improving the guard

[Bullrush]

so ive been having some issues with my guard, when i cover up to block shots to the face its not really stout, my hands move around and so do my arms. when somebody throws a hard jab or straight to my face it goes through a lot of times. my sparring partners (experienced ones) have a really stout guard though, theyre hands dont move around so they block every shot it seems. how do i get my guard to work like that? where do you place your hands and arms to make sure you have a stout guard? do you let your elbows hanging? do you place them by your ribs? where do you place your hands? do you press the fingers together and the thumbs against your forehead area? im not happy with my guards, its real shaky and i always find myself leaning backwards and moving away because i cant really afford to get hit with big shots even when my guard is up

[{Pito}]

Do youhave long arms bully? I find that people who have shorter arms have tighter gaurds, I don't know if that's any true, but I havedefinitely seen that, not to say people with long arms don't have one too. Do you have a good balanced stance? You'd be surprised how many shots you can take and shrug off in your gaurd when your stance is well balanced andsolid, don't knowif that would help but it's worth a shot, are your knees bent too? Or are you those fighters who are kind of straight up? When you bend your knees you are definitely more grounded, hope that helps.

[Bullrush]

thanks well my reach is average i guess and my stance most likely isnt perfect either, im not really able to analyze it when i spar, i might have to get somebody to check it out for me though

[cja07007]

You can think of it more as catching the shots instead of blocking if you know what I mean. Also I don't know if you ever video your sparring but I find analyzing film is very helpful and you can learn alot.

[{Pito}]

Cosign cja, you should video yourself sparring, and training, you definitely learn alot and go over it with your coach. Good luck bully

[Takeover]

I would workout your forearms

[Juof]

i have this problem too but im alot taller and slimmer compared to my opponents when i spar iv been practicing my parrys head movements and footwork so i make them miss rather than having to block the shot, only reason im skinny is because i fell for that weights make you slower stuff maybe if i did weights it would help with strengthening my guard but who knows its all myths