Cuban hook evolutionary training
- jamie03066
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
28.07.2025
Hour eight of my senior client's fifth course brought him onto the Cuban hook. The technique arose during our last lesson. This particular hook works well to gain that much more range than even the straight arm or conventional long range hook.
At the beginning of the lesson we looked at the hook on the heavy bag. My client complained that it felt like an unnatural movement, which is fair comment. The fist is twisted with the backs of the knuckles on the target. In order to get the range the shoulder needs to be extended. and the arm is locked out. This can put a lot of strain on the elbow joint if thrown incorrectly.
The key to getting it right is to do what you always should do with any punch (or technique for that matter): go back to the base. Get the body positioning and activation behind the limb right first. Again, there is only so much you can do with modelling and having an individual copy the technique. Although these steps are fine as a type of introduction. I rather create constraints-led games to develop the technique. If the client can see the move's purpose, especially when I can highlight it straight after a moment in sparring, there is more of a chance of it being executed better.
So we sparred with jabs and conventional long-range hooks. Here I corrected the long range hook form. The punch needs to be thrown with the fist set horizontally, especially if it is being used in amateur boxing competition. This is because a vertical punch - which can be used interchangeably with a horizontal fist at mid-range and makes sense to be thrown that way at close range or as a shovel hook - is likely to hit the target with the inside of the glove and be ruled a foul.
Next, I introduced a Cuban jab where the fist is twisted to the thumb down position. This version of the jab has a bit more range than the conventional type. Finally, the Cuban hook was introduced along with set-ups using straight punches to the body.
Comments