How To Throw A Hook With Juan Cruz Quintana
The hook punch is an essential punch to know in any combat sport that allows punches to the head. The hook gives you so many opportunities, one of the main ones being the ability to switch up your targets mid combination. Instead of punching straight at your opponent’s face with straight punches like jabs and crosses, the hook targets the side of the head and the jawline.
This means that if your opponent is too focused on the front of their face, they probably won’t see it coming when you go to the side. The hook also provides a lot of set up for things like big rear hands and kicks if they are legal in your combat sport.
The rear hook is also a very powerful and underrated technique. However most newer fighters struggle to get the right technique behind both their lead and rear hooks. This means that they aren’t getting the optimal amount of power behind their punches because they are so inefficient.
That’s why we have brought in a top tier striking coach to show you how it’s done. In this video, Juan Cruz Quintana goes over how to properly throw both the lead and rear hook punches.
Who Is Juan Cruz Quintana
Juan Cruz Quintana is an Argentinian Kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter and is the founder of Quintana Combat. Quintana is one of the best coaches and kickboxers coming out of South America.
How To Throw Hook Punches
The video starts off with coach Juan talking about how all the power in pretty much every punch comes from the floor. This is why all punches actually start from the feet and not from the hands. For hook punches you want to think about lifting the heel that corresponds to the punching arm off of the floor. This means if you’re throwing a lead hook, lift your lead heel and vice versa. This allows you to pivot better and get more rotational power into your strike.
You also want to make sure that when you pivot that your knee and hip also turn to get as much power into your strike as possible. When throwing a hook, you want to dip to the side of the arm that you are throwing first. This means that if you’re throwing a lead hook, you will dip slightly to your lead side and if you’re throwing a rear hook, you are dipping slightly to your rear before throwing.
This way you can get some more torque into your punch. After dipping you are going to violently twist your hips and keep your arm at a 90 degree bend.
Learn More From Juan Cruz Quintana
If you like this technique breakdown and want to learn more from Juan Cruz Quintana, then you should check out his complete video training series “Crisp Striking Techniques And Combinations By Juan Cruz Quintana” Available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!