Very short arms?

[JonnieJ]

Ah okay. Well turns out my coach didn't want me to measure my arm span, he believes the way they list in MMA and boxing is useless; instead he wanted me to measure my armpit to fingertip (which is 27in). He was basically saying that measuring reach from fingertip to fingertip takes into account how broad shouldered the guy is as opposed to just his punch range, so a guy with fairly long arms but slim/narrow shoulders, like myself, can get listed as the same or shorter reach than a guy with short arms and thick/broad shoulders.

I'm actually hoping they don't change the way they list it though, as when opponents see me listed as 66in reach, they will naturally think i have short arms and a bad range, hence their strategy will be wrong as the narrowness of my shoulders is deceptive.

[greynotsoold]

Your newly discovered long arms are no excuse to not be smart. In fact, even more reason to learn distance and how to use it. Good luck to you.

[JonnieJ]

Your newly discovered long arms are no excuse to not be smart. In fact, even more reason to learn distance and how to use it. Good luck to you.

Indeed, always think like an underdog.

[greynotsoold]

Well, let me ask you, how do you figure to fight guys that are weighing 154 and standing 5'6", those guys with broad backs? And then there are, at least now it seems, a bunch of 6' and above guys, stringbeans like I was at 17, that fight at 154. Fighting any of them is all about how you control distance.

[Kev]

Ok probably a dumb question, but if you pack on muscle across your shoulders and back would that increase the fingertip to fingertip wingspan or is that distance fixed regardless of how much muscle you increase?

[greynotsoold]

If it makes you wider across the back, it would increase your finger tip to tip reach.

[JonnieJ]

Ok probably a dumb question, but if you pack on muscle across your shoulders and back would that increase the fingertip to fingertip wingspan or is that distance fixed regardless of how much muscle you increase?

I doubt it dude. I think stuff like height/arm length/skeletal frame are all genetic. The thing is, the 'reach' format is outdated and is about to be replaced by arm length in most boxing/mma schemes eventually. As wingspan is not really of that much importance, arm length is your real reach. I'd say you should measure your arm length, as a big part of your reach may be torso, which isn't effecting your reach.