6 Mental Mistakes People New To Boxing Make

Boxing is truly something anybody can do. Doesn't matter how old you are, what kind of shape you're in, whether you ever want to box competitively, or whether you know anything about the sport in general, you can train like a boxer. You can also always get better at boxing too. No matter what reason you decide to train in boxing, it is a sport and a skill-based workout, which makes it different than many other exercise programs. Learning those skills is not necessarily easy but something you can absolutely pick up with time and dedication. The rewards are more than worth it. Besides the general good feelings that come with improvement, your workout benefits overall will also improve (muscles used, calories burned, cardio enhanced) and basic skills will develop too. Coordination, balance, agility, reaction time are all trainable skills that you can increase through boxing. Again though, and like most everything else worth having, it takes work. It takes practice. No one just shows up off the street and is good at boxing. No one. Here are 6 things that will help anyone new to boxing with that learning curve. Note that these aren't necessarily technique-related. More of the right mindset to have when starting up boxing. Also note that these are mistakes EVERYONE makes. I have made them all and seen countless others make them. So if you do too, don't feel bad! This is all part of the wonderful learning process that is boxing!!

1) Not Thinking About Their Hands & Wrists

We usually tell first-timers while we wrap their hands that they can forget just about everything we are about to tell them except for this: keep your wrists straight and your fists tight when you hit the bag. You could forget what an uppercut or a hook is and throw any punch you want and as long as you hit on the big knuckles with a tight fist and straight wrist, you will be okay. Of course this is easier said than done! When you're just getting started with boxing and you're wrapped up with the gloves on and the adrenaline flowing, it can be hard to know exactly what your hand is doing upon impact. You are not just getting used to the movement but the distance and feel of the bag (or mitts). But you've got to pay special attention to the hands. Start slow with your punches and even pause when you hit the bag. Now eventually, you will want to do the opposite, especially getting your hands back quickly, but it is important to make sure you are locking out that hand and hitting with the top 2 knuckles before you start thinking about speed.

2.) Not Breathing

Despite the fact that we all must breathe to live, it is incredibly natural to hold our breath when we throw punches. We're full of adrenaline and we're just trying to remember 50 other things about throwing a punch and breathing falls by the wayside. Someone may not be aware they are doing it! The universally-followed way to fix this problem is to force an exhale on every punch (or exertion in general). Most fighters make a "shh" sound but it doesn't really matter what sound you go with, so long as you exhale. If you ever want to get in the ring and fight something, try doing it without opening your mouth but any breathing is certainly better than none. It will make a HUGE difference. I believe many new folks are also nervous to really make any noise at all while they box, for fear of calling attention to themselves or being that person at the gym that let's out those loud grunts when the they lift but I, and every boxing/martial arts coach in the world, assure that this is not showing off. It is as much a part of the punch as punching is.

3.) Afraid to Step Outside of the Comfort Zone

As I mentioned previously about forced exhales, plenty of people new to boxing (or just about anything, really), fear getting outside of the comfort zone and looking silly, looking different, feeling awkward, or just generally fear of failure. Who doesn't? This is so deeply embedded into our psyches and if it were easy to fix, we'd all be a lot more well-adjusted and probably happier! With boxing, these fears can really hold us back from learning the skills. I know just about everybody has already stepped outside of their comfort zone simply by coming into the gym but to take that next step, we need to give ourselves permission to maybe look a little silly, feel a little awkward and unsure, and to try and fail. It is how progress happens!

4.) Not Training Consistently

Because boxing is such a skill-based workout, you are going to maximize your skills AND your workout by training consistently. Just doing it once in a while means you and your body will have to remember everything all over again, whereas consistent training commits these things to muscle memory. You don't have to process what throwing a hook is, you just throw a hook. Besides saving milliseconds that actually does matter, it allows you to be more explosive, more confident in your movements, and to be able to make refinements that continue your improvement.

I wrote an earlier blog post - https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2022/06/wheres-my-mojo.html - about something I see a lot from not just new boxers but people new to any exercise program. If you have real goals for your own fitness and/or boxing development, it is critical that you are able to overcome this obstacle that just about all of us run into.

5.) Quantity Over Quality

This might be something many of us know but don't always follow during a boxing workout. Then there is another percentage of people who separate the boxing from the workout and think that quality is less important to them because they are there for the exercise. As I have said hundreds of times and it will hopefully one day be written on my gravestone, quality will lead to a better workout than quantity. Learning the skills, all the skills, makes your workout better. Throwing non-stop punches at a steady clip is a LOT easier and burns LESS calories and builds LESS cardio than throwing less, explosive punches with head movement and footwork before and after. I can't get too many from this camp to believe me but it is very easy to prove. Just try it. Here are 2 examples I did for a video and I didn't even go as extreme as I could have in Example B, yet is was still much more tiring to me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAiQDxT0RWo

One more thing I will say about this is that by focusing on quality over quantity, you also raise your ceiling for workout effectiveness. Not only does it provide a better workout but gives you the chance to make it better still. Just focusing on quantity is going to provide a relatively low ceiling. You will be able to increase your punch output only to a certain point but without improving technique, your speed will never improve nor will your power. Things like Impact Wrap, what we use at our club, and punch trackers can be useful but they will never actually reflect your abilities and if you are a quantity vs quality person, your numbers will plateau, as will your workout.

6.) Thinking They've Got It!

This is kind of the flip side of #3, but they are also two sides of the same coin. Training consistently and learning the technique will take you to new levels. But that doesn't mean you've figured out boxing and got everything down. That NEVER happens. Don't let that discourage you. Let it free you! This is a beautiful thing about boxing. It never ends. You ALWAYS can get better. As mentioned above though, people who value quantity over quality or separate the workout from boxing may not be able to achieve this. This is another thing I like to repeat and will just keep on repeating it because it really is true (and philosophically in line with the concept as well), no boxer ever stops throwing the jab. No baseball player stops taking batting practice. No quarterback stops throwing the football. No basketball player stops taking jump shots. And no coaches ever stop studying. In fact, in many cases, the greatest athletes and coaches put in the most work! We should always be looking at the most basic mechanics with new eyes, looking at how we can improve. The answers won't always be evident. They may take time. But they are there. 

So keep on practicing, even if it feels like the practicing isn't helping- it is, so long as you are practicing the right things in the right ways. What are the right things and what is the right way? Ask me! I am here to help!!