Bob n Weave -- Bend at the hips or knees?

[jahmez]

I used to transfer my weight to my lead foot when jabbing until I started getting counter-jabbed. My head would would be closer to my opponent, I couldn't rotate my shoulders as much which meant I lost range and I was getting rocked by jabs. As soon as I started keeping or transfering my weight to my rear foot the opposite happened. It also actually increased my power because I could whip my hip and shoulder into my punches and it allowed me to be set up for my straight right.

As for the Dempsey trigger step the only way I can imagine I could generate weight by simply lifting my lead foot would be if I alreaddy had my weight over it in the first place and that by taking a tiny step I would be "falling" as Dempsey put it. I can only have my weight over my front foot if my hips and shoulders are square so if I were to take the Dempsey falling step and jab without transfering my weight over my rear leg my jab would have nowhere the ammount of range I would like being an outside fighter.

[HerbM]

You don't need all of your weight forward onto the left foot to generate forward force by lifting it.

If you weight is 60-40 to the read as my coach recommends (or 50-50), then your center of gravity if somewhere (slightly) forward of your read foot and when you lift the front foot you will begin to shift forward. If you time this and hit shortly after the lift, you shift transmits through the striking hand.

If the foot rapidly returns to the ground as the hand retracts this doesn't even require a large change in balance.

This is the weigh I understand the step.

I don't know the optimums, but let's say I go from 60-40 on read to 40-60, and I weigh 200 lbs (not quite), that 20% change can be translated into 40 lbs added to the punch. It's probably less since our rear foot is not a single point but had significant surface area, so maybe we are adding 10-20 lbs to the punch.

I don't particularly want to get hit in the head with a 10 lb weight, especially added to the already incoming punch.

There is also the slight speed and range increase which accelerates the punch a bit deeper into the target.

I (think that I) solved the shoulder whip problem by overturning the fist past horizontal for the aiming with the ring finger for the 3-knuckle landing -- this automatically got my forward shoulder around almost parallel to the direction of the punch.

Again, more range (distance from neck to shoulder) and without taking the head closer.

All this also allows for momentary pushing with the rear toe for more force at impact.

On the other hand, I could be full of it.


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HerbM