Jab form questions - self training

[jclaudevandamme]

I cannot get proper instruction for the next months so I am training by myself. I am going into Kickboxing or comparable style.

My upper body training is only jabs right now.
I have seen three jab forms in instructionals. First without any shoulder or leg movement (boxing video), second with a twist of hips to add power (from a kickboxing video) and third with the back foot adding to the movement (this one from a Muay Thai video).

Should I concentrate on the first one, without moving my base or torso, and punching only from arms or the styles that use kicks find it better for some reason to care more about the power of the move than the speed/defense?

And should I train orthodox and south-paw jabs or stick only to orthodox?

Also, what is the distance of the back hand to my jaw? Should I keep it touching it while punching or not change the normal defensive stance at all?

Thanks.

 

[King Bonzo]

I never tried the MT way you've seen but I'd train the boxing style over the other two.

Reason being I'm jabbing to set something else up not to do damage. So you jab cross hook and jab will open up the hook or cross which is where the power is.

The reason I don't really use my hips much when I jab to the face it because I'm not looking for power. Unless it's a counter it's likely to be blocked so I want it to be as fast as possible to occupy my partner's attention for before a follow up.

I'm a big fan however of jabbing to the body to open up the cross in which guess I find it's best to use my hips as it's slightly further to reach from an up right stance.

I'm sure what you mean about distance from your chin?

 

[Marbig]

My upper body training is only jabs right now.
I have seen three jab forms in instructionals. First without any shoulder or leg movement (boxing video), second with a twist of hips to add power (from a kickboxing video) and third with the back foot adding to the movement (this one from a Muay Thai video).

Should I concentrate on the first one, without moving my base or torso, and punching only from arms or the styles that use kicks find it better for some reason to care more about the power of the move than the speed/defense?

And should I train orthodox and south-paw jabs or stick only to orthodox?

Also, what is the distance of the back hand to my jaw? Should I keep it touching it while punching or not change the normal defensive stance at all?

Thanks.

There are about a million ways to throw a jab (tip: see the stickied thread titled 'the magical jabs') and all of them are correct as long as they work for you.

Having not seen any of the videos, I would take a guess at:

- #1 being best at covering up your opponent's vision or being used as a decoy (i.e. a flicker of a jab to the head followed by a cross straight into the body).

- #2 being best at stunning the opponent and measuing distance. good middle ground jab between #1 and #3

- #3 being best at getting in and out. Since we're using the legs, I would also think that #3 is the strongest variation although also the slowest.


Again, when you get better, you don't need to even stick to using #1, #2 or #3 all the time. For example, you can do #3 to get into the pocket, #1 to obscure your opponent's vision as you move back out just a little to throw a more powerful shot and, every now and then, throw in #2 just so your opponent doesn't think he can walk through your jabs. That being said, this all takes time and I would actually advise you not to self learn if its only a month you have to wait for. Mistakes are hard to correct once they are hard-wired into your brain.

As for orthodox or southpaw- typically orthodox for right handers and southpaws for lefties. Switching (especially in an actual spar/fight) is not advised. There have been some exceptions to this rule (i.e. Victor Ortiz is right handed but uses a southpaw stance) but their modification was delibrate and their trainers knew what they were doing.

Finally, your rear hand should be held up high in your normal boxing stance while you throw a jab although I have also known boxers who move it slightly in front of their face to try and catch counter shots.