Im having a little issue with my trainer.

[$HandsOfFIRE$]

Ok ive been training for a while now only boxing. So i listened to my trainer to train othodox and it was great. But now i am convincing him to train me soutpaw because my power punch is my left. But the thing is he is very old and i have respect for him and he tells me your better the other way. Is it because hes never learned southpaw?

 

[fightingrabbit]

lol dont try to convince him to teach you southpaw if you're really an orthodox. Thats just going to get you beat up and confused.

 

[jlagman]

Are you left handed? Do you really feel more comfortable as a Southpaw, or are you one of those guys who thinks he can easily become ambidextrous? How'd you come to this, "my left is my strong side" conclusion? How long have you been training from an orthodox stance? Those are all things to consider. For all we know, he's right and you are much better as an orthodox fighter, or he may not have experience teaching people how to fight Southpaw.

My question is, how can you expect a group of strangers on the internet to definitively know the answer?

 

[MonstrositY]

lol dont try to convince him to teach you southpaw if you're really an orthodox. Thats just going to get you beat up and confused.

why?

 

[Rinksterk**]

He probably knows hundred time more about boxing and fighting in general than you. Listen to him.

 

[Soul Rebel]

Perhaps you should ask him, its not disrespectful to inquire about your personal training.

 

[GlassJaw]

Think about your feet first. Do they feel more comfortable in orthodox? If so, stick to your current stance and work on your right hand. I'd kill for a more confident left hook ya know?

 

[$HandsOfFIRE$]

Ok my strong hand is my left hand. I write left and all i am a southpaw. But my right hand got heavy now cause i train orthodox. My trainer has no other southpaws its only me and ive seen him train orthodox all the time. The first time i just messed around southpaw and i felt more comfortable than orthodox. My jab is quicker.

 

[Chonbody]

Dude. What. Are you Rocky or somethin'

 

[ForeverFiending]

It's good to learn both ways, but he's probably right. The fact that he is old and you respect him should say something... that is what coaches are for. To watch you and tell you what they see and what you should do. It's a hard thing sometimes to listen to your coach because you FEEL like you are on to something, but they are almost always right. The only time you should really wonder about their judgement is if you train different styles and the coaches don't know all of the different styles. But I have two boxing trainers for boxing ONLY and whatever they tell me that has to do with hands and footwork is what I go by. Learn to trust. You need to be on the same page as your coach so maybe you should talk to him more about it. Otherwise he'll probably let you get your ass whooped and then tell you "I told you so" because sometimes that's what it takes.

 

[andrewbc]

Think about your feet first. Do they feel more comfortable in orthodox? If so, stick to your current stance and work on your right hand. I'd kill for a more confident left hook ya know?

the best advice. if you have knockout power in your 3 and 5, as well as your 2,4,6 your better off than most people bro

 

[jlagman]

Irony's a motherfucker, just yesterday my Kru suggested that I play around with fighting out of orthodox because he thinks my right cross is stronger than my left. :icon_conf

I'm one of those weird, right-handed southpaws. When I began training Muay Thai almost 3 years ago, I knowingly began my training as a southpaw to protect an old injury; my left shoulder. Since then, my right hand has remianed the stronger of the two; I've got a decent right jab and a pretty good right hook, however, I developed in such a way that my left kick is stronger than my right.

I've always had a bit of a problem with my left cross, it has improved a lot over my course of training, especially since I joined the gym I currently train at, but I've got to admit that it could use some more improvement. My kru is also a southpaw, in fact, we've got a shitload of southpaws at our gym, hence "Southside", and he's got an amazing left cross. Yesterday he asked me to show him my right cross because he'd always felt my left cross "looked a little wierd". I showed him my right cross and he thought it was better than my left; I was able to extend it further and make it seem less of an arm punch, he then told me to play around with an orthodox stance. Admittingly, I am not able to extend my left shoulder as far as my right, because of my injury.

I played around with it and here are some of the issues I ran into while attempting stuff from an orthodox stance:

- I'm uncomfortable with the movement, circling, and defense. I've spent the last 2.5 years as a southpaw and am very well accustomed to the movement and defense a southpaw normally utilizes against orthodox fighters as well as other southpaws. I'm a complete fish out of water regarding orthodox movement and defense.

- My left kick; while I do utilize my right kick more often (like how a boxer throws more jabs than crosses), my left leg is the more powerful of the two, as long as it remains in the rear. I've played around with a left switch kick from an orthodox stance and at the moment, it just isn't as powerful or as comfortable as my left kick from a southpaw stance.

- My left jab & hook; I originally switched to southpaw to keep my injured shoulder protected at the rear. When I lead with it, I feel so prone to re-injury. On top of that my injury hinders my ability to throw a good jab or hook (moreso the hook) with that arm.

Overall I feel more comfortable as a southpaw and that I give up much more than I gain when switching to orthodox. However I've got so much respect for my kru's opinion, that I spent the greater part of yesterday, acquainting myself with the orthodox stance, after which, I performed a bunch of shoulder and core exercises in an attempt to improve my left cross. :redface: