Effects of Dumbbell-Resisted Punch Drills on Jab-Straight Punching Speed in Muay Thai Athletes

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined whether six weeks of dumbbell-resisted punch drills improved jab-straight punching speed in Muay Thai athletes.

Materials and Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. Sixteen athletes aged 17-30 years were purposively selected from 25 active members of the Rinjani Muaythai Boxing Club, East Lombok. Participants completed 18 training sessions over six weeks (three sessions per week). The main exercise comprised four sets of 15-20 alternating jab-straight repetitions while holding a 1-kg dumbbell in each hand, with progressive increases in repetition number and intended movement speed. Punching performance was assessed as the best number of valid target contacts achieved across three 30-second trials. Data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and a paired-samples t-test at α = .05.

Results: Mean punch count increased from 72.94 ± 5.34 to 82.63 ± 4.90 contacts per 30 seconds, corresponding to a mean gain of 9.69 contacts (13.28%). The change was statistically significant, t(15) = 14.90, p < .001, 95% CI [8.30, 11.07], with a large standardized within-participant effect (Cohen’s dz = 3.73).

Conclusions: A six-week program of light dumbbell-resisted, technique-specific punch drills was associated with a substantial improvement in repeated jab-straight punching speed. The method may be incorporated cautiously as a supplementary exercise, but controlled trials are required before the improvement can be attributed solely to the intervention