I don’t believe that ‘handcuffed’ hands at waist height is the way to go. This is fine perhaps at the grass roots level.

Generally speaking, the GK’s hand position (height of hands) is governed by how far away the striker is from the goal. Compare two separate scenarios… The first is a ball being struck 50m away from goal – here, the GK can ‘relax’ in any shot stopping position and have his hands as high as he likes because distance = time. Our GK in this scenario has plenty of time to adjust his hands to the appropriate ’set position’ because the striker is so far away. Now let’s go to the other extreme where the striker is now engaged in 1 vs 1 with the GK at a distance of 2m. The GK’s hands should be low down to the ground (ideally low enough so that the ball can’t roll under outstretched fingers) to cover the vulnerable space either side of his feet. Now, here’s the theory… anywhere from 2m – 50m (for arguments sake) there are varying heights the hands should be. But as a general rule of thumb, the closer the striker is to goal, the lower the hands are in the ’set position’.