'Sitting down' on your punches

[Scrap]

Foot should read Heel

[cambay411]

[QUOTE=HerbM;891497]

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Good question herb, thinking more into this i would say the dip in the knee for a straight right (orthadox) helps me transfer most of my wieght to my front foot while at the exact same time push with the balls of my foot on my rear foot. I also use the shift in energy to transfer power from side to side with my hips which also flows up threw my core and shoulders and finally my fist (hope that makes since lol). A better description of the motion i think is when throwing a right uppercut. Transfer wieght to front leg, dip the knee, twist the body and land the punch in one motion.

Ok. My coach would have me doing push-ups in the hundreds if I transferred most of my weight to my front foot.

I can sometimes get away with taking the weight OFF my front foot and transferring a good bit of that to my STRIKING hand (the rest goes temporarily to the rear foot) for just a 1/4 of a second during the impact -- this is what I understand from reading Dempsey.


As for doing this during an uppercut, I really don't understand that, since I am trying to drive up by straightening my already bent knees during the punch. For the uppercut I want my shoulder to get HIGHER with my body driving as my fist makes contact.

Just saying....

Herb wieght was a bad word to use there, i should have said energy. Also i would have to say your right i would not transfer all the my wieght or energy to my front foot, as i maintain a good stance and balance throughout. As far as the knee dip, maybe a better way to describe that would be to "turn the knee in". The main objective of this motion is not to drop the knee but to turn your body into the punch. On my right uppercut in an orthadox stance i turn the rear knee in while at the same time pushing with the balls of my rear foot. And all this energy i create sling shots into a strike. Thanks for helping Herb tell me anything i can do to improve my technique.

[HerbM]

...Herb wieght was a bad word to use there, i should have said energy. Also i would have to say your right i would not transfer all the my wieght or energy to my front foot, as i maintain a good stance and balance throughout. As far as the knee dip, maybe a better way to describe that would be to "turn the knee in". The main objective of this motion is not to drop the knee but to turn your body into the punch. On my right uppercut in an orthadox stance i turn the rear knee in while at the same time pushing with the balls of my rear foot. And all this energy i create sling shots into a strike. Thanks for helping Herb tell me anything i can do to improve my technique.

I think maybe some of my confusion is just due to your description, and maybe if you were showing it on video it would make (more) sense.

Again, though, I don't see how turning the front knee inside on a read hand punch could ever work. The effect would be to turn you back towards the rear hand (the wrong way.)

For an uppercut, not sure what turning "the rear knee in" would do, but we were early talking about dipping, weighting (or energy), or otherwise moving the FRONT KNEE even for back hand shots.

My guess is that if someone turns the rear knee in during an uppercut, this is just going to be awkward.

I know that it feels natural to me to turn my (striking hand) foot towards the center (clockwise for left, counter for right) but my coach doesn't want me doing that -- although he'll ignore a LITTLE bit of this if I don't emphasize it too much. As my shoulders/hips twist (for hooks) and extend (for uppercuts) it seems to make sense to just reposition my feet (by turning not lifting or stepping) to help control and direct the momentum as the strike occurs.

BUT don't BELIEVE me on hooks or especially uppercuts. Mine don't suck but they are far from perfect (according to my coach.) My jab(s) on the other hand are quite effective, both at setup and power (when I want that.)

I am doing my best to keep about 60% of my weight on my rear foot, even during a punch, unless I am CERTAIN of striking solid, and then at the last moment that Dempsey step seems to work very well for power on straight punches.

Shoulders and hip turning for hooks, shoulder and hip uncoiling for uppercuts.

Freddie Roach has some videos on YouTube for this stuff, and some of the coaches here do too, maybe Fran's MyBoxingCoach.Com.

Roach is the trainer with the MOST world champs (currently, and second only to HIS coach Eddie Futch), so I tend to believe him, except that when he disagrees with MY coach he isn't there to do my push-ups

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HerbM

[cambay411]

Interesting Herb. I would say when i throw a punch with my lead hand i have about 60 percent on my front foot and 40 on the back, if that, has i stay pretty balanced. With my rear hand it is opposite. And when i say turning the knee in, it is a dipping kind of motion. My knee is pointing toward what im punching (i really wish i could show you this). Also, with whatever hand i strike with, i do turn that foot in with a squashing a bug or putting out a cigarette type motion (like i step on a bug then turn my foot in to grind and make sure i got it). If i throw a punch with my lead hand i actaully step into it and turn my foot in, with my rear hand i do not step i just turn my foot in. While i am punching i am on the balls of my feet. This is wrong? I am sorry because i am doing a horrible job describing this.

[HerbM]

It doesn't sound right to me, BUT I am NOT qualified to tell you it is wrong.

I can ask questions, and tell you what my coach tells me, what I have read (Dempsey, Haislett, Frazier, etc), or what works for me.

The main reason I hear for not sending weight forward is that you run into counter-punches or you can't move freely until you put that weight back into the rear leg.

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HerbM

[cambay411]

The only time i go 60 percent wieght on the front leg would be on a power punch. Otherwise i stay pretty much balanced. Also all these movements i am talking about are small subtle movements. Like when i dip my rear knee, i turn my rear foot in and barely rotate that rear knee inwards. I will say i worked on taking some wieght off my lead foot and went 60 rear and 40 front. I seemed to be able to throw nice hard and crisp punches like this.

[HerbM]

The only time i go 60 percent wieght on the front leg would be on a power punch. Otherwise i stay pretty much balanced. Also all these movements i am talking about are small subtle movements. Like when i dip my rear knee, i turn my rear foot in and barely rotate that rear knee inwards. I will say i worked on taking some wieght off my lead foot and went 60 rear and 40 front. I seemed to be able to throw nice hard and crisp punches like this.

Well, if this discussion is helping you to find ways to improve your punches then it is well worth while to me as well.

Supposedly (I believe the following MOSTLY because I was told this), keeping the weight to the rear keeps us out of a lot of trouble, so if that is true and you have nice hard and crisp punches that would be a very good thing.

But, hey, I got yelled at again yesterday for no "turning my hips" on a hook, when I absolutely know for a fat that I am not only "turning my hips" but also HITTING WITH MY HIPS, i.e., driving the entire punch from my hips.

My suspicion is that Coach means something else, because when he demonstrated he turned his hips LESS -- unfortunately, he's not a "talker" and it was right at the end of the last round so I will ask today...

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HerbM

[cambay411]

Maybe your turning more at the waiste and not fulling turning your hips? Whatever the case im sure you will get it straightened out. Please keep me updated on what your learn from your coach. It seems like he knows the sweet science pretty well.

[HerbM]

Turns out that in shifting outside, I was shifting further forward than he approves (out onto my front foot for a left hook) -- had very little to do with turning the hips, but rather that thing about keeping the weight BACK again.

My hips have really crappy flexibility (my knees too) so that is always an issue for me to go low and still keep my form upright (and therefore back). My head and shoulders tend to go forward as I squat, even though I work on this every day.

Mostly, it was just that he isn't always very clear about what he REALLY MEANS, even though he is generally a really good coach.