stance?

[Scrap]

The feet should be where the Head and Neck are comfortable. Which is wide.

[cocobeware]

Tbh i always thought of the narrow feet in line stance as more an old school style but i could be wrong,would it be fair to say that most fighters thses days are a little wider than this,When i say wide though i don't mean standing square like mike tyson or something perhaps just 4 inches wider than inline.

I normally start of with my feet about hip width apart/natural walking gait or to be precise about 4 inches wider than the front toe back heel inline stance and sometimes i will get narrower if say i'm at long range or backing up with the jab or another one is when jabbing and pivoting to the left.But i will always take a little step over with the left foot to throw the right hand,I can throw the right from the narrow stance but i dosen't feel as comfortable and it has longer distance to travel.Also as i get closer to my oppenent i want to have a more stable base.I wasn't sure whether me alowing myself to get narrow was a mistake and something i should be correcting but having watched a lot of fighters they aslo seem to get wider or narrower as the situation dictates.Which makes sense to me ie: When on the outside be long and make yourself a small target and as you get closer get gradually wider as you begin to let more punches go.

What i found interesting was from reading the book by Edwin L. Haislet he says the when youre front toe and back heel are inline this position may be too narrow therfore to make a wider base move the right foot 3 or 4 inches to the right,Although having said that a lot of other boxing books i have read the classic boxing stance is described as having the front toe and the back heel inline and maintanin this stance at all times and this is what always confuses me

[HerbM]

This is just an idea so try it but don't believe it (unless it works):

Stand with feet exactly under your hips naturally, feet pointed perpendicular to hips but with entire body and feet at 30-45 degrees to the right (power side) of the (imaginary) opponent.

Then pivot your front foot on the heel so the foots point towards opponent; your back foot stays almost stationary (it's going to stay at 30-45 degrees, right?)

(e.g., start facing the corner and turn towards the wall)

Adjust to become comfortable but without moving your feet very far.

You feet should be very close to the perfect distance (for you) while not being full on the target.

Also: Whenever I am messing with my stance explicitly and find that being self-conscious makes it difficult to get my "feet hip width apart" (Things just feel different when you are consciously doing something you normally do unconsciously) I make a SMALL JUMP straight up and land as SMOOTHLY as possible.

Your body will (unconsciously again) get your feet to the right place for balance and stability while landing quietly.

...Unless you are a total klutz or very drunk.

[cocobeware]

I see what youre saying youre stance should be as natural as posible and i think for me this is hip width apart,I think it probably feels so natural becuse this is the way you walk and where youre natural balance is and somethimes if you feel a little bit out of position all it takes is a little bounce or shuffle and you find youre balance point again but it seems like quite a fine line sometimes almost like walking a tight rope.

I do find that there is a tendancy to get a bit narrower when throwing the jab sometimes particularly if it's a really stiff jab and you put a lot into it but i think this is probably due to the natural motion of the punch,I wasn't sure if i should try to fight that motion or not but i have have noticed a lot of professional fighters also do this so i assumed it was ok.

I would say that the vast majority of fighters these days fight from the hip width type stance,Would anyone else agree?

[HerbM]

Why is your jab or any punch affecting your stance?

If you step forward into a jab (or other punch) you should generally be closing he back foot up to return to precisely the same stance you had before the jab started.

Twisting your back foot to add to a cross, (right) hook, or uppercut should be reversed as the punch completes, again returning to your best stance.

[cocobeware]

Why is your jab or any punch affecting your stance?

It's hard to explain but in some instances ie:throwing a stiff jab,Pivoting to the left and jabbing,Double jab or backing up with the jab i find have a tendancy to become slighlty narrower and have to reset.

I didn't really worry about it too much before as i thought a little bit of movment in the stance was inevitable at times due to the motion of the punch twisting of the hips.

[HerbM]

I think it is something you should work on IF it is not leaving you fully mobile and balanced for both follow up shots and subsequent defense.

Generally, we want to best stance always, and if we disturb that stance (e.g., simply by stepping) then we should return to that best stance at the earliest opportunity.

As to backing up: Do you have a problem when someone is pressuring you and you keep backing? If so, that might be partly due to altering you stance as you retreat OR it might be you alter your stance due to problems you have when under pressure (cause and effect might be unclear but it might be a sign of something you can improve.)

Or if you have no problems, it might not matter (for you.)

The key to improving is to first fix our glaring faults (beginner stuff), then find our biggest remaining weaknesses and locate the cause of those. Fix that until we are spending most of our training time fixing REALLY PICKY DETAILS.

What is the real difference between an expert and an intermediate? Probably the relative size of the faults they are each willing to tolerate or are working to fix.

The Japanese have a word for this process: Kai-Zen == continuous (small) improvements

Fight your strengths. Train your weaknesses.