The jab is arguably the most important strike in boxing. Mostly because of it's multitude of uses and functions. Developing a good jab is fundamentally important not only for boxers, but kickboxers and muay thai practitioners alike. 

So I’d like to break it down into 3 key areas of knowledge:

Fundamentals 
Variations 
Applications 

Fundamentals

The jab is a lead hand straight strike, more often than not being thrown to the head, but also useable to the body. The important thing to remember here is economy of movement. What we mean by that is we only move what is necessary to execute the technique. No pull back, no deviation from the straight line. The punch goes from the guard, to the target and back to the guard. 

Common basic mistakes are:

• Pulling back or ‘loading up’ on the jab which is easy for your opponent to read and react to.

• Dropping the hand after throwing the strike, rather than pulling it straight back into the guard

• Not fully extending the technique and taking full advantage of your range.

Variations 

Small changes to how we throw a jab can greatly impact it's utility and effectiveness against any given opponent. Here are a few common variations for you to work on. 

The Speed Jab 

As the name suggests this is the fundamental jab where we are trying to get to and from the target as fast as possible. Minimising our tells and focusing most of the movement on that lead arm. 

The Power Jab

Here we are stepping in with our feet to put our bodyweight behind the punch. The jab is not often thought of as a power technique. But a power jab like this can be an effective weapon and make your opponent think twice before moving into range 

The Probing Jab 

Here are jab is less of a weapon and more of a tool. We are using it to measure, distract and impair. Probing jabs are often thrown in high volume, with less commitment and speed behind them. When it touches the target it tells us we are in range, when put in front of an opponent it's a great way to draw their sight or obscure their vision from your power shot thats coming up behind it. 

Applications  

There are countless ways to apply the jab, so here are 3 for you to take away and work on 

Sliding Double Jab

Here we want to utilise the probing jab. It's objective is to provide us with cover fire whilst we shuffle our feet in to close the distance. As well as providing cover, it is our measuring stick to line up our cross. Once we make contact with our target, we know we are in range, we can sit ourselves down, turn our shoulder and fire our cross. 

The Stiff Counter Jab 

You may often hear commentators stating a fighters uses a ‘stiff jab’ what they really mean by this is they time their jab in such a way as when the opponent approaches, they walk onto the end of it at just the right moment. Just as the arm is fully extended and it's as if they walked onto the end of a lance. 

A hanging bag is a great tool to practice this on. Get the bag swinging and practice throwing the jab as the bag swings towards you. You’ll know you’ve got it right when you stop the bag in it's tracks. Like a rhino hitting a brick wall. 

The Jab From Below

Whether it be implementing the filly shell, made famous by Floyd Mayweather or a more traditional karate guard such as Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. Changing the direction that the jab is thrown from is a really effective way of landing it more often. 

By throwing it from a low position you often come up from out of the opponents eye line. Giving them less time to react as well as bringing the punch from an unusual angle that they are less likely to be used to seeing. 

The Most Important Thing

All of this aside, the most important thing you can do to improve your jab is to practice. Practice a lot. Shadow box, bag work, pad work, sparring. The more you use it, the more effective you will be.