Tunch Ilkin-Hand Strikes

A few Christmas ago I received a Tunch Ilkin DVD on hand strikes and martial arts for offensive linemen. It was quite interesting to view the first time. It was his belief that martial arts were the great equalizer for him in the NFL. He attributed martial arts training with giving him the ability to neautralize much larger enemy combatants simply through the use of his hands. Tunch took the viewer through a series of exercises that he considered to be core to the topic. For more information on Ilkin click this link: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://tunchandwolf.com/images/photos/bio_tunch.jpg&imgrefurl=http://tunchandwolf.com/team.html&usg=__2YYDHWMCDQ0cRQnngVPuSoeXac0=&h=198&w=198&sz=12&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=3n-SrXaM_MbHmM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtunch%2Bilkin%2Bwife%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN Below are several examples that I have recently incoporated into my teams offseason conditioning program.

Double Handed Strikes-emphasis on elbows being in, sitting in an athletic position, and using the meat of the hand to strike.

Hi-Low- the player will strike a pad high and then low. The aforementioned coaching point are incorporated into this movement.

Single Handed Strikes-Same as doubled handed except only with one hand

Combo Movements-Hand strikes that end being a series of movements. For example, one strike with left hand followed by two with the right.

It is my contention that by doing just these few exercises in the offseason that we should see a dramatic improvement in our players ability to engage a defender.