Hands Up!!!
...or Not.
If you've spent a considerable amount of time training in martial arts, you've probably been told to keep your hands up 98345 times.
If you've ever made videos about martial arts, the coaches in the comment section have probably told you to keep your hands up 98345 times.
Well, today you shall have the truth.
(My plan for this newsletter was to share this video of Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson talking about fighting with a hands-up vs hands-down stance... but having re-watched the video, it's a little slow and I don't like it anymore.)
So instead, I will try to entertain you with my own opinions, which are always the most important opinions presented in this newsletter about my opinions.
'Keeping your hands up' is not a RULE... it's a stylistic preference based on a number of factors.
1. What is your preferred methodology of defending punches to your head?
If you like to 'block' and 'parry' punches, it makes sense to keep your hands higher so they're closer to the position they need to be in to do that stuff.
If you're a Head Movement guy, it's considerably less important.
Don't take my word for it... watch the highlight reels of several of the greatest boxers to ever live.
2. Joe Calzaghe (vs Roy Jones)
These guys, and a massive pile of other champions, successfully boxed with their hands 'down'... and in mixed martial arts, it's significantly less important to keep them 'up'.
2. What strikes do you use to 'set the distance' in a fight?
If you're using long range kicks to establish your range, you'll have a ton of time to react to strikes, since they're coming from a long way away from your head.
"Punch Distance" requires a much shorter reaction time, and as such, you could possibly benefit from keeping your hands higher.
When kicks are being used to set the tone and range, you can certainly cheat your hands lower to save some energy!
3. Are you establishing your jab?
Mike Tyson is probably the greatest boxer to use BOTH a hands up style, and head movement in conjunction.
But at 5' 9" tall, he wasn't really trying to establish a jab against the taller opponents that he was fighting... he was trying to get inside the other guy's jab range.
If you are trying to establish your jab to maintain an arm's length distance, your jab hand shouldn't really be held at your jaw. You can cut half of the distance to your opponent's head by floating your jab hand OUT in front of you, and that's going to make your jab land faster.
Again, the attacks that you're using should guide the position of your hands.
4. How's your cardio?
It takes a ton of damn energy to keep your hands up 'high'... so if you're not regularly training stand up fighting, you should probably become adept in a 'hands down' stance, so you can take a much needed break.
I tend to migrate through a number of defensive methodologies as a fight goes on.
First, I establish my kicks. Let's see if that guy can deal with a relentless series of long range attacks... and if he can't, I can probably win from a fairly safe distance.
Second, if that hasn't worked, I'll move in closer to establish my jab and try some head movement. If he's whiffing on punches, it's going to be very easy to hit him with pretty heavy counter strikes.
Plus, it's fun!
At this point, if my core gets tired from head movement, I will revert into a 'hands up' stance, and rely on parries and other 'high guard' defenses to give my core a break.
(So if you see me with my hands up, I'm probably resting... hey... now's your chance!)
It usually takes about 15-20 seconds maintaining 'high hands' before my core is ready to slip again.
On that note, if my front shoulder burns from jabbing too much, I'll drop it down into the Philly shell like Mayweather, until my shoulder feels refreshed... (but I will use my RIGHT hand exclusively to block punches, so that one will remain high.)
It's a constant rotation between up-ness, and down-ness... but mostly down-ness, because I'm lazy.
In conclusion, even though I'm a head movement guy who likes to fight at kick range, I still heavily rely on a 'hands up' stance when I need it.
There's no right answer to this question, it all depends entirely on you.
So if you're one of the YouTube comment section coaches yelling at people to kEeP yOuR hAndS Up... I want you to bash yourself in the d with the edge of your keyboard.
Go post your comments on one of Mayweather, or James Toney, or Canelo's videos so we can all shame you together.
Trav is a genius.