Ok...i was born left handed but i have been tought to write right-handed, i have a really strong right kick (im really good with my legs..shocking with my hands) but my left hand still feels more powerful. I feel pretty comfortable standing both ways but ive been training orthodox mostly. Do you think i should fight orthodox leading with my dominant hand or better following up with it? Maybe just change it up regularily? p.s how can i change my name on here?
Do whatever is most comfortable. There are not that many good switch stance fighters. Everyone loves to think of themselves as ambidexterous as if it was some how going to give them an advantage... but in reality... what hand you write with, even if it's both doesn't neccessarily translate to any advantage fighting. Additionally in Muay Thai the orthodox or southpaw stance often makes less of a difference. Muay Thai is not boxing and the stance tends to be more square on... this has to do with being able to check a kick to your lead leg. Standing with 'one foot in the bucket' as a boxer would leave your lead leg highly vunerable to a roundhouse from the rear leg of your opponent if he is a south paw... or even a lead leg roundhouse. The leg check comes out an angle to the body... not straight up as like a straight knee would. You wouldn't want to try and check kicks with the sides of your shins. So then... you stance will be much less exaggerated than a boxer would. At least if you smart.
as ussal slip is correct.....(probably the reighning athority on MT on this site) however if i had a choice i would go with soulth paw...... 1. no one ever sees them so you have an advantage 2. even if you were "tought to write" right handed thats just one skill....and it was probably more difficult to learn than skill.....you will be more geared to learn new skills on your natural side... 3.having you (right) lead leg better can really be an advantage
I gotta go with Southpaws. Southpaws give most people fits.... But you want to be sure you find a coach who is familiar with Southpaws. There are different strategies to employ as a Southpaw apart from simply circling to a different side as you fight.... For instance, a Southpaw can safely begin many combo's with rear-side attacks....
oh yea. I'm a righty but for some reason my left kicks are harder and faster than my right ones. Probably because I can stabilize myself a little better with the right leg or maybe because of uneven flexiblity. In any event I decided to just stick with left for a while. Now my jabs are harder as well because my right side is forward.
dont switch...stick to one side.....no problem having your lead leg kicks more powerful them back...in fact in some ways its preferable if you say this way your cross will be weak
yeah thats one downside... when our coach says "ok guys grab some pads and a partner" everyone tries to avoid me... I once held the pads for another southpaw and damn, it IS confusing
in my gym right now we have 2 southpaws...they both our poor/new...but i run tward them......even to hold mitts...athough its different its a good experence. lefts are not majical...(they dont hold an adherent advantage...like in baseball)...its just that we dont see them as much...i like to see them as much as i can
id say being a southpaw is an advantage if only for the fact that your opponent rarely has experience with a southpaw, while you have a lot of experience with orthodox fighters. and while its easy to say things like "keep your lead foot outside of his..." a southpaw already knows these tricks and trains to counter them all the time
as soon as i saw this thread i thought of your avatar I think 1 in 5 people are southpaw, so usually people have less experience fighting them. It's good to be able to switch naturally, so I shouldn't worry about it, and as Slip said, do whatever is comfortable.
ah the halmark of crappy boxing advice....really i should keep my lead foot out side his this is the advice that every rookie gives a righty about to face a southpaw...and a southpaw about to face a righty
If I were you stick to orthadox as it sounds like you could have a strong jab and powerful right kick, I feel this could allow you to do more damage to your opponent as you are more likely to throw more jabs and kicks of you back legs than the other way around. I would like to know which way you find more effective in the future. p.s. Try finding some admin on this site as they are likely to be able to change your screen name.
Ive got a bit of a problem with hand/leg stance. Im left handed and right legged. So if I want to have my best hand where I should, I have to have my best leg infront. My instructor just told me to do southpaw and train my "bad" leg.
