1. The rundown on ESP RAW 130 the Eighth volume in our Combination Man Curriculum--This one is all Pugilism.
2. Today's article is a little discourse on the subject of reach.
3. Our Video Clip of the Week has Michael "CC" Schmid assisting me in showing why the short elbow drag is vital to guillotine defense. (Many more details on ESP RAW 128.)
4. FLASH SALE: Tomorrow (Saturday August 17, 2013) from 12AM EST until 11:59PM EST we will be offering our Book/DVD Package THE COMPLETE GRAPPLER  for only $150 even S& H included ($170 International) This is a 10-hour DVD set w/ a 496 page workbook we're offering at $50 off of the retail price. To pick up your copy you must drop us an email time-stamped in the specified times and then you will receive a PayPal button. The deal will not be honored for any contacts outside of those times.
5. We'll be running in the Rugged Maniac tomorrow in the 10AM heat. If anyone would like to join us for the fun--drop us a line. The more the muddier!
6. Speaking of mud, our August special is our newest book MUD, GUTS, & GLORY; details below.

And last, but not least, check out the ESP RAW Subscription service info to your left. You can save yourself some money on this volume of RAW ($5.50 to be exact) and pick up 3 more volumes of RAW absolutely free.

Reach is a staple feature of the information provided in pre-fight tales of the tape, whether the fight is boxing, kickboxing or MMA. Impressive reach measurements lead one to conclude that the fighter in possession of superior reach will, in all likelihood, have the advantage in landing more long-range probing shots.

This is an easy conclusion to, well, reach. After all, if Fighter A has a reach of 78" and Fighter B is stepping up with only 71", Fighter A has an apparent 7" reach advantage, right?

Well, not necessarily. First, as we all spotted immediately the math is a little off, you can't simply subtract the lesser reach total from the greater and arrive at the reach advantage number. The reach number is a total of the wingspan reach, that is, fingertip to fingertip, so we would need to add one more calculation to our reach math to arrive at the actual "advantage."

Here's what I mean, if the overall reach difference is 7", we must now halve that number to 3.5" of reach advantage for the obvious reason that both arms are included in the Tale of the Tape reach measurement which, importantly, doesn't actually tell us much about the length of an individual's single arm. This halving of the total reach disparity does come a bit closer than the skewed number we get from stopping our calculation at the first function. 

Our problems don't end at stopping short in our reach difference arithmetic. The problem actually begins in how we measure reach in the first place. The standard method is wingspan measurement that is, measuring from fingertip to fingertip across the back of the athlete. It is this wingspan number that gives us our total that some mistake as information of value.

We've also got to factor in that fingertip-to-fingertip hiccup in our measurements. Finger jabs and/or spearing are illegal so having the fighter extend his fingers as opposed to going from fist-to-fist adds considerable inches to the overall wingspan total; an especially long-fingered athlete can skew this number making it even more valueless in reach comparisons.

When we learn how reach is measured we already begin to see the inherent problem with wingspan reach from the get-go-the breadth or broadness of the athlete's back is included in that calculation. With this back-breadth included in the total we actually know next to nothing about reach.

Consider this, two athletes each with a wingspan reach of 70". So far, evenly matched, at east in regards to the reach question-and we'll assume here that we give them fingers of the same lengths.

Now, let's take our first 70" reach athlete and give him the torso of Terry Etim, a long, lean fighter.

Let's give our other 70"-incher the thickly muscled torso of Thiago Alves.

Both 70-inchers, but do we really think they have the same reach in regard to arm-length? Nah.

For reach to have a more practical value we would need to alter how we measure reach to arrive at a useful number in the first place-a number that we might term range rather than reach. A bench-press/chest-to-fist measurement would yield fairly accurate range results with one calculation.

This measurement from chest to end of fist would let us know right up front the practical value of a fighter's potential punching range in a static scenario.

In the realm of MMA and kickboxing we might also wonder why reach or range stopped with arm-length values and leg range measurements are not considered of significance. I think we can all agree that an especially long-legged fighter with good kicks can nullify or render an apparent arm-reach disadvantage meaningless. It might be of value to know a "cup-to-heel" range number in some cases, but that is outside of today's discussion.

Don't get me wrong, reach as we use and understand it now is not without value, I am simply making a case for it being a flawed method and making too much of it in strategy or tactics without an understanding of what an opponent's actual range may be is making a bit too many assumptions

.

Reach and range can be, and often are, advantages, and disadvantages in reach/range can be compensated for, perhaps another day we'll discuss some of those strategies and tactics that can be used to make up where you may come up short. In the meantime let's close with how that legendary race of warriors, the ancient Spartans viewed the topic of reach/range. The following comes to us from Plutarch's account of the reign of Lycurgus:

"King Agis, when an Athenian laughed at the Spartan short swords and said they could easily be swallowed by jugglers on the stage, retorted, 'And yet with these little daggers we can generally reach our enemies.' "