Fundamental questions

[AminoAcid]

1) When you jab, is it bad technique if your elbow (the elbow of the arm you are jabbing with) flares out a bit to the side?

2) In your fighting stance, is it considered bad posture if you have the palms of your fists pointing towards you? Not directly in flat trajectory, but curled in at around a 45 degree angle.

3) Do you have one fighting stance, or do your fighting stances differ? I am wondering because I find myself in different stances at times. For example, when I do the heavy bag, I find myself in more of a boxing stance with my lead foot at an inward angle, and my knees slightly bent. But when I shadow box, I like to keep my hands up a little higher and stand up a little more upright, basically having more of a traditional Muay-Thai stance.

I punch better with my boxing stance and I can slip punches more smoothly, but I feel that I'm a kickboxer at heart (I truly enjoy the kicking aspect and the whole art of 8-limbs motto).

Having said that, is it bad to change up your stance when you train?

Thank you for the help.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

yeah don't flare your elbows.

 

[a guy]

You should be able to flow between slightly different stances depending on what you want to do. It's important to be able to work from different positions and show different looks. The key though is that you can FLOW into those positions. If the transitions are sloppy it makes you predictable.

Don't flare your elbows when you punch. Practice next to a wall if that's a hard habit to break.

 

[AminoAcid]

Thanks for the replies.

So should my elbow make a 90 degree angle with the ground when I jab?

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

Your elbow should be pointing down until your arm is straight. If you practice punching straight parallel next to a wall (like with your shoulder almost touching the wall), your elbow shouldn't bump or touch the wall (because of elbow flare).

If you flare your elbows, people can see your punches coming (and you will get punched) and besides your punches will be terrible and lack every quality you want in a good punch. Do you wanna be that guy who's easy to see/hit/avoid while also being the same guy who cant keep up with even the lower half of the class?

Find some guy who can really punch technically and offer to pay for his lunch(es) for him to break down how he does it for you in a lesson or two. Bribes go far in boxing because almost no one who does it is rich, and even if they are comfortable, they still really appreciate that little tiny extra.

 

[AminoAcid]

Your elbow should be pointing down until your arm is straight. If you practice punching straight parallel next to a wall (like with your shoulder almost touching the wall), your elbow shouldn't bump or touch the wall (because of elbow flare).

If you flare your elbows, people can see your punches coming (and you will get punched) and besides your punches will be terrible and lack every quality you want in a good punch. Do you wanna be that guy who's easy to see/hit/avoid while also being the same guy who cant keep up with even the lower half of the class?

Find some guy who can really punch technically and offer to pay for his lunch(es) for him to break down how he does it for you in a lesson or two. Bribes go far in boxing because almost no one who does it is rich, and even if they are comfortable, they still really appreciate that little tiny extra.

I followed yours and the posters above advice and jabbed with my shoulder almost against the wall, and my elbow didn't make contact with it.

However, I noticed that my elbow isn't completely perpendicular to the ground when I jab (I tell this by looking in the mirror). Is this troublesome?

 

[a guy]

I followed yours and the posters above advice and jabbed with my shoulder almost against the wall, and my elbow didn't make contact with it.

However, I noticed that my elbow isn't completely perpendicular to the ground when I jab (I tell this by looking in the mirror). Is this troublesome?

At the end of the punch it should be turned over slightly. As long as you can jab right next to the wall you should be fine, just make sure you are standing close enough to the wall.