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How to Take a Punch in 3 Steps

May 9, 2018 By Stephan Kesting

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don't get knocked out

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…

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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…

I publish an email newsletter specifically for martial artists and people interested in self defense. It includes techniques, videos, training tips, and other resources.

Most email newsletters out there are pure spam, but I really believe that mine is different.  It’s got a ton of solid content in it, which probably explains why people often write me back thanking me for the latest email.

Why don’t you check it out by entering your email below?  I will never, ever share your email, and if you don’t like what I send you then you can easily unsubscribe with a single click.

Cheers,

Stephan Kestingt

Filed Under: Featured, Self Defense Basics, Striking Tagged With: anatomy, boxing, injuries, kickboxing, knockout, mma, self defense basics, sparring, striking, technique, video

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