I am right handed but I feel more comfortable with the southpaw stance?

[Rockman14]

I find it easier to jab with my right than my left and everytime I need to do a powershot I have to switch stance and use my right, I also find it easier for combinations to flow starting with a right jab, is this a terrible mistake? Is this common with people starting out?

 

[jlagman]

So you're a one handed fighter...

 

[exclamatio]

I'm right handed and fight both sides, but mostly from Southpaw. Just train your back hand from southpaw, it's only going to stay weak if you don't train it. Work on a wicked lead hook.

Switch hitting can be good, but don't be relying on it to hit hard.

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

Yes, it is common. You are right handed, makes sense a jab with your right hand would feel better starting out. The problem then is your left power hand. It will take a lot of time and training for your left to become as quick and powerful as your right, if it ever does. For most folks, it is going to be a lot easier to learn a good jab with the left, and keep that power hand in the rear. There are very few elite exceptions to this for good reason-Oscar De La Hoya being one, as he was a fencer which uses the dominant hand in front. I suggest learning orthodox stance. It will start to feel natural.

 

[NGSouthpaw]

Of course, but you gotta train hard with that left hand (and left leg) of your too. Cause in fighting, you gotta utilize everything out of your body, not just your dominance one. Remember, you're only as good as your weaker hand (and leg, lol).

 

[Replay19]

Yes, it is common. You are right handed, makes sense a jab with your right hand would feel better starting out. The problem then is your left power hand.

That's only if he decides to pursue traditional fighting and only make hard hits with his rear arm. There are arts out there that teach you to fight with your dominant side forward, and to attack hard with it. So even if he's right handed, he can still hit hard with his lead right arm hook, jab, or kicks. It's just going to be more difficult to develop, but it can work.

But yeah if he pursues traditional boxing or MMA, he's going to need to either train his right arm to go back with his left up front, or he's going to need to learn how to hit hard with his left arm/legs

 

[TheyAllFloat]

I am a right handed Southpaw. For me it more was about skating and surfing in the goofy stance for over a decade and I felt very unbalanced in the orthodox stance.

 

[These Two Hands]

I used to train and fight orthodox, and eventually made the switch to southpaw. I'm right handed but I prefer southpaw a lot. Now I'm able to switch stance from time to time if I need/want to which is fun. But I usually stick to southpaw.

My advice to you is drill the shit out of the body mechanics involved in your left straight, if you have a bag at home start out just standing there for an hour or two throwing the left straight over and over again focusing on using perfect technique every time. It should begin to become ingrained enough fairly quickly if you do a few hours a day on just that punch. Then progress to drilling the shit out of all of your southpaw 101 combinations. On top of that, practice moving around in southpaw stance in your living room, just move around, cut off center ring, step around &c. At least, that's what I did and southpaw ended up feeling really natural very quickly.

And like another poster said up above, your lead hook should be a moneymaker.

 

[Stev3]

And like another poster said up above, your lead hook should be a moneymaker.

Correct

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I started off boxing as an orthodox despite being left handed, I did it for quite a while, and when I switched over to muay thai I did it again for a while.

In the end I was persuaded by an expertboxing.com article to switch to southpaw and it's worked out well. I can switch hit quite well now, tending to go on the offence more from orthodox and countering more from southpaw.

The main reason I switched however was because I was too one handed as a fighter. I would throw jabs and lead hooks but except for finishing combos with a right hand, I just didn't use it enough, which is why I switched, putting my power hand in the back made me a lot more versatile and helped me develop a wider variety of punches.

So unless you're absolutely dedicated to throwing that rear, weaker hand as much as possible in bag drills and sparring sessions to make sure you use it, then you should go to your natural stance for the sake of the accuracy. Often there isn't much difference in power between a right and left hand (I wouldn't be able to tell you what I punch harder from) but its that accuracy that matters more.

So yeah, either work your weak hand a lot more, or switch to orthodox.

 

[These Two Hands]

Definitely work your rear hand. I probably should have mentioned in my initial post that one of the deciding factors for me switching to southpaw was the fact that I still have plenty of accuracy and power in my left hand from a southpaw stance, if I hadn't had that and wasn't able to develop it then I would not have made the change.

TS, look at it like this; generally speaking, anybody can learn to do anything any way. However depending on which way you learn to do something, there may be specific areas which require remedial focus in order to build neural pathways and muscle memory, for example. Drilling the specific aspects which need that remedial focus, for an hour or two every day, and paying particular fastidious attention to the body mechanics involved, will pay off very quickly.

 

[Kingofthestreets]

I'm right handed and switch stances fight almost exclusively with lead hand, rear had is used for defense. Once I get tired in one arm I just switch and throw from all angles wiht the next arm etc.
Still you need to know the basics, my rear left is a bit weak compared with the right but it don't matter I can still fight from orthodox Stance and throw the rear etc.