1.) We cross our feet when we walk and put our feet together when we stand but we should never do this when we box!
2.) Most people naturally swing their hands wildly in a street fight. Boxing is compact, where the whole body is used to throw punches.
3.) When punches come at our head, most natural instincts are to turn away and start flailing. Boxing teaches us to use head movement to dodge punches without even using our hands.
4.) While covering up may be natural to some in a fight situation, constantly keeping your hands up - like we are taught in boxing - is not!
5.) When an untrained person throws punches, they generally hold their breath. It is true with any exertion, really. Boxers exhale on every punch, which automatically triggers an inhale, which provides oxygen to the blood.
6.) We all have a fight or flight mechanism. Boxing is a little different. It’s a fight, for sure, but strategic, where boxers are aggressive but then suddenly switch to a defensive and/or reactive planning state. There is a whole chess game of set-ups and traps that are different than our natural, fight-for-survival state.
7.) Boxing is extremely dependent on our non-dominant hand. The dominant hand is used for power but the non-dominant is what sets everything up and usually responsible for the vast majority of strikes.
So, how do we overcome nature and master boxing? Since you were probably 11 months old, you have crossed your feet when you walked and brought them together when you stand. That is just how we bipedal human beings are designed to move. And you probably have literally millions of reps practicing! So how are you going to not do that when you box and learn to move in a completely different fashion all of a sudden?
This is where drills come in. There are all types of boxing-specific drills and we do them in classes constantly. We isolate a certain thing or things we want to drill and make the exercise about training those things in a particular way. Every time you do a burnout, you are doing a drill. Specific combos or round types can be considered a drill as well. Like going back to footwork, we'll have a round that is all about moving in, throwing punches, and then moving out maintaining proper stance and footwork. Every week we have different focuses, and most rounds have specific focuses too. We are still learning boxing all at once but we are breaking down the elements as we do.
Drills also give us something else critical - repetition. Again, so much of this is not natural. The only way to make something like boxing footwork feel natural is doing it properly, over and over again. Get the reps in. But don't just do reps and do reps until you get it right. Do them until you can't get it wrong. Until you no longer have to even think about it. You look at any athlete at any high level in any sport and this is one thing they will all have in common. Reps. Lots and lots of reps. Practicing the specific skills they rely on constantly. From early morning until late at night, after everybody else has gone home.
The biggest enemy of an effective drill is a wandering mind, which also just happens to be totally natural. You may be able to stay pretty focused on your drill when you first get started. But as time passes, your mind starts to wander. You start thinking about other stuff. Or maybe zone out completely. This happens to everybody. And when it does, the drill will suffer and thus, loses most of its value. So you have to work hard to stay present. Another reason your mind will drift is that you will think you have the drill and skill down after that first few repetitions. You're like, "yeah, I got it" and thus, can concentrate on something else. You may very well have it but it's not totally embedded. Or embedded as it should be. You will think it is. It will feel like it is. But it isn't. If it were, your drill would remain perfect even when your mind wanders completely. And for the umpteenth time, you can always get better. You may not see exactly how but through good reps, it will eventually present itself.
This is also why you don't want to do boring drills! As much as I love the classic scene from The Karate Kid where Daniel has to wax on, wax off, drills don't have to be like this. They can be a lot more fun. Because the more engaged and interested you are in the drill, the more you get out of it. And when you are training for boxing, the more boxing-specific your drill is, the better. This is what we focus on in our classes and if you are ever looking for stuff you can do on your own, just ask! Like apps, there is a literally a drill for everything. If something is difficult or just something you want to get better at, I can give you specific things to drill and practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment