What Is the Most Important Thing In Boxing?

It's probably punching, right? I mean, that’s what boxing is. Whether you train on your own or competitively, boxing is about throwing punches, first and foremost. But I don’t think that punching is necessarily the most important thing in boxing. Why? Because to even be able to throw a punch that lands successfully, you have to be in proper position. And that means, your stance and footwork
comes first.

Just like you can’t build a house without a solid foundation, you can’t throw powerful, accurate, efficient, and effective punches without a solid foundation. This is true for fitness boxing as much as it is a fight. Your stance is your foundation and I cannot overstate the importance of it.

Stances can vary a little bit, depending on the person and their style but I would encourage anybody new to the sport to adopt a more open, squared stance. Lead toe pointed forward, rear toe pointed 90ish degrees out and a line could pass between the legs, coming head on, without touching either foot. This stance not only allows for better, 360-degree balance but helps us to be able to shift our body weight more easily. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the hardest thing to teach people is to use their whole body to throw punches. Starting with a more open stance makes that much easier than narrow stance.

But we don't just stand still when we box, even when doing it for fitness. We have to move our feet. Even at first, it is good to learn how to move properly BUT that does not mean moving WHILE punching. That part usually takes a little while to get the hang of and can mess up the learning process a little bit if someone is moving while punching before they have the technique down for said punch. Anyway, there are many great reasons to learn footwork early one, and probably the most important is that it helps you get comfortable with your fighting stance and boxing in general.

You can break up the stages of learning a million different ways but the 2 most simple ways I like to think of it for boxing is: learning something intellectually, your mind knowing what the body should do, and Stage 2 is learning it physically, where your body knows what to do without the mind having to tell it. Footwork helps a lot with Stage 2. It teaches your body about balance and positioning, something that it is harder to actually explain in an actionable way.

Footwork is not just for beginners though. In fact it is often the "Next Step" of boxing. When people get comfortable in their stance, throwing punches, working defense, and all the basics, I recommend putting the footwork into their sessions. Moving before throwing a combo and after landing the last punch in the combo. Moving in and out, side-to-side, circling, changing angles and everything in between. This is yet another case where doing this will not only make you a much better boxer but the intensity of your workout will go up significantly.

There's yet another reason I find the feet more important than the hands in boxing. While boxing is indeed about punching, it is also about not being punched and footwork is the absolute best way to make that happen. Moving out of the way, simply not being there when your opponent attacks, and creating an angle so that you can punch them without them being able to hit you is the true mastery of the sweet science.

So whether you are just learning and looking to take that next step, focus on your footwork. It truly will make everything you do better. Like bacon! Although I have already used that analogy for body shots. Hey, maybe that will be my next blog post?

Weight Loss + Why I Got Into the Fitness Industry

 

As some people know, I used to make video games in my former life. For about 25 years! Great job, I was lucky to have it, and between you and me, I probably never even deserved the opportunities I got in the first place. I was always interested in combat sports and trained in several disciplines throughout my adulthood. Like most single guys who get into their 30s and spend more and more time at the office, eating out a lot, and drinking with friends, I started gaining weight. I didn't realize it at first. In my mind, I was still the same guy from my 20s, just a little wiser and more affluent. Plus, I was active. Not as active as I needed to be to make any kind of meaningful weight loss changes but I still did martial arts and went to the gym. I had gotten stronger for sure. Maybe it was all just muscle mass?

It wasn't. I was definitely overweight. And was on a bad trajectory going into my 40s. A doctor told me flat out that I was fat and needed to lose at least 20 pounds. Of course I was angry and wanted to deny it but eventually, I saw a picture of myself and it finally sunk in. I was married now, with a young baby, and didn't want to continue on like this. But of course, being a new dad with a demanding job didn't leave me with a lot of time so if there was a faster, easier, better and more efficient way to lose weight, I was all in! 

I knew that it would require both diet and exercise so I explored different options, which of course there are many. I tried a bunch, researched more, spent a lot of time doing trial and error, and came away with 3 key takeaways

1. Every body is different - what might work for someone else many not work for you. And vice-versa.
2. Losing weight/getting in shape is only half the battle - keeping the weight off and staying in shape is the other half. And maybe the harder one!
3. There are no shortcuts - period.

#3 was the most difficult one for me to accept. Again, I didn't have a lot of time, I didn't want to dedicate a lot of time, and there's always gotta be a shortcut, right? A life hack, a cheat code, some smarter way to do more work with less effort. Many things promise this. I read articles about a fast-emerging training protocol of that time, Tabata, which actually claimed you could work out for 4-15 minutes a day and get all the fitness benefits of someone who spends hours at the gym. Weight Watchers had an add campaign with a bunch of guys saying, "I ate the food, I lost the weight" and then it shows pictures of burgers, pizza and even desserts! Who wouldn't want to work for our only 4 minutes and chase it with a pizza and yet still lose weight? Or maybe there is some brand new scientific discovery to help. A pill or some cleanse or maybe even an electronic device. Our world is full of this stuff and there is more and more every day.

While not everything was just a complete lie, there is certainly a lot of misleading information out there that is just as bad as a lie, in my opinion. Doing HIIT training under the Tabata protocol can be more beneficial in less time, for sure, and most people can spend hours at the gym doing very little, but 4-15 minutes is not going to get you where you want to be (also as just a general note about HIIT, a lot of the most explosive, cardio-building, calorie-burning exercises, the "High Intensity" part, are very hard to do at such a high-intensity for a deconditioned person so their results will be tremendously skewed by their own fitness. Same is true for running up a treadmill full-speed at a 20-percent incline. Most people cannot, and should not, even attempt that). You could absolutely eat Weight Watchers' pizza for lunch but it's tiny, is somewhere around 250 calories, doesn't taste like pizza you would normally get from a restaurant, and for the next 6 hours after eating it, you are likely going to be very, very hungry and the cravings are harder to fight than one might think. If they were easy enough to resist by just simple will power, we'd all to do it and there would be much less need for these kinds of diet programs.

NOTE ABOUT THE DIET/EXERCISE BALANCE: There is a school of thought that says losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. If you are looking purely at caloric deficit, these numbers may be accurate for you but there are other factors to consider. Exercise is more than just burning calories. It is a mindset. A new way of life. Discipline. Exercise changes how you feel physically, mentally and spiritually. This can even help with he dieting part and getting through those difficult periods.

No matter what you pick, for diet and for exercise, be prepared for some hard work. As I say all the time, if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. Doesn't mean you necessarily have to hate it. This is where the hack portion does come in. Find something you love doing that also challenges you. You may say that there is no type of exercise you are going to "love." Maybe, but make sure to try them all first! Same is true with dieting. If you can't embrace your diet on some level and sustain it, it will not be a long-term solution.

Which brings me to Takeaway #2. Losing the weight is very hard, keeping it off may be harder. Both the diet and the exercise have to be sustainable on some levels. Starving yourself will create that caloric deficit for sure but this may not be something you are able to do for months on end and when your body adapts to working with less calories, what is going to happen when you eventually start giving it more? Or if it requires a lot of work and meal planning, is this something you will be able to do consistently over time? Plus there is nutrition and general wellness to think about too. Not getting proper nutrition from your diet won't make it sustainable and if you feel terrible, that's not going to bode well either. Lots of people have achieved amazing success from no/low carb diets like Keto but I have tried them and felt weak, tired and unhappy.

Which brings me to Takeaway #3! Every body really is different. You might be able to find a program on your own that works for you and gives you the results that you want but you might need professional, personal help on both the diet and exercise front. What works for someone else may not work for you at all. This is what makes me generally angry about how a lot of information out there is presented - do THIS and THIS will happen! Trends come and go every few years and people are just so certain they have finally cracked the code. I have worked with many people as a trainer and anecdotally, I can tell you that results are very, very different for everyone. There are many factors at play and no one-size-fits-all solution.

Which brings me back to the original point of this post. I found the whole process of losing weight challenging and frustrating. Of course it's annoying when you can't find a clear and concise solution to a particular problem but when the problem is your own obesity, it becomes compounded in several ways, most notably in regards to self-esteem. I couldn't stand to look at myself. That sucks! People like me need help. And while maybe much of the information you find online or in magazines, books, etc is trying to do the right thing and help us out, promising any kind of simple, quick-fix solutions that very likely are not that simple nor personally effective feels kind of cruel to me.

At that point, my job was still making video games, which for sure didn't help anyone with their health and fitness. As I got older, I began to realize just how important that really is. As they say, we only get one body and if it doesn't work, feels bad, or is at risk any way, it will be harder to do literally everything. I was able to eventually find a diet and exercise program (boxing!) that worked better for me and was able to lose about 60 pounds before my 40th birthday. As I began to study this more and more, I realized that this was something I also wanted to do for a career. Maybe I could help other people too? Not by promising them instant solutions but by at least aiding them along the path to fitness and wellness, doing something (boxing!) I love more than anything. I became certified as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, boxing coach, quit my job, moved to Rochester, opened a boxing club and the rest is history! Some big changes for sure and getting into a completely new industry (as well as owning a business for the first time ever) was kind of an odd thing to do at my age but well worth it! It has been an honor and privilege to help people of all types with one of the the maybe the most important thing ever - our own health and wellness.

The Exaggerated Learning Principal

It is not an exaggeration to say that I have seen literally thousands of people box for the first time ever. It has been an honor and a privilege to do so. Everyone is different, moves their body differently, and comes from different fitness/sports backgrounds but there is one thing that just about 100% of them have the hardest time grasping early on: how to use their body to throw punches. Not their arms - that is relatively natural - but using the legs, hips, core, back, shoulders, and body weight, to punch.

Sure, there are more basic rules, like finding your proper fighting stance and keeping your hands up, but those concepts are much more easily understood. Actually following through with them, especially keeping ones hands up, is a lot harder, but the mind and body at least tend to grasp them quickly whereas using the whole body for punches is a little more foreign. What's more is that it will feel awkward when you first try it. So if you are throwing a hook for the very first time, it will probably feel more powerful if you throw it with your arms. And for the first couple weeks, it may very well be. But you will ultimately get FAR more power, as well as throw a quicker, more efficient hook, by using your body weight. 

This is where the exaggerated learning principal comes in. I'm giving it a fancy name to sound all scientific but it's really pretty simple: I believe that we need to exaggerate the proper body mechanics in order to learn them. Subtlety has not proven to work in a group training environment and it's a lot easier to reel someone in who goes overboard on the use of their whole body into punches than it is to get someone to actually use their body at all. I know this all sounds a little vague so I will give you some examples:

Hooks: These are often the most awkward punches to learn because of balance and weight distribution combined with their east-to-west nature. As mentioned earlier, you might get a little more power swinging your arms on hooks those first couple weeks of training so a brand new boxer may have to give themselves permission to throw weaker hooks for a little bit, until they can learn how to properly use their body. The most important thing being rotating those hips into the punch. This is where I advocate turning your heels out entirely, staying on the ball of your foot ("squashing the bug", "putting out the cigarette", etc.), and pointing your toe in the direction of the hook. I know some trainers who tell you that it is not critical to turn the heel (especially kickboxers who will find this harder to follow kicks with) but these are people who have mastered the rotation component and shifting their body weight. 99.9% of new boxers cannot do this and thus, it is essential to turn the heel entirely - to teach your body how to rotate into the hook and master it - before you can think about not turning your heel out. This is where I would advocate over-exaggerating the motion. Turn either heel 90 degrees and so that the toe is pointing in the direction of your punch

But turning on it's own is not enough. The weight must be transferred from the front foot to the back foot. So if I'm throwing a left hook, my left heel must turn out where my right heel must go down to absorb the weight and keep me on balance. There is a common problem where people stand up too tall into their punches, putting them off balance and losing power. And it makes sense if we are telling them to stay on their toes. Unconsciously or not, many folks tend to straighten their whole leg when coming up on their toes. To combat this, I advocate making a concentrated effort to drop your weight down into a hook, maintain a bend in both knees and imagine you are screwing the ball of your foot into the ground, keeping that heel as low as possible but still not touching. Once again, exaggerate the weight drop a little to train your body to stay low.

Eventually, adding an arm-swinging component to hooks will increase your power, particularly if your swing trails the hip rotation by microseconds, creating the whipping effect, but I do not want someone brand new focusing on this UNTIL they learn how to properly rotate with their lower body.

Uppercuts: What hip rotation is to hook punches, leg-drive is to uppercuts. Now matter how strong your arms are, your legs are always going to be stronger. Just like on hooks, it might feel more natural to swing your arm into a uppercut. But if you can learn how to use your legs, you not only will get significantly more power from them but you won't need to drop your hand and expose your face when doing so. You'll see lots of professional fighters drop their hands but you will also see plenty of them get hit while dropping their hands. If you want to look at anybody as a model for uppercut technique and power, look no further than Mike Tyson. He used his legs, hips, and back so explosively, it's hard to imagine any uppercut being more powerful without sacrificing his own safety. I also often tell people that even if you don't want to fight or care about Iron Mike, you are going to get a far better workout throwing uppercuts like him than throwing slower, weaker bowling ball-style uppercuts with just your arms.

So the over-exaggeration comes from the legs. The very first thing that needs to happen is a dip in the knees. A quick drop to load your legs and then, like a spring, a snap upward to drive the punch to its target. Drop, load, and lift! The concept of dropping down isn't as hard to teach but the lifting up and transferring that leg drive into the punch is a little bit tougher. Takes practice. And also like the hooks, I want people to learn how to throw uppercuts almost entirely with their body, adding maybe 25-30% arm extension at the end, once the leg-drive is complete. There really is no reason at all to drop your hands. All dropping should be done with the legs. Later on, we can add a little more arm movement in but not until you have mastered the leg drive, then the hip twist, then the back arch to generate maximum power into the uppercut without dropping hands. That part is harder to learn for sure, yet still the foundation we must build from.

Especially when fighting in the ring, but even just with fitness training, there will be times to cut corners. Maybe it's for speed, maybe it's to set something else up, maybe it has to do with positioning. Or you may likely not need a particularly exaggerated motion. When we are learning though, I believe exaggeration in the specific and important case of using your body to throw punches will not only give you better technique and power but also a better understanding of the why behind punches so that when you do cut corners, you are doing so in the most efficient way possible and preserving as much of the original spirit behind the punch as possible. Sounds scientific again, I guess. Hit me up with any questions or if a video breakdown might help.

The Tao of Self-Defense

 

After my last post about boxing training and self-defense, I wanted to get a little more in-depth on the subject. Once again, there are several different components that require learning, training and practice to effectively defend yourself in a dangerous situation. But no matter what discipline you train under, the biggest, most important part of this is mental. Recognizing these dangerous situations, avoiding them, and in the case that you cannot avoid it, being able to react swiftly and properly. Many people who are assaulted are not ready for it. And we as humans naturally tend to freeze up when our lives are threatened. I've spoken to soldiers and police offers have told me that despite all of their training, they still froze up the first time physical danger presented itself. There is physiology to this. We stop breathing and blood begins to leave our extremities. Maybe this was a good response when being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger but not so much in a modern day street fight. So how to do you deal with all of this? Here are 5 critical steps you can take to better prepare yourself for such an encounter.

NOTE: This all pre-supposes the goal is to survive with as little fighting as possible, not to beat somebody up. I think that is the right goal for several reasons but most importantly, to minimize the physical, emotional and legal consequences.

#1) Rules: When I do self-defense seminars, I often start off by asking everyone what the difference is between boxing/kickboxing/mma/etc and self-defense. Attendees always come up with a good list and at some point, someone invariably says something about rules. That combat sports have rules but street fighting does not. Then I, also invariably, ask the person and the group if they are sure that street fighting does not have rules. Of course there are laws but what about your rules? Do you have any? What would you do to save your own life? Or the life of someone you love? What if the attacker has a weapon? What if it's a gun and you manage to get the gun, would you shoot them? Do you even know how to shoot a gun? What if it is someone you know and even care about is the attacker? Are you going to scream (I have spoken to several survivors who told me that they did NOT scream when assaulted)? I always tell people that they don't have to figure this stuff out now. They can do it later. Or take some extra time to think about. Maybe even do some research on their own. They can decide on their answers at any time they want EXCEPT for one. There is one time that I do not recommend that they figure out their own rules. Then I ask everyone if they know when this one time is and once again, invariably, multiple people shout out the answer: when they attack actually happens. This is not the time to figure to consider your rules. Your ability to think and focus on multiple details will narrow significantly. The more you've thought about this ahead of time, the quicker and more effectively you will react.

#2) Permissions: Most of us don't want to be paranoid. We also don't want to be cowards. We don't want to offend people either. So let's say you're walking down the street and you think someone might be following you. It's possible that they are or maybe they just happen to be going the same direction as you. Chances are, it's the latter. Maybe even a 99.9999% chance. But for some reason, you get a weird feeling. Should you worry? Is it ridiculous to even feel this way? Maybe the best way to handle it is to do nothing, just to prove to yourself that there really is nothing to worry about and you're not a wimp? Plus, what exactly would you do anyway? Walk into a bar or restaurant and tell them you are just there to hide out because you thought someone suspicious might be following you? Would that make you seem crazy or at least, like a total coward? Or should you confront the potential threat?

Or maybe you're in a parking garage, alone. A large van is parked next to the driver side of your car. You could get in the passenger side door and climb all the way over but it's kind of a pain in the butt to do it and will require an extra 20-30 seconds or so. All for what is probably nothing. Is it worth that extra effort?

These are things I have thought myself and have heard from victims of abuse. How does one handle this situation? Here's what I say: go with your gut. It's just that simple. And give yourself permission to go with your gut. Sure, it's almost definitely nothing to worry about but so what? So you take an extra 20-30 seconds? So what if you feel a little ridiculous? So what if you risk offending someone by thinking they could be a predator (not that they will even know)?  You are being careful and thoughtful and you should give yourself permission to be this way now so that once again, there is a less of a decision-making process if a situation like this happens. Instead of wondering, "What should I do?", tell yourself that you've already made the decision and given yourself that permission to err on the side of caution, no questions asked.

This does not mean, however, that you need to be paranoid or worried about every single stranger you see. There is a fine line here. Most of us have instincts though. You can tell when someone gives you bad vibes. Trust your gut. If you find that you are detecting more and more potential threats to the point that you start to dwell on it, inhibiting normal life, then it is time to reassess but I believe most people can find a happy medium.

There is another side to this. Sometimes a threat presents themselves by instantly committing to an attack, like grabbing you or striking you. But sometimes they present as just wanting to fight, particularly among males. As stated earlier, my goal is to survive the situation and get to safety with as little interaction as possible. If I don’t have to fight, why do it? If I can get away without taking this physical, emotional and legal risk (remember this part especially if you find the other 2 risks negligible), why not just avoid the whole thing? This is something else we can give ourselves permission for. Permission to walk away. Oftentimes, when people get heated, they start calling you a coward (usually with worse language), they call out your manhood (if you are a man) and do everything to goad you into engaging with them and escalating the situation. I don’t have to consider these things. I have already given myself permission to walk away. Call me a coward, so what? It’s almost always better than the alternative and I really don’t care what the aggressor or any bystanders think of me. Now of course there are different situations where someone won’t allow you to just walk away. They will attack you or someone you care about. Those are different situations where I will respond based on my own rules, discussed in #1.

#3) Awareness of Surroundings: Of course to trust your gut - or for any of your self-defense training to actually work - you have to be aware of your surroundings. And more and more people are less aware than ever when walking or driving around. Not only does staring at your phone and thinking about something else entirely make you less aware of any potential threat but it makes you more of a target. If you were planning to mug somebody, would you pick the one who appears to be scanning the area, making brief-but-non-aggressive-eye-contact with everyone or the person looking down at the ground, their phone, or just seems generally distracted? 

The solution here is pretty simple, you just have to actually do it. Be aware of your surroundings. Look around. Who do you see? What do you see? If you are inside a building, how would you get out in the event of an emergency? Or if you're on the street, what buildings could you go in if a threat presented itself? Again, I recommend brief, non-aggressive eye contact with everyone you come across. There are exceptions here and some people, especially crazy ones, will take the eye contact as either a sign of aggression or an invite to come talk to you. Those are people you want to remain especially aware of though, keeping an eye on them at all times, just be careful not to look them directly in the eyes for more of a split second.

#4) Awareness of Your Own Personal State- Besides being aware of the things and people around you, it is important that you are aware of what you are doing as well. Both before an attack and during. And there are all kinds of different categories to be aware of. Where are your keys? Where is your phone? Wallet? Are you wearing shoes that you could potentially run in? What kind of jewelry or clothing do you have on? Do you have any kind of a weapon? Are you inebriated in any way?

If a confrontation happens, are you presenting yourself as aggressive/argumentative? Where are your hands right now? Are you breathing? I can probably answer that one for you right now - No. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, most everyone stops breathing when they feel threatened. You have to remember to breath and you can't actually do that if you're not aware, which most people also are not.

What about your emotional state? Are you mad? Frightened? Generally freaking out? And once again, are you intoxicated? These can be particularly important because if the answer is Yes, that means you may not be able to completely trust your judgment of the situation and you have to acknowledge this when contemplating the next step. It's another reason to try and decide as much as this stuff ahead of time as possible. If I've been drinking and some other guy is acting like a jerk and really pissing me off and I'm pretty sure I can beat the crap out of him, I have to go back to my original goal and belief system, which is that I don't fight anyone unless I absolutely have to. Yeah but he's such an A-hole and really deserves it! Nope, I don't fight. The decision has already been made by a much wiser version of myself with more ability to see things in a greater context. Yeah but everyone will think I'm a coward!! Yes, and I have already given myself permission to accept that.

#5) Practice - No matter what your discipline is, you must practice. A lot. And as realistically as possible. Again, it is very hard to think once stuff starts to go down. About 20 years ago, some crazy homeless-looking guy walked up to me on the street while I was waiting for a ride, said something, started to stab me (only got my hand) and then ran away. To this day I have no idea what he said and I can't tell you what he even stabbed my hand with. The cut made it look like a broken bottle but I never saw it. Nor can I figure out how it stabbed the back of my hand. It all happened so fast and my mind wasn't ready to make the transition from passive state to survival state (discussed in my last post). And most victims of any kind of violent crime will tell you the same thing over and over again: it all happens so fast. We often don't even have time to think.

So the only way to give yourself a chance at responding properly is to make your physical response technique as natural as possible. Commit it to muscle memory so you don't have to even think about it. Your body just goes. And the only way to do this is through practice. Practice the techniques over and over again, by yourself and with a training partner. Practice them realistically too. With speed and suddenness. If you train too light, you will create the muscle memory of responding lightly to a dangerous situation. You certainly don't want to risk potential injury (or injury to your training partner) but never lose sight of what would actually be happening in a self-defense scenario.

Besides training the body and creating an automatic response to danger, you are training the mind as well. The more you practice, the more you are mentally prepared for such a situation. Nothing can completely prepare you, that is certainly true, and many people with lots of training find themselves suddenly forgetful once real danger emerges but the more brain space you can dedicate to practice, the less of a shock to the system an actual self-defense situation emerges.