Which is the best guard position to choose? I do understand that the stand by guard stance should not be a rigid one however:when I use the karate typical mid guard my box friends hit me high...when I use the boxing typical high guard my karate friends hit me low...Could an experienced fellow give a few hints about which guard position should I pursue in my trainings? (I come from karate and have been impressed about box and muay thay) thank you!
My general guard has my chin down, hands up, elbows in. The shoulders are rolled forward (not hunched, this creates tension in the shoulders). My body is sort of hollowed out, concave. This protects most of the body behind the elbows. The forearms are parallel. The rear hand is up near the jaw, the lead hand is at about shoulder level and maybe a foot-length in front of the shoulder. You don't want your torso to be too square to the opponent, nor do you want to only face them with one side. You want your upper body to be maybe at a 45 degree angle to your opponent. Don't worry too much about body shots. Your first priority is to protect your jaw/neck area. If your forearms are parallel and your hands are right about the level of your jaw, your elbows and forearms should naturally protect a good portion of your lower torso. If someone goes to punch your body, just crunch down a bit and block with your forearm. If your opponent keeps their head up while targeting your body, just punch them in the face. Remember: head shots produce the most knockouts. Protect your jaw. It wouldn't hurt to take a few boxing lessons, or maybe just work out with a boxer now and then.
Thanks a lot for your good explanation.That's more or less what I have tried.So,I will go on with my trials! oss
Ditto from me. In addition I would say that generally speaking your legs should protect you from low attacks and your hands/arms high ones. Never reach to block something when another limb is nearer that could do the job. This means shin blocks for low kicks and jamming mid section stuff, your elbows and forearms for mid section and a slight raise of the arms/hands for head shots. Your guard then offers a best case starting point that is then modified as little as possible to ward off an attack. Man if you live in Curitiba pop round Anderson Silva's house and ask him how he does it!
yea pretty much same thing from me legs ready to block low and with my elbows down but my hands a little higher its easy to block sides and raise to block high
Good advice from everyone, def echo what callsign fuzzysaid. Its also worth noting that it does depend alot on your build and who you are sparring. You've gotta spar alot against a variety of partners to work things out.
it mainly depends on your opponents guard and their size compared to yours. You will see that fighters in MMA matches change their guard depending who they are fighting. For example if they are fighting a grappler they will bend the knees more getting lower and leaning forward a little and the hands will be a bit lower ready to sprawl. Your guard should be flexible and largely depends on your opponent
For a stand up guard, the little time I practise on stand up I like to use the 'crazy monkey' ultra tight and high style, for me it makes learning how to spar easier until I get the more complex based elements down, it also works well for self protection. For ground work learning, open and mobile leaning towards butterfly, for actual 'A game' time, closed and tight.
