It’s really cool to have the speed advantage in a boxing match or sparring. Especially with the jab. Because when you jab your opponent, you can easily keep him or her at a distance or to use the jab to set up bigger power hand punches such as overhands or hooks.
Regardless of the fact that the jab is the simplest punch in boxing, it’s actually very hard to master. Some pro boxers spend years of practice developing their lightning-fast jabs.
But there are some tips that can help you to SIGNIFICANTLY increase the speed of your jabs right away. So let’s dive into them.
Besides those tips, you can also improve your speed, timing, and accuracy using speed bag and double end bag. After you finish reading this article, check out my article Speed bag vs Double-end bag: Which One Is Better? to learn which one of those bags is the best fit for you!
Now let’s go back to the tips for improving your jab speed:
1. Do shadowboxing with weights
The easiest but the most effective boxing exercise is the shadowboxing. It’s easy because you don’t need any equipment, training partners or a coach. The only thing you need is enough room. And that is one of the most useful exercises because it helps you to improve your technique, your movement, and your speed.
The shadowboxing with weights is even better because after doing it, you will start feeling your hands much lighter. Which can really increase the speed of your jab. It will also strengthen your shoulders and back muscles – the main muscles you use when throwing punches.
Exercises:
When I do shadowboxing workouts, I like to alternate – one round (2-3 min) with weights and then another round without weights. If you want to increase your jab speed you can try throwing only jabs or jabs and crosses when shadowboxing. You can start with shorter time intervals, around 1-1:30 minutes with 30-60 seconds break. Also, don’t do more than 6 rounds in you are a beginner. You don’t want to push the barrier too much at this point.
By doing these exercises, soon you will start noticing that you are able to jab much faster and for longer periods of time.
Be careful:
For this exercise, you should use really light weights – between 2-5 lbs, depending on your strength. Because the heavier the weight is the more your technique will suffer. And you don’t want that. Also, when using heavier weights, you may overtrain your back muscles. And because of that, you may not be able to train for a week or two which will slow down your progress. So train smart, don’t overdo it.
If you want to increase your punching power, make sure you check out this: Punching power tips – Free PDF file
In this file, I give away my 25 best tips on how to improve your punching power!
2. Cut the distance
This is another trick I like to use when I want to increase the speed of my jabs.
The less distance the punch travels, the faster it will reach its destination. So by putting your lead hand a little bit forward, you will cut the distance and your jab will land a little bit quicker.
Yes, it will be less powerful, because you can’t build huge momentum, but you don’t need great power in your jab. Once again – we will use the jab to keep our rival at a distance or to set up heavier punches.
3. Work on your explosive power
The explosive power is the maximum force you can generate for a minimum period of time. So to have a fast and powerful jab, you need to be explosive. And there are some really good exercises that can help you to develop your explosive power.
For example, sprint is a great one. You probably have watched some movies where the boxers run many miles early in the morning. But such exercises actually aren’t so effective when it comes to boxing. Because when you run many miles at a slow pace that improves your endurance but not your explosiveness (it can actually even decrease it).
On the other hand, sprinting with around 80% of your speed at short intervals will increase your explosiveness significantly. And as we already know, when you are more explosive you will increase the speed of your punches (including the jab).
Other exercises that will help you to increase your explosiveness are:
- Explosive push-ups
- Box Jumps
- Kettlebell Swings
- Medicine Ball Throws
Tip: To improve your jab speed you can also set a timer and see how many jabs you can throw for a 30 sec. You can shadowbox or work on the heavy bag. Do that exercise several times a week and you will notice that the number of jabs will increase.
4. Step with the jab
If the other boxer is more experienced he won’t let you just come close enough to jab him. So you need to mask your steps or to cover the distance very quickly.
By masking your steps I mean to distract your opponent’s attention from your legs so you can make a step forward and land the jab.
Double jab
You can do that by using the double jab. That means to throw the first jab from a long distance, even knowing that you can’t reach your opponent (the purpose of this jab is to distract the attention). Then you can take a step forward and throw another jab which will land. After the second jab, you can throw more powerful punches, such as rear hand cross, overhand or uppercut.
Another cool thing about this technique is that the second jab will be much faster than the first one because of the momentum you build while stepping forward.
Step jab
This variation of the jab also helps you to cover the distance and to increase the speed of your punch. To do a step jab you need to make a step forward with your lead leg when throwing the punch. By doing that you will actually decrease the distance which the punch needs to travel and your jab will get there faster.
And just as when you throw a double jab, you will increase the speed and the power of the punch because of the momentum you build.
Step jab tips:
- To execute the technique correctly, first push with your rear foot, and then step forward with your lead foot.
- While doing that, shift the weight on your front leg. Thus you will add extra power to the punch.
- You need to step at the same time when you throw the jab. If you do this before the punch is thrown, that will telegraph your jab.
5. Hop with the jab
The idea of this technique is similar to the step jab but it will help you to cover even more distance and increases the speed of your jab. It can be really effective especially when fighting against taller opponents because you can quickly close the distance.
To execute it correctly you need to hop at the same moment when you throw the jab. Before that, you need to put the weight on your back foot and then lift both of your feet off the ground. After you land the punch you can follow up with a power hand straight or hop back in your starting position.
6. Relax your muscles
When jabbing try to not tense your muscles up, because that will slow your jab down and it will also actually decrease its power rather than increasing it. Don’t try to jab hard. It is true that some boxers are trying to knock their opponents out by throwing stiff jabs but that’s not we want.
We want a quick and snappy jab that we can land every time we throw it. Тhis type of jabs are really hard to be stopped because of their speed. And like I already mentioned, we can use them to set up power hand strikes or to maintain the distance.
So, what you need to do is to stay loose and relaxed, (but not too relaxed – don’t forget to keep your hands up). By doing that you will increase your jabbing speed dramatically.
7. Stay on your toes
By staying on your toes when boxing, you will be not only more mobile and elusive but also you will be able to throw punches much faster.
So if you want to jab faster, you don’t really want to be flat-footed. That’s why I also recommend training your footwork and more specifically staying on your toes while moving. For example, when you work on the heavy bag, try circling around it while staying on your toes.
You can also let the bag swing and then try to move in and out (forward and backward), mimicking the movements in a real fight.
8. Don’t telegraph the jab
A common mistake that the majority of the beginners make is to telegraph their jabs. That’s when they are trying to build momentum so they can jab faster and harder. So they usually load the jab up which instantly tells their opponent that they are going to throw it. That makes the jab slower and also provides more time for the other fighter to react by blocking, slipping or parrying the jab.
To prevent this from happening you need just to throw the jab in a straight line and get it back on the same path. You don’t need to load it up. Because it doesn’t matter how hard you can throw a jab if the punch is blocked or slipped. It’s better to throw a less powerful but also less telegraphed jab than a big but telegraphed one.
Another mistake that telegraphs the jab is flaring the elbow when jabbing. That’s can be a problem because your opponent will see the elbow flip up before you actually throw the punch. And that also gives him or her extra time for reaction.
This mistake is caused by a bad technique. People who make it usually turn their hand over too early when jabbing. Turning the fist over helps to create the snap on the punch, making it more powerful but you need to do it at the end of the punch and not in the beginning. So here’s is what you can do to prevent telegraphing your jab by flaring your elbow:
- Throw the jab with your thumb up – If you are a beginner, don’t turn your hand over yet when jabbing. Once you are comfortable with that, you can start turning your fist at the end of the punch.
- Practice it on the wall – Get your elbow flush against a wall and start jabbing. By doing that the wall won’t allow you to flip your elbow out. Do it several times and you will get the feeling of throwing the punch straight.
When your jabs aren’t telegraphed that won’t increase their actual speed but from the perspective of your opponents, they will look much faster, because your rivals will have a hard time seeing them coming.
9. Don’t push your jab
When jabbing, the power of the punch needs to come from the rotation of your whole body in the following sequence – from your feet to the hips, then the torso and then – the arm.
Pushing your punches can mean two things:
- Throwing arm punches (to throw a punch from the shoulder without using the body)
- To throw the punch first and after that to rotate the body.
These are common beginners mistakes which can really decrease the power and the speed of your jab. So remember – the punch starts from the legs. And the best ways I know to master this are the shadowboxing and the heavy bag work.
10. Think of your arm as a whip
When you throw a jab, try to move your hand in the starting position as fastest as you can. By doing this you will create a whip motion which will increase the speed and the power of your jab. Also, it will help to create the snap on your punch. And as I already mentioned – this is what we are aimed to – the quick and snappy jab.
11. Improve your accuracy
It’s a good idea to make sure that your jab travels in a straight line every time you throw it. Otherwise, the longer distance it needs to travel will slow it down.
Also, it doesn’t matter how fast or powerful your punch is if it can’t hit its target. So the accuracy is even more important than the speed and the power. Here are some exercises that can help you to improve your accuracy when throwing a jab.
Exercises:
- Find an object on the heavy bag – it can be a scratch, the logo of the brand or anything at which you can aim. Then try to hit it with your jab from different distances and angles.
- Speed bag drills – working on the speed bag is one of the best ways to improve your accuracy and timing.
12. Improve your timing
Sometimes in a boxing match, if the slower boxer has better timing, he can actually land more punches than his opponent. For example, when I first started boxing I spar with a someone who was around 6’1 tall and weighed more than 220 lbs. He was a big guy, so he wasn’t very fast.
But regardless of that, that I had the speed advantage, he managed to catch me every time I tried to come closer to land punches. I was probably telegraphing my punches a little bit too much back then, but still, his timing was really good.
So besides the accuracy, the timing is the other really important factor when it comes to throwing punches. Your jab may not be the fastest in the game but, if your timing is on point, you will land it most of the times.
13. Use lighter gloves
When you work out with heavy gloves that will help you to improve the speed of your jab (similarly to the shadowboxing using weights). But in sparring, such gloves will slow you down and make you gas out more quickly.
So to punch faster I recommend using smaller gloves when sparring. The bigger gloves may also help you to defend yourself better, but they will decrease the speed of your punches.
Be careful: When picking gloves just make sure that they aren’t too small, because by using too small gloves you can hurt your sparring partner. You can use 14oz gloves, but no smaller than that.
14. Drive your lead shoulder forward
Here is something interesting – by driving your shoulder forward more when jabbing, you can increase the range of the jab. That’s because by doing that, the length across your back and shoulders enters into the equation. And the punch can travel more distance.
The other benefit from driving your shoulder forward is that this also increases the power of your jab. That actually won’t increase its speed but isn’t it cool to be able to jab your opponent from a long distance with more power?
Tip: Try to drive the shoulder up and forward every time you jab or when throwing a lead hook. By doing this, your shoulder will protect your chin from counterpunches.
15. Don’t mix up the different types of jabs
Some of the tips I gave you here can be applied only in certain situations. For example, you can’t throw a step jab and hop forward at the same time. So don’t try to mix the different variations, because that will actually slow you down.
What I recommend is to try a different thing every time. For instance, do a double jab and then land the cross. Next time hop with the jab and the hop back. Don’t do one thing several times in a roll. Be unpredictable. By doing that your opponent will feel uncomfortable because he will constantly be trying to guess what is coming next. Thus you will be the one that is controlling the fight.
i have boxing club
Hha nice to see a Bulgarian brother. Amazing article !