What is stance in boxing

When your knees are pointing more inwards than outwards, your balls are more protected and your legs bend without spending more energy.

If you point your front foot too much forward, when you try to walk forward your front foot heel will strike the ground first which is very bad habit and will slow down your quickness of footwork. The back foot should always be on the ball of the foot with the heel lifted off the ground, but not TOO much. Let me know if this helps. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. It was quite informative! I thought having my rear foot angling just a bit less inwards would make things more comfortable.

Peek-a-boo I see videos of Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson and i see there hands is at chin level and other videos is the hand is on the cheek bone level where really should be the hands be? For a peek-a-boo stance and even most other basic boxing stances, the gloves are held up high enough to cover the chin but just low enough for the eyes to see over them.

This is easily one of the best footwork posts that I have ever seen. You have truly brought in some breakdowns that are simply incredible. Hey everybody, I just wanted to know has everybody tried fast feet from title and how effective is it? I also broughtn a balance board.. Thanks a million! What a blessing! Thank you so much for this! Personal trainer at gym Hi, I just want to start off by saying I love the site!

JR — I suggest you pit yourself in against a trained amateur boxer and you can see right then and there if your street-fighting skills transfer into the ring. In my opinion, most guys that use the peek a book style get totally picked apart in amateur competition. The traditional form feels awkward to everyone regardless of their physical size.

And it will definitely feel awkward to you if you have inadvertently trained yourself to fight in another stance. If I were you, I would listen to your trainer. But if you think you know best, then just keep standing however you want. Let me know how it goes… I think Miguel Cotto has a great stance for a short guy.

You can also try watching Joshua Clottey or Arthur Abraham if you want to see a peek-a-boo style. Hey Adale, you are correct…try to keep your head and shoulders above your knees. Keeping the legs shoulder width apart is for another reason. Too wide or too low affects your balance, speed, power, etc. I actually have a guide coming up for beginners about getting the perfect foot width. Please come out with that guide quickly. I do Muay Thai but find the boxing stance more beneficial for my style of mainly punching and keeping mobile fighting like an out-boxer.

Great site, I recently picked up boxing with a background in traditional martial arts and kickboxing. What are your thoughts? Shane C — 12 and 3 seems awfully wide. I have seen some guys move that way though.

They moved very much like Lyoto Machida, very skiddish around the ring and then a quick bounce before the counter. Some other guys like the wide 12 and 3 stance because it gives their front foot a lot of room to pivot for a big left hook, and the back foot a lot of room to pivot for a big right cross. Personally, I like a tighter stance…kinda like a Bernard Hopkins stance where he looks pidgeon-toed at times.

Just wondering if there are any tips on keeping my back foot heel lifted off the ground. Hey Darren, just keep both knees bent. And practice dragging your feet around the room.

When you move, make sure both feet touch the ground. Practice moving like that and stay conscious of that back foot. It also helps not to turn the back foot too sideways, it should be pointing 45 degrees.

Hey guys! I have been learning boxing for about 4 months now. My trainer said that my weight should be slightly more on front foot which is always on lifted at heel. I m 70 kg 5ft 8inch height. Also speed is not exactly my thing. Another thing how can we deliver a pseverly painful blow to abdomen or diaphragm when a powerful opponent is swinging his arms wildly at very high speed to hit your face.

Please take some time and answer in detail to everything as it is very cruicial to me. Waiting for your answer p. My feet are almost flat and this stance is fine for me. I find the site very interesting and think you are real experts. I started train boxing in Germany where I grow up. I train now since one year, we have 2 trainers and two different styles and times. The one guy teaches us standing in long range one foot to another and in both foots weight.

The other one is German and he teaches to stand very compact, both foots near to another shoulders down bit like quasimodo buckle and weight at the left food, in both the foots showing much straighter than typical cause of diagonal movement boxing which is the concept of them I think.

My question I see that if I have the front knee one level before locked,its still bend, jab and straight right are more explosive and more fast, but I am a little bit confused, should I change my stance for each one or only the range of both foots? Can I combine in a fight after a time if I learn the style of Axel Schulz which is similar of what show to us the one who teaches compact and very close stance to the other who teaches long range and flexibel combination like russian tall boxers fight?

Thank you! Yeah I see this so, the russian style is very flexible and have much conters and much movement, the other style is very compact like a panzer, not so good to conter they say they train that cause the new pointing system where only clear punches give points. Say pushing punches extra. My question I cant find so right the right stance for my front food sometimes its comfortable if the knee is normal bended and sometimes a level before closed, I am not sure my legs are much bigger than my hipps I have some moments the optimal standing but I forget than again.

Whats better for me? Thank you for your time its a pleasure to read on your site, many things I see in training or sparring that are like this ,here its a change to study the sweet science for beginners like me. Place yourself in a punching position with your back hand extended. Now place your feet in a way that makes that position comfortable.

Then go back to your neutral stance. This trick ensures that you will be able to assume the punching position comfortably. Aside from the trick above, I recommend that you follow the guides to a tee.

They are best suited for the human body. The only exception would be if you have differently built joints. Thanks again and keep it on! My advice to any new boxer, is to study the basic stance from several sources, and watch a few videos on it and watch a few succesfull boxers. As you are watching and reading, attempt to imitate the stance. From the basic stance, slightly adjust to make it more comfortable for you to punch, move, dodge, be balanced, the attributes author gives cover it perfectly.

Adjust without straying to far from the basic stance. Sparring is a great way to find what feels right, and you may find that you alternate between several variations of stances in seconds depending on circumstance ex. Once they are mastered, and made a habit, the rest is fairly easy.

The saying build a poor foundation and eventually your building will collapse, and you will need to begin over again fits the scenario nicely. Learn the punches, etc from a good base, or you will need to re-learn them from your corrected stance. An important thing to do is build good habits. Once bad habits which decrease balance, speed, power, etc are learned, they are more difficult to unlearn and replace with good technique.

It is like learning to do an exercise ex. There are multiple ways to stand in boxing; however, you cannot box well without getting your stance just right. It's a hard concept for many new contenders to process.

How can your feet impact how you punch? How can something as seemingly simple as finding the perfect boxing stance be such and important, foundational aspect of boxing? Not only boxing, but other martial arts and fighting sports as well: muay thai, ju jitsu, and karate. While the way you stand is dependent on your posture and strength, working to reach a proper boxing stance can immediately improve your stability, power, balance, and speed.

If you want to learn more about how the perfect boxing stance can help you when facing an opponent-- even if that opponent is yourself-- read on for technique tips and tricks from the talented coaches at Gloveworx. When you stand in a proper boxing stance, there are many subtle changes that immediately make it easier to find a stable fighting position.

Your punches reach farther without forcing you to overextend your lead foot into a vulnerable position. A good stance allows you to throw a wider variety of punches without leaving you too exposed. A great example of this is Floyd Mayweather. He usually uses the Philly Shell guard but when fighting against opponents who like to fight from a distance, he switches in a high guard and starts walking them down. When we talked about the boxing stances there were attributes such as power, mobility, and balance.

But when it comes to guards the only two attributes that are relevant are the defensive ability and the offensive ability. So I scored all the guards using a point scale for both attributes — defense and offense.

For every guard, I described my favorite counterpunching technique that you can try in your next sparring session when using the given guard. By using the basic guard you are able to block the jabs and the lead hooks with your rear hand when fighting someone in the same stance as you.

While with your lead hand, you can maintain a distance, using your jab or to block power hand punches such as the cross, rear hand hooks or overhand by keeping your hand to your head.

To block body shots you need to use your elbows and not your hands. Keep your glove on your cheek and wait for the punch to come. It can be scary at the beginning but after a few repetitions with a sparring partner, you will get the timing. Just push his glove down as he throws the jab and then counter with your own jab. A great guard you can use when you want to walk your opponent down and to close the distance.

The only drawback of that stance is that it leaves your body open. Keep your hands on your forehead. Your index fingers should be right above the eyebrows and your palms should be facing each other. And again the chin and the elbows should be tucked in. Keep in mind that when using the high guard and trying to walk your opponent down, you are probably going to get some shots in the head.

Although your gloves are there, such punches can hurt you. So try to close the distance as soon as possible and start landing shots. And as I already mentioned when using the high guard your body is vulnerable. So chances are the other boxer will try to land body shots. Try to catch him with a straight punch down the middle as he opens himself to throw the body shot or catch him with an uppercut as he lowers his body.

If you combine this guard with the sideways stance, you will make it very hard for your opponent to catch you. But to use this guard effectively you need to have speed, good timing, and high fight IQ. Your rear hand should be on your cheek similarly when using the basic guard.

Keep your lead shoulder up, protecting the chin. Your lead arm should protect your body. The lead glove should be on your rear hip. Also, as I already said, stay in a sideways stance. To do it correctly you need to deflect the punch with your shoulder and then to catch your opponent with a quick cross as he is open.

First, bait your opponent to throw a straight punch. You can do that by simply staying in a squared stance in a distance where your opponent can catch you only with a straight punch.

Chances are, the other boxer will see the opening and will try to take advantage of it. Then use this movement to load the cross and release it as you turn your body to the other side. After that, you can duck under possible counters and move away. Boxers such as Floyd Mayweather love that technique.

This guard is really effective if you are an infighter boxer who fights at a close distance and it works pretty well with the squared stance. This is a really offensive guard and its only drawback is that you need a really good head movement and slipping ability if you want to use it effectively.

Many people think that Mike Tyson was an aggressive pressure fighter but he was actually an aggressive counter puncher.

He walked his opponents down but he always waited for them to throw the first punch. Then he usually slipped the punch easily and threw his devastating counters. So if you want to use the Peek-a-Boo guard you really need to work on your head movement, timing, and slipping ability. Your palms should be facing you. Both fists should be raised so that they are in front of the face, with the lead hand slightly in front.

Boxers should also have the lead foot placed in front of the head, as this provides the boxer a longer range for throwing punches. This stance is good for boxers with a shorter stature, as it allows them to keep their head low to avoid blows aimed towards their head. Semi-Crouch Stance The semi-crouch stance is a variation of the crouch stance. The lead hand and foot are also placed in front, while the back is straight. The boxer may sometimes lean forward slightly.