So how do you make something so unnatural start to feel natural? The immediate answer is probably obvious - you practice. But how do you practice? What do you practice specifically? And when do you practice? How much time do you need per practice session?
The last question depends a lot on what your particular goal is. If you are training for a fight, of course the answer is going to be different. But for the sake of this post, let's say you are just boxing for fitness/fun/stress relief but want to learn the skills and get better. Having just 2-3 dedicated hours (2-3 one-hour sessions, most likely) per week with a live, human coach will make a huge difference. More is certainly better, but make sure you give yourself adequate time to recover, sleep, eat, etc. I highly recommend one rest day to anyone that does any form of vigorous exercise. Some folks need more. Symptoms of over-training include feeling overly-tired consistently, heart racing very early into the session, problems with sleeping and problems with relaxing in general. Over-training, for any exercise program, is not a good thing.
Beyond the 2-3 hours of consistent training with a coach, I super highly recommend some practicing on your own. This does not mean you need a whole hour or half-hour or even 5 minutes. You don't need any equipment either. Setting aside more time to do this is certainly great, working on a heavy bag is too, but you would be amazed what even taking a few seconds to shadowbox some quick combos or practicing your footwork can do. As I mentioned earlier, boxing movement is very unnatural. Every time you get up, get a glass of water, open your front door, get in your car, etc., those movements feel very natural and normal because you do them all the time. You never even think about them any more. But you probably never took an hour to practice any of those things. You just do them every day for a few seconds.
So what if you did that with boxing? What if you just took a few seconds to throw a combo? Or moved around the room in your fighting stance? I can guarantee you that it will help you with your boxing. Just like all of those activities of daily life, boxing will start to become natural and normal. You won't have to think about them as much when you are practicing more officially. Your body will just flow and become efficient. This will improve your fitness as well, like all good boxing technique will. It won't necessarily turn you into the heavyweight champ overnight but it will make a difference.
We recently posted a video about just some very basic combos and defensive movements you can do in just a few seconds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TNY4izhN8Y
Here is another very important, very useful thing: you do not need to use your arms to practice throwing punches. Especially in the early learning stages. I have also said many times that the most difficult thing for brand new folks to learn is how to use their body to throw a punch. Once again, it is not particularly natural. But if you take again the arms, it almost forces you to figure out how the feet, legs and hips all come into play. We posted a video about this too, albeit unrelatedly Star Wars-themed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb8_P-tkQPA
Then there is footwork too. Just finding a comfortable boxing stance is difficult for many. Moving in that stance is even tougher. Since we were all about 11 months old, we have been walking and standing a certain way. We cross our feet when we walk and bring our feet together when we stand. You have millions of reps doing that. But we do neither of those things in boxing. Simply taking a minute or so every day to get in your boxing stance and moving around will have the same effect as throwing punches. It will just get your body used to the motion and balance so it doesn't feel so strange when you are working on the heavy bag, mitts or in the ring. Move around your living room in your stance. Even just a few seconds makes a difference here too.
There are all kinds of great punching and footwork drills you can do at home. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced and they will all help you get better and make the sweet science more natural. The point I am trying to make is that you don't even need anything this structured or any time to start making boxing feel ordinary. Just making basic, simple movements part of your repertoire will build that muscle memory.
Then there's a mental aspect as well. You aren't just training your body, you are training your mind. Moving in your fighting stance, throwing a combo or two here and there, will keep your brain engaged in the sport. This will make it much easier to transition from a passive state to a boxing state and remember punches and techniques better, even the ones you don't practice. Watching boxing on TV or videos on YouTube will help too, though it is a little more of a time investment. I've also heard from several people that it was really cool to watch a fight, knowing a little bit more about what the boxers were actually doing, and that stuff carries over into your own training too.
So whether you really want to improve your skills, box for fitness, or are just trying out something new, you would be amazed what you can get out of just a little mental and physical training at home. And I really mean a little! But also remember that if you are just starting off or even trying to take the next step in your skill development, it is going to feel awkward at first. It's supposed to. Your first steps as a baby weren't particularly graceful either. Now walking is something you (hopefully) don't ever have to think about. Boxing can be that way too!
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