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.

Boxing & Self-Defense

With street crime on the rise in many cities, self-defense has become more important than ever. A
question I am asked often is how boxing training relates to self-defense. Boxing teaches us how to throw punches and avoid punches, which can certainly correspond directly to an attack, but there are many other components to a street fight. Maybe you are grabbed and can't use your arms, maybe there is a weapon involved, multiple attackers, etc. These are all things that require specific training to handle properly but here are 5 reasons how learning how to box, specifically, will help you in a self-defense situation. Some may seem obvious but there is more to them than you may realize.

#1) Throwing Punches - Of course this is the obvious one that I already touched on but not only do you learn the proper way to throw punches- how to get maximum power, speed and efficiency - but you practice them over and over and over again, so that it becomes muscle memory and you no longer have to even think about it. Striking is not one of those things where someone can show you the mechanics of it and BAM, you've got it. There are multiple levels of understanding and development that can only come from practice and experience. Someone who's brand new to striking may have trouble using combatives in a real-world scenario. Someone who's thrown thousands and thousands of punches will have a much better chance striking effectively.

#2) Sudden, Explosive Movement - What makes a punch different than any other movement, like simply extending your arm, is that quick, sudden burst of force. Besides allowing us to put more power and speed on the punches, this kind of movement is generally analogous to how we must respond in a street fight, once the attack has come. All movements - where they are striking, defending or running away - must be swift and decisive. Once again, practicing this repeatedly is going to help us in a life-threatening situation. Boxing also develops skills like coordination, balance, reaction time - all things we can really use during an attack.

#3) Awareness & Changing States - This is a big one and something you might not think about. I previously trained in a martial art called Krav Maga, which is based completely around self-defense, and during that time, I worked with law enforcement as well as victims of violent crime. I myself have also been a victim of violent and one thing we all know is that it can be extremely difficult to go from a passive, maybe even distracted, state to an alert, defensive state. Most violent crime is not a fight, where two combatants square off against each other, ready to engage. Instead it is an assault, where the assailant attacks (or threatens) the victim before that victim even knows what is going on. The analogy I always use at seminars goes something like this: "Imagine you're an athlete and you show up to your game late, in the middle of the 2nd quarter, and you are not even sure whether you're playing football or basketball." That is often what an assault is like. You are caught off-guard and by the time you finally catch up, it is too late.

So how does boxing training help with this? Because we are constantly making a similar state change when we box. We go from a passive state - maybe you just woke up or just got off work - to a suddenly aggressive and attacking state. Even if you're just punching the bag, you are preparing your body for impact and as discussed in Reason #2, more ready to generate sudden, explosive movement. Also, with striking and combat on the brain at any level, you will be naturally more ready and can make that all -important state change a little bit quicker, which may be the difference between life and death!

#4) Confidence - One of the many benefits people get from boxing training is a new sense of self-confidence. Not just in terms of being able to defend themselves but general life confidence. You feel more empowered, more capable, maybe an inner fighter has been awakened - and this noticeable to others. They may not even be consciously aware of what they're noticing but they sense something different. Some predators are smart, some are very stupid, but most of them instinctively know how to pick their victims. They are looking for the person who has their head down, maybe is not paying attention, looks like they may already be scared, and will give them the least amount of trouble and resistance. The person who projects confidence does not fit this profile.

But beware false confidence! Just because you've had some training doesn't mean you should be getting into fights or escalating the situation. If someone is confrontational or threatening, remember that fighting should be the last resort, and only if you are certain they plan to do you harm. Diffuse the situation, get away and do whatever it takes to de-escalate. Even if you are able to successfully defend yourself from an attacker, it's not like, "Yay, you won!" There could be damage, mental and physical, there may very likely be legal consequences too. Never underestimate anyone or the potential consequences that come from a fight.

#5) Strength - Of course boxing is great exercise, the best way to get in shape that I know of, and just like how lions go after the weaker, sicker gazelles in the herd first, the same is true with many human predators. If you appear to be strong and healthy, that generally makes you a less appealing target.  And if you are still selected, the stronger you are, the better you can move, the better chance of survival you have.

Again, there are other components to self-defense and I plan to touch on them in future blog posts but no matter what direction someone wants to go with their own training, I guarantee boxing will help and is a component that should not be overlooked. I have heard people promoting their own systems say things like, "Yeah, boxing is great and all but what do you do when you get taken to the ground? Or someone grabs your arms?" It is true that these are critical pieces to the puzzle but they do not invalidate other pieces. I trained in Krav Maga for years but there is no way I was able to strike as effectively as I do now that I have dedicated myself more to boxing. And just like I mentioned in Reason #3, that may be the difference between life and death!

Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

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!

5 Ways To Make Shadow Boxing Effective

5 Ways to Make Shadowboxing Work

I used to really hate shadow boxing. I trained at a place, a good place, where we would all come in for a class and oftentimes, the coaches would tell everybody to warm-up with shadow boxing. And that was it. No further direction. Just ‘shadow box!’ I looked around and everybody made it look so natural and easy. For me though, it wasn’t. I didn’t know what to do. At that point, I knew how to throw all the punches but the idea of combinations and just freestyling on my own were foreign concepts to me. I wanted it to look effortless and natural but it never did. Or at least, I never felt like it did.

Eventually I figured out how to make it work and it can be a great way to practice at home, on vacation, or whenever you need a quick break. You can even get a decent workout out of it too. Here are 5 things that completely turned it around for me.

1. Write Down Combinations To Practice - This helped me a ton when working out at home. I’d write down 4 or 5 relatively simple, 3-5 punch combinations that I liked and practiced them specifically. I have found most people need direction. Just winging it is not a good way to start out. Then once I felt comfortable with those combos, I created muscle memory so I could throw them in class during a warm-up.
2. Use a Mirror (and watch yourself!) - You might feel a little silly at first, I know I did, but it really helps. Watch what you’re doing and look out for things like are you keeping your hands up, is your lower body moving, etc. Another thing I like about the mirror is that it tells you exactly where to throw each punch. At the person staring back at you! Punch to the face land on your face, punches to the body land on your body. Default training should always be you fighting someone your own height, weight and shape.
3. Throw Proper Punches With Explosion and Snap (when you have the technique down and are properly warmed up, of course) - Light shadow boxing makes sense to me only when you’re just getting started with boxing in general or your workout. But after that, I strongly believe that we should throw punches how they are intended to be thrown. Sure, you don’t want to go too crazy and throw your arm and balance out but you do want some explosion and snap to it. Just ask yourself, ‘if any of these punches landed on someone, would they hurt?’ That’s what makes a punch, a punch, as opposed to just an arm movement. I see plenty of people throw lead hooks only with their arms in shadow boxing as well as those shoe-shiner shoulder-roll uppercuts and to me, that just builds bad habits. Practice how you really fight. You’ll get a better workout and it will also help with balance too. We just did a focus point video talking about leaning into straight punches and shadow boxing at home will help you with this.
4. Practice Defense - When? Before you throw your first punch of the combo and after your last punch. What? Slips, rolls, pulls, blocks, parries. That's a lot of stuff! So how about we just start with the classics - slips and rolls. How do we incorporate them? If your combo starts with a left hand, slip or roll to the left before you throw that left hand. If your combo ends with the right hand, slip or roll to that right side after you throw that right hand. Or vice versa. This will help you begin to understand the weight transfer system that is the very essence of boxing. Check out this old Focus Point video where I discuss this in more depth.
5. Practice Footwork - Like defense, you should practice moving in your fighting stance before throwing a combo and after. It is important though that you are moving properly. Maintaining your fighting stance the entire time, not letting your feet get too close together and never letting them cross! You can also move while punching BUT make sure you have the technique down first. Moving too much without good technique will build bad habits, especially on hooks. Here is another Focus Point video with a specific drill you can practice. 

7 Reasons Why I Love (and teach) the Overhand Punch

 

7 Reasons Why I Love the Overhand Punch

It has been "Fight Finisher" week at our club and in going through tons of footage, I was somewhat surprised to notice just how much the overhand punch (right hand for orthodox fighters, left for southpaws) makes an appearance in fight finishing combinations. I've always thought it was more common in MMA - and it probably still is - but very prevalent in boxing as well. Here are some reasons as to why I think that it is and why I like to teach it to my students:

1. 
   Power - For some, the overhand is the single most powerful punch in their arsenal. It's got a bit of a wind-up and you generally want to drop your weight downward into the punch. It's not designed to to be a quick, touching type of punch. It is designed to knock someone out!
2. Can dodge and hit at the same time - Whether it's always intentional or not, you will also see overhands land while the other fighter is throwing a punch that misses. This is because you want to dip your left/lead shoulder and move your head offline as part of the overhand. Plus it travels at a downward trajectory, often coming over the opponent's right hand.
3. Sets up lead hand strike nicely - Again, since we are dipping our lead/left shoulder, pulling our head offline, and dropping our weight down, it puts that weight onto the lead foot and thus, charges up power from that side, where you can follow that overhand with a powerful punch to the body. Or go upstairs with a hook or lead uppercut.
4. Good against many defensive fighters - If you're fighting an opponent who likes to cover, you can sometimes sneak that overhand punch in over their guard or at the very least, get their hands a little higher so you can throw that lead hand to the body (see above). If you're fighting someone who likes to dip down a lot, you might have a better chance of making contact with that right hand if it's coming at a downward trajectory. Same kind of thing if someone tries to slip your right hand inside. Since the overhand can also travel at an outside arc, a slip that would get you out of the way of a cross will likely not work against the overhand.
5. Good against taller fighter - While I just mentioned that this punch can be effective against an opponent who dips down, it can also be a great weapon against a taller fighter too. The overhand does not have to land at a higher impact point but because it does take that higher trajectory, it can  naturally hit a taller target. Someone with a significant height advantage may also be less agile and less likely to counter it, if you've gotten inside. And since they are fighting someone shorter, it's going to likely be easier for you to get their hands lower than normal, setting them up for an overhand.
6. Can be deceptive - Your opponent may see your rear/right hand move and expect a cross (happened to me) and thus, not defend it properly (see #4). But better yet, because you drop your weight down and dip the shoulder, your opponent may think you are throwing something low and bring their hands down. We see this in MMA all the time. Jab to the head, jab to the body, overhand punch. After throwing that jab to the body, your opponent sees you start to dip down again and think another body jab is coming but nope! Quite the opposite!!
7. Common in street fights - Of course not relevant to boxing but oftentimes when you see untrained people slug it out on the street, they will throw wild, windmill type punches resembling overhands. You don't want to throw yours that way and I certainly don't want you getting into street fights but if it ever does happen to you, it's good to have some familiarity with the punch so that you know what it is as well as how to defend it.

Of course no punch or strategy is perfect and the overhand does have some drawbacks to it as well. It can take a while to land and your right/rear side is pretty open. Missing can definitely put you in a vulnerable position too. If you're fighting someone with good footwork and reaction time, it can be harder and riskier to land unless you can time it while they are throwing a punch or set it up cleverly. 

If you are working on the heavy bag or mitts, it can definitely feel a little awkward at first too. Make sure to rotate your wrist all the way so that your palm is facing out. If you are right-handed, your right palm is turned completely to the right, pinning the shoulder to your cheek. This gets you power, a cleaner landing point and it helps protect the rear/right side of your jaw. As always, keep the non-punching hand up, guarding your face, and be especially conscious of it on the overhand.

Just like with anything else, you've got to practice and you've got to practice it the right way. Let me know if you have any questions and happy training!!

Secrets to Making Exercise a Part of Your Life

SECRETS TO MAKING EXERCISE A PART OF YOUR LIFE

Your adherence to any exercise program will be highly determined by the value you place on your own health and fitness. Many see it as a luxury. It's great to feel fit and strong but it's not a "must", at least until something compels them to feel otherwise. Like a particular health risk or the realization that it's time to take control of your But otherwise, if money or schedule or just general lifestyle get in the way, it is easy to drop your routine, at least temporarily, if you see as a luxury.

Then there are people who see exercise as a necessity. Something that needs to be a part of their life on some level. Maybe for physical health and wellness or maybe just for their own sanity. Like the saying goes, we only get one body. What could be more important?

If you are looking to truly change your life, to get results you've never had before and to make your own health and fitness a priority, here are the rules I've seen play out time and time again. Those who abide by them can make meaningful changes. Otherwise the changes will be short-term at best. It really is that simple BUT that doesn't mean it's easy. 

#1) You must enjoy what you do for physical activity - Sure, it's obvious and of course, why wouldn't you want to like what you do? But many people don't! They like what exercise can do for them and feel good about themselves for doing it but the actual process itself isn't particularly enjoyable. Besides it just being generally nice to enjoy what you're doing, the problem with not feeling that way is that it makes your exercise program hard to stick to long-term. As soon as Life gets in the way (which it always does) and you get knocked off your schedule, it is so hard to return to something you didn't initially love doing. Whereas if you actually love what you do, if you truly miss it when your schedule doesn't allow, you will WANT to come back.

#2) It must challenge you - This can be the tricky part. Of course you want to find a workout that you will enjoy doing but as the old saying goes, if it doesn't challenge you, it will not change you. I used to work at a large gym and saw the same people come in day after day, week after week, and do the exact same workout every time. Or slight variations of the same general intensity level. They'd start on the cardio machines, watch the TVs, get to the weight machines, bust out a set, play on their cell phones, get back to it, rinse and repeat. I have been that person too and I can tell you with absolute certainty that it will not produce results. It will help you maintain, and believe me, ANY physical activity is better than none but we as humans have to be pushed. Whether we push ourselves or find someone else to push us. I would say that 95% of the people I've met, myself included, fall into the latter category. We need outside help. Whether that comes in a class format, small group training, or 1-on-1, or some type of training. It's very hard to truly push yourself outside of your own comfort zone. What's more is that we sometimes might think we are doing it but we don't really get that extra effort we are capable of. And it's that extra effort that makes us better. That is the challenge that will change us.

#3) You must MAKE time - This is huge. I can't tell you how many people I've met who tell me that that their schedule doesn't allow for them to stick with any exercise regimen. Or that it can but they have to squeeze it in. They have to find the time. Once again, I'd say that 95% of us actually can make the time if we really want to. I know people who have active social lives, a demanding job, a big family and still exercise every day. Some even multiple times a day. How do they do it? You might think they have to skimp on some of those abovementioned responsibilities but they don't. They just make the time. They find ways that they CAN exercise, instead of looking at ways that they CAN'T. I am not saying that you need to work out every day, certainly not multiple times a day, but the vast, vast majority of us can find a way to exercise for an hour 3+ times a week. The key for most is a set schedule. These are the days I work out, these are the times and come hell or high water, I AM exercising at these times. Others who try to "find" the time or "squeeze a workout in" almost never stick to it. I have seen this over and over again. Don't find time, make time. And if you haven't started your exercise program, start today. Or tomorrow. What about next week? Or next month? Or as soon as you finish X? Nope. Start now. I have heard countless people tell me that they are going to start in the near future and almost none of them ever do.

One more thing I would like to say regarding time is that many of us have spouses, children and family responsibilities as well. These are very, very important to us and I think they should be. But remember that you must also take care of yourself so you can take care of them. It's like those things they have in the airplane that show pictures of the adults securing their own mask before they put it on their child's. You also just need some time of your own, whatever it may be.

#4) It must become a habit - This goes hand-in-hand with Rule #3 but deserves mention on it's own because no matter how much you abide by Rule #1, no matter how much you love your workout, there will be days you just don't feel like it. Maybe you're tired, had a long day, it's raining outside, time/season change, stayed out too late last night, friends or family are in town, or there is absolutely no reason whatsoever, you are simply "not feeling it." It's inevitable and that is why we have to build a habit. As mentioned before, set your workout days and stick to them, feeling it or not. Once it becomes a habit, you will think less about whether you are feeling it or not. It's just something you do. Like brushing your teeth. You have made a commitment to yourself and by doing so, you have also made a commitment to everyone who cares about you. Your health and wellness is important to all of them. 

#5) Be prepared for setbacks - Oftentimes when someone starts up a new exercise program, they are pretty gung ho about it. They're proud of themselves for doing it - as they should be - they feel better and they're all in. They've got their mojo working and they've got momentum. This is there life now. Then something happens. Doesn't have to be anything big. Maybe they are out of town for a week, maybe their work schedule changes, maybe they sprain their ankle playing soccer, maybe they catch a cold, maybe it's Thanksgiving, etc. And that is. Once they have been derailed, even slightly, it can be so hard to get back on track.

So how do you avoid this scenario? First, accept that setbacks are going to happen. No matter how diligent you are, no matter how well you follow Rule #3, you cannot avoid all setbacks entirely. The next step is to be okay with that. Be ready for it. What are you going to do when it happens? Of course no one wants to say they will just give up but it happens so often. Because once you lose that momentum, it's very tough to pick it back up again. I can't speak to the deeper psychological reasons but again, I know very well that it's a thing. So as you have to accept that setbacks happen, as you have to be okay with them happening, you also need to be prepared for that feeling of all your momentum lost. But you can pick it back up again. Faster than you realize. Your own brain may not help you out here. It may try and find an easy way out for you. Give you a good reason why you really can't start up again. Or just make you believe that it is a new chapter now and the old thing you did for exercise may not be part of the new chapter. But you can't listen to your own brain in this case. If you enjoyed what you were doing, if you made a commitment to yourself and others that love you, you need to stick with it. You can't give up. If something better for you comes along, great, but make sure you're not just jumping ship because of a setback.

#6) Be prepared for HARD work - Once again, these rules are relatively simple and if you follow them, they will work for you! But that doesn't make it easy. Not at all. It's gonna be tough! There are no shortcuts or magic buttons. The world will constantly try to tell you that this is true but they are generally trying to sell you something and worse, taking advantage of people who need help. There are more effective ways to train and less effective ways. All require a commitment and hard work. You can do it! And you are certainly worth it. We really do only get one body.

 

WEIGHT TRAINING FOR BOXING?

This is a big question without an easy, one-size-fits-all answer

First, there are many different types of weight training. 

Old school boxing coaches used to say that weights would mess up boxing form and add unnecessary bulk, slowing the fighter down, but this refers more to hypertrophy/body-building.

But there are far more functional ways to train, working on that explosive energy systems that boxing uses and targeting something like muscular endurance vs muscular size.

Plenty of boxers, even modern ones, often say they don’t use weights but we’ve seen plenty of video where these very same fighters are, in fact, lifting weights.

This could be misinformation on purpose as no one wants to let their competition in on too many training secrets, or it’s also possible that they weight train for other reasons, like looking good or bone density or perhaps to put on weight/mass to compete in a particular weight class (Evander Holyfield was such an example).

Superficial as it may sound, looking good has another benefit for professional fighters. It’s part of their marketability. Someone like Anthony Joshua looks great on a fight poster and showcases him as a high-level athlete.

Of course we want to look good too and weight training can certainly get you there.

But does weight training help improve your punching power and boxing in general?

My strong opinion is that this depends very much on the individual. From an oversimplified scientific standpoint, it certainly can. Force = mass times acceleration so it stands to reason that if you can increase these two factors, you will most definitely increase your force. But this ignores things like coordination, rhythm and timing.

In my particular gym’s case where we do heavy bag workouts, often focused on power, you will get plenty of resistance training without weights.

The bags weigh 100 pounds and every time your muscles must both produce the force as well as absorb the impact. 

The better you get at boxing, the more you are able to do use ALL of your muscles in concert, and execute a full-body workout.

The only movements that may be lacking are pulling with your legs (though there is some) as well as any kind of overhead press (though your shoulders, particularly the anterior deltoids, still get a lot of work and will look good from boxing).

For me, personally, I do not use weights at all. I have in the past and have done very refutable, specific strength-training-for-combat-sports programs, but while I have enjoyed them very much from a fitness perspective, I honestly can’t tell you that they have made a significant improvement in my boxing power, speed, movement, or other skills. 

But that’s just me. You may be entirely different in that regard and benefit greatly, provided again that you focus on certain functional exercises.

One big caveat is that I also do bodyweight resistance training. Push-ups, pull-ups, lots of leg stuff, and I do think they are great for general health, without the risk of injury that can come with weights. Between that the heavy bags, I feel like you can really build lean, functional muscle.

Another caveat is that professional fighters may want to build up their legs, shoulders and neck more specifically for the purpose of taking punches. If I were gonna step in the ring, I would for sure target the neck and shoulders, to help prevent my head from snapping back upon impact. The legs would be less of a target as you can build a pretty solid base without weights but again, the idea is to not get moved around by punches so some additional strength can be useful.

Would love to hear your thoughts! Comments, questions, suggestions, diatribes, etc.!

 

OUR PHILOSOPHY

Everything we do at our club flows from this basic philosophy:

There are 2 Pillars

1. Teach you how to box
2. Give you an amazing workout

Everyone has varying degrees of interest between the 2 things but they go hand-in-hand. Better boxing will make a better workout. When your technique improves, you use more muscles, you move more explosively, you burn more calories, increase cardio output, etc. A better workout also makes you a better boxer. Not even just for fighting. When people get tired, technique tends to fade. Not just you, professional boxers. When your fitness improves, you can focus more on technique.

You may only care about one of these these things, but again, both will support each other. It doesn’t matter who you are. Whether you like combat sports or ever imagined you would throw a punch in your life.

How to box doesn’t just mean how to throw punches. Understanding the why behind them, the strategy, defense, footwork, head movement, different styles and so much more.

We train like we’re fighting a professional (as opposed to amateur) fight. Why? Because amateur fights are based purely on points and power is not taken into account for their scoring system.

We throw explosive punches, punches with an intention. You may see boxers - most notably Floyd Mayweather Jr. - ‘touching up’ the bag during practice but remember that this is only one tiny sliver of their training regimen. Floyd doesn’t throw punches like that in the ring! No fighters generally do, unless they are really tired. Also note that professional fighters train morning, noon and night, most days of the week. They work many different aspects of training. Most of us don't have that kind of time and if you've only got an hour few nights and mornings a week, you are going to want the most out of that hour. Touching up the bag is not going to get you there. Not even with your technique and definitely not for fitness.

Our classes take place mostly on the heavy bag and the heavy bag is the best (and sometimes only) tool that exists for practicing POWER. Mitts require more precision, sparring requires holding back, but you can really develop that power on the heavy bag. This does not mean every punch has to be 100% or you should get into bad habits of throwing wild punches but again, we are looking to utilize that explosive energy. Produce a lot of force in a short period of time. This is what makes a punch a punch, as opposed to just a movement. Being wild and throwing powerful strikes do not go hand-in-hand. Technique must be learned first and proper technique leads to more power.

We throw punches on the bag how they would be thrown at an opponent. Of course heavy bags do not have the exact same physique of a person, particularly the flat surface and lack of chin, but this does not mean we have to alter our technique on the bags. The main example that I've brought up before involves uppercuts. Just because bags don't have chins does not mean that we can't throw uppercuts to the chin level. It doesn't make sense to train differently than you would for a fight.

Same is true for switching stances. There are a small amount of boxers who will actually change their stance for any length of time, like Terrence Crawford, and there are others who will dynamically switch like Tyson, Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson, and more. Great fighters, all of them, but again, this is not the way to learn for both technical and fitness reasons.

We throw realistic combinations that make sense. Sometimes our combos are longer than you might generally see in a fight but only to help better understand the flow between strikes.

The other main component of realistic training is defense. The bag doesn’t throw punches back but we must train as though it will.

That means good habits like keeping your hands up, chin tucked, staying on the balls of your feet, being on balance, etc.
You will see plenty of boxers break those rules but this is not how anyone should learn boxing. Learn the safe, proper way first.

We would never teach offense that compromises defense. Dropping hands is the big offender here. You will see fighters do it, often on purpose as part of their low guard, but this is not the safe way to learn boxing nor does it have any positive effect on the workout at all (in fact, the opposite). 

It is true that there are drills we will do for training purposes that support the 2 main pillars, even if they don’t translate to something you would throw exactly that same way in the ring.

Besides heavy bag classes, I also do 1-on-1 boxing training at our club. This general philosophy applies to mitt work/pad work with my clients as well. One of my BIG pet peeves is when you see mitt holders doing far more work than the punchers. These type of videos are all over Instagram and I've never understood it. The punchers aren't able to get full extension on their punches because the mitt holder is meeting them more than halfway. Sure, sometimes your punches would get stifled in the ring as you are fighting a moving target but we should train to throw our strikes properly and not with T-Rex arms. And it's another case where people tend to focus on the dance - the quick tap-tap-tapping of unrealistically long combinations to look and sound cool - rather than developing good body mechanics and explosive movement we need in boxing and even just getting a great workout.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOXING MANIFESTO BLOG:

My name is Alex Ness and I am a boxer, martial artist, coach and boxing club owner. At my gym, we teach boxing and kickboxing to people of all levels, ages and fitness goals. The purpose of this blog is to explain our general philosophies as well as provide all types boxing training information.

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