does any one know a way to tell for sure what one suits you best its a real problem for me I'm right handed but up and till now I have fought southpaw, my father who was a boxer was right handed and did the same as did his father so its not that unusual it just seems to be a family trait. however I cant get anywhere near the same amount of power with my left as I can with my right but when I try to switch to orthodox my coordination just goes to hell and my left jab is terrible, I do MMA and all my best kicks come from my right leg so it creates a problem having that as my front leg there as well. any advice ?
I don't think there's any definitive answer here. You're going to need to train something up, anyway you cut it. Either train up your coordination in left lead or your left side power in right lead (which is what I do too, by the way). Personally, I'd think that right lead would be a bit of a boon in MMA because, percentage-wise, people are going to be more used to orthodox boxers in a left lead. But that may not amount to much of an advantage. Stuart
I'd agree with Stuart that being southpaw is an advantage in MMA and boxing. Quite simply they are a pain to fight! My jab is pretty sharp now but I'm damned if I can get to land clean on a southy! My advice would be to work both sides, really focus on whats weak about both stances and try to fix them. Being able to switch stance is a good thing if you can pull it off. Look at Anderson Silva! In terms of power punching from southpaw your left cross may lack something but I bet your lead hook is better ;-)
How far are you from Tommy Carruthers? I only ask because, JKD might be something where you might feel at home. This said, in the realm of MMA, I would recommend you stay with what you've been doing all this time. But do mix in orthodox training occasionally to work on your coordination. How often, and how intense, is up to you, though.
i would disagree with most of the above advice. starting with what i disagree with most. 1. dont learn to fight out of both stances.....think about it....first dont try to reinvent the wheel there is a reason most fighters pick one or the other. if you fight right handed you have to learn to fight rightys and leftys.....now if you learn both you have to learn how to fight rightys and leftys from the right as well as rightys and leftys from the left.... its hard enough to find the two hours a day to train one way...now you would need double the training time....unless you are a pro with no family comitments this is going to get rough time wise 2.next ask yourself ...why do we fight ...the answer is to HURT people. watch alot of boxing and you will see (especally at the low level) that most knockouts are the cross (punch from back hand) right or orthadox, left for those freaks of nature called the south paw. the cross is your cannon...and you wouldnt go to war without a cannon.you use you other troops to move potect and range find for the big stick they say in boxing is that everything starts with the jab...but i say it ends with a cross....i jab to set up my cross, i go to the body to wear a guy out lower there hands and end with a CROSS. unless you got a real good left cross i would switch to a orthadox stance. and think for yourself...who would you rather fight a guy who can jab you all day or a guy who can jab and land a bone rattling cross. 3. you fell goofy cause you are not used to it....work it and you will get your jab down.....and if you cant jab using your left hand im sure that you cant throw a good left cross....so you have essentially have just made yourself a onesided fighter....... take my advice with a grain of salt...oscar deloya was a lefty who fought orthadox...and he did ok......but foreveryone else?????
wow this is an old thread ummmm you make some good points actually but the fact that it runs in my family who have a boxing/general fighting history it leads me to believe its just a natural anomaly.
sorry for the lateness of my reply iv never seen this post before. First off his class is pretty far away from were I live anyway and im pretty much settled into Judo and MMA plus I want to start BJJ so there isn't much room for anything else, but when I first started martial arts I was really interested in training with him and sent him a couple of emails well he didn't fail to live up to his reputation. the general opinion among the ma community is that he is brilliant but a douche bag his class is run sort of like the ma equivalent of the stonemasons if you don't know someone who already trains with him its hard to get in, plus he isn't very warm to those who do martial arts with a sporting aspect (MMA and Muay thai especially apparently). search him in google and look on some other forums there's plenty of other people who can back this up. in the words of my mma coach "he could punch you unrecognisable but hes a total bellend" he was going for the blunt approach that's pretty much what iv been doing man.
eh if you can make it work....make it work. unothadox methods have adantages and disadvantages. advantage...no else is used to it and it can be tricky to solve. disadvantage...there is a reason not everyone does it. eh i also remember don fry (im dating myself) work out of a powerhand lead before and he did alright. since you do mma out of curiosity ...what side do you feel most comfortable shooting out of
good question id say when actual shooting from standing to the legs deffo (like in a double leg takedown for example) from southpaw but once on my knees with a hold of them it feels more natural to turn in the wrong direction (the direction I would have turned in if Id shot from orthodox)
I was sparring with a big Polish guy today, second time sparring with kicks since my op. I've been doing so much boxing that my ability to check low kicks has got much worse and my thigh isn't conditioned any more.... I started off orthadox and took three good ones in the first round all to the same spot, I literally had to switch stance or I think I would have gone down from them. In that case being able to fight southy was very useful, the work I've been doing on my right jab paid off tonight! For me personally being able to fight both ways has been useful, but mai is right in saying that it takes a lot of time. Best thing is go with one stance for the first year at least, then look at changing things up. Also I think a problem with fighting both ways is that people end up switching constantly for no reason and getting caught as they're doing so, another symmpton of not really being comfortable in either and one of the reasons why its best to stick with one until you're at a certain level.
To be clear, I wasn't advocating learning to fight equally well on both sides. I agree with the training time issue. You don't want to be hopeless in one lead. But I think there's a natural tendency to favour one over the other, and no real need to battle that tendency. I was saying that, whichever one you opt to concentrate on, there are going to be issues to overcome. That said, I don't believe in the necessity of the orthodox stance. Mai Tai mentioned the cannon and going to war without it if you take a southpaw stance as a right-handed fighter. But what does handedness really mean? That we favour the right hand for fine motor skills. The fact that I can't write my name with my left hand doesn't mean I can't land a good punch with it. Fact is that I've been punching from a right lead for long enough now that my orthodox stance, and the resultant right cross, really aren't that great. I do get the point that Mai Tai was leading to (I think) by asking what side you like to shoot from. Fighting from south paw probably isn't the novelty in MMA that it is in boxing, simply because wrestlers tend to lead with their power side too, and there are plenty of well-trained wrestlers in MMA. Stuart
you are right about handedness...its really all about what you are used to...however the poster stated that he can hit alot harder with his right hand than his left. so i would say you want your power hand to be your back hand. pesonally i try to do everything out of a similar stance..just tweek it a bit for each sport. example....i am left leg first....in track and feild starting blocks, football my footwork in boxing is similar to my footwork in swinging a baseball bat.leg kick and socker kick not a whole bunch different......you will find ther is alot of similarites....but i go off topic the point is..... i would pick one side.....and the side i would pick would be the one that allows me the biggest back hand punch(cross).
wonderful thing about fight game......there always more than one way to do things. personally i would rather learn to check kicks out of my orthadox stance.....and since you were rusty that day...if it was me i probable would have quit for the day....or told the guy to lay off the leg for a the next few rounds. if it was a real competitive sessstion...not sure why he didnt still keep nailing your left leg. I would....that way i can circle into away from your right jab...(you better side) ........and not be to worried about your weaker cross. but like i said early...so many ways to win...and lose.....poor me if your left cross is up to snuff
You're quite right about it being better to check his kicks rather than have to switch, I'll be ready next time. I was figuring out his timing but not quick enough. He did try to keep going for my left leg after I'd swithed and my left cross is decent but nowhere near as good as my right. However my footwork was better than his and I was able to cut him off. By this time I was generally moving a lot better. I also started catching his kicks and using that to force him backwards against the cage wall for some dirty boxing and knees. I was definitely better on the ground than him but getting him there was tough, these polish boys are strong as hell!
i kinda hated putting that about "better to learn to check kicks better in normal stance".......its kinda like..how do you get out of this submition...dont get in it.....or how do you block this punch....its better to move before it gets there......all true but easy for the keyboard warrior to say........hard to do is real life most of us at one time or another will find someone who throws that kick so fast you can check it.....or does some sweat combo to disquise it...and boom fefore you know its yah cant even move your leg........
