Everybody has a baseline level of strength that they can exert during a strike. This baseline depends on your conditioning and how often you perform a physical activity. That being said there is a way to generate even more force to enhance your strikes regardless of baseline level.
The way to generate more powerful strikes is through the use of torque. Torque is rotational force and when applied correctly to movement, you can easily enhance your striking power exponentially.
Regardless of strike, torque must begin in the ankles for maximum strength.
Using a punch for this example – rotation would begin in the ankle followed by knee, waist, shoulder and finally wrist. If you are just striking from the upper body then you are depending on baseline strength. Following these stages of torque will send the force from the first rotation and add upon it each time until your strike connects. As you can see the strike will have a much higher degree of power.
Combine torque with proper technique and targeting and you will see why it would be possible for someone with a smaller frame to defend effectively against a much larger opponent.
Apply these changes to your training and see how much of a difference it makes. As always – stay hungry for knowledge and ask a healthy amount of questions.