw the punch at every step of the way. The key is to explode the punch outward while leaving your hand completely relaxed. Once you get to the end simply bring back as fast as you can. Even when you look at guys like Tyson and Roy Jones, they may look explosive but that shoulder snap will tell you that they’re hands are relaxed when throwing the punch outward. Watching Ali shadow box give you the best idea of what this means. Try and practice relaxing your form as you throw a punch. This can be done by letting your hands hang loosely at your side and throwing them at a target without flexing, just so you can get the idea of what it feels like. This involves mostly using your shoulder to get the torque out.

#3 Snap and Whip

The next step is to snap and whip your punches. With this, you have to keep the punch relaxed as mentioned above and this will allow for you to create a whip-like effect. Imagine hitting your opponent with a whip. It will hurt if you just swing the whip at him, however, if you swing the whip and then pull back as hard as you can at the point of impact, it will hurt much more. Do the same thing with your punches. if you ever heard a coach say to “snap” your punches, that is exactly what they mean. Once your punch reaches full extension, make sure you bring it back as fast as you can.

#4 Improve Stamina

This may surprise a lot of people but hand speed has just about everything to do with stamina. The difference between the greats and a lot of top contenders is that the contenders have the ability to be great spots, but are not able to maintain it. This is all because of stamina. When you look at guys like Roy Jones and Mayweather, what made them amazing is that they had the ability to stay fast and explosive all the way to the twelfth round. Being fast takes the juice out of you, so in order to actually have fast hands consistently, you have to be in tremendous shape. So do your miles, your ring work, and make sure you're throwing at your full ability with every punch. Do NOT save yourself for later rounds, make every punch be your best punch. You will find yourself getting tired quicker, and that’s the point.

#5 Throw Straight

We’ve all heard that the fastest way to get from A to B is in a straight line. For some reason, some fighters forget this simple rule. A lot of times when I watch fighters training, I will see they're adding unnecessary motion into their punches. When you're throwing a jab, the moment before it leaves your chin, it should not travel up or down but only straight, directly at your opponent. The same thing with hooks, there is no need to give it more destinations. The goal is for your punch to travel directly from your chin, straight on to your opponents. Try to keep the distance your hand travels the shortest possible to land the punch. Sometimes recording yourself will show you exactly where you're adding extra time.

These are some steps you can take to see a quick improvement in hand speed. Work on these things and you will definitely see yourself punching faster, however, that is only part of the equation. Let's talk about the types of training you can do to increase your speed.

The Hand Speed Workout

Now that we know of the tweaks we can make to get our hands faster, let's talk about the training we can do to allow our body to be faster. There are things you can do daily in training to increase hand speed, the key will be a clear focus on this particular goal.

Shadow Boxing - The King of Hand Speed Workouts

Most of what you can do to get faster will revolve around a shadow boxing drill of some sort. Shadowboxing allows your hands to fly freely and forces you to pull your punches back which is what contributes to speed and snap, just as much as throwing the punch out. Because there is nothing to land the punch on, you also work on your fast-twitch muscles more than you would hit a heavy bag, for example.

Let’s get into the shadowboxing drills.

Regular Shadow Boxing - With a Twist

The first workout you will start just like any other shadow boxing workout but you will have to tweak it just a little. This will be exactly what we mentioned in #1 above. As you begin your shadow boxing workout, isolate your punches. Start with the jab and throw it as you normally would. Then, try to throw it even faster than that. With each punch, be conscious of what you throw, and throw it faster each time. You will quickly realize that you have been holding back your full potential and not throwing at full speed the entire time. This is mentioned first because you will be doing this with each punch you throw from now on no matter the workout. Throw as fast as you can EVERY time.

Because we try and conserve energy, especially when we are out of shape, we build bad habits and bad neural pathways in the brain that make us throw average punches. This is where you rewire yourself. So here, do 50 of each punch, throwing as fast as you can each time, then do 50 of different combination variations. Again, throwing as fast as you can each time.

2. Shadow Boxing With Gloves On

Another useful workout, and certainly has helped me increase my hand speed, is shadow boxing with gloves on, the heavier the better. Keep the above concept in mind as you do this, making sure you are throwing to your full potential each time. The extra weight and resistance will help your hands strengthen the “speed muscles.” It’s basically isolated gravity training or at least as close as you can get to it. This is a simple workout, simply proceed with your typical shadow boxing, instead just keep the gloves on. Aside from hand speed, this is also great for conditioning.

3. Shortening Your Punches

You may have seen the guy who does an impressive shuffle with his hands throwing short punches. A lot of boxers, and sometimes even coaches, dismiss short punches during shadowboxing as a waste of time or just plain “showing off.” However, there is a method to the madness. I once thought the same thing when I saw one of my opponent's shadowboxing, thinking “I’m going to kill this guy he can't even throw a full punch.” At that time, I was young and naive. When we got in the ring, he was so fast I never saw his hands leave his chin. It was just my head snapping back from his jabs and then me seeing him with his hands up, he was that fast. Luckily my IQ won me that fight but I took a valuable lesson away from it and started experimenting.

After a few weeks of practicing it, I noticed a huge improvement in hands speed.

Here is what you do. Every time you throw a straight punch, do not fully extend. Stop your punches about halfway and pull them back as fast as you can. Do this with every punch. Here is a sample of Roy Jones shadow boxing this way.

4. Resistance Bands

This is the most overlooked workout for hand speed and I’ll never know why, but the science behind it makes sense and it has definitely worked for me. Whether you have your own resistance bands or want to get one specifically designed for shadow boxing, it works. The way you do it is simple, grab the resistance bands, over or under the grip, depending on your preference, then throw each punch as fast as you can. If you are not getting enough resistance, wrap it around a stationary object(that won't budge) like a pole, and walk away from it until you get the resistance you are looking for. Then, proceed to throw each punch as fast as you can, every single time. I can’t emphasize the importance of that enough.

5. Weights

The other option is to shadow box with weights as we’ve seen guys like Mayweather, Rigo, and Mosely do. Some people have negative things to say about this exercise but it can definitely help hand speed. Probably the least effective of all the above mentioned, but still worth a try. As long as you can keep the same mindset of throwing each punch as fast as you can, you will see improvement. Right after I set these down during a workout, my hands feel like whips flying through the air, you have to feel it to know whether it works for you or not. It is also a great workout for conditioning.

Try variations of the shadow boxing workouts week after week and see which one gives you the best results. I ranked them in order of effectiveness so numbers 1 and 2 are most recommended by me personally.

Heavy Bag Hand Speed Workout

The heavy bag can be a great tool to build hand speed, specifically with combinations. The reasons for this is very simple: sound. When hitting the heavy bag you can hear the impact of each punch, and more importantly, the time of impact between each punch. We can use this as a great tool to track our speed increasing. This is the best tool to increase the speed of your combos.

Here is the simple, yet super effective heavy bag hand speed workout:

Instead of just blasting off on the heavy bag for power and conditioning, you will instead focus on two punches at a time. The focus will be on the sound between the two punches landed. Try to focus on combo at a time, starting with the classic 1, 2.

Throw the 1, 2 at the bag and listen to the sound. Now every subsequent combination should be thrown to try and make the combo sound like one punch. The goal will be to make the two punches sound like one. So keep throwing as fast as you can until you can achieve that goal.

Its very simple, throw the combo, and with each combination, decrease the time between impact each time. Work on this consciously for multiple rounds and I promise you, you will see a difference in your combination speed within a week. Once you master the two-punch combos, you can move on to three and four punch combinations.

The Speed Bag

You can't talk about hand speed without mentioning the speed bag. This won't turn you into Manny Pacquiao overnight, but it can help. Keep in mind, however, we’ve seen many slow fighters hit the speed bag too. This is because just like with all the above exercises, it's not just the hitting that counts, but how you hit it that's most important. The speed bag does help develop fast-twitch muscles but you have to make sure to make a conscious effort to hit it as FAST as you can. This is perfect for the last workout of the day.

Strength Training for Speed

There is one cardinal rule to hand speed, absolutely no weight lifting. You can lift weights and get faster-doing everything above, however, you won't be as fast as you can possibly be if you're lifting weights, especially heavyweights. For strength training and hand speed, there are two exercises you want to stick to.

Pushups

You don't want to be fast with no sting, so strength training is important, but you want to steer clear of exercise that gives you the power and slows you down. Luckily there is the most infamous strength training  workout of all time: the pushup

Pushups are a great exercise for speed, power, and explosiveness. The key to doing them when focusing on increasing hand speed is to do them fast. This is the one thing you want to ingrain in your brain is that everything you do from this point on, should be done with speed.

Aim for 400+ daily and try to knock them down under 20 minutes.

Chin-Ups

Instead of the regular pull up, the chin-up is the superior pull exercise to the regular pull-up. This is because it will work the “pull muscle” between your bicep and your forearm more. This will aid in building those small muscles that will help you pull the punch back quicker than normal. Which creates an opportunity for a better snap and getting back to defense in good time. The key here is the same, do them fast.

Make sure to warm up properly before your workouts, as an injury is possible when doing fast and explosive movements.

There are a lot more strength training exercises you can do for strength, but purely for speed training, I would stick to these two.

Mindset - The Most Important Piece of the Puzzle

The biggest thing you will have to get accustomed to is the mindset. You have to build the habit of thinking fast which will come with a phase of rewiring. You have been throwing at half your potential without knowing and it has become an automatic process for you to throw that way. From this point on, you will have to be conscious of doing everything at full speed, trying to do it faster and faster every time. It will take some time before “fast” becomes a natural state of being for you, but it's well worth the struggle. Once you don't have to think about being fast, and it's just a habit for you to throw lightning, your opponent is in trouble.

Take this mindset into all aspects of your training and do every exercise to its full speed potential. This will teach your brain not to save yourself and train your body to have the stamina to be fast, every single time out.

Be in Shape

What separates the greats from the contenders, is the ability to be spectacular every minute of every round instead of just in spots. This takes insane conditioning which is only accomplished by being spectacular in training, every minute of every round.

Sample Drills

Let’s outline some sample drills for simplicity below. This will be a very simple exercise that involves shadow boxing and the heavy bag.

Shadow Boxing Drill for Hand Speed

This is a very important part of increasing hand speed and can be done anywhere. You can do this with any of the above-mentioned methods: freehand, with gloves on, resistance bands, or weights. I recommend free hand at first, then gloves once you get faster.

The drill:

Remember, each punch will be thrown faster than the last. Isolate each punch instead of just firing off back to back. Again, consciously make an effort to throw each punch faster than the last.

25 jabs
25 right hands(cross)
25 jab/cross combinations. Each combo counts as one. Again throw at full speed potential.
25 Straight/Hook combinations
25 hook/uppercut combinations

I can't stress enough to throw at faster each time. First master two punch combinations at full speed before you move on to three. Do this daily and you will see improvement.

Heavy Bag Hand Speed Drills

As mentioned before, with the heavy bag, what you want to do is try and make every two punch combo sound like one. Do this WITHOUT sacrificing power. So hit as fast as you can without holding back power. You want to gain speed with power, not just speed. Think Manny Pacquiao Jr vs Amir Khan, you’d rather be Manny.

The Drills

50 Left/Cross Combinations
25 Cross/Hook Combinations
25 Left/Right Hook Combinations
25 Uppercut Hook Combinations

Again, don't just fire them off in succession. Focus on each individual combo. After you throw it, reset, and then throw it again. We are not working on simulating the fight here or conditioning, we're working on rewiring your body and your brain to throw at full potential.

Is Hand Speed Genetic?

A lot of people will tell you that you're either born fast or you’re not, that is mostly false. We can get into a scientific debate about fast-twitch muscle fibers and all, but the truth is, you can always be faster than you are, and fast by anyone's standard. Just because someone may have the potential to be faster than you, doesn't mean they will be. Just because it may be easier for them to develop fast hands, doesn't mean you can't outwork them and take the right approach to increase your hand speed. You can always be faster than you are and no matter your genes, too fast for your opponent. So don't take genetics as a cop-out, especially because there is no way to measure this and mostly something people spout off as an excuse as to why another guy is better than them.

These are the exact kind of limiting beliefs that “soft” fighters of the modern era allow to hold them back. The greats don’t waste time thinking about genes, but instead, think only of the task at hand: winning the fight.

Tracking Your Hand Speed

Thanks to science, these days you can actually measure your hand speed. That's right, there are tools that you can place in your hand wraps or in your gloves while you shadowbox, hit the bag, spar, etc. that will tell you what your hand speed is. Not only that, but it will also track it all in an app for you so you can see how you can progress. You have two options when it comes to this. you can get the PIQ by Everlast, which will cost you $99 per one sensor, or you can get the Hykso trackers, which are $149 for two. Both have their advantages and both get the job done. You can buy them on Amazon below:

Get to Work

It won't work unless you do. Follow the tips here for at least 1 month and let me know what kind of results you get. I promise you won't have to wait a whole month before you start noticing a difference. A lot of hand speed is just habit and once you start changing that habit you will see your full potential come out before your hand speed actually start increasing. Do the work, and results will come.

Drop me a comment below if you have any questions.

Brawl all day!