I’m a combat sports fan, and I have always wondered why there are matches where a heavyweight boxer has a significant weight advantage over his opponent, but then his opponent still hits way harder, despite the 40+ pound difference. But that was just one of my examples, what are almost if not all of the factors that determine how hard a person can hit?
I know that weight and actual punching technique are the two main ones, but I can’t think of much more, other than say your bones in your hands, and maybe just being explosive in general.
In: 2
force = mass * acceleration.
the weight is the weight of the entire person. what matters is the effective mass of the punch and it’s acceleration.
technique involves maximizing your effective mass (ie putting your entire weight, or as much of it as possible, into the punch) and it’s acceleration. something like boxing and mma splits into weight classes because at the very elite level people are able to theoretically maximze the effective mass behind the punch so then the only advantage you have over your opponent is your weight and how effectively you utilize the weight.
imagine you’re standing still, you punch vs leaning your body back and punching forward with your entire body. which one has a higher effective mass?
another example is if you ever watch medicine ball throws, javelin throws, baseball pitching or any sport where you throw something as far/fast as possible. they’re doing all kinds of things to increase the effective force they put into the object they’re throwing.
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