Jump to content

Orthodox vs Southpaw: Should I Switch To Southpaw?


Recommended Posts

Hey:)  I have been training muay thai 5-6x times a week for a couple of years and have a couple of amateur fights. I am right handed and have always fought out of orthodox stance. 

I have always felt that there is something wrong when i am standing in orhtodox stance. When i block kicks with my front leg, my balance is fine, but when i block kicks with my rear leg i get really unbalanced. Same with the right cross( rear uppercut)it just doesnt feel natural at all, even though i practiced it alot. I get really easy unbalanced when throwing boxing with my right hand, even though im not over extending when throwing it.  I also feel unbalanced in the orhtodox stance compared to when i stand in southpaw stance. Last couple of weeks i have been switching to southpaw stance, and everything just feels so more natural there. I have better balance in southpaw stance, and the boxing feels more naturral aswell with the elbows, i dont get off balanced when i throw it in southpaw compared to orhtodox. My favourite weapon are knees and cliching. When i fight in orhtodox i barely throw any punches, only knees and low kicks and clinch, because thats the only thing that feels nattural in the orhtodox stance. Would i benefit my orhtodox stance from switching to southpaw? Obviously my defence is alot better in orthodox then southpaw, but could it be worth it to switch to southpaw on a permanent base?  Also when i block kicks in southpaw i dont get off balanced.  Even though i pracitced the things alot that makes me unbalanced in orhtodox it just never seem to feel naturral, or that my balance gets better.  When i am clinching, wide feet i have really good balance so i cant figure out whats wrong with the orhtodox stance even though i am right handed. 

  • Cool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A lot of wrestlers stand with their strong/dominant leg forward for this same reason. Balance, better strength against takedowns. If you don't want to switch your stance, you can always "calibrate" by switching to Southpaw for a moment to do a movement and see why it's different or how it's different from when you're standing Orthodox, then make those adjustments in Orthodox. For example, I stand way more squared up in Southpaw than I do in Orthodox, so I check it in Southpaw and then go back to Orthodox and adjust so it's the same. If my kick is stronger in Southpaw, it's because my dominant leg is the standing leg, so I see where it's landing in relation to the target and then recreate that in Orthodox. I'm just entirely too "bladed" in Orthodox, should be more squared up in general, for my style. I'm not a kicker.

  • Like 1
  • Respect 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/24/2019 at 8:12 PM, muay231032 said:

Would i benefit my orhtodox stance from switching to southpaw? Obviously my defence is alot better in orthodox then southpaw, but could it be worth it to switch to southpaw on a permanent base?

What often happens to fighters who enjoy the idea of switching stance is that their offense will improve, but their defense will suffer. A lot of this happens simply because you aren't used to seeing things reversed, so you don't pick up strikes as quickly. One piece of advice we've seen when fighting someone who switches back and forth in a fight is to just rush them when they move into their unnatural side, because their defense is probably suspect. But this isn't such a huge problem, you just have to work more on your defense than you might think. Focus on it. The biggest aid in this for Southpaws is learning the "forward check", which is a feigning left leg (rear leg) raise, that closes off the Southpaw's biggest weakness to Orthodox fighters. This is a really, really big tool. Karuhat teaches it to Sylvie in the Muay Thai Library session where he turns her from Orthodox to Southpaw. There is a whole vocabulary of the forward check that is really special, both defensively and offensively, for Muay Thai. Maybe check that video out.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/24/2019 at 1:12 PM, muay231032 said:

Hey:)  I have been training muay thai 5-6x times a week for a couple of years and have a couple of amateur fights. I am right handed and have always fought out of orthodox stance. 

I have always felt that there is something wrong when i am standing in orhtodox stance. When i block kicks with my front leg, my balance is fine, but when i block kicks with my rear leg i get really unbalanced. Same with the right cross( rear uppercut)it just doesnt feel natural at all, even though i practiced it alot. I get really easy unbalanced when throwing boxing with my right hand, even though im not over extending when throwing it.  I also feel unbalanced in the orhtodox stance compared to when i stand in southpaw stance. Last couple of weeks i have been switching to southpaw stance, and everything just feels so more natural there. I have better balance in southpaw stance, and the boxing feels more naturral aswell with the elbows, i dont get off balanced when i throw it in southpaw compared to orhtodox. My favourite weapon are knees and cliching. When i fight in orhtodox i barely throw any punches, only knees and low kicks and clinch, because thats the only thing that feels nattural in the orhtodox stance. Would i benefit my orhtodox stance from switching to southpaw? Obviously my defence is alot better in orthodox then southpaw, but could it be worth it to switch to southpaw on a permanent base?  Also when i block kicks in southpaw i dont get off balanced.  Even though i pracitced the things alot that makes me unbalanced in orhtodox it just never seem to feel naturral, or that my balance gets better.  When i am clinching, wide feet i have really good balance so i cant figure out whats wrong with the orhtodox stance even though i am right handed. 

 

Honestly, I think you're at the point now where you may as well be trying out anything you think will help you. If you've trained regularly for a few years then I don't see any reason to not attempt in southpaw.

I'm a southpaw for the most part and built my game off boxing/teeps - but if I want to get aggressive with kicks I've never been able to get that offence going out of Southpaw, so I'll switch to orthodox to make better use of my right low kick. Most of the time you find that switch hitters have certain go to weapons out of each stance, rather than being able to fight perfectly with everything out of both - which is why switch hitting is normally considered the fighters 'style' itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • Hi. Sorry about your situation. Rest assured that everyone (me too) unearths a revelation about a bad habit or poor technique once in a while. Main thing is you've found out and want to fix it. IMO and experience (25 years including teaching), it's an issue because it's every single kick as you said and this detracts from good technique and power and balance etc and longer-term development. It also stifles ability such as kicking and then following immediately with a Thai leg block or follow up weapon e.g. another kick (but I gather you are aware of this though from your post). My advice would be to spend a lot of time on the bag and drill the kick lots in a conscious state of mind so you're aware of how your standing foot behaves on each kick and force the ball of the foot to stay in contact with the floor. Set targets of getting 5, then 10 in a row without jumping. The mind and body will adapt over time. With pad work you'll loose the discipline and repetitions need to correct this - plus a lot of pad holder partners just won't see or bother to correct you. So try and cut that down for a while. Good luck.    
    • Hi. You can't go wrong with Twins or any good, reputable Thai brand like Fairtex. They will last you years if you air and dry that out after every session. I bought a Fairtex pair in 2017 in Thailand and they are still in great shape (I train 2/3 times a week). Before that I had a pair of Windy Sport I bought from the shop near Raja Stadium in BKK, that again lasted me years. For your size and stature, 16oz are perfect, and good all round - so you can spar/play and hit pads and bag comfortably. Don't cut corners with price or quality. If you've got good gear the experience will be more enjoyable. For the record I've been involved in Muay Thai since 2000, lived in Thailand and taught in London. Enjoy the MT journey 🙂
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • I can only comment on Perth. There's a very active Muay Thai scene here - regular shows. Plenty of gyms across the city with Thai trainers. All gyms offer trial classes so you can try a few out before committing . Direct flights to Bangkok and Phuket as well. Would you be coming over on a working holiday visa? Loads of work around Western Australia at the moment. 
    • Hi, I'm considering moving to Australia from the UK and I'm curious what is the scene like? Is it easy to fight frequently (proam/pro level), especially as a female? How does it compare to the UK? Any gym recommendations? I'll be grateful for any insights.
    • You won't find thai style camps in Europe, because very few people can actually fight full time, especially in muay thai. As a pro you just train at a regular gym, mornings and evenings, sometimes daytime if you don't have a job or one that allows it. Best you can hope for is a gym with pro fighters in it and maybe some structured invite-only fighters classes. Even that is a big ask, most of Europe is gonna be k1 rather than muay thai. A lot of gyms claim to offer muay thai, but in reality only teach kickboxing. I think Sweden has some muay thai gyms and shows, but it seems to be an exception. I'm interested in finding a high-level muay thai gym in Europe myself, I want to go back, but it seems to me that for as long as I want to fight I'm stuck in the UK, unless I switch to k1 or MMA which I don't want to do.
    • Hi all, Does anyone know of any suppliers for blanks (Plain items to design and print a logo on) that are a good quality? Or put me in the right direction? thanks all  
    • The first fight between Poot Lorlek and Posai Sittiboonlert was recently uploaded to youtube. Posai is one of the earliest great Muay Khao fighters and influential to Dieselnoi, but there's very little footage of him. Poot is one of the GOATs and one of Posai's best wins, it's really cool to see how Posai's style looked against another elite fighter.
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.5k
×
×
  • Create New...