Developing The Rear Hook Into Your Striking Arsenal By Mike Winkeljohn
Nowadays athletes competing in MMA or other combat sports must have a wide range of offensive weapons. There is a vast amount of different strikes that one must master in order to be successful inside the cage or the ring.
The rear hook is one of those strikes that can generate a lot of power when correctly applied. It is a strike that builds off of the back foot and drives into your opponent with significant force. A hook is a strike that uses rotation off of the back foot, with a drive generated from your core so you can dig into your opponent's ribs, liver or jaw.
Traditionally when you learn how to throw power shots, you over rotate the hips so you can generate tremendous force. With the rear hook if you over rotate then you might find it hard to square up to your opponent before they counter strike you. Keeping your rotation minimised, you will use more snap into the punch but still be able to defend on the counter.
In this video Mike Winkeljohn explains this best as a whipping action, you rotate the hips to create energy then throw the hook like you are cracking a whip.
Who Is Mike Winkeljohn?
Mike Winkeljohn was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was a professional kickboxer with a record of 25 wins 7 losses and 3 draws, where he earnt himself 3 world titles. Mike is a coach alongside Greg Jackson at the famous Jackson Wink MMA Academy, home to some of the best talent in MMA like Jon Jones, George St Pierre, Holly Holm and Bj Penn.
Check Out Coach Wink's Instructionals HERE! Click Learn More!
Check Out The Video Below On Adding The Rear Hook To Your Repertoire
Technique Breakdown
Mike Winkeljohn starts this video off by explaining the mechanics of the hook, he talks about how it's similar to the front hook just with less rotation. The fighter must still turn his foot inwards to engage his hips, rotate and then throw the shot with power, making sure you can still square up to your opponent.
First you must keep your hands up, that is a golden rule of thumb. Once you're ready to engage your opponent you must pivot off of your back foot turning your foot inwards, this will create the energy in your hips. Now you can use a rotation of your hips followed closely by a snapping action of your hook.
Remember to utilise this as a two step action, this technique is not in one motion, otherwise you can become robotic and predictable. Turn the hips first then throw the hook like you are cracking the whip! According to Mike Winkeljohn.
Mike explains that finding the power in your hook technique is just physics, once you understand the mechanics you can try it out and best apply it to your own game.
Adapting this to MMA you can use the gloves to your advantage, by changing the angle of your glove gives you a different structure behind your punches. Reaching further with your glove like it was an extension will have your opponent backing away more, this will always open up the jaw line so you can land your hook flush.
Now that you have seen the mechanics to this technique you can experiment with it and find out exactly how to apply it to your striking arsenal!
Learn More From Mike Winkeljohn About Power Punching
If you like this video on the rear hook from Mike Winkeljohn and you want to learn more techniques on maximising your power punching then check out his series Power Punching by Mike Winkeljohn Available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!