The MAP Super Southpaw Survival Guide

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by holyheadjch, Aug 17, 2013.

  1. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a southpaw in possession of a gumshield must be in want of a competent southpaw coach."
    - Jane Austen

    Unfortunately, coaches who know how to deal with southpaws are rarer than rocking horse teeth...or something like that. So in order to help Southpaws who want to learn how to maximise their sinister advantage and to help orthodox fighters who want to learn how to deal with slippery southpaws, I propose we crowd-source a guide to southpaw combinations, strategies and drills.

    There is a lot of good stuff on the internet, but there is no definitive set of southpaw related resources on the web and if you want a job doing properly, you should outsource it to MAP.

    So a couple of guidelines:
    1. No links to copyrighted material.
    2. It's better to discuss techniques in terms of lead and rear, inside and outside, rather than left or right - that way, both southpaws and orthodox fighters can benefit without having to translate everything.
    3. Keep it southpaw specific. This isn't the place to discuss the merits of boxing vs MMA.
     
  2. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    Here's a few boxing specific guides to fighting southpaws/as a southpaw and a list of southpaw combinations.

    expertboxing.com - Southpaw guide to beating orthodox fighters
    expertBoxing.com - How to fight a Southpaw
    expertboxing.com - 20 Southpaw Combinations and Counters

    The same site has a number of videos on Youtube covering beginner southpaw strategies:
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTB8vscdW5U"]How to Fight a Southpaw 1 of 3 - Front Foot Outside - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufdg63p0IXo"]How to Fight a Southpaw 2 of 3 - Front Foot Inside - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRWNmrTep4U"]How to Fight a Southpaw 3 of 3 - Attack and Defend - YouTube[/ame]
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2013
  3. Southpaw535

    Southpaw535 Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

    Great idea for a thread Holy. Not that I'm biased in any way...
     
  4. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    Excellent idea for a thread.
     
  5. Wildlings

    Wildlings Baguette Jouster

    Of course you're not :p

    Strange thing, even though I'm mainly left-handed, southpaw stance has never felt natural to me :confused:

    I'd like to hear more about the advantages and disadvantages of southpaw vs orthodox :hat:
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2013
  6. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    I like this thread.

    A personal thought on the subject. I tend not to think of left vs right handed stances but rather open vs closed stances. Anyone with TKD experience (particularly Olympic) may be familiar with the terms but to keep it simple:
    • Open = your hips and theirs face the same direction.
    • Closed = your hips and theirs face opposite directions.

    How you stand in relation dictates which techniques you can use to score on your opponent. For example, I stand southpaw to my orthodox opponent (i.e. open stance). Since the back is not a valid target in most rulesets my lead roundhouse kick to the body will not score. But my rear roundhouse kick can score on their stomach. By choosing a favourite side to fight from (a choice determined in part by my injury history) and training often enough it became easier to determine my strategy simply by glancing at which way their hips are facing. This comes in handy as I often spar with guys who can fight from both sides quite comfortably.

    I advocate everyone to train both sides regularly for a while -- 6 months as a minimum -- to really get a feel for their natural preference. Don't take your coaches word for it that orthodox suits you best just because you are right handed. With training -- lots and lots of training -- my left cross is stronger than my right.
     
  7. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Awesome thread.

    Thanks guys.
     
  8. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

  9. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Heres the original post -

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZw3MCw-PU&feature=youtu.be"]Conor McGregor In 5 Techniques [Low Quality] - YouTube[/ame]
     
  10. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    This video does a particularly nice job of explaining how and why to keep your lead foot on the outside - the golden rule of being a southpaw or fighting a southpaw.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT-le47w31g"]How to Fight a Southpaw - YouTube[/ame]

    It also does a good job of showing the step and slide rear cross, which is a technique that scores so well against orthodox fighters who are not used to dealing with southpaws.
     
  11. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    I'd posted questions regarding this very topic a couple of years ago or something regarding Mixed-Handedness - which is the change of hand preference between different tasks. I am left-handed when it comes to writing, a few other tasks, but right-handed in others activities - throwing balls - and fits, guitar, most sporting type activities.

    When I started training in rudimentary boxing skills, it was somewhat problematic in that I never quite felt...'grounded', for lack of a better term. In Muay Thai this unsettledness compounded a hundredfold.

    I'll have to cut it short but the gist of it being this tendency ( 30% of gen pop ) can be greatly used to your advantage in MAs or it can cripple your ability to engage in any realistic combat sport if you are unable to come to terms with it.
     
  12. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    In boxing, you almost always want your strongest rear straight available, so you work out which one that is (probably after a far amount of training) and go with it.

    In MT you want your strongest rear straight available, but you also want your strongest rear kick available - if both of those things belong to the same side, you're golden, if not, it depends on what you rely on most.

    If you're genuinely ambidextrous as far as fighting goes, I'd recommend going southpaw if you can find a coach who can train you as a southpaw. It gives you a significant boost, especially as a beginner/intermediate fighter.
     
  13. Unreal Combat

    Unreal Combat Valued Member

    Thanks for getting this started Holy! :D
     
  14. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Me too! I am left handed, left footed, and left eye dominant. Total lefty! But I am more comfortable in an orthodox stance. I can do a lefty stance in sparring, it isn't totally unnatural. but I am more comfortable in a regular stance when sparring.
     
  15. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    I think everyone feels like this to begin with, maybe because you have to jab with your less dominant hand, but normally it starts to feel natural a few weeks later. As a rule I think you need a really good reason to stand dominant foot forward in a striking art like MT or boxing. In point scoring MAs, then you might benefit from having a stronger lead hand and a good lead kick and in grappling there's pros and cons to each.
     
  16. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    Actually, it is not ambidextrous - which is being able to do a given task equally well with either hand - mixed handedness is something quite different. For those with that, they will find that they do certain things with one hand, certain things with the other - and, as in the case of meself and Wildlings, apparently, there will be an activity where they do not demonstrate ambidextrousness - i.e., could go either way; but rather a general un-comfortableness with either hand.

    One feels oddly as if they are using the wrong hand/stance regardless of which hand/stance they use. Its a sticky-wicket because I jump back between stances on impulse which has helped me in the way that it confuses the buggards out of opponents because of the random, haphazard way - but its also led to some devastating blows I've taken - the type you get when you move right into their sweet-spot - after they've launched.

    That's a different thing from those who switch stances as a matter of strategy, they've learned to account for things.
     
  17. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    And I'm you're mirror image: right-handed in normal life, but southpaw on the mat and when I skate. :p So weird!


    Accidental headbutts and stepping on each other's toes is a definite disadvantage.
     
  18. Vitty

    Vitty Valued Member

    I'm mixed handed the same as Belltoller and generally I find it useful that I can switch between southpaw & orthodox stance when sparring which can throw off my opponent but I mostly favor a southpaw stance, last year my left leg took a beating mostly from knee/lower leg clashes in a tournament and 4 days later I had to do sparring for grading and I had to focus on staying in orthodox stance which totally threw me off and ended up with me taking quite a few hard kicks lol. I seem to get asked "you're not left handed are you?" a few times when we do training drills in class cause they aren't used to training with the attack coming from the left.
     
  19. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    This thread may only consider striking and not consider throwing.

    In

    - striking, whether you want to put your strong side forward or strong side backward is debatable.
    - throwing, you definitely want to put your strong side forward.

    If you are good in "right side hip throw", it's very difficult to apply it when you have "left leg forward".
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2013
  20. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    This was one of the (only) things I found easy about Judo.
     

Share This Page