Very short arms?

Hey

I'm 17 (so little chance of growth probably), always wanted to box pro/am since I was like 8 but unfortunately stopped doing it when I was a little kid - but now I've started again recently. My trainer asked me to measure my reach, I'm 5 foot 9, 154lbs, my bro measured my reach...65in. That's freaky t-rex s**t. I laughed it off the jibes from my brother, but I'm actually demoralised from it as you would expect. I read that your reach should on average be at least the same as your height. What makes it worse is if I go down weight classes, which I don't really want to do cause I'm fairly broad, I won't benefit from the reach advantage and I'll be a massive torso target for the little guys -
Some boxers/MMA artists are like 5'3 and have a longer reach than me, not to mention guys my own weight/height are usually 70in+. I hate being a whiny pussy but should I really just call it a day and find something else? I mean there is in-fighting, then there is just being a lamb for the slaughter.


Thanks.

It isn't that big of a deal. You just develope skills to compensate for what isn't really a huge detriment to begin with. And it doesn't mean- it should never ever mean- that you stand in range and take punches.
Learn to accurately judge distance, something every fighter should do, and stay at the eedge of punching range. Make the other guy miss and counter. For an example...Google the Alberto Davila vs Kiko Bejines fight...I watched it last night so it is in my mind...Davila was 5'1" with short arms and outjabbing the fighter that not only had longer reach, but was taller as well.
That's the biggest thing- learning to control distance, and that has more to do with your brain than how long your arms are.

Ah okay. Well turns out my coach didn't want me to measure my arm span, he believes the way they list in MMA and boxing is useless; instead he wanted me to measure my armpit to fingertip (which is 27in). He was basically saying that measuring reach from fingertip to fingertip takes into account how broad shouldered the guy is as opposed to just his punch range, so a guy with fairly long arms but slim/narrow shoulders, like myself, can get listed as the same or shorter reach than a guy with short arms and thick/broad shoulders.

I'm actually hoping they don't change the way they list it though, as when opponents see me listed as 66in reach, they will naturally think i have short arms and a bad range, hence their strategy will be wrong as the narrowness of my shoulders is deceptive.

Your newly discovered long arms are no excuse to not be smart. In fact, even more reason to learn distance and how to use it. Good luck to you.:)

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Originally Posted by greynotsoold

Your newly discovered long arms are no excuse to not be smart. In fact, even more reason to learn distance and how to use it. Good luck to you.:)

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Indeed, always think like an underdog.

Well, let me ask you, how do you figure to fight guys that are weighing 154 and standing 5'6", those guys with broad backs? And then there are, at least now it seems, a bunch of 6' and above guys, stringbeans like I was at 17, that fight at 154. Fighting any of them is all about how you control distance.

Ok probably a dumb question, but if you pack on muscle across your shoulders and back would that increase the fingertip to fingertip wingspan or is that distance fixed regardless of how much muscle you increase?

If it makes you wider across the back, it would increase your finger tip to tip reach.

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Originally Posted by Bilbo

Ok probably a dumb question, but if you pack on muscle across your shoulders and back would that increase the fingertip to fingertip wingspan or is that distance fixed regardless of how much muscle you increase?

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I doubt it dude. I think stuff like height/arm length/skeletal frame are all genetic. The thing is, the 'reach' format is outdated and is about to be replaced by arm length in most boxing/mma schemes eventually. As wingspan is not really of that much importance, arm length is your real reach. I'd say you should measure your arm length, as a big part of your reach may be torso, which isn't effecting your reach.