As for boxing punches, the jab is one of the basic but most important techniques. It often takes years of practicing for even a professional boxer to master.
This technique helps to keep the contender at a distance for your next offensive strikes. On top of that, the speed advantage considerably decides how successful your jab will be.
So, how to jab faster? A list of 10 tips below will tell you the way.
Contents
- How to Jab Faster
- #1. Practicing The Shadowboxing
- #2. Reducing The Distance
- #3. Generating The Explosive Power
- #4. Relaxing Your Muscles
- #5. Staying on Your Toes
- #6. Improving the Jabbing Accuracy
- #7. Improving The Good Timing
- #8. Avoiding Heavy Gloves
- #9. Keeping the Lead Shoulder Forward
- #10. Not Mixing Various Types of Jabs
- Mistakes To Avoid
- Conclusion
How to Jab Faster
By consulting professional boxers, we have collected the ten most common tips for the list.
#1. Practicing The Shadowboxing
Shadowboxing is a type of practice in which you fight an imaginary contender. It requires no equipment but a large enough room since you only need to hit the air with your closed hands. The practice not only improves your skill and movement but also increases your jabbing speed.
We suggest trying short intervals (1-1.5 minutes) first with no more than six rounds, especially if you are just a beginner. And it should be a 60-second break after each round.
#2. Reducing The Distance
Another tip for a better speed of jabbing is to cut the distance. The shorter the distance a jab travels, the quicker it can reach your target. With the long-distance, your jab may even miss its right destination completely.
You can cut the distance by adjusting your lead hand to hit forwards. Due to being closed, your jab targeting the rival tends to land faster. Besides, don’t worry too much if the jab gets less powerful. Honestly, it is just preparation for heavier up-coming punches.
#3. Generating The Explosive Power
With the maximum force, you can have as fast and powerful jabs as possible. There are a lot of useful exercises that can help to gain explosiveness.
The first practice to try is the sprint. Many people will immediately understand it as a daily many-mile run. However, the effectiveness does not come if you run at slow paces that are good for your endurance only.
On the other hand, it is a must to sprint at short intervals so that your jabbing explosiveness can get a significant improvement. In addition to sprint, other recommendations include explosive push-ups, kettlebell swings, and box jump.
#4. Relaxing Your Muscles
Tensing your muscles when jabbing can slow down your jab speed rather than increasing it. Thus, there is no need to jab too hard.
Instead of that, you should try to throw a snappy jab. Because of its speed, your opponent can hardly stop it.
A quick jab helps you make the distance and set up the hand power for the next powerful strikes as a preparation.
So, the only thing needed is to stay loose and relaxed. But staying too relaxed is not a good idea since your hands must always be up.
#5. Staying on Your Toes
The main purpose of staying on your toes is for both mobility and elusiveness. It also comes as a common tip to throw a jab considerably faster. However, boxers with flat feet, it becomes a bit harder to stay on toes.
An effective practice for this tip is the footwork training while you are moving. You carry a heavy bag and try to move in a circle on your toes. Another method is to use a bad swing, then move forward and backward continuously. These movements will really work for your improved fast jab.
#6. Improving the Jabbing Accuracy
Everything makes no sense if a jab cannot hit its target. Only when you surely jab with accuracy can your punch get the target perfectly. In other words, every jab that you throw must travel in a straight line. And one thing to remember that the longer distance will slow down your jab.
Like with the tip No.5, you also use a heavy bag to practice this No.6. Finding any object such as a scratch or a logo on the bag and considering it as the target is the first step. Then, you try to throw jabs from various distances and angles.
#7. Improving The Good Timing
In a match, landing more punches exactly than the contender can undoubtedly help you become the winner. So, good timing is extremely important.
A big body may be a disadvantage causing you to be slower than the rival. But the situation can change due to your good timing.
For instance, you compete with a taller and heavier person. Although he fights not as fast as you do, he has good timing. Then, he catches you whenever you try to come closer to him.
#8. Avoiding Heavy Gloves
In terms of shadowboxing, heavy gloves can help to improve the jabbing speed. But it has a negative effect on your performance in competition with another boxer. Its heavyweight somehow slows you down and exhausts your hands simultaneously.
Hence, lighter gloves should always be your priority. A pair of heavy gloves can defend you against the rival’s strikes. But they also decrease your speed when jabbing your contender.
Our recommendation is the gloves weighing around 14oz or a little more. Do never choose the smaller ones since they can hurt you.
#9. Keeping the Lead Shoulder Forward
Many professional boxers recommend that keeping the lead shoulder forward can help the jab range to go up. In other words, the shoulder-forward posture makes a great balance for both your back and shoulders. Hence, the jab becomes more powerful to travel faster for the longer distance.
Whenever throwing a jab, you had better try to drive your lead shoulder up and forward simultaneously. Doing this tip is also to prevent the rival’s punches from hurting your chin.
#10. Not Mixing Various Types of Jabs
Knowing how to use different types of jabs is exactly a good skill. But overdoing a mix of them at the same time can betray you unpredictably. And the most obvious consequence is that it will slow your jab down. Like when you pair a step jab with a hop jab for one strike. Well, it is such a bad idea.
In a match, you can use all of them, but one by one. For instance, you throw a double jab first. Then, it is the turn of a hop jab and a hop jab following.
Mistakes To Avoid
Besides tips to give the contender a jab at high speed, there are several things to keep in mind. If you want to upgrade your skill, do avoid the following mistakes.
Throwing A Jab Without the Full Extension
It means that the jab is not forceful enough to kick the opponent out of range. Even in some cases, having a weak jab can cause you to completely miss the target.
Overcommitting The Jab
Due to the high kinetic energy added into the jab, your front foot has to support most of your body weight. As a result, your body tends to lean forward and make you off balance. It is such a good chance for the rival to knock you down.
Underrotating Your Arm
This mistake happens when you do not twist your arm inwards enough. The under-rotation while jabbing not only reduces the punching power but also causes hyperextension to injure your elbow.
Conclusion
It is that not all tips on how to jab faster above can work for you. Choose the best suitable one, and you will manage to do the technique.
Suppose there are some additional tips that you want to suggest to us as well as many other boxers. Let’s share since we are all ready to discuss together.
Thank you!
