Article: A Discussion of Boxing Stances Through History

[lklawson]

Ken Pfrenger has generously given permission to republish his article, A Discussion of Boxing Stances Through History, on the Cumann Bhata Dayton website.

http://cbd.atspace.com/articles.html

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[pistonhurricane]

god, i love this man. pushups.

[MrBadGuy]

Why must you post, and thus make me read, so many awesome things?!

[lklawson]

Why must you post, and thus make me read, so many awesome things?!

I heartily apologize.

I've been trying hard to minimize such distracting postings by attempting to maintain a "life," and engage in regular "training," as well as my republication hobby. I admit that I need to redouble my efforts.

I consider myself fortunate. I'm just addicted to MA forums. My wife is addicted to Facebook. ;-)

Peace favor your sword

[3moose1]

LkLawson, are you aware of the Mark Tripp seminar on Feb 14th, in Findlay?

He will be covering Sambo/Judo, and many bullies will be there!

I can haz ur attendance plz? eez only $25 dollars for 3 hours of FANTASTIC training.

[lklawson]

LkLawson, are you aware of the Mark Tripp seminar on Feb 14th, in Findlay?

He will be covering Sambo/Judo, and many bullies will be there!

I can haz ur attendance plz? eez only $25 dollars for 3 hours of FANTASTIC training.

Yeah. It sounds great!

Ken actually invited me to go out with him and his guys.

But... well... it IS Valentines Day.

I'm still trying to work it out with the wife, but I may be on the hook for foot-rubs for a year or something. ;)

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[3moose1]

Dude, just ankle lock her.


I'm excited to work with Ken again, too.

[Permalost]

There's a very similar article at savateaustralia.com. There's great articles there.

[CrackFox]

Ok this is off topic, but that's the first time I've eve seen a WMA group with an Irish name. What's the deal?

[Snake Plissken]

this thread needs more Dldr

[Torakaka]

" Let's do a little experiment on the difference in reach between a vertical and horizontal fist. I think you will find this interesting. Go to a wall and place your fist horizontally against it with your arm completely extended, as if at the end of a punch. Keep firm pressure on the wall. Now, take your horizontal fist and rotate it clockwise to a vertical position. You should be able to feel your body pushing away from the wall. Now, just for kicks, keep rotating your fist to the palm up position and note the extra little bit of reach that is gained."

Well I did this little experiment and all I can say is that what was supposed to be the case was not at all the case for me or Kat. Your reach is exactly the same no matter how your hand is twisted.

Reading the guys article reminds me a lot of reading articles or forum posts by wing chun guys who are trying to justify what they do. He's telling you about a lot of theories without any real life application to back them up.

I have to wonder what these old boxing matches really looked like and how they actually fought, since there's not a lot of sources being cited to back up what the guy is saying. I would think that if it were merely the open rule sets making the boxers stand in their funky, awkward looking stance, you'd see it being utilized in rule sets like sanda or kyokushin or somewhere. I just have a hard time buying anything this guys has to say without something substantial to back it up.

[1point2]

The experiment was bogus IMO. I liked the article tho...which is why I am saddened to see that the link stopped working for me (!?).

[Fat Goth]

Well I did this little experiment and all I can say is that what was supposed to be the case was not at all the case for me or Kat. Your reach is exactly the same no matter how your hand is twisted.

Reading the guys article reminds me a lot of reading articles or forum posts by wing chun guys who are trying to justify what they do. He's telling you about a lot of theories without any real life application to back them up.

I have to wonder what these old boxing matches really looked like and how they actually fought, since there's not a lot of sources being cited to back up what the guy is saying. I would think that if it were merely the open rule sets making the boxers stand in their funky, awkward looking stance, you'd see it being utilized in rule sets like sanda or kyokushin or somewhere. I just have a hard time buying anything this guys has to say without something substantial to back it up.

So the Wing Tsun punching stuff I know has a lot of similarity to Jack Dempsey's stuff. That stuff about fist/arm alignment, punching with a vertical fist and hitting with the bottom three knuckles is pure Dempsey (which I think was linked to from these forums previously - not sure)
Championship Fighting - Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense (1950) - Jack Dempsey@@AMEPARAM@@/docinfo/3301214?access_key=key-2f294rgtfc8spavem99@@AMEPARAM@@3301214@@AMEPARAM@@ key-2f294rgtfc8spavem99
I also don't agree with the statement on reach.

The comments about fist position/guard being dependent on rules and gloves worn seems pretty sensible.

I also don't get the idea of wide power stances if holds and throws are allowed - surely you want to be quick and able to move so you want a nimble stance on your toes. Given that hitting people with your hands has been around for a long long time I'm sure there is a very good reason for this stance but I've not heard a good reason yet.

I do wonder how much of it was done until "the head was broken" as in singlestick - ie until there was a head cut which bled. That would explain the weird leaning back stances to keep the head out of the way. But I'm guessing.

[theotherserge]

this thread needs more Dldr

dammit!! 1...2...3...4....5......

[DdlR]

this thread needs more Dldr

This thread needs to be in the Bullshido WMA forum, is what this thread needs ... oh, wait ...