Have your "kick-boxing posture" and general kick-boxing mechanics changed as well, as a consequence of your posture improvement? How do you feel it has affected your kick-boxing, if at all?
Hmm. This is a difficult question to answer. (I assume it might be of some academic interest for you, so I'll try my best). I probably need to explain something about my training itself.
After my last amateur bout I was invited to train with the "fighters" team at my gym, 2-3 hrs per night Monday to Friday. That means I spend a lot of time working intensively with the coach. He's from Yugoslavia, and trained with the national boxing and kickboxing teams there. I've since learned from Sinister and Marcos Avellan (in the Stand-up forum) that the Eastern Bloc inherited their style of fighting/coaching from the Cuban's. Their teaching style involves a lot of shadow-boxing, drilling and heavy bag work under
constant instruction.
Because my stance/guard/fundamentals require/d tweaking, that meant a lot of my training involved holding new positions for long periods of time, ingraining them and so forth. Because I was working on the basics, I was merely holding and executing positions for extended periods of time (rather than punching, etc). In particular, I had to change the angle of my upper body, the engagement of my core, the rotation of my feet/knees. Although I can't really describe it properly, I am also required to almost constantly adduct (?) my legs (as in push them inwardly in opposing directions) to create better grip with the ground, therefore increasing the power derived through rotation and the speed of my footwork.
Throughout this, my middle back always felt fatigued and as if my head/neck was pulling on my middle spine area. One day I woke up really sore (barely able to walk) and I went to the physio. She told me that I had developed significant thoracic spine tension and that my lower traps were inactive. She prescribed a number of exercises and foam rolling to fix this. In follow up sessions we started working on my sway back posture: internally rotated humerii and pelvic tilt.
Since rectifying these problems, foam rolling in the morning or at night (after training), as well as continuing to work on my postural issues, I've found myself able to hold the positions my coach requires without any pain, fatigue or discomfort.
So, long story short, improving my posture undoubtedly improved both my kickboxing posture (because I can actually hold the positions!). It also improved my mechanics in that I can practice the correct techniques for longer durations now.
