Getting punched in the head is always a bad thing. But – if you know what to do – then it doesn’t necessarily need to be a fight ending, knockout inducing catastrophe.
Of course you should try to dodge, deflect, block or evade a punch that’s coming your way.
But things don’t always go according to plan. In a sparring match or a real fight sometimes you’re just going to get tagged 🙁
But there are definitely things you can do to lessen the chance that you get knocked out.
In the video below we go into detail about different strategies to take a punch, but here are some of the highlights, in increasing order of skill required to pull them off…
- Have a strong neck (0:20 in the video). Football players figured it out a long time ago; a strong neck means that your brain gets bounced around a lot less inside your skull, and that means less damage, concussions and knockouts. Strengthening your neck is a great way to make the effects of a head punch less devastating.
- Don’t run away from the punch (1:16 in the video). If you lean back to avoid a punch then you expose the chin which is a huge knockout area. Instead do the counter-intuitive thing and meet the punch with the thick bony plate on your forehead. It’ll hurt, yes, but the odds of getting knocked out are less.
- Move your head back (at 2:40 in the video). This takes more skill and training, but if your head is moving away from the punch in a snapback of fadeaway motion (without violating rule 2) then you can hugely cut down on the impact of a punch. Floyd Mayweather Jr has this down!
These brain-saving strategies might make more sense if you watch the video. I’ve used them in sparring and competition and they’ve saved my butt numerous times!
I hope that the tips in the video above help you avoid knockouts, concussions and brain damage!
Here’s one other thing you can do right now to keep you safe…
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Stephan Kestingt