Do you rotate your hips with your jab?

Since I've been out of training I constantly think about what I can do better when I am able to do it.

Occasionally I would turn my hip as I would throw my jab. Most of the time however I always would step about 4-6" into the jab as I threw it. The part that makes me wonder is that obviously turning the hips just slightly gives you that little bit of extra reach.

I'm curious to know what everyone here does?

 

I always rotated the hip backwards to shorten up the jab.

It depends on what kind of jab you're throwing. If you're throwing a long jab or a powerful one you'll need to rotate the hip to a certain degree. You wouldn't as much for quick jabs.

 

It depends on whether your jab is a "committed punch" or just a "non-committed set up".

In order to have the maximum reach,

- your punching arm, shoulder, and your body should be in a perfect straight line. When you throw a right jab toward the N direction, if the right side of your hip is pointing NE, you will need to turn the right side of your hip toward N. That will require your hip rotation.
- the distance between your front foot and back foot should be closer.
- Your will need to lean your body forward.
- ...

But, if you just want to use your jab to set up something else, you may not even want to have that maximum reach. The more that you have committed yourself in one punch, the slower that you can change your jab into something else. In this case, you don't want to rotate your hip. A non-rotated hip will make your other hand to have shorter distance to your target.

 

It depends on whether your jab is a "committed punch" or just a "non-committed set up".

In your clip, you are using your jab to set up your cross. It's your jab, cross combo that you care about. Your jab is not a 100% committed punch. Your jab is not intend to be a knock down punch, Your body alignment and body leaning are not critical there.

In one fight, I used a long range jab to knock my opponent down (very similar to the following picture). If I didn't align my body, and lean my body forward, my fist might not even be able to reach to my opponent's face.

In the following picture, the upper body leaning is clear to see there.

The OP is interested in that "little bit of extra reach". The "body alignment" and "body leaning" can both help to reach to that goal as shown in the following clip.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8u79mnZ3Fc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8u79mnZ3Fc[/ame]

 

Hip rotation is an integral part of striking. It amplifies the power or the strike by bringing your leg muscles into play, and yes, it increases the reach. YouKnowWho is right in saying that whether you should or not depends on the purpose of the strike. if it's the setup of the one-two, using the hip isn't necessary seeing as you are more interested in distraction/misdirection to increase the potency of the follow up. That said, with practice, properly rotated hips on the jab can allow you to rotate more on the following straight or hook, putting more momentum and thus more power into the second punch. It can take a good amount of practice to get used to this, however.

 

You shouldn't really be leaning forward with your body. You'll find you would end up leading with your chin and are also reducing the range the other boxer needs to hit you.

I've always had more success throwing jabs and staying out of reach jabbing from an upright position.

As for footwork, it really depends on whether your opponent is using just hands or not.

I don't really tend to rotate the hip when jabbing unless I'm trying to put a lot of power behind it.

 

That will go both ways.

 

Yet you can hit with the exact same range, while reducing the chance of being hit by staying upright, and using superior footwork, instead of leaning forward. Your arm doesn't magically grow a few inches just because you lean forward and in every picture there the head is exposed more due to the lean (plus they are crosses and superman punches, not jabs).

I still stand by the jab being more effective from an upright position. It most certainly works better that way for me (especially against taller opponents). This is not to say I don't use lunging jabs, etc. Sometimes it very much depends on how the body is moving when you throw. I find I tend to get caught with return shots a lot more often when leaning and lunging however.

 

The middle one is fake so that doesn't count lol.

However, these are all superman punches... I am speaking of the jab. The whole objective of the jab obviously is to set up follow up shots.

The superman punch is also a very dangerous maneuver... I was never a fan of it because if you get caught jumping in you have no balance and will quickly find yourself ko'd. IMO it's just not a good punch, but there is a time and place for anything and I'm no expert either.

 

I rotate my hips at least a little, unless it's a feint. That adds both power and speed. I'm assuming you really intend to hurt someone with the jab itself though. A little hip rotation can also increase the range on the jab, although you may not want maximum range if you're following up with a punch from your rear hand; you'd be starting off closer in that case.

 

Yes. I rarely arm punch.

 

I have already shown a "jab used in superman punch" in my previous post. Does superman punch have to be a cross?

 

My definition of "jab" is to "strike with the leading arm". Whether I have

- both feet on the ground,
- single leg on the ground, or
- both feet in the air,

I'll still call it a "jab".

Here is an example of a "jab" with "single leg on the ground".



Here is an example of a "jab" with "both feet in the air".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4jR2b-7SKI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4jR2b-7SKI[/ame]

 

The form for my jab is pretty much the same as my cross, so I do rotate my hips. I've never thought about it in terms of reach, though; it's always been about getting power behind it.

 

I'm the same, though my waist movement is so subtle, that it looks like an "arm punch".

Altho on heavy bag work I tend not to do strong jabs, as I've jammed myself a couple of times.

 

They're still Superman punches, not jabs. Regardless of which hand is used.

Photo is too small for me to see properly on mobile but it looks like a right hand cross superman punch to me on that image also, not a jab. Otherwise you would see the face as illustrations tend to be shown using orthodox stances, not southpaw.

The point still stands. standard jabs are taught to be thrown from an upright position, with your chin tucked in and general a little sideways on to your opponent, allowing you to get maximum reach while keeping your head safe.

Leaning while jabbing only exposes your head more. Your image of the Shaolin Longfist shows this clearly. It doesn't make his arm any longer but it would put his head closer to his opponent. All it takes is a slip and a solid hook and it's goodnight.

It's important to remember that standard jabs generally aren't meant to be thrown with power. They're meant to be quick and annoying, allowing you to gauge your range properly. If you're leaning while jabbing, and you're a kicker, you would find yourself a little out of range a bit more often than you would like. Leaning forward also exposes you to other threats, such as knees and front kicks. You would also find you would put too much weight on the front foot more, exposing you to leg kicks, sweeps and throws.

 

Not saying who is right, or who is wrong, it's just to look at the same issue from different angles. Since this is not a boxing only thread, let's bring the kicking into our "jab" discussion.

When you jab, you will have one less arm to protect your body. If your opponent kicks at your chest/belly, since his leg is longer than your arm, his kick can reach at your chest/belly before your jab can reach at his face.

By using your "analogy", should we say that "A jab will only expose your chest/belly more"?

My point is in MA, every move will have risk. You can try to reduce your risk to be the minimum, but the risk is still there.

A maximum reach can also mean

- over committed,
- over exposed,
- difficult to change,
- off balance,
- ...

and there is no argument on that.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJXsfdwFI4M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJXsfdwFI4M[/ame]

 

I think I 'flick' my hips in a jab.
Little falling step, flick the hip, leave the shoulder back and then bring it forward after the hip moves, extend the arm and aim to have it all lined up and hitting the target a millisecond before the step is completed so all the weight is transferred.
There are loads of different jabs though. That's just one way of throwing it.