Im right handed, but my left has more accuracy, speed, and concentrated power. Help.

[Hitman18]

My stance is orthodox, and I'm right handed. But for some reason, I have much better accuracy with my left hand, its much faster, and I can concentrate much more power in a punch with my left, but I'm right handed. My right hand has sloppy accuracy, it's slower than my left, and even though it should have much more power, I have trouble hitting the bag as hard as I can sometimes. I can't concentrate my power into my right hand like I can in my left. Any suggestions?

[Coreano]

which is your stronger leg? your base could have alot to do with it.

[Smokin']

What about your stance? Do you even box?

[Ringo]

This might be an eye-dominance issue. How are your reactions when you stand orthodox? Is your lead foot slow, does your head move quicker to the left side? If this is the case, you might be what some people called a "hidden ambi," meaning that you have superior coordination with your "off hand." One of my best friends is like this, kind of a blessing in disguise, because you can switch to southpaw and have your best hand forward.

[NJFighter91]

Maybe you're a right handed in everyday life, but you're naturally a southpaw.

[Hitman18]

Hey Ringo, I think you're right. My right foot is slower then my left, even though its not my lead foot, and I do move my head to the left quicker than I do to my right. And, when I'm sparring, sometimes I'll be going in for a flurry, then I realize that I move my left leg alot, and I catch myself going off balance, so I'll naturally switch to southpaw without noticing until I'm done punching. Sometimes I try using southpaw and it works pretty good, but when I do I feel like Im not using the power In my right hand, so I'll switch back to orthodox. But I can hit a lot harder with my right hand then my left. I just want to learn how to concentrate my power in my right hand. So any tips on how I should move my right leg, body; or any right arm excercises?

[Ringo]

Yea man, here are a few ways:

Right arm: Have your training partner hold punch mitts on the same vertical line, one at head height, one at body height. Hit the mitts with a straight right or jab in quick succession before pulling it back. Do this from orthodox and normal stance. Developing the switch-footed ability can work to your advantage. Also, here's another good one: Stand in either stance and have your partner use a training mitt to swat down at your right fist. Your objective is to move your fist back, forward, or laterally to dodge the mitt, but don't move any other part of your body.

Right Leg: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and use some box tape to make a line where your toes are, and another line about a foot in front of that. Now, use a stopwatch or something equivalent and go for 30 seconds. The exercise is picking up your right foot and tapping both pieces of tape in sequence. Close, far, close, far, etc.

Head: This is going to seem a bit unorthodox, but give it a shot. Wear a patch or some piece of cloth to cover your left eye and do slip bag/jab work. This will screw up your depth perception, but it will attune your right eye to your needs.

Now, remember this - you are probably NOT lacking power in your right hand when you box. In all probability, your right hand is the strongest. You are most likely lacking equivalent coordination between right and left, despite your natural right handedness (hence the eye dominance issue). The things I listed are exercises that build coordination. Hope they help. Keep me posted.

[fraidycat]

I believe Ringo is right; it may well be an eye dominance issue.

Hitman, you sound a lot like me; I'm what experts call "functionally ambidextrous." I do some things with one hand and some with the other. I write right-handed, throw right handed, bat with both, use tools with either, kick with my left foot, fence left-handed, and shoot a bow right-handed, though I'm left-eye dominant (I shoot instinctively, meaning I learned with no sights on my bow.)

I box southpaw but I'm comfortable in both; being left-eye dominant, I feel "safer" in a southpaw guard since I can see better. I can hit with either hand equally hard, and my stance is overly square so I can bring the right into play and deliver it big -- or so I can switch stances real quick. It's nice to throw a flurry orthodox while my opponent adjusts, and then drop back into southpaw as soon as he figures out what happened. Whichever you choose, start with one stance and stay in it until you get comfortable. You'll have plenty of time to learn another stance.

For now, check your eye dominance; Google it and you'll find some tests to discover which eye is your dominant eye. If you are in fact cross-dominant (right handed & left eyed, or vice versa), you can learn to use it to your advantage in many sports.

Good luck.