Quote Originally Posted by Walker Smith Jr.
btw, this is just for my straight left, and just for the pads.  I can throw a straight left at the bag no problemo, but it just started feeling awkward on the pads for some reason.
I had a similar problem with my cross leaving me for a while. With me it could have been one of a few things. With the padwork the coach would throw the pad i was hitting in hard - and move it a large distance towards me - this smothered the punch.

He'd also hold the pads a long way apart so it came at me from the left - which bothered me more than others since I have relatively narrow shoulders.

I found it slightly easier to mentally visualize pushing through the pad to stop it from being smothered but I much prefer different padholders who allow my arm to be closer to straight before the punch connects.

Also my footwork was being modified a bit at the time and I think I had to adjust to that. I was told not to pivot at all with the cross for a while but I think now that's not smart.

Still I have some days when the cross does not flow - i think on those days it might be a balance thing - feet too far apart and all my weight being in the wrong place.