Weight Distribution (and punching)

[Clint]

Hey guys, brand new to the forums and fairly new to Muay Thai. Just have a question regarding weight distribution and weight shifting with punches.

 

I'm being trained to basically keep my weight 50/50 between each leg. A habit I seem to have with my right cross is to shift my weight forward onto my front leg as I throw it. In the past (previous trainers, different martial arts) I've been told to do that simply to get more weight/momentum/power behind the punch, but I can definitely see that it has some negatives (like making your lead leg heavy and easy to kick).

 

I read and see conflicting advice though. So guys and girls, what have you been taught? Do you try to keep the weight even when you throw punches, do you lean and shift your weight around with strikes? I'm curious to hear about it!

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

I've only ever been instructed to transfer weight during a right cross, although some teachers seem to emphasize the hip rotation more than actually getting more weight on that front leg. Jack Dempsey steps forward and almost "stumbles" with how much he drives into that front leg, but it's quick so unless someone were kicking your leg at that exact moment your weight is back off of it pretty fast... and Dempsey didn't do Muay Thai, so leg kicks weren't an issue. Karuhat and Namkabuan (my favorite danger duo) both have a really fast, loose (relaxed) right cross that is almost like you're being pulled by the right fist. You carry all your weight forward at once, like a lunge or like in fencing, rather than stepping. Oh... their punches are amazing. And then I've been taught by Neung and Chatchai, both of whom had boxing careers, that the right cross comes out long, with a big step and weight transfer forward and the head moving off-center as well.

[Clint]

Thank you so much for the reply and information Sylvie! 

I guess the next question I'd ask is how much of your weight are you shifting to your front foot? My habit is putting nearly all of my weight over my front foot and really leaning forward and into the punch, which seemed to make me off balance. If I missed my opponent, I'd probably fall forward. I also don't think I'd get as much rotation / torque from my body and hips that way, but I might be wrong.

I think the other thing is that I'm doing this stationary and on a bag. Maybe things would change if I had to throw moving forward in the mix with sparring and whatnot? As I said, I've really only just started training MT at this place. Probably overthinking it, which I tend to do. Thank you anyway!

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

Being stationary in front of a bag is something that just takes time and experience to get around. Obviously making concerted efforts will make changes occur more consistently than just letting time move you along, but don't rush it.

The "how much weight" question falls into the same trap of "everybody is different." As a rule I'd say you should not be able to pull your back foot off the ground with how much weight you have on the front one, but probably there are schools of thought that disagree with that. My advice is to watch fighters you either already identify with stylistically or who you want to be like stylistically, make an estimate on how much of their weight is moving and try to imitate it in the mirror to figure it out. My own personal advice is the forsake all other aspects in the interest of balance. Power and speed don't mean anything if you're off-balance, so the correct distribution of weight is the one that delivers the most power and speed without affecting balance.