Man, I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

@i-v-l9335

4 жыл бұрын

I got partially ambidextrous from breaking both arms multiple times. 😂😂

@christopherrogers3069

4 жыл бұрын

hilarious!

@lightonstillwaters6789

3 жыл бұрын

🙂☺️😁😂

@MrParkerman6

3 жыл бұрын

Oh! The Irony!!!!

@iamshredder3587

2 жыл бұрын

Good one. 😁

Eyyyy HEMA people represent!

@arturaugustyniak9008

4 жыл бұрын

My school :) yey.

I am right-hand dominant and love kickboxing southpaw, especially in MMA. I love the ability to cut an angle to the outside in open stance while jabbing opressively - as a fairly tall fighter I tend to have a reach advantage and this feels like a great use of that strength. Furthermore, I’m still confident in my left cross and especially in a left body kick, which feels especially powerful since it has the capacity to hit the liver. In MMA, this also helps me enact clinch-work especially well since I have a background as a judoka. I love controlling space and then exploiting that control to safely set up sweeps, hip throws, and other takedowns. All this said, I still box orthodox when I want to in-box, and in general like being a switch-hitter with roughly a 2:1 orthodox:southpaw. Loved the video, keep on rockin’ Ramsey!

You know what, I have been using my dominant and forward forever now, and have NEVER had someone explain to me in such a way that actually made sense. A lot of people don't actually know why you are supposed to fight orthodox as a right handed person! Thank you for the lesson! Message received!

Me: 10 years of Karate Me: years of historical marcial arts focusing in the use of shield and sword/axe. My opinion: Your example was perfect!

@MrRayWolf

4 жыл бұрын

there is no shield+longsword thingy^^ but Ramseys point is valid and true. Bruce would have fopund this out sooner or later but did not had the chance for it :/

@ohcaptainmycaptain3478

4 жыл бұрын

All these colons are stinking up the comments man, come on!

@unnamedchannel2202

4 жыл бұрын

I still prefer a polearm or an Odachi.

@EvolutionSTUD10S

4 жыл бұрын

@@MrRayWolf For what it's worth, I have seen a page or two in a historical manual on longsword+buckler, I think it was Lignitzer... trying to find it again.

@varanid9

4 жыл бұрын

@@ohcaptainmycaptain3478 Quit hasslin' him; he just learned "punkchuashun"!

“The shield is a weapon”.. Captain America would like to thank you, for supporting his style

I like this philosophy. I’m a natural lefty and always lead with my left (was a big advantage in point scoring karate) never really thought about it this way though, a lot of what I was taught I always thought lacked a lot of power a lot of things make sense now cheers Ramsay

We’ve seen 18th century military tactics and now we’re getting into HEMA as well! It’s really cool to see how many principles of fighting carry over!

@mythguard6865

4 жыл бұрын

Manannan anam with HEMA I was more referring to when he was talking about sword and shield not Olympic style fencing. Though some foot work fundamentals are pretty similar. Sorry for the confusion.

@scottmacgregor3444

4 жыл бұрын

I do think that sword and buckler, and it's cone of defense, would make an excellent parallel to unarmed fighting.

Excellent Lesson Ramsey * * * * * The Sword and The Shield is an example I have used many times as you did so well in Explaining... The UNNATURAL HAND in this lesson the LEFT HAND has to go through an Education in order to be useful, thus the term ~ an EDUCATED LEFT HAND... I have found it much easier to educate the left hand, in the front than in the rear. The difference is distance, the left in the back has more distance to travel to the target... With the more distance comes, more coordination required. (Easier to Coordinate in front than from the Rear) Also putting the right hand in front takes away the MOST POWERFUL PUNCH POSSIBLE ~which would be the RIGHT HAND/ NATURAL HAND in the rear where it could be utilized with Max Leverage. Thanks for posting, I intend to pass this along to a friend whom I recently discused this topic with... Sincerely Your Pal Paul

@RamseyDewey

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

"But Lomachenko!" "But Anderson Silva!" "But Oscar Delahoya!"

@Julesgio

4 жыл бұрын

But Lebanner, but Bisping, but Robbie Lawler

@fahrad7075

4 жыл бұрын

Its funny how he just ignores such comments only to promote the methods he is using. Even anderson silva was a UFC champion for over 10 years . And guess what he would say about Bruce Lee : He is the best . One of the greatest in the UFC to ever do it and now here we got Ramsey .....

@aluisiofsjr

4 жыл бұрын

@Joseph S , my boxing coach told me the same.

@aluisiofsjr

4 жыл бұрын

@@fahrad7075 , hey mate, Bruce Lee was an actor, not a fighter.

@fahrad7075

4 жыл бұрын

@@aluisiofsjr also an actor but martial artist to the bones. Everyone that thought like you and tried to find out got just beaten by him. Listen to James DeMile :"we tried to knock him out BUT we just couldn't " or actually Jim Kelly saying he watched bruce spar and he was beating up that so called champions even he did not like to say their names out of respect. Jessie Glover and almost everyone who saw him fight was saying the same . Bruce went directly for the kill. From zero to nothing from point a to point b.

Interestingly, many historical fencing styles involved the use of a rapier or other long-bladed weapon and main-gauche. Some of them used the rapier as a probing and parrying weapon and reserved the main-gauche for close-in attacks. Others used the main-gauche as a parrying dagger and kept the rapier in reserve for main attacks.

Very insightful. Thank you. I believe that Bruce Lee’s brother was a fencing champ in Hong Kong so maybe influenced Bruce? I have done both fencing and hand to hand. I never really thought of it but without thinking can switch back and forth depending on situation. Also, if true, in some routines, the lethal areas on your target may be located mostly on the right or left depending. I am not into competitive sports so only from my narrow point of view. I’m not young anymore so in self defense just want to survive, win, get away or die with honor😉😎🙏🏻☯️Thanks.

Impressive analogy, analysis and explanations. Tyvm.

Love these videos!

Thank you Ramsey 'The Voice' Dewey. A really great explanation because it is something I can now visualize. I use to switch against beginners because it looked good, but against a better boxer, I got flattened each time on the switch. So, I abandoned the idea. I wish someone told me this value bit of information when I was young, I could have saved myself a lot of mistakes. Remember everyone, you are armed with a Shield and a Sword, anything else and you become the One Arm Boxer.

I “love” when movies show the “hero” throwing away his shield and start Killing a lot of bad guys (all using shields). So cringe to me.

@SavedSnake

4 жыл бұрын

TBH I think that's pretty badass.....I mean...unpredictably is the name of the game in MARTIAL ARTS.

@OnyxXThePunch

4 жыл бұрын

@@SavedSnake it's also extremely stupid tactically as well as not realistic

@bemusedalligator

4 жыл бұрын

@Manannan anam there was a recent movie that features two people in full plate armor actually fighting like people in full plate armor fought each other.

@stanleylee5358

4 жыл бұрын

In what movie did this happen?

@lilshuggah9917

4 жыл бұрын

@@stanleylee5358 The King, but that movie has problems of its own.

I knew you were a HEMA nerd deep down and I am glad to see it. Good video my friend.

Great stuff man. Done Kenpo Karate for years and my instructor's instructor taught our students to fight with their power hand forward for point sparring. Since taking over those classes, I've moved away from point sparring for a number of reasons I won't go into here. It's been interesting trying to find an analogy to break them of the habit of being a 'fake southpaw' and this analogy of fencing vs. HEMA is a great one that will make sense to them.

That slow sparring was wonderful Ramsey This is way harder than it looks

Thank you for this video. It was very informative. There isn't a lot of informatiom that I found on this.

Amazing Video! I really like that sword and shield analogy you said

Thanks for your thoughts and motivation

3:06 Yeah, guilty as charged. And it's worse than just rolling my eyes tbh, I feel almost offended whenever I see weapon combinations misrepresented in movies, games, etc. Because they almost always are, all of them. Sword and board is always all about the classic choice of either hide behind the shield (which would get you hit) or fling wildly while moving the shield out of the way (which would get you hit), twin weapons are always about combos and "more dps," when in reality you'd almost always use one of them to bind and control/parry the opponent's weapon(s) while attacking with the other at the same time, longswords are always slow and sluggish bruisers when in reality it's the fastest and most agile melee weapon available... I'm just so tired of seeing it.

Awesome subject and awesome video I love your style of videos. Would love a video on constant stance switches

@RamseyDewey

4 жыл бұрын

You should only switch stances if you have a good reason for it. kzread.info/dash/bejne/lpWI2NWKYL3ZqM4.html

@AdamPenmanOfficial

4 жыл бұрын

Ramsey Dewey Thanks for the reply I truly respect you brother!

Interesting take! I hadn't really thought of it like that. As a kid, thanks to my PTSD suffering Vietnam Vet martial artist I grew up in a house full off weapons, many of which my dad made because one of his hobbies was making weapons. I had six sets of boxing gloves, Kendo Shinai, a Bo staff (that my dad made), nunchakas (that my dad made), a three section staff (that my dad made), a bamboo trident spear (that my dad made), oh yeah and a couple of fencing foils and masks. When kids came over to my house, we would spar with weapon against weapon. For instance, sparring Kendo Shinai vs fencing foil, I thought of it as the strength of two hands (Shinai) vs the lightning fast speed of the tip of fencing foil. One thing that is missing with an unarmed "one handed, fencer" vs an MMA fighter is that the length of the fencing foil means that just a tiny movement at the base (your arm) makes a HUGE movement at the tip of the sword at unbelievable speed. The reflexes needed to counter something like that are unreal, not given to most. OTOH, Kendo is not quite so fast (the tip of a foil can hardly be seen by the naked eye) but is also ridiculously fast in it's own way. But then you have a two handed weapon with some width and rigidity and speed vs a one handed weapon with little rigidity but even more speed. So to me, you just had to know what you were getting into and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon and account for them. I thought that the cross training was really helpful because it got me thinking how to evaluate the opponent in front of me in each case, and a lot of the foot work is similar, cutting off space, getting your forward foot in the outward dominant position, things like that are similar and helpful in any style or whatever.

Thank you. I'm left-handed and got stuck with the orthodox stance. The other side felt more comfortable. I will spend more time in the southpaw position from now on. Thanks.

Loving the HEMA representation! Had someone tell me it was all bollocks the other day and is from like 3 pages. Like, you are welcome to your opinion, it's not perfect but I think it tackles the problems well, as you do all the stuff against resisting opponents. Most of the wrestling I know is German wrestling and a bit of Glima because there isn't an actual wrestling class in my city! xD

@conorfoster2337

4 жыл бұрын

It turns out dudes who killed people in close combat professionally knew a lot about killing people in close combat

@forickgrimaldus8301

2 жыл бұрын

@@conorfoster2337 also HEMA tretacies are made by actual Soldiers and Dualists at the this so yeah they know a ton about how it actually went down, also in Fencing especially with one handed weapons leading with your dominat hand is better than your off hand because you have the weapon that acts as both a defensive tool and a weapon, you can rarely get the opportunity to block attacks with your inferior hand because its unprotected. Unarmed combat is very different as your using both hands as in you can defend with the other hand now.

I started martial arts after years of high impact sports that left me with a legacy of pretty limiting injuries. One injury separated the chest muscles from my left arm, making it pretty useless for pretty much anything to begin with. Leading with the right hand seemed like a good way to compensate, but my coaches insisted on an orthodox stance. After a few years of frustration, I can use body rotation and rotation to fulfil the shield/frame duties. You don’t NEED strength for the lead hand, clearly, and most lead hand techniques (jab, jab followed by an elbow) almost seem to work better for the non dominant side. I’m no expert, but damn it pays off when you listen to people who are. I love your videos and am working through lots of your technique drills. Fantastic stuff.

this video speaks to me as a HEMA practitioner

Honestly I think thinking about the lead hand as a shield will even help orthodox fighters. Thanks for uploading this video!

I've found that since I learnt to jab well with my dominant hand, I was able to feel the body mechanics better and my left-handed jab is now much better by reversing it

Ooo this video was straight up for me

I'll comment on this as a Predominantly Fencer (22+yrs) who also Boxes and Kickboxes on the side and dabbles in HEMA. I'm one of those "fake south paws" who stuck with the unorthodox because after years on the Fencing Piste the Orthodox stance felt to weird when relating to footwork. Firstly to clear up a misconception: Fencers treat their foils/Epees as offensive and defensive tools in one: At such a light weight with the point of balance close to the hand they can parry/riposte in single, two tempos half beats, multiple hand movements and everything in between as the hands are very much divorced from the feet, as opposed to sword and Shield/Buckler/Targe play which have a *tendency* to generally settle into single tempo where the inertia and point of balance of the implements tie them (somewhat) to the feet (kinda). Boxing Tempo is nothing like sword and shield tempo. Boxing I would argue actually has more diverse timing (but less tool techniques). With that out the way I think there are some advantages (at least initially) to having the dominant hand forward. I found in my early boxing sparring that I could usually beat most of my peers to parrying their jabs and/or angling off with footwork to the counter with my own on their preparations, my jabs and lead hooks/uppercuts being somewhat stiffer than they were expecting making them more cautious with rushing in and allowing me to cut the ring off the ring with a bit more ease. Sitting behind a dexterous jab has its advantages. Also disrupting the opponents rhythm I found was just easier for me. The Big disadvantage is that it take a *loooong ....looooong*.....time to develop your non dominant hand into an effective weapon. The power generation and fluidity are all wrong. Rear Hooks are particularly difficult to develop as you don't know how to instinctively land them. Furthermore being a fake south paw limits you to being a I think (initially) a Counter Fighter or a Pop and Draw merchant. Once you get the non dominant to a decent standard it stops being a problem. But you have to work at it. Looking back would I recommend it? Hard to say but I would veer towards no.

Sometimes I find it convenient to switch stance, as I counter punch with my left hand, getting a good angle for a right cross or hook

As a HEMA practitioner I hafta say you got it dead on brother.

I think the situation is more complex when you add kicks and/or grappling into the mix. Judging which leg is "stronger/smarter" is much more situational than comparing your hands. I'm a rightie so if I'm restricting myself to just using hands I'll stand orthodox for precisely the reasons you stated. However, adding kicks changes the equation for me. My right leg sidekick and oblique/teep are stronger than my left. Conversely my left leg feels looser and hits harder when throwing roundhouse or front snap kicks than my right does. This despite the fact that I'd say my right leg is more controlled and accurate and, consequently, feels much better for spinning kicks of any kind. It's a strange dichotomy and I've put in work to try to equalize the situation. One point you made is absolute truth -- most righties who fight southpaw have a near useless left cross and being unable to throw a significant punch with your back hand is a disadvantage that will absolutely get you eaten alive by anyone with some skill. I still switch quite a bit when sparring, but I absolutely focus on throwing power punches with my left when doing pad work or hitting the heavy bag. The "weakness" of your non-dominant hand is often exacerbated by misalignment/rooting and sloppy mechanics. So if you're a rightie who wants to fight southpaw I'd suggest throwing 10 punches with your left for every one punch with your right when working pads or heavy bag. And for God's sake move around and use footwork just like when you're shadowboxing or sparring. That left cross needs to be strong enough to give the opponent some pause, even if it'll never reach the KO power of a rightie throwing a good right cross. Also, try to loosen up that right lead leg so you can throw a decent front leg roundhouse with some whip in it.

I was imagining holding a shield and suddenly those traditional karate blocks seemed to make a lot more sense.

Coach it’s tony here, learnt a lot from your sword fight theory

@RamseyDewey

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Tony! Great to meet you the other day!

@Tanishqkanojia1163

4 жыл бұрын

Where's Justin?

@masterwrong4933

4 жыл бұрын

Tony is the type of guy to learn sword fighting to prepare for Khabib

@RamseyDewey

4 жыл бұрын

Justin is too cool to comment on my videos.

@Tanishqkanojia1163

4 жыл бұрын

@@RamseyDewey you're cooler than Justin coach

He mentioned HEMA woo. Genuinely would love to see your take on that branch of martial arts.

Hey RD ! Interesting topic. I fenced sabre for 4 years in university- there are aspects of it that helped with my martial arts( distancing mostly and a couple of footwork tricks for closing distance) but it is a very different discipline from fighting with fists- especially because it is limited to moving in a single straight line. I agree with your issue with keeping the power hand forward, and from experience some of my worst sparring mishaps happened when I fought southpaw - I guess you can switch it up to attack when an opportunity opens up but on defense ( without a lot of training) it can be a liability IMHO. Cheers.

This is a good opportunity to remind you to make that Dambe video, where the sword and shield concept you describe is taken to the extreme.

Some good points with reference to boxing and western shield and sword in a historically accurate manner. I would also like to offer alternative perspectives/ideas that firstly the variable of range which have been extended with a sword. Secondly for fighters that prefer fighting at a longer range it makes the lead more important as the distance with striking with the lead is decreased and distance for striking with the rear increased. One good case in mma that showcases the importance of this is the reasonably successful 'one armed' fighter Henry Newell. He opts for using his full length arm to jab in southpaw whilst his shorter 'arm' is used for elbows. This case presents the idea of whether range or power in absence of the other is more important due to his physical condition. Either way it will always come down to the fighters physical and mental characteristics

Speaking as an FMA hobbyist, there is a difference between what people normally think of as fencing which is the Olympic style, keep your other hand out of the way and go back and forth fencing, and fencing in combat. Most FMA systems are heavily influenced by the Spanish espada y daga (sword and dagger) form of fencing, where yes we do stand with our dominant leg forward and our dominant hand holding the sword, and our non dominant hand is holding the dagger. the footwork and movement looks similar to sword and shield fighting (obviously the dagger is not a shield, but we can parry and thrust/slash with either blade depending on the range or position). We also often switch stances (though we don’t usually switch weapons) What I found interesting in my experience was when I took up boxing early this year. I stood in a southpaw stance because I was used to standing right foot forward. And I would throw jabs with my right and rear straights with my left like a southpaw. But when it came to sparring I noticed that while my feet would be southpaw, my upper body would frequently be in orthodox to allow me to jab with my left hand as I stepped outside my opponent’s lead and throw my right hook. Another favorite combo of mine from this position was to throw my right hand straight as I switched my feet, essentially turning my lead straight into a rear straight, use the momentum to step forward with my right foot as I doubled up my right, and throwing a left rear straight. And the thing is, this habit of stance-switching and angling has been ingrained into my muscle memory from FMA practice.

I feel very comfortable in a southpaw stance because I am left handed and left legged. No Bruce Lee philosophy for me.

@rambo2093

4 жыл бұрын

Lomachenko disagrees

@JourneyToTheCage

4 жыл бұрын

Rambo you aren’t lomachenko. He is an exception because he’s so good.

@pandorasboxofstuff186

3 жыл бұрын

It proves a point that throughout the years not only are people finding success on the lowest level BUT on the highest level (many world champions)

Never heard it explained like that makes sense

Here in Chile, where I train HEMA, we start a little wille ago (my group) to train with Sword and Buckler from the 1.33 manual's, and some of my companion notice the way that the little shield is use, It is very ofensive, you goin against the the oponent shield and sword with a hit, trying to block their actión, and making it being open to the cut from your sword... And like with a jab from boxing, is your principal way to make openings to attack your oponent. And the guards are principally with lead leg being the one with the shield in front. (This is all before the quarantine, and also sorry for my bad english)

@kanucks9

4 жыл бұрын

How are your shoulders doing? Damn is it hard to hold the buckler out for a long time.

As you said the shield is also a weapon that's why I have gained an appreciation for destructions or damaging your opponents striking limb as he attacks eventually rendering it useless. One of my favourite mma fighters Bas Rutten fights standing square to his opponent as he believes it is more effective and he can generate more speed from this stance. He admits it leaves his midsection as one big target but Bas Rutten is notorious for setting traps so if his torso is exposed it's because he wants you to hit him there. I like to switch stances to gain access to a certain angle or to confuse my opponent to set up a kick or strike coming under the eye line. I've been a fan from the start.... Love the content , great channel !

Whenever i put my lead hand forward and move in, i feel like half zombified!😦.

It is my main fighting stance...but i do utilize orthodox boxing style as well...but i am right handed...utilizing both styles makes it WAY easier to chamber MANY follow up strikes.

Interesting thing, do you know that block typically done in a lot of TMA where you raise your right arm high and partially in front of your face? Kinda in the form of like throwing a hook? That looks very similar to the first form in sword fighting when you draw the sword from your waist. That first move of the Prima was to act as a reaction to defend an incoming blade. Through out history, swords were often worn at the hip, i wonder how much that influenced martial arts

@Sk0lzky

4 жыл бұрын

Probably depends on the specific martial art but you're completely right about the prima (or rather sort of a hanging guard) being the basic stance after drawing the weapon, some treatises even depict one hand on the scabbard when showing this position implying it's the most likely scenario you'll end up in after drawing. As to "complete systems" where every part translates to another then probably the best thing we have (globally) would be Fiore dei Liberi's "Flower of Battle" - you can easily see how his unarmed "guards" are so wacky because this allows him to then implement the same techniques in dagger, which then are used in sword, sword in armour, pollaxe and shortened lance. And considering that a lot of the same or similar stuff is used in jj and modern systems for knife/"streetz" defence it's safe to assume that not only does it work but also was developed under similar circumstances

@kanucks9

4 жыл бұрын

@@Sk0lzky I've had a note written down for a while to try to grapple from iron gate: you might actually be able to catch the key lock standing that way.

@LR-ku8fn

4 жыл бұрын

@Storm photography when you said aikido it was: 1st reaction-nononono 2nd reaction-hahahahah 3rd reaction HOW CAN SOMEONE ''TRAIN'' THAT FOR SELF-DEFENSE

@sukotsutoCSSR

4 жыл бұрын

That's why traditional stances have their hands low - they're more worried about protecting their guts from the blade than getting tagged on the jaw, which is a smaller target that's harder to hit.

@aznkane87

3 жыл бұрын

I think most TMA’s were actually originally focused on the weapons instead of unarmed combat. If you think about the times they originated from- pre-industrial societies before guns, most people would be armed with at least a staff and/or knife so martial arts were supposed to teach you how to fight weapon to weapon. And so the unarmed parts were more of an afterthought and were basically just the same mechanics and principles from weapon fighting applied to bare hands.

I have always been taught to have my left(less dominant) hand forward.

I was a left handed fencer for a long time, and a lot of fencing is pushing from the back leg to reach further. Moving into other combat sports fighting orthodox, I have found a powerful right leg to be useful, especially for getting power behind my right fist. Also a lot more resources out there for how to fight the "normal" way.

Been a fan a very very long time... thank you coach... do you think you could explain what it means to be a true right handed southpaw?

left hand and foot are my powerhouses but due to early martial arts I was taught to fight with them forward

Also after you talking about sword and shield with such grace I'd love to hear your analysis of the M-1 medieval armoured fights from a few years ago.

Super helpful explanation Ramsey. Not sure if you have seen or liked Joey Hadley (peekaboo Boxer) vs David Valovich (karate) video, Hadley holds his left as a shield to guard kicks and does a great commentary about how he had been sparring with a karate champion (and teaching him boxing) for the whole year before that fight.

I've had a myriad of left shoulder problems over the years and learned to fight southpaw so that I could rely more on my right jab. Took years to stop feeling like a fencer.

I actually agree with you it is like a sword and shield! However, if you watch the video example you have shown the shield guards the inside and the lead hand still holds the sword! Which is the opposite of the point you were training to make! 😁 However... I have sparred a lot with a sword and shield in the way you were referring to, only difference I'd step through rather than just staying in the same stance after striking with the sword.

Thank you for the video. Your sound was very good. What equipment did you use?

Listen to Ramsey! As a teen I started sparring in southpaw as a natural right hander and maybe with a bit too much reinforcement from reading Bruce Lee's Fighting Method. As an adult, I was forced to switch to orthodox by an uncompromising BJJ instructor, and a pro circuit MMA fighter, who insisted a right hander should stand orthodox (lead left hand and foot). I never realized how right-handed centric I was as a right hander in southpaw stance. Far too much reliance on the front jab and inability to use combinations because I was too reliant on the hand forward. I couldn't fgure out why I was having trouble naturally throwing the cross. But it makes sense now that Ramsey broke it down. After switching to orthodox, and eventually getting used to it, I could throw combos more naturally since the jab is just a set up and the right cross is the power punch.

I was surprised to not hear "Now get out there and train!", and equally surprised to see the graphic. Sword & shield is a very interesting analogy and puts a lot of techniques in a new perspective.

Thr coach went HEMA for a while. Great video and insights

@rodrigodepierola

4 жыл бұрын

We need a Ramsey/Lindybeige collab.

I’m right handed and left footed. I’m not ambidextrous but as near as damn it when it comes to gross motor control, transferring technique across the hemispheres comes naturally for me. Once the muscle memory catches it it’s there for good.

Ramsey do you have a full version of that funky jam anywhere?

I wish I had discovered this video earlier. I am an under 19 Fencing Champion of our country (Sabre style) who started MMA training a year ago. Although I am right handed, but my southpaw stance has done wonders for me as my left leg is a power leg due to all that fencing and also due to my history of always using left leg to jump in Basketball. I am very comfortable doing kicks with my left leg and they are much more forceful than the right leg kicks. My right leg is well trained for footwork that is fast and most of the people I compete with are unable to keep up with it. With hands however, yes, I do have a tendency of using my dominant right hand more than my left hand but I have been practicing power punches and elbows with my left hand enough times to make it my second nature to use them in fight. But after watching some of your videos, perhaps I should have trained myself in orthodox stance more. My gym instructors did not pressurise me for switching to Orthodox and I dont think its a McDojo as we have a lot of quality couches with real experience who spar with us and we spar with each other all the time. I even had a rib fractured during a sparring gone wrong but still continue to go there. Learning from mistakes. May I continue with my southpaw stance or start retraining with orthodox? Whats your opinion over this? Would love to know.

As a fencer who has done light martial arts sparring it can be fun to switch into this stance for ultra fast lead hand lunge-jabs. Admittedly they lack power and can leave you open, but the stunned face of your partner is worth it ;)

Also one of the things that was cool about ES: skyrim, you could shield bash to disorient the other person before your strike. It was a skill you had to teach your character, but it was available and I loved using it. I did cost stamina to use which makes sense.

Dominant hand should be in the back enabling you to generate more power “the wind up”. I like to use the lead hand to not only block but also to hand-trap.

In my case, I was taught to use my dominant hand as lead. Reason being, I suffered an injury when I was young that stunted my right arm's (dominant arm) growth. My right arm is pretty much 2 full inches shorter than my left. When practicing strikes other than jabs, my aim/power was lacking because of this debilitation.

Would love to watch you analyze the Bruce Lee tournament demonstration fights. Bruce was definitely influenced by fencing but also seemed to switch stance a lot like in Wing Chun

@i-v-l9335

4 жыл бұрын

Best Wing Chun guy out there is Samuel Kwok. He's Ip Ching line which is Ip Man lineage. He actually did seminars with Rickson Gracie.

This is awesome. Does having a dominant left eye weigh in to account on becoming southpaw?

Im not trying to be a nay sayer here coach Ramsey, but I started out my Martial arts journey as a freestyle wrestler, and they always pushed for your dominant side forward. Of course I was a deep fake with what actually was my lead, and I was forever posting with my right arm to the mat, making sprawling and things like Cattle catchers easier, all the while being deceptive to the opponent. Anywho, back to the point at hand, when I started boxing, I found it easier to use my dominant the same way I would in wrestling. Where it's an adjunct for defence more than offence. And I realized even moreso this to be in my favor because I could poke at longer ranges with my right than my left because my left is slightly shorter. Now I understand the concern for fencing being a bad idea, but I prefer to chamber my left hand simply because it can be used if it's set up. Take a simple jab cross for example. I poke at range, and when I get them trained to read jab jab, I throw the left to mess with the oponnent. In the same way I would get a sprawl down, use my right for the set up of a headlock, and my left to peel and fulcrum to get an easy end cattle catcher. Any thoughts?

Interesting video, but possibly worth noting not all historical fencing styles adopt a one side forward all the time approach and in many cases will transition between right foot and left foot forward each action (e.g. backsword). I fence in Matt and Lucy Easton’s (Schola Gladiatoria) sabre class and Matt frequently encourages us to fight the other way around as it exposes us to left handed fighters and allows us another option if our right hand/arm gets tired (or hurt - steel weapons can do some damage!).

I always felt more comfortable with my left hand forward as a natural right hander. I like being able to touch contact checking with my lead left and setting up my rear hand power shots preceded by lead left jabs and hooks. There have been people in addition to Bruce Lee who trained to put the predominate hand forward in stance positioning. Mark Hatmaker who has made a considerable amount of book and video publications on striking and grappling in relation to self defense and mma competition has said he used to train using the conventionally established power right hand and concurring right leg in the rear of his stance positional structure as he is naturally right handed. Then after experimenting in the gym he decided to put his right foot and right hand forward into a southpaw stance even though he was naturally right handed. After adopting the southpaw lead stance he later proverbally said "he never went back" in reference to the conventional power side to the rear stance. Additionally, the boxer, Joe Lewis, who was naturally left handed trained himself to box in the conventional left leg and left hand lead stance even though his relatively weaker right hand was positioned in the rear. Lewis'' adopted conventional left lead stance enabled him to execute powerful left lead jabs and crushingly powerful left hooks and uppercuts!!!

Great video, it makes me wonder if my common strategy is goodnor bad... I usually change from southpaw to orthodox and back many times in a fight... Keep the "fencing stance" when i want to keep distsnce, and either step foward to change into the "swordnand shield mode"and attack with all i have or i walk a step bsck into it when they charge in... Also, i learnt more or less the same tehniwues and strategied in both stances... So, i can do the fencing strategy against either stance... Therefore, if the other guy is a southpaw i fence in an orthodox stance and "sword and shield" in southpaw... And if theybare orthodox, i do it the other way arround... Also, i do the same with grappling... I start in the oposit stance, grab the sleve or arm(either bicep or wrist), and lunge in fast to grab the lapel, back of the head, or under the armpit... Mostly because i dont know many throws and most of them work from there... Also, nobody expects that entry since i dont usually fight real grapplers... To this day, it helped me, but maybe i should change it? Whats your opinion on my strategy?

@gingercore69

4 жыл бұрын

So, inbasically use the fencing to test the oponent, to rest between combos, and to tease and taunt so the oponent gets mad and makes mistakes

I have found myself using this one handed fencing style thing when I have been cornered and receiving a pounding from a sparring partner. It has never worked and got me pounded more. My brain telling my weaker hand to cover my head while my dominant hand tried to punch my way out. I had to make an accual concious effort to over come this and stop doing it. So I am guessing from my own experience that this style of fighting is a natural reaction to an attack. Though one that does not work against some one who knows how to fight.

I was taught to "lead with your dominant side" in Karate, but it took me another decade to unlearn this error after getting my right wrist grabbed so many times starting out, as well as realizing that adopting more of a Muay Thai stance you literally double your limbs usable at any given distance.

I find more benefit in routinely fighting from both stances (and switching during sparring). Certain techniques become more advantageous if you can choose to fight in an open or closed stance relative to your opponent. Your power side will always be your power side, but that doesn't mean the "weak" side can't still be strong.

I guess it's what you're used to. Judo they teach you only "traditional" way, which is right-handed. My wrestling coach said to put the "shooting eye" forward so you'd see stuff faster and react quicker to it. I'm not sure anymore how widespread this is; but as a HS kid you do what your coach tells you to do. For me, that's the left foot forward. TKD, on the other hand, felt more comfortable lining up southpaw, so that's mostly what I did for sparring...but it was points sparring. Easiest way to tell what's your shooting eye: make a small circle with your hands and look through it at a distant object. Close one eye, then the other. The one where you can see the object is your shooting (dominant) eye. It'll usually but not always be your dominant hand and foot, too.

That's true for pure striking, in particular when using boxing gloves that because of their size literally work as a shield, but in MMA a lot of people with a grappling background are right-handed southpaws because they take over their "natural" stance from grappling as it makes the transition from striking to grappling easier. It's a different concept that would need to be addressed with specific training to eliminate the risk of becoming a one-handed striker.

Reminds me of dambe. Lead hand is for grappling, called the "shield"... rear hand is for striking, called the "spear."

I do historical fencing you gotta switch up the lead hand sometimes you need power and sometimes you need that fine control. Gotta keep that shield and sword together though .

The major advantage I've found fighting right hand forward as a right handed person is a very good right hook and lead hand back knuckle strike. That said, I fight orthodox stance more often.

@silverfoxsilverfox6932

4 жыл бұрын

Is your weight on the front foot or the back foot? Do you twist your hips as you throw punches or just an arm punch.

@Docinaplane

4 жыл бұрын

@@silverfoxsilverfox6932 It's hard for me to believe your question is sincere, but in the spirit of friendship I will try to do so. A fight is not an ideal situation because things are very fluid. I try to be in the best position to deliver enough power to make any strike effective. So with a back knuckle off the front hand the weight transfers forward. With a hook of the front hand the weight transfers in a torquing circular motion transferring your weight onto the front foot for the standard hook, but there are many other ways to throw a hook. Very rarely do I just use arms and not use the hip. The goal is to use your whole body for maximum effect.

On the HEMA topic: Movies not only hate shields, but for cinematic effect they have people stand way too far away from each other. In actual battles both people had guys pushing them from behind, there was almost no space to swing a long sword on the ground (which is why Saxe and arming swords existed.) A realistic shield wall would be a ton of people crunched together shoving and trying to stab each other with no space.

This was so hard to unlearn. I wrestled starting in 3rd grade and went all the way through college and it was always dominant leg forward. I started dabbling with boxing in my late teens and could always get away with fighting southpaw, as I only ever did sparing and no real fights, but when I started kickboxing in my 20s I got so messed up by defaulting to that same stance. Took me about a year just to get okay, and I would say after a few years I'm still only just okay at fighting orthodox.

Ramsey, What’s your thoughts on, even for a right handed fighter, standing south paw, doing a Dempsey drop punch with the right stepping in, to set up a liver kick with the left leg and use that to close the distance to grapple and take the fight to the ground?

What do you think with regards to the footwork ? I started wrestling southpaw since that was my dominant leg. should I switch to orthodox when striking is involved ? Also I think it would be nice to see a “bad habits grapplers have when switching to mma“ video.

After wrestling for so many years with my right leg forward I find it so hard to stand with left leg forward. In right handed.

What type of a kickboxer were you? Your style and how did you transition into MMA?

@RamseyDewey

4 жыл бұрын

I competed professionally in American Kickboxing, Muay Thai, K1, and sanda. I did my first MMA fight with zero MMA training on a dare from the guy I beat up. It was recorded as a guillotine choke on sherdog. It was not, it was a series of liver shots. After that, I started training specifically for the sport of MMA, while simultaneously competing in kickboxing events.

Tyson was a converted lefty. Anderson Silva, Cung Le, Lyoto Machida, all converted right handers with power in both hands. I too am lefty but equally comfortable in orthodox (after years of training and amateur fights). It genuinely makes little difference to me if I fight in either stance. This wasn't always the case, when I first began shadowboxing orthodox. I found myself throwing my jab like a cross, and far more often - like your analogy - than my right, same with kicks. But in time with focused practice it becomes fluent as do all skills. I think it boils down to how much you practice your less powerful side. If you practice it well, it often works out well. Think of Cro Cop, his left wasn't even his power leg ha. Anyway good day brother, thanks for the vid.

It was a shock to me to find out so many people find it more natural to lead with the dominant hand. In my mind the dominant arm needs to be ready to fire so it would have to be further back to have the distance to swing. Can't do that with the left if its out.

Preach

Hi Ramsey, Could you do a live stream on reading Jack Dempsey's book on Championship Fighting Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense? I have read it but it doesn't seem to sink in, as I am usually an audio-based learner. Also, I want to get back into Martial Arts since watching your videos, I'm remembering how much fun I had when I trained in Karate, how would you recommend training at home to get back into it? (I have weights and a pull up bar at home.) Thank you in advance.

The benefits of having a southpaw stance as a a right handed are: 1) you opponent is confused by the mirroring 2) counter punches with right hooks instead of jabs, right hooks in southpaw are gorgeous 3) shots on the liver come from the back making them more powerful, and it's easier to throw them while sliding outside on the right. Obviously all this thing works even better for a left handed, but being able to switch it's having more weapons in the armory.

Hey Coach Ramsey! I would like your opinion on something that I have been practising lately; I have mainly a Judo background and right handed Judoka usually lead with their opposite leg so they can do a faster turn-throw. I don't plan on fighting in an MMA arena, but if I ever had to be in an altercation "in da streetz" that I cant outrun or escape I have been training (not very much mind you) with a "southpaw" Muay Thai long guard and learning just the teep and low kick just to get close enough to use my Judo. Is that okay? And if not what should I do to close the distance? As always thanks for the input and keep being awesome brother!

When I first started boxing after having done years of historical swordplay my instructor insisted that I only box orthodox (I naturally want to switch hit) because if I didn't my boxing and my fencing would ruin each other. Weirdly enough what happened was I just tried to fencey boxing with my left hand (I'm mostly right handed) which was mediocre at best. What I untimely did to fix it was two things. First I just embraced switch hitting because using both hands meant I started thinking in terms of both. The other thing I did was box from an orthodox stance but try to measure distance and align to the centre line from my rear hand, then just use my lead hand as a way of setting up my rear hand as needed. I found this fixed a lot of the problem because I started using both hands together, even if most of my combos would finish with my right hand. Maybe the best thing to tell a fake south paw is that they should line up distance and centreline from their dominant hand being held in the rear and just use the front hand to try and line up their dominant hand (which incidentally might have been how boxing as a specific style came into being).

I'm right handed, but due to a injury to my right shoulder I often fight southpaw. My right arm still has the same overall strength as my left, but it can't stand up to the same power from strikes and begins to fatigue rather easily. I can throw more than double the strikes with my left before it has the same level of fatigue as my right. It holds up well for speed for jabs and blocking as the lead hand, but when I fight from a traditional lead my arm is useless for power after a rather short time.

Hey coach I do have an example of when it could be appropriate to be a fake south paw. One of my coach’s in my bjj academy, was primarily the wrestling coach for the fighters. This was way back around 2004. Eastons BJJ was still a small academy, with only a hand full of higher belts fighting. Not the giant franchise today where elevation fight team is run out of. This coach would be considered a black belt in wrestling. He coached multiple high schoolers to state championships, he had an excellent college wrestling career, and competed at the national level in Greco. He was a black belt wrestler, around purple or brown belt jiu jitsu, but probably around blue belt skill level in striking. He wanted to fight amateur mma a hand full of times, just for the self knowledge that he could truly use his skills. He fought 5 times and won an amateur tittle. At this tim he was in his 40’s. He fought from the south paw position even though he was right handed. Because in wrestling traditionally you have the same leg forward as your dominant hand. His strategy was always take them down, ground and pound, submit. Striking was only a means to an end. He told me he ended up with a great jab, a powerful lead hook, an effective but not powerful rear straight. But he did not want to weaken his greatest strength of wrestling, by having to change every single tale down variation into a new stance. I generally agree, but there are some er small examples of when it might fit a specific individual. But only because the have 30 years of development in a special skill set, and do not intend to go on to the highest levels of fighting.

As a switch hitter I can say he's right, in my case in the short term there's a slight drop off, actually because I use it a lot and the footwork involved my straight left is my best punch, but if I stay in south paw for too long, I'll eventually lose my flow. Which is why I always start in orthodox, I'll switch because it gives me better lateral movement, makes it easier to go in and out, gives me more angles, gives me a better range of head movement, let's me use attacks I couldn't normally use, let's me deliver power punches with my left, or let me gain the outside foot temporarily to trip the guy up, helps me cover distance faster, etc. I am pretty sure this is also the case for most "ambidextrous fighters", who in reality just have decent motor control on their less dominant side and good footwork. At least from what I've seen from guys like Machida, Tyson, Cruz, McGregor, Pep, Samart, Dillishaw. If you're trying to do it and have already been training for a while, don't think of it as being good at both stances, so much as being good at transitioning between them and using the skill to make adjustments, because the main advantage is you have a broader range of motion and more options.

The sword and shield thing reminded me of a martial art from Africa, don't remember where in Africa but I want to say the West. It's called Dambe. You have one hand up front, your shield, and a wrapped hand in the back, your mace.