How wide a stance do you advocate for a boxer, and why?
Recently my coach has been encouraging me to adopt a wider stance. Nothing crazy, but a good bit wider than the conventional shoulder width. I don’t have anything against this stance, and am happy to take his advice, I just want to understand what the pros and cons of this stance are.
I’m 6’1 weighing in at 12st8lbs (light heavy). Physically I do have quite big legs relative to my upper body, and from what I’ve read, that additional leg strength is an advantage if you adopt this stance. Footwork is one of my big strengths, so I’m particularly interested to know how this stance might impact that, as well as how one should distribute one’s weight across it, and what the advantages/disadvantages are for using it. Hopefully I can then take this knowledge into sparring tonight.
I think this is an excellent question.
It might be a bit difficult to provide an excellent - or even definitive answer though.
For me a coach can advise a boxer as to foot placement, the direction of the toes, weight distribution and the orientation of the stance in relation to the opponent.
Width however, is unique to each boxer. Stance width will be determined by physiology, athleticism, health and balance.
At just over 6’- shoulder width for me feels too narrow and continued effort to maintain this stance cuts my mobility and will see me bending over seeking a lower base as rounds progress.
A stance with feet slightly wider than shoulder distance does not seem to hinder my mobility, but it does allow me superior head movement, a vertical torso and some additional power in my rotational shots.
This article is a good article, not a great article, but it may help you identify some issues you have encountered.
Its ok to experiemnt yourself and find what suits YOU. despite what your coach tells you, when in a contest, you will revert to what your body is capable and comfortable with. So it is best to find your comfortable width and apply the other stance requirements like foot placement and weight distribution.
On a related note, I’ve noticed that a step wider than shoulder width allows me to generate much more power in my squats.
I dont think its unreasonable to assume this could transfer naturally into punching power.
The wider the stance the greater the stability (since a wider stance creates a wider base of support and lower center of gravity), but there is a point where the width will start of affect mobility (there are other disadvantages to a wider stance if things like leg kicks are allowed, but since you are only boxing those aren’t really relevant to your goals).
If you are a very stationary fighter (generally power based sluggers like Foreman or Frazier are mostly stationary types, at least when it comes to footwork), then adopting a wider stance (but again, no so wide that it prevents you from being able to effectively shift your weight to generate punching power) should allow you to sit down on your punches better and hit harder.
If on the other hand you are more of a finesse fighter (someone who likes to punch from movement like an Ali or Sugar Ray Leonard), then adopting a wider stance may not necessarily benefit you very much and may even make things harder for you.
That said, none of us really knows how wide your current stance is or how it may be affecting your mechanics or success in the ring. It is entirely possible that your coach has noticed that your stance is too narrow and thus your stability is compromised and so is trying to get you to widen it to help fix this problem.
Also, is your coach suggesting you adopt this wider stance all the time or only when you are in the pocket?
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
I think this is an excellent question.
It might be a bit difficult to provide an excellent - or even definitive answer though.
For me a coach can advise a boxer as to foot placement, the direction of the toes, weight distribution and the orientation of the stance in relation to the opponent.
Width however, is unique to each boxer. Stance width will be determined by physiology, athleticism, health and balance.
At just over 6’- shoulder width for me feels too narrow and continued effort to maintain this stance cuts my mobility and will see me bending over seeking a lower base as rounds progress.
A stance with feet slightly wider than shoulder distance does not seem to hinder my mobility, but it does allow me superior head movement, a vertical torso and some additional power in my rotational shots.
This article is a good article, not a great article, but it may help you identify some issues you have encountered.
Its ok to experiemnt yourself and find what suits YOU. despite what your coach tells you, when in a contest, you will revert to what your body is capable and comfortable with. So it is best to find your comfortable width and apply the other stance requirements like foot placement and weight distribution.
On a related note, I’ve noticed that a step wider than shoulder width allows me to generate much more power in my squats.
I dont think its unreasonable to assume this could transfer naturally into punching power.[/quote]
Great post as always.
One drill we use to get people to find their “natural” stance width is as follows:
-Mark a line on the ground (or us an already existing line like the joint between two mats, joint between two floor boards, parking space line, etc…)
-stand a little ways from the line and begin walking towards the line at a brisk walking, but not necessarily speed walking and definitely not jogging, pace. Your goal is to adult your starting distance so that your “rear” foot (if you were in your fighting stance, which would be the right foot is orthodox) hits the line without you having to break stride
-once your rear toe hits the line take one more natural walking step forward with your “lead” (left if orthodox) foot and adopt your fighting stance. This stance width should feel very natural, stable, and yet not compromise mobility. You should be able to shift your weight from foot to foot comfortably and if you test out your punching power you should feel that you can punch powerfully from this position.
This is just the very basic first step in adopting a natural width fighting stance and there are many more factors and adjustments that can and may even need to be made in order to maximize effectiveness, but it’s a good simple first step.
You can repeat the process several times until the stance becomes familiar to you and you start to get a feeling for the stance, then try just getting into it without the line as a guide.
Thank you both for the detailed and excellent feedback. Donny, I’d actually been reading a few things from that website. There’s another seemingly good one at www.myboxingcoach.com.
I don’t think my coach is advocating a ridiculously wide stance, just one that is notably wider than shoulder width. It feels comfortable generally. I used it consciously this session and it felt pretty good, I didn’t really struggle with mobility, but then I didn’t spar, so it wasn’t tested too much.
Thanks again for the advice, I’ll update this thread with my own thoughts once I’ve had a chance to use it a bit more.
I don’t know where the notion that a shoulder width stance is the correct boxing stance width came from. Unless you have ridiculously wide shoulders that is not going to give you the best combination of stability and mobility and definitely not going to optimize punching mechanics. Sure if on the outside and just dancing around, then a narrower stance can be great, but watch any great boxer when they enter the pocket and you’ll see that their feet are always wider than shoulders width; not Karate horse stance wide, but definitely wider than shoulders width.