elbows won`t straiten

Posted by: Anonymous

elbows won`t straiten - 01/05/05 05:56 PM

I guess this is a good place to post about something that I have always wondered about.
I`m 41 now and no trainer has ever been able to answer this question for me.
I have these funny elbows that lock out well before my arms are strait. When my arm is as strait as I can make it, the bend is quite noticable. (enough so that I have to be very carefull to tap quick when arm barred, or the guy thinks I am resisting)
I have always thought that this condition is part of what makes me a very effective puncher. I have always had a bit of a gift in that one area of MA, I did a little boxing as a kid but thats not all of it. At 41 I can still fight muay thai (amature) and beat younger fighters, and I can still "box" with anyone I know who is not a real boxer, and even then it is more about angles and such than any lack of speed on my part. Some of these guys are much better MA than I am too.
I really think it improves my speed, as I can "snap" out jabs and crosses full power, and they just sort of recoil on thier own.

It is really fast if I double or even up to quadruple the jabs. I would describe it as feeling like the double jabs are all one motion. It feels more like a wheel spinning than a piston, if that makes any sense. I am still "snapping" full power with each revolution though, kinda like peddling a bike hard with one leg.

I also have quite wide shoulders, and a bit more reach on my right side than my left. My reach is about normal I think, maybe slightly shorter than normal if anything. My reach is quite a bit longer on the right side though, maybe this is part of it.

I can hit with a left jab at full extension as far away as I can reach ,left foot forward. With out moving my feet, I can reach the same spot on my partners chin with a right cross that I could hit with the left jab. I tested this with friend who boxes, he wanted to know how I could still reach him that fast with my right. Turns out my right shoulder is a fair bit long than my left one.

Just wondered does any one else here share these kinda traits, or has any one met any MA that do and how has it affected them?

P.S. oldman....I don`t wanna see a lopsided, twisty armed, punch drunk, thai boxer drawing of me thnks.
Posted by: reaperblack

Re: elbows won`t straiten - 01/08/05 02:43 AM

I can't say to much about the biological traits but the left and right penetration I can say this. If you are standing in an orthodox stance, you bend both legs, keep your back straight, lower your center of gravity, and throw the right hand you should have 6-10 inches more penetration with that hand then you do with the jab, without taking yourself off balance. So if you do this or even a milder variation of this, then there is no reason why you shouldn't have equal distance.