The shovel hook is one of those punches that gets very little publicity in the world of pugilism, yet is extraordinarily useful.

I generally don’t teach the shovel hook until later on in training due to its tendency to throw the balance and guard off when executed by a novice. Once incorporated into the arsenal of short range punches, however, it is highly deceptive and powerful.

Having said this, it seems that there is a bit of variation along with some confusion about how the shovel hook is executed.

The two main variations I’ve seen from boxers are essentially hybrid hook/uppercuts. One being more of an uppercut that is thrown into the body rather than upwards towards the face, and the other being simply a hooking punch that is thrown at a 45 degree angle towards the face.

These two variations seem to be the predominant modern versions of the shovel, although there do appear to be more.

In Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee seemed to have preferred the mechanics of the classic shovel hook as described by old time boxing champion Jack Dempsey. In fact, the description of the shovel found in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do is nearly identical to Dempsey’s except for the right stancer’s modification.

So, for the record, the JKD shovel hook is thrown with the elbow starting tight against the body and in front of the hip.  The fist then travels in a 45 degree angle, generally toward the solar plexus or chin, landing on the bottom three knuckles. Most of the power is actually being generated from a deep shoveling/upward thrusting of the punching side hip. It really is more of a straight punch than a hook as the shoulder whirl is not emphasized, the elbow is not necessarily fixed, and the body weight is kept in the lead side.

Hope this helps,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com