How To Take a Punch (3 Tips)

Whenever you watch an action hero on the silver screen, the camera tends to focus on them winning fights. In fact, between expert technique, a rock hard physique, and an iron jaw there's no possibility the hero could ever lose; foes fall with broken faces and shattered spirits under the hammer blows of their fists, but when the bad guys get a solid blow in the hero just keeps on coming. On the one hand this could be blatant abuse of main character powers... on the other hand it's entirely possible that our lead has simply learned the most important skill any fighter needs to have in his or her arsenal.

How to take a punch.

For more action hero life hacks, such as How to Knock Someone Out With The Sleeper Hold or How To Get Out of Handcuffs, Flexicuffs, and Duct Tape, take a moment to stop in and check out my full Vocal archive while you're here!

The Physics of The Punch

A punch is a deceptively simple thing. You ball up your fist, twist your shoulders and hips into the swing, and drive your appendage into a sensitive part of your opponent's anatomy. While every martial art on the planet from boxing to bartitsu has its own way of doing this, that's the basic gist behind a punch; slam as much force and momentum into a vulnerable spot on your opponent's body as possible using your fist.

So, now that you understand that, your primary goal in taking a punch is to make sure your opponent doesn't get what he or she wants.

Tip #1: Remember, Hard on Soft, Soft on Hard

This sounds a bit like one of those nonsense phrases armchair martial arts gurus are fans of, but it's actually a pretty simple concept to keep in mind when fighting. Your fist is made up of some skin and muscle over a lot of sensitive bones and joints. If you drive your fist into a soft spot, like an opponent's belly or throat, you're hurting that person more than your hand. If you punch someone in the forehead, though, then you're a lot more likely to break your hand than you are their head.

Keep that in mind when you're defending yourself. Tuck your chin so that the sensitive parts of your lower jaw are protected, along with your nose and eyes. You can take blows on your shoulders or forearms without too much damage, but you should protect your stomach and other soft bits as much as you can. Your opponent will always have targets, but you decide which ones to present.

Tip #2: Strengthen Your Neck

Ever wonder why bruisers, particularly those employed by unscrupulous crime lords, always have thick, bull necks? It's because that feature makes them really, really hard to K.O.

If you don't fight for a living, then you might not know that it's the whiplash when you take a punch that knocks you out. Your head spins to the side, your brain sloshes against your skull, and down you go, as mentioned in How To Knock Someone Out With One Punch. If you have powerful, well-developed neck muscles they can absorb the shock, and make solid blows to the head less effective against you. It's like how punching someone skinny in the arm really hurts, but the same force delivered into the bicep of a body builder might not even register. So work your neck and your traps when you're at the gym, especially if you expect to get punched in the head.

Tip #3: Watch Your Opponent

While it's not exactly a method for absorbing punishment, it's important to watch your opponent. and to figure out what he or she is going to do. The punches that hurt the most, and which do the most damage, are going to be the ones you never see coming. If you watch your opponent's technique then you'll be able to see which punches are coming, and you'll be able to react before the punch even reaches you. The densest muscles and the fastest reflexes won't do you any good if the punch comes out of nowhere and lays you out flat. By the same token, the most perfect punch in the world will do your opponent no good if you jerk your head out of the way, and you slip inside their guard.