Hitting like a girl a myth?

[scissorhands]

You just keep believing yourself, young feller, wouldn't want to burst your bubble...

You could be on the spectrum Ed, sadly.
Often the undiagnosed are the worst kind
Is your pointy finger shorter than most men's index finger?
religion can be attractive for spectrumites...

cant you see? I'm trying to save you

[HenryDorsetCase]

As they say, timing is everything .... at the end of the day there is only the quick and the dead!

also, plant your feet, rotate your hips and get behind it with your shoulder. It all comes from the soles of your feet, like you say. Its something I've been working on. In my middle aged attempt to ward off the inevitable.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Its the narcissism that gets to them, Ed
many things bother me.....
Especially selling god and cheap Chinese shit
to your acquaintances

It might be the sycophancy
or the sanctimoniousness
who can be sure

If that is your attempt at a haiku (or maybe a sonnet) don't give up your day job.

[Genestho]

I think technique and/or unpredicatability have some merit.

Unpredictability: As a youth I was bullied by a couple of big chunky Maori Girls, I was the skinny white girl.

Easy target, high-school years weren't looking too good.

One day after being knocked almost to the ground in class with a rather thick and heavy text book whammed down on my nut, I found standing up in hurry simultaneously knocking the desk over and flinging my chair over my head at the girl that clobbered me while roaring and standing over her, a rather effective way to stop the bullying.

The downside was the ruler round the legs. But well worth its weight in gold.

In my late teens sparred a little bit with an ex Golden Gloves guy from Welly and a few guy friends, I have my own bag but need to find somewhere non destructive to hang it!!

I regularly (and irregularly when I take a break) do unisex combat classes; boxing and kick box training, for two years now mostly for fun and fitness.

I spar with guys and girls, one of my favourite spar partners - a lady, to look you wouldn't know it but who's been kick boxing and taekwondo since highschool (now mid 30's), is as solid as a block, packed with a very powerful punch, knee and kick, right on target.

Even if I were a bloke, I wouldn't want to find myself on the wrong side of that!

I have the bonus of looking un intimidating so knowing I have the confidence in my combos and technique, or even unpredictability, gives me confidence to know I could hold my own.

[Edbear]

I think technique and/or unpredicatability have some merit.

Unpredictability: As a youth I was bullied by a couple of big chunky Maori Girls, I was the skinny white girl.

Easy target, high-school years weren't looking too good.

One day after being knocked almost to the ground in class with a rather thick and heavy text book whammed down on my nut, I found standing up in hurry simultaneously knocking the desk over and flinging my chair over my head at the girl that clobbered me while roaring and standing over her, a rather effective way to stop the bullying.

The downside was the ruler round the legs. But well worth its weight in gold.

In my late teens sparred a little bit with an ex Golden Gloves guy from Welly and a few guy friends, I have my own bag but need to find somewhere non destructive to hang it!!

I regularly (and irregularly when I take a break) do unisex combat classes; boxing and kick box training, for two years now mostly for fun and fitness.

I spar with guys and girls, one of my favourite spar partners - a lady, to look you wouldn't know it but who's been kick boxing and taekwondo since highschool (now mid 30's), is as solid as a block, packed with a very powerful punch, knee and kick, right on target.

Even if I were a bloke, I wouldn't want to find myself on the wrong side of that!

I have the bonus of looking un intimidating so knowing I have the confidence in my combos and technique, or even unpredictability, gives me confidence to know I could hold my own.

It's the quiet, unassuming one's you need to watch out for.

If you know where to touch a person, you don't need a lot of strength, just a bit of accuracy.

[Paul in NZ]

The 'problem' is that in an age of equality we assume that means that men and women are equal where in fact they have equal rights and opportunities.

Vicki and I train together regularly and you will just have to take it from me she is PLENTY strong for her age. However she is 5' tall and I'm 6' tall, she is never going to out press me. (thats unimportant btw, what matters is how hard she works at it which is plenty)

Mens ability to hold a bit more chest muscle and in general larger frame (longer levers) means that if you take a simple exercise like the bench press its a no brainer that men of a certain weight will in general out lift women. If the punch was delivered standing just using a basic movement my money would be on the man because of this BUT.

A trained fighter uses different muscle groups and body mass in sequence to throw an effective punch just like a cricket player has mastered the technique for hurling a ball a LONG way, many times more than I could yet I could probably out bench press them... So complex movements are part technique and part strength.

Then there is the difference between power and strength. There is a difference in the types of muscle fibre we are born with. In general we have 50/50 fast/slow twitch muscle fibre. Some people have (through birth or training) considerably more of one than the other which is why a sprinter sucks at marathons....

So - if a woman with a bigger than usual frame, good training, the right sort of muscle and the ability to co ordinate it all was to do this then yes - she can punch like a man (whatever that is). But in the general population, if we were to test every person in NZ and combine the results, the male side would come out on top.

Which is great except.... Our trainer is in her 40's (I think) and under 5' (she played a Hobbit in LOTR)

She could kick my arse in a fight any day, any place any way I chose.... Hell, even if Vicki was helping me and I had a long stick she would beat me to a pupl in seconds. A lifetime of martial arts and exercise means its just ingrained in her muscle memory so while I'm 'stronger' she is faster and can deliver more power to a point than I can. Shes friggin awesome - I'm just a sack of meat that lifts bits of metal.....

[mashman]

Generally a good big guy will beat a good small guy.

I'm not denying that more power and more strength doesn't have its place, but if the big guy can't catch the wee guy and they're just as skillful as each other, my money would be on the wee guy. As I know damn well from my kids. The tiniest flick of a finger in the right place can leave me gasping for air and I can generally beat the shit out of them should such a notion take me

[oldrider]

also, plant your feet, rotate your hips and get behind it with your shoulder. It all comes from the soles of your feet, like you say. Its something I've been working on. In my middle aged attempt to ward off the inevitable.

Correct!

Also important is the use of arm rotation (left clockwise, right counter clockwise) to impact, twisting brings in more force and engages the elbows in closer to your body.

I thought the girl in the clip was not punching properly and was really just slapping at the target in a roundhouse fashion, not a good look IMHO!

This made me wonder at the authenticity of the demo but the theory expressed was right on the ball!

Hint: Do not ever mess with my daughter, she hits like a mule kicking and has the nature of a wildcat, she scares me sometimes!

[oldrider]

Generally a good big guy will beat a good small guy.

As you say, generally true but when you are working on immobilising the nervous system and you succeed, even the biggest of the big can fail.

The real test is having the intestinal fortitude to back yourself and manage the risk!

Unfortunately there have been many times in my life where that just did "not" work for me! ... Sigh!

[Crasherfromwayback]

As you say, generally true but when you are working on immobilising the nervous system and you succeed, even the biggest of the big can fail.

The real test is having the intestinal fortitude to back yourself and manage the risk!

:

There are exceptions to every rule for sure. A mate of mine was a top heavy weight kick boxer though...and not too many lil ones would get in the ring with him.

And for sure balls make up for a lot in any circumstance.

[HenryDorsetCase]

The 'problem' is that in an age of equality we assume that means that men and women are equal where in fact they have equal rights and opportunities.

Vicki and I train together regularly and you will just have to take it from me she is PLENTY strong for her age. However she is 5' tall and I'm 6' tall, she is never going to out press me. (thats unimportant btw, what matters is how hard she works at it which is plenty)

Mens ability to hold a bit more chest muscle and in general larger frame (longer levers) means that if you take a simple exercise like the bench press its a no brainer that men of a certain weight will in general out lift women. If the punch was delivered standing just using a basic movement my money would be on the man because of this BUT.

A trained fighter uses different muscle groups and body mass in sequence to throw an effective punch just like a cricket player has mastered the technique for hurling a ball a LONG way, many times more than I could yet I could probably out bench press them... So complex movements are part technique and part strength.

Then there is the difference between power and strength. There is a difference in the types of muscle fibre we are born with. In general we have 50/50 fast/slow twitch muscle fibre. Some people have (through birth or training) considerably more of one than the other which is why a sprinter sucks at marathons....

So - if a woman with a bigger than usual frame, good training, the right sort of muscle and the ability to co ordinate it all was to do this then yes - she can punch like a man (whatever that is). But in the general population, if we were to test every person in NZ and combine the results, the male side would come out on top.

Which is great except.... Our trainer is in her 40's (I think) and under 5' (she played a Hobbit in LOTR)

She could kick my arse in a fight any day, any place any way I chose.... Hell, even if Vicki was helping me and I had a long stick she would beat me to a pupl in seconds. A lifetime of martial arts and exercise means its just ingrained in her muscle memory so while I'm 'stronger' she is faster and can deliver more power to a point than I can. Shes friggin awesome - I'm just a sack of meat that lifts bits of metal.....

Lets just ask Val Adams.

Who, by the way, is awesome!

[HenryDorsetCase]

[youtube]jsogj7vZb8w[/youtube]

Here's the woman in the original post: Lucia Rijker. She is fantastic.

that top clip is nearly an hour. Check her technique in teh bottom clip: if you have any sort of interest in boxing or the martial arts, you will appreciate she has fantastic technique.

[youtube]RmurClXG8oU[/youtube]

[oneofsix]

Lets just ask Val Adams.

Who, by the way, is awesome!

Yes she is awesome but what are you asking her? If she can throw the same weight of cannon ball further than the top male shot putter? She being the top female shot putter imo

[Paul in NZ]

Lets just ask Val Adams.

Who, by the way, is awesome!

Actually that proves my point...

She throws (what?) 21.24 M? She is 6'4" tall and weights 120kg (AND I'll be she can out lift me anyway you want....)

Mens chap is also 6'4" but weights 139kg and throws 22.21

So here a man and woman with the same frame (height), man weights more and throws further.

Both of them would eat me for breakfast and splinter my bones to pick their teeth after........

[HenryDorsetCase]

Yes she is awesome but what are you asking her? If she can throw the same weight of cannon ball further than the top male shot putter? She being the top female shot putter imo

I was asking her out for dinner. I reckon she'd be great company.