how far should one reach when throwing punches? i used to fully extend my arm throwing left or right straight punches,with my shoulder fully extended as well behind it, now i have shorten all this up with better results especially the jab just wondering what u guys think? :happy
You want to extend it fully if you can but with a snap, not so you feel you're "reaching" and the same with the cross but with a pivot on the backfoot and twist the hips to generate the power.
IMHO, it doesn't become "over" reaching until you are getting repeated hyper-extensions of the elbow or you are not moving your feet in and tilting your upper body toward the target. Sometime shortening up or varying your reach works well because a guy is never really sure where your range is. Also you may have been giving away your intentions with the torso rotation. Maybe add in some torso rotating feints to mask it. Personally I like to give up a little height to make my opponent forget about range then work with the shorter more compact shots. If I get the better of him and he begins to give me "safe" distance? Tricks on him because now I can fully rotate and STILL reach him.
You're only overreaching if you're not stepping with the punch and trying to lean in. Learn good footwork and coordinate it with your arms. 'overreaching' is actually the term used for when an athlete pushes themselves to overtrain a bit then pulls back (stops training) to supercompensate.
A rule my coach told me my first day in the gym was "If ur chin is in front of ur nuts, ur gonna be on ur knees." Reaching is when ur leaning instead of stepping as mentioned above. If u lean, ur off balance which is bad for so many reasons like if u even get touched ur either hittin the deck even though ur not hurt flyin across the ring lookin like u just got hit with a bomb. Second, if ur chin is forward, its exposed, u may not even get up if ya get hit. Third, the punch u just reached on leaves you out of position to be able to follow up. keep the weight in back, the chin above or behind ur nuts n use ur feet to move
All you gotta do, is ask yourself this, if you were trying to counter over the top of the opponents jab with your right hand, how far in would you expect them to overextend, to make possible for you to counter their jab? You should know when you're reaching, its when you'r trying to throw a punch without having got your feet into position.
