How much should you practice punching?

I have been doing IMA for abour 12 years (and wrestled in high school), and I know how to hit and most of the time, even sparring live, actually do it basically correctly and with good effect. Do you just hit and hit and hit until you can hit so hard that your opponent explodes into shreds and bone chips, or, once you have a good punch, do you revisit it from time to time to maintain the structure and conditioning?

I ask because I have heard stories of Xingyi masters who walked two miles of beng every day and could kill with one punch--but I'm skeptical. I hit pretty hard and have lots of other skills to practice--but then hitting hard is very important.

Oh! What to do?

Let me add to that--I am not a professional fighter or teacher. I have a kid and a full-time job, and my interest in the arts is health, self-defense, and that they are just ••••••• COOL and I love them.

So... my training time is limited. If I could just "do it all alot" I would (maybe one day... sigh!). That being said, I still want every ounce of skill and effectiveness that I can squeeze out of my training considering my genetics and life-situation.

Which is why I ask

You should train to punch as much as you can until you can hit so hard you never have to punch at all and just think about punching your opponent and they get hit with a force exploding them to shreds and bone chips.

Do you want this ability? I can teach you. You can usually find me in a clear area at the highest peak of Wudang mountain.

I think if you causing serious damage (knocking a man unconscious, crushing bones) with every punch you should practice:

150 straight punches,
100 Hooking punches,
50 uppercut punches,
and 125 smashing punches,

in 15 minutes on a 125 lb. bag twice a day 6 days a week.

Do this, and practice breathing techniques when the sun is red (dawn and dusk) and drink lots of water during this time-this will help to circulate the chi through the lower dantien. Try this for 3 months, then check your progress against some fresh bamboo, or young sapling trees, you should break even this very soft vegetation. If all of this doesn't work, you should focus more on breathing and try eating some ginger (good for yang).

The real formula!

300 straight punches while neck deep in 50 degrees of below calm water.

300 hook punches in waist deep fast running water. Squat in a horse stance.

300 upper cut punches while under a waterfall.

You should do this morning before the sun comes and every evening right after the sun goes down. Drink goats milk after every session. Also eat lots of bamboo shoot.

Try to hold your breath for 50 punches at a time. If you're not dead after a month try punching a bull on the head. You will find that you have supernatural bone crushing ability.

If your punch doesn't work make sure you have wall or fence to jump over because the bull will probably be pissed and try to gore you. You probably did something wrong in training.

If you miss 1 day of training or punched too little or if the sun came up before you finished your punching set it may not work. So it's best to start over. You have to do this for 30 straight days.

Under my guidance I can help you achieved this goal for $300 US dollars. I will also help you find a bull to punch.

I look forward to hearing from you. Good luck.

Um...

All I'm really asking is if once you get a skill up to what seems to be an adequate level, do you put it on a maintenance program and work on other skills, or does it pay off to keep pushing(especially if you have limited training time like me)? It seems to make sense to me to do that, but you hear these stories of people who have worked on one technique over and over till it payed off. A more recent and down to earth example might be early Joe Lewis and his side kick. He became a versitile fighter, but in the early days, he sure got a lot of mileage out of a good side kick.

I don't mind you boys having a little fun, but I would like a straight answer one day...

Real power punch mechanics has to do with 1)proper recruitment of joints 2)torque (core activation) and 3)timing 4)relaxation/tension formula.

You must learn to punch with your hips, recruiting joints properly to the point in which you even use your little toe. The generator is are your core muscles. That's why old time boxers used wood chopping and slegdehammers as training tools...even clubbells today. The rotation of your trunk is essential. Timing the punch is also essential. Knowing when to throw your punch is more important than the physical strength of the puncher. This means fighting a "live" opponent!
Also, learning how to be relaxed until you are ready to strike. And then allowing all of your body tension to bloom at the point of impact. This can be practiced alone, but in a real fight, you are going to first have to overcome the natural hormonal dump and body tension, that will slow your punch(speed is power)and sap your power. This is learned by fighting "live" opponents.

Just my opinion.

I find that when I come back to something after awhile, that I've actually made progress. Not a joke, usually if I work on punching for awhile, then lay off for awhile when I come back I'll feel like I'm a little better. This happened to me recently with shooting. I was working on double tap to the body, and one to the head for awhile, then hadn't done it for a few months, tonight I nailed everyone faster then ever, without having practiced it for months. Of coarse I'm always kind of thinking about it and playing with it, and that's just me, I think everyone is different, in my experience skills for young healthy people are not that perishable.

look up periodization

and call me in the morning

I looked it up and got a web site talking about feminine products.

WTF are you trying to say?!

everything happens in cycles?

or it's all about flow?

Evidently I have attracted the attention of the peanut gallery. You boys are GOOFY!

And I do find practicing punches while on my period uncomfortable-thanks for the tip, Jason .

perhaps try 'periodization' as it applies to strength training. that may help.

I know, Jason. I was just trying to join in the reindeer games. Actually, periodization applied to my question makes a lot of sense--thanks for the one straight answer

you can take it to the next level and start to punch harder things to condition the knuckles into hammers.
i.e. a makiwara, or a brick wall, whichever you prefer.
but what good is a powerful punch if you cannot land it?

i've never missed a brick wall

try a double ended speedbag