Keeping the elbow down

[greynotsoold]

I've always thought that raising the elbow does two things: breaks the line of the body as it rotates into the punch, and tips off your opponent. Raising the elbow to throw a straight right looks like 'aiming' the punch- you can see it coming.

[God.in.my.corner]

So the band goes around the wrist and around the ribs on the inside of each arm? Not around the elbow, correct?

And what around hooks with the bands, or is it for mostly straight shots?

Sorry, how to see in the video.

[Scrap]

It goes round the thumb, thats the secret of why it works

[Youngblood]

I think there is a fine between between keeping the elbow tucked in nicely for protection, and getting it up in the air enough for proper rotation on a cross. I see a lot of crosses that look like baseball throws because of it being too low on the follow through. It's an ugly thing to witness, kinda looks like the flight of a wounded bird. And then on the other hand, is the high elbow punches, which though not quite as ugly to witness, is an invitation to getting your liver smashed in.

[WayneFlint]

If the elbow has close to no wasted movement then its much harder to see in my opinion, the glove just seems to get bigger as it gets closer, range is a terrible thing to judge via eyesight so this way of punching takes advantage of that weakness, if they flare the elbow then your getting a better tell, youll see the elbow pop round the side of the glove everytime a straight comes your eyes use what scientists are calling ''blind sight'' to quickly identify a sharp movement or potential hazard and react to it, you would use it say when driving along in the car having a disscussion with a friend not paying much attention to the road, then a woman at the side of the road looks like she may cross suddenly, this quickly draws your attention from the conversation back to the road, animals use it to avoid becoming pray. a house fly is always using blind sight, its eyes are evolved in that way, it gets more frames per second than humans but with much less detail in each frame, this is what enables them to fly around without hitting things but then when they need the detail to notice a window between them and where they want to be theyre hopeless, we are the opposite of fly's but still have and use blind sight, its just not as good as the fly's. when punches come if your eyes only warning is as small a detail as somthing getting slightly bigger we have a hard time processing that detail in a short enough amount of time to actually 'notice' it, but a sharp movement or change in appearance will trigger your blind sight and you will 'see' the punch much quicker, and react.

all types of jabs are useful, good bio mechanics of a punch all depends on the situation and where the target is in relation to you. i somtimes jab with a high elbow every so often if i need to stop an overhand right being thrown as much or if i i want them to slip inside ill throw it high and to the left, or ill jab parallel to the shoulder if i want him to parry it, if hes just bending his knees to slip under a shot then ill throw one low to the chest, if i want him to catch the jab ill throw it to the opposite side of the heart so i can lure the stop and sneak in and throw a left hook off feinting the jab, if i want him to counter my jab with a jab then i wont step in with the back foot for a few or ill step in then right back out to minimize the chances of being countered with heavy crosses or hooks, shadow boxing or working a bag throwing these punches would likely get you pulled up by most coaches, but these are shots you will be using while fighting, there will be situations when these shots are bio mechanically the best option due to the location of the desired target, obviously the basics must be mastered first, then you can go on to the variations, just be careful and remember a punch variation for one situation is also a bad habit for another. its important to have good concious levels while trying to fight this way because in time as muscle memory takes over its conciousness and how much youve got that dictates to the body that there is a difference between each, it seems boxing is largley about phsyco dynamics, who can learn to toy and tweak with the others more effectively and quicker, how quickly you can feel out the phsyco dynamics of the other fighter.

[Cruiser]

Hi Mat, I have my elbows flaring out sometimes too, but I really like the video by Scrap on this thread....he has his elbows in the perfect position after he throws his punches... watch his video, I like how his elbows are totally covering his ribcage.... he would be very difficult to get good clean body shots on because he looks like he has long arms. Advice, keep the elbows in and protect your torso or you'll get punished with alot of body shots. Shake out your arms to relieve the stress in your biceps if their tensing up. Cruiser