Why do boxers have such horrible shoulder posture?

Did you read his book or did you have a different source?
Yeah I have the Supple Leopard. Quality book but I also watch a lot of his stuff on youtube Mobility Workout of the Day (MWOD). Crossfit gets a lot of stick but this guy knows what he's talking about. My own mobility has improved leaps and bounds since I started incorporating his mobility work into my routine. I had a bad back for years until I learned how to do the Paleo Chair.
 
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@aries

That's interesting about needing the range in the shoulder. I've also looked into Sinister's stuff and tried it. But in the end I came to what feels the most comfortable to me and thats just let the shoulder go where it goes during the punch which is internally and it feels the best.I've had a shoulder injury. But now my shoulder feels fine during punching. Now I just watch my posture outside of boxing in everyday and my shoulder and back and everything is much stronger than it used to be and more mobile. I was lacking in both strength and mobility in my shoulder.

My posture when i box isn't terrible though (in the Sinister/everyday sense). But I just let it go naturally and don't force it in either way.

I also don't agree with @Sinister 's thing about body punches. Tensing the abs makes it much easier to absorb body shots for meand I don't take them well either way. It's not about shock absobrtion throughout the whole body with body shots for me but just the solar plexus and the abs and ribs are the only thing really protecting it.

It doesn't feel comfortable the way some use a really really round posture when boxing but keeping the back textbook straight doesn't feel right either. If I let it happen naturally without thinking too much which includes letting my shoulder go forward my punches feel the strongest and quickiest.
 
I also don't agree with @Sinister 's thing about body punches. Tensing the abs makes it much easier to absorb body shots for meand I don't take them well either way. It's not about shock absobrtion throughout the whole body with body shots for me but just the solar plexus and the abs and ribs are the only thing really protecting it.

I bet you have a relatively weak core. Maybe should take care of that first before talking technical nuances on how to take shots better.
 
I bet you have a relatively weak core. Maybe should take care of that first before talking technical nuances on how to take shots better.

I don't think I have the storngest core but not a super weak one either. I mean I'm not incredibly strong but I can deadlift and squat more than many people who take body shots better than me.
I have a small ribcage and low BF kinda like a smaller much skinnier version of Holyfield. I really feel body shots sometimes even if I block them partially. I certainly know I have hit people with bodyshots that i certainly wouldn't be able to take myself and they are not gymnasts either but just fit in shape hobby boxers.
 
I don't think I have the storngest core but not a super weak one either. I mean I'm not incredibly strong but I can deadlift and squat more than many people who take body shots better than me.
I have a small ribcage and low BF kinda like a smaller much skinnier version of Holyfield. I really feel body shots sometimes even if I block them partially. I certainly know I have hit people with bodyshots that i certainly wouldn't be able to take myself and they are not gymnasts either but just fit in shape hobby boxers.
better get to work with that medicine ball. I never had a problem with body punches but when i took mma they had an exercise where you'd have a partner walk on your stomach, ohh, that shit was torture for me. fact is, the more is the skinny one ectomorphic? the more long limbed you are, generally, the less well you take punishment to the body and to the head. Gil clancy once said that the old george foreman had a protective girdle of fat around his stomach, i don't know if fat helps absorb punches or not, especially since there are very few tubs of lard in boxing, george wasn't even really all that fat, 250,260 for a man that huge isn't that bad.
 
better get to work with that medicine ball. I never had a problem with body punches but when i took mma they had an exercise where you'd have a partner walk on your stomach, ohh, that shit was torture for me. fact is, the more is the skinny one ectomorphic? the more long limbed you are, generally, the less well you take punishment to the body and to the head. Gil clancy once said that the old george foreman had a protective girdle of fat around his stomach, i don't know if fat helps absorb punches or not, especially since there are very few tubs of lard in boxing, george wasn't even really all that fat, 250,260 for a man that huge isn't that bad.

Yeah I'm kinda skinny but far from someone like Hearns. About 5'10 and 160lbs. I just really feel as if I take body punches worse than average. I think people with smaller ribcages and low BF take them worse which is mostly people who are build light like me. Holyfield certainly didn't lack muscles and strength anywhere but he didn't take body shots very well.

It's not even the accumulation of punches it's just that they hurt really bad short term once I get though the pain it's fine. Especially to the solar plexus it's tough regardless of where you hit me if it's even remotely close to my belly I feel it in my solar plexus

I imagine fat helps. it has obviously other drawbacks but it has to help its the outer layer of your belly and has to absorb some shock. Apparently it's really painful to get a tattoo on your ribs if you have very low BF (even more painful than if you have just average BF)
 
Yeah I'm kinda skinny but far from someone like Hearns. About 5'10 and 160lbs. I just really feel as if I take body punches worse than average. I think people with smaller ribcages and low BF take them worse which is mostly people who are build light like me. Holyfield certainly didn't lack muscles and strength anywhere but he didn't take body shots very well.

It's not even the accumulation of punches it's just that they hurt really bad short term once I get though the pain it's fine. Especially to the solar plexus it's tough regardless of where you hit me if it's even remotely close to my belly I feel it in my solar plexus

I imagine fat helps. it has obviously other drawbacks but it has to help its the outer layer of your belly and has to absorb some shock. Apparently it's really painful to get a tattoo on your ribs if you have very low BF (even more painful than if you have just average BF)
that's interesting, most boxers if i had to average it out are probably mostly under 10 percent body fat, heavyweights have traditionally been more bulky. Best thing you can do i do your situps, leg raised, work with the medicine ball. i've seen lots of boxers hit themselves while they do situps, i've never done that but i probably should, it can't hurt even though it looks fucking ridiculous in a regular health club, they'll think you're a tard or a pervert or something. get a partner and throw the medicine ball, you exhale when it hits you, you never hold your breath. Bodyshots, anyone will tell you, hurt worse than headshots, they also sap your strength and stamina which i'm sure you know.
 
that's interesting, most boxers if i had to average it out are probably mostly under 10 percent body fat, heavyweights have traditionally been more bulky. Best thing you can do i do your situps, leg raised, work with the medicine ball. i've seen lots of boxers hit themselves while they do situps, i've never done that but i probably should, it can't hurt even though it looks fucking ridiculous in a regular health club, they'll think you're a tard or a pervert or something. get a partner and throw the medicine ball, you exhale when it hits you, you never hold your breath. Bodyshots, anyone will tell you, hurt worse than headshots, they also sap your strength and stamina which i'm sure you know.


I don't plan on becoming the next great thing so its not that bad but yeah its tricky. and in certain ways weird because with a headshot you can think that some people have more resiliant brains, stronger and shorter necks, see the punches better coming but with body shots youd think its about the same and it is for MOSt but some cant take them at all while guys like Mayweather or Ali are seemingly invincible to the body
 
ali could take shots because of his conditioning for one thing, he was also very tough mentally and a little crazy. I was reading an article yesterday eulogizing Jeff Simms, a heavyweight from the seventies, he and ali got into a gym war, he called ali a "pain freak" and he obliged ali by putting 10 stitches in his lip. Ali was extremely lean as a young heavyweight, i'd say his bodyfat percentage was probably between 5 and 7 percent or so, really low. Even then there are stories of him taking helacious body punches. One writer said an opponent dug in a shot that looked like it went into clay's abdomen up to the elbow, he said there was only an involuntary "umpphh" sound but no other indication that the punch hurt. However, ali did have a pretty serious rib injury of some kind around the second liston fight which caused him problems for years, compliments of Jimmy Ellis. The only times he ever showed a body punch hurting him was in the third Norton fight and the Holmes fight. Also, his doctor left him in 77 when he took some tests that showed kidney damage. Dude was tough.
 
Yeah I'm kinda skinny but far from someone like Hearns. About 5'10 and 160lbs. I just really feel as if I take body punches worse than average. I think people with smaller ribcages and low BF take them worse which is mostly people who are build light like me. Holyfield certainly didn't lack muscles and strength anywhere but he didn't take body shots very well.

It's not even the accumulation of punches it's just that they hurt really bad short term once I get though the pain it's fine. Especially to the solar plexus it's tough regardless of where you hit me if it's even remotely close to my belly I feel it in my solar plexus

I imagine fat helps. it has obviously other drawbacks but it has to help its the outer layer of your belly and has to absorb some shock. Apparently it's really painful to get a tattoo on your ribs if you have very low BF (even more painful than if you have just average BF)

That's why I think crunching down with your abs helps because it reduces the space around the solar plexus effectively making it a smaller target. A really well placed shot can still get through but it would have to be really accurate.

Hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs but taking a body shot has a lot to do with timing your exhale just at the moment the shot is going to land. That way you have air pressure bracing out your ribs and abdomen. That's why it's always advised to breath in short breathes on the exhale, then you always have some air in reserve and if a punch lands your more likely to be exhaling at that moment. And med ball throws to your stomach as you do sit ups helps you get better at this. I used to do it solo by just dropping the med ball at the top of my sit up and it definitely improved my shot taking ability.
 
@aries

That's interesting about needing the range in the shoulder. I've also looked into Sinister's stuff and tried it. But in the end I came to what feels the most comfortable to me and thats just let the shoulder go where it goes during the punch which is internally and it feels the best.I've had a shoulder injury. But now my shoulder feels fine during punching. Now I just watch my posture outside of boxing in everyday and my shoulder and back and everything is much stronger than it used to be and more mobile. I was lacking in both strength and mobility in my shoulder.

My posture when i box isn't terrible though (in the Sinister/everyday sense). But I just let it go naturally and don't force it in either way.

I also don't agree with @Sinister 's thing about body punches. Tensing the abs makes it much easier to absorb body shots for meand I don't take them well either way. It's not about shock absobrtion throughout the whole body with body shots for me but just the solar plexus and the abs and ribs are the only thing really protecting it.

It doesn't feel comfortable the way some use a really really round posture when boxing but keeping the back textbook straight doesn't feel right either. If I let it happen naturally without thinking too much which includes letting my shoulder go forward my punches feel the strongest and quickiest.

I've likely taught people who took body shots worse than you, how to take them better than you. I've had students who would look for a spot on the floor with a fairly mild tap to the torso. Hell my best student had that problem for a couple of years, specifically when he was in with guys he knew went to the body well and had enough skill to land on HIM.

I will say this, though, positioning aside...a lot of it is mental. If you honestly believe you can't take them well, you won't. As an instructor in one of the most reputable gyms in Vegas, we try to cover all bases. From core strength:



To impact training:





Now, you don't need to agree with me. But if you ever visit Vegas, pay us a visit and I'd be more than willing to put the notions I say to the test.
 
yea i feel Ur right my shoulders have step up conjointly. it doesn’t have an effect on my back or something and that assume my posture is ok i dont have issues with it or something i just thinking boxing makes Ur shoulders step up and appearance rounded.
 
It's funny how you're the only guy that admits he's not sure even though he has a theory/idea. Everyone else just says some shit and acts like it came down from god himself.

Sometimes its okay to be unsure, and its important to realise that sometimes there is more than one truth and that there are many factors at play.

There's also nothing wrong with speaking without hedging your words. Just because someone doesn't hedge when they write doesn't mean they aren't aware of other possibilities.
 
can this be moved to the 'We dont give a fuck because we like boxing' forum please

Otherwise known as the MMA part

I couldnt give a rats ass if someone had bad posture or not, if he can box then i dont care if he comes in like a turtle
 
can this be moved to the 'We dont give a fuck because we like boxing' forum please

Otherwise known as the MMA part

I couldnt give a rats ass if someone had bad posture or not, if he can box then i dont care if he comes in like a turtle

Hell, a fighter with an arm growing out of his ass will draw a crowd.
 
Barker's jab here is criminally underrated.

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Hey guys, I heard that boxing is bad for your posture because it causes the shoulders to develop crouched in like you hold them in a boxing stance. Anyone know if this is true or not?
 
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