Right handed south paw?

[md]

You didn't ask me, but Ill an answer anyway which is : when your comfortable with it
[/quote]

Cheers Poom I know what you mean but the problem with some people is they can get comfortable on beds of nails.

Sharla sounds like you're not getting in the optimum performance zone early because of, what's known in sport psychology, as low arousal. I think you mentioned in another post that you spar with guys so I take it you are used to a fair amount of punishment. So it might be that you don't switch on mentally when things feel a little easier.

Ta Scrap, so integrate it.

[Scrap]

Sharla I dont know you so Im guessing. Whats your warm up consist of maybe you should look at that. Sometimes fighters before a fight are thinking about what to do and neglect to warm up enougth, nerves confidence they loose on the way to the ring. Old saying paralysis by analysis is very true in many cases, think about it but not to much. If you dont know what to do 15 mins before thinking about it wont Help.

[Sharla]

I can see how what both of you are saying might apply to me.

Competing is part of what I want to do but my biggest and most challenging goal would be to improve my ability to spar with the guys because I often find that harder than competing against another girl my size.

I'm also told - by almost every coach have ever had - that I think too much.

I usually have a long warm up though - sometimes an hour long. I start very early since in some of my initial fights I felt like a short warm up was problematic for me. Boxing SA shows are also prone to reshuffling the fight order a lot.

I have found if I start moving around ASAP when they suddenly say I'm fighting 2nd rather than 7th it's less awkward. I'd prefer to warm up for an hour rather than risk not having enough time since my endurance is not bad and I know how to pace the warm up so I don't feel drained going in unless I've been ill.

I mostly skip and do a little shadow. My trainers generally come in one or two fights before I'm up to do a little pad work with me. I guess my warm up doesn't ever involve a lot of punches being thrown in my direction before a fight and it's fairly independent.

[spekterscript]

Generally fighting in the wrong stance for your hand dominance has worked better for left handers fighting in the orthodox stance. Classic examples are Jake Lamotta, Oscar De La Hoya, and Miguel Cotto. I believe that is because most orthodox fighters have a better cross than lead hook. So having an unusually strong hook might be a surprise advantage. In contrast the most effective southpaw weapon is the left cross. A righty fighting as a southpaw will not have that weapon as a strong part of their arsenal.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

not sure where this conversion started but for me when I was doing JKD you always fought with your strong hand forward, the idea being it's stronger/closer so is able to do more work. Any weakness is the rear hand is negated by regular training. I then went to boxing where they insisted I fight orthodox, however when I sparred I switched. My next boxing gym encouraged you to practice switching as they came from the Ingle tradition, but they never forced you to fight any way but what felt natural to you. When I did MT my trainer noted my left kick was harder than my right, go figure. Whatever you choose work it well so it becomes natural to you.

[Scrap]

There are 900% more righthanded people that could have something to do with it

[Lords Gym]

Sharla I dont know you so Im guessing. Whats your warm up consist of maybe you should look at that. Sometimes fighters before a fight are thinking about what to do and neglect to warm up enougth, nerves confidence they loose on the way to the ring. Old saying paralysis by analysis is very true in many cases, think about it but not to much. If you dont know what to do 15 mins before thinking about it wont Help.

excellent read. cc #309

[Armenianboxer]

Thats great bro, just keep doing south pawl and u will be great, its jst same as starting boxing again, and the footwork will be good, just do basic stuff, and stick to basics

[Andre]

This threads like a time machine.