Evaluation System for Straight Punch Training: A Preliminary Study

The punch is one of the major components of martial art that is related to kinematic indicators and impact forces. However, the impact forces of punching postures have not been fully investigated. Therefore, the aim of this research is to propose a new system to measure the acceleration and force created by the punch and monitor practitioners’ stances during the punching process. A study was conducted in which six participants (3 females and 3 males) participated with at least 1 year of experience. Each participant performed 5 straight punches with the fist rotation and 5 straight punches without the fist rotation. Force was measured from the load cell, acceleration from an accelerometer, and stance was monitored via a motion analysis module using a computer. The experimental results from the proposed system showed that the hand acceleration and punch forces correlated strongly with an average acceleration of 28.3 m/s2 (without rotation) and 29.9 m/s2 (with rotation) producing an average force of 107.5 N and 139.9 N, respectively. These results show that the punching velocity had a great impact on the punching forces. The experiments also proved that the system can use to monitor the force, acceleration of the punch, and also the posture of practitioners when doing punches.