For some reason I feel like I have better technique and power on my punches when I go southpaw. My footwork doesn't transition over as well though. Should I focus more on fighting as a lefty, or stick to orthodox? Thanks in advance. :good
do both! why to learn only one guard? its like learning 50% of the sport.. some of the best boxers could fight in both guards.
it's always been by goal to have a good power shot with my left. Usually it's the jab that works the left for me but it's important for me to be as ambidextrous as I can be.
The punch I'm most unhappy with is my right hook. I've spent hours on the bag and shadowboxing going back and forth running 1-2-3 drills from either stance. For some reason, orthodox, it just comes naturally. Pop-pop-pop. I turn on the ball of my left foot (as though "putting out a cigarette", as old-school coaches will put it) and turn my hips into the punch, elbow bent and on a leveled plane the entire way as though cradling an egg (another coach-ism) - form totally correct, and the punch looks & sounds right when it hits the bag/mitt whatever. Going southpaw, my 1-2 is fine. Left uppercut, too. I can't for the life of me turn over that right hook. My balance, coordination, everything just falls apart. I get clumsy, my rear (left) heel only kicks up a quarter-inch off the mat (or doesn't kick up) and quavers a bit in the air unsteadily while the ball of my right just sinks into the floor like a lead weight, the punch ends up sailing wide and not even landing with the appropriate part of the glove (more of the inner part and down near the pinky knuckles). I have no idea wtf the problem is. Hours of back and forth switching, my logic being that simply watching myself on video or in the mirror in orthodox will help me simply invert what I'm doing when I go southpaw. All well and good as sound theory but in practice it goes to ****. Every time. I just can't execute that one punch. Like some kind of physiological coding glitch in my brain. :wall
Your last sentence is actually, the answer. Problem being your eyesight, which gives you a peripheral side, which gives you your glitch, which affects the hips.
Like the guy said, it's a good idea to be able to come at your opponent from either side. I see some guys switching back and forth, and I think, wow, if his opponent would just time it just right and catch the guy switching, he could really put a bruising on him! Now that I'm old, I have all kinds of ideas of how to whip a guy's ass, but I don't have the physical tools. Ain't that the way it goes!
Best way is to stretch, but its knowing what as regards the hips. I will pm you something that will make you understand the extent of the problem I hope.
Stop looking in the mirror, that will mess up your feel for it. I'd think about what my right leg is doing, think about turning that knee into the bag. Square up more and give yourself space to turn into it, relax your arms and let your knee lead and fling the punch. From the sounds of it you're thinking about throwing punches instead of thinking about movement. Throw it from different positions with the pressure on different parts of your foot. When you get it right you'll feel it, you'll never get there if you just think about throwing it how it should look in your mind.
Hey, no offense, I looked into what you PMed me and honestly am even more confused now ...but thanks. :yep