Extending Arms - Shadow Boxing

[badr_hari]

You can't generate power with a straight right by transferring your weight to your back foot.

totally right. If you don't transfer your weight from the back foot to the front foot your RIGHT HAND or even your JAB will be an ARM PUNCH with NO POWER.

And that's why you pivot with your right foot when you throw a right cross (on the balls of your feet), it helps with two things: gives the space for the rotation of the hips and the shoulders. That's why Scrap says the right foot is for power and the left foot is for direction - balance. To stay Balanced while throwing a Powerful right hand its recommended to make a TINY STEP to the LEFT. With this move even if you miss a very powerful right hand you won't be off-balanced.

[Fran@myboxingcoach]

You can't generate power with a straight right by transferring your weight to your back foot.

totally right. If you don't transfer your weight from the back foot to the front foot your RIGHT HAND or even your JAB will be an ARM PUNCH with NO POWER.

And that's why you pivot with your right foot when you throw a right cross (on the balls of your feet), it helps with two things: gives the space for the rotation of the hips and the shoulders. That's why Scrap says the right foot is for power and the left foot is for direction - balance. To stay Balanced while throwing a Powerful right hand its recommended to make a TINY STEP to the LEFT. With this move even if you miss a very powerful right hand you won't be off-balanced.

I'm not going to pretend to understand the minutae of detail that this thread has gone to, but I will try to respond with regards to basic technical form. Whilst you are in the ring with average, run of the mill type opponents, then you may well get away with throwing your weight onto your front leg when throwing a straight right hand (or any other back hand shot). However, as soon as you're in the company of someone who knows what they are doing, they will detach you from your senses without too much effort. By throwing your weight forward, you absolutely do not 'add power', all you do is increase the impact of any incoming shots thrown by your opponent.

Now, whilst the right cross is technically a power shot, in all honesty I haven't seen that many right hand KOs over the years (Tommy Hearns, Julian Jackson maybe). The majority of KOs come from hooks. So, a short range right hook is the ultimate power shot. Take a look at this video covering the short range right hook and notice that there is no weight transfer to the front leg. The front leg bends, but this is only to accommodate the rotation of the hips and shouldn't be confused with a transfer of weight; the power in the shot comes from the thrust of the back leg and the resultant 'whiplash' action.

In response to Herb re: punching through the target. I do agree that a boxer should punch through the target, but only by an inch or two. I believe that the target should be the target and the culmination of body movements will deliver an appropriately effective shot. What I actually meant was when you see some boxers shadow box, and they throw hooks that don't seem to have a point of impact and will travel past where the opponent's head would be and off for a foot or more! It gets on my nerves and is less than useless!

OK, rant over. I'm off now to reply to another of Herb's posts...I better get another coffee!

Fran