5 Common Mittwork Mistakes

 

Focus mitt training, 1-on-1, with an experienced coach is probably the most effective way to learn how to box in the shortest period of time. It is also a great way practice that technique, precision, coordination, rhythm, timing, reactions and more! Plus it's a great workout!! Plus it's FUN!!!

If you follow boxing trainers and gyms on social media or hashtags like #mittwork, you will often see videos of this exactly. A trainer holding mitt/pads for their client. It often looks cool and impressive but there are several things I see trainers doing frequently that, my opinion, are not the best way to teach their clients how to box. Here are my Top 5:

#1) Who's Doing the Work? - This one is huge and probably the most common. When you hold mitts, you want your client throwing proper, complete strikes with full extension on the straight punches, full rotation on the hooks, leg engagement on uppercuts, etc. What I see all to often is the holder moving the mitts to catch the punch way too early so it never achieves full maturity. Yes, you want to give some resistance and anticipation of the punch but it should NEVER look like you, the holder, are doing more work than your client, the puncher and extending your hands more than theirs. I am aware that there is competitive boxing parallel here. When you're trying to hit someone moving towards you, it is very likely that some of your punches will be stifled but this is not the way to train. It builds bad habits. Mainly, that the client becomes a short fighter, losing power and reach.

#2) Patty Cake - This is often seen in connection with #1 but can be its own separate issue. Punches need to have a purpose. Usually to hurt or at least, bother or distract your opponent. And while the client may have absolutely no interest in fighting anybody, as I am often quoted as saying, they will get a significantly better workout throwing punches properly with power, as if they were trying to hurt somebody. Patty Cakers might be going really fast but it's far more challenging to throw explosive, realistic punches, not to mention that you are using more muscles as well as skills, like balance and coordination. It's not uncommon to watch someone's lower body doing absolutely no work during one of these tap-tap-tap-tap kind of sessions. I don't understand the value, I really don't. I've heard others say that this is really working on that hand speed but if they're not throwing real punches, so what? The movement is close enough that once again, this just builds bad habits. I know you can find footage out of there of legit boxers going super light like this. Usually not for speed though. Usually to stay loose but hey, maybe they get some value at it. And of course this may only be a very small part of their regimen. If you're working with a legit boxer and have some method to this madness, great, but I wouldn't recommend it at all for regular boxing training.

#3) Loooooong Combos - Anything over 10 strikes probably qualifies with looooooong. And what's wrong with this? Mainly that it is just unrealistic and requires more time to memorize that could be spent on better things. And while oftentimes, movement and defense can be incorporated into these choreographed combos, they still involve lots of stationary, rapid-fire punching with no head movement that doesn't really translate to the ring. BIG DISCLAIMER HERE: It really depends on the client and their goals. I know that some people really love doing super long combos and feel awesome when they nail it. And they should too! They are hard to do, harder than they look, and require a lot of concentration. Plus, you are certainly getting a great workout. A lot of people find this fun as well, which is always important. So if that is something the client is interested in, I will support it 100%. But if they are looking to really improve their boxing skills, I don't think this is the best way to do it.

#4) Holder's Mitt Positioning - This is probably the most egregious error I see consistently and it breaks down into several sub issues.

1. Height Differences - the holder must account for height differences between them and the client. Usually I see taller member holding mitts too high for their shorter client, thus the client is punching upwards. Do you have to punch up to hit a taller opponent in the face? Yes, but this is not how people should be generally training, especially if they are new to boxing and not specifically training to fight someone taller.
2. Hands Too Wide on jab-cross - This is a tougher one to master and for a long time, I'm sure I didn't know I was doing it too. We don't want our students throwing jabs and crosses wide, across their body, but it's hard to get the mitts straight on sometimes. This is where that little bit of resistance can also be helpful. Keep your mitts in as close as possible and move them in front of your face as the punch is coming, while still paying attention to Mistake #1. What happens a lot, is the holder's hands get super wide and the puncher is now throwing strikes at an unrealistic target.
3. Lead Hook Too Low - You can see this a lot when the combo is jab-cross-lead hook (1-2-3). The jab-cross are around face level but when the holder positions their hand for the lead hook, they drop it off to the side so it is now lower, around shoulder level or worse. This leads to the puncher developing the bad habit of dropping their lead hand for hooks
4. Weird Placement For Body Shots - Sometimes you will see the holder rotate their wrists all the way out for a body shot or even put their hands behind their back to hold for the body shot. This is problematic in several ways. It makes it more awkward for the client to strike this target and especially in the case of hands going behind the back, it takes too long. I've seen punchers have to wait for their mitt holder to get their hands into position and this is not a scenario that should ever happen, in my opinion. Plus, if you are holding mitts out from your body and face for punches, bringing them into your body for a body shot is not consistent in terms of range. While in a competitive match, you do want to actually throw your body shots too the body but that doesn't necessarily correlate to mitts, as you are not bringing the mitts to your face for a head shot. Then finally, it is just unnecessary to do. You can move your hands into a relative realistic position for body punches. If you want to offer more resistance, just double your hands (ie place your left mitt over your right for a liver shot).

#5) Unrealistic Defense - A great thing about mitt work is that you can practice realistic defense along with boxing combos. But if the defense is not realistic, then it not only teaches poor technique but puts the client in danger if they ever do want to compete. The problem manifests itself mostly on slips. The holder offers a punch for the puncher to slip but because they don't want to really hit the puncher, they send that punch way outside and not at the puncher's head. This is not realistic as, of course, anyone trying to punch you in the face will actually try and punch your face. So while you never want to hit your client, you are doing them a disservice if you aren't aiming for their head to teach them how to defend properly. Same is true for the rolls. The holder needs to swing for the puncher's head. Slowly and carefully, for sure, but on target so that they can actually learn how to duck underneath hook punches. Then there are cover blocks. I definitely don't think any trainer should be hitting their client hard for cover blocks but sometimes I see taps to the elbow when the client hasn't even moved their glove into the proper cover position. Oftentimes this is in conjunction with the patty cake style mitt work I described in Mistake #2. And just like with everything else, this isn't proper technique nor in any way realistic so once again, it just builds bad habits with no obvious gain that I can see.

Yeah, I know, I sound like a hater and/or grumpy old man but I do find this stuff important. As I mention in the disclaimer earlier though, I totally respect the client's desires and interests so if they are happy and getting the results that they want, that is what matters. Any questions, comments, counterarguments, let me know!