Boxing and Weed?!?

With today being 4/20, I thought we would take a break from our regularly-scheduled programming and talk about marijuana and boxing. Marijuana has become quite popularized and much more mainstream over the last 20 years or so, now being legalish in many states. Used to be you'd only smell it in public when you went to concerts but now, I smell it in the Pittsford Wegmans parking lot! No judgement, I am just saying that the times, they are a-changing. Can smoking weed actually help with your boxing though? Man, I never thought I would actually pose such a question but in the years we have owned a boxing club, I have noticed that a fair amount of people come into classes, sometimes even their very first class, totally stoned. While I have nothing against anyone who wants to partake, I can tell you that it does not seem like the best choice to accompany anyone's boxing training. Here are 5 reasons why you should just say no!

1) Speed/Reaction Time

Boxing is fast by nature whereas the standard marijuana high tends to slow people down. Their reflexes, reaction times and physical movement in general. Can there be some value to slowing things down a little bit to learn boxing? There can but ultimately, the physical mechanics of the punch require velocity. As such, learning how to defend a punch requires fast reaction time.

2) Mental Processing

Learning how to box is not an easy thing because you are learning how to move your body in a brand, new, completely unnatural way. I've seen enough home boxers and people who just follow what they see on the internet to know that it is not something one can properly learn on their own. Takes coaching and cueing and demonstrating and the whole feedback loop that can be clouded when someone is under the influence of just about any narcotic. Really, any distraction can be an impediment to learning, whether you are thinking about a tough day at work or completely baked from hot boxing in the car 15 minutes before class. Speaking of the car, marijuana also distorts your perception. These are reasons why it is illegal to drive a car while under the influence of pot. If there were no mental impairments (in addition to the slowed reaction time), there wouldn't be much of an issue.

3) Coordination and Balance

Boxing requires just as much balance as any sport, save for gymnastics. There is also coordination of the hands, feet, head and every other part of your body. Throwing an effective punch, just like hitting a powerful forehand in tennis, requires proper body mechanics, rhythm, and timing. Has nothing to do with how strong you are. It is undeniable that marijuana impairs both balance and coordination so you are essentially handicapped when boxing while stoned. Not only is it harder to box under the influence but it is less safe and can lead to bad habits that get harder and harder to fix.

4) Memory

It is also undeniable that the average human remembers less during any kind of impairment. Besides just learning, you want to try and remember as much as you learned as possible. So for someone learning how to box, which is a process that takes years and years and never really stops, it is important that they are able to retain as much as possible from each training session so they can build on those skills. 

5) Cardio and Stamina

Sleepiness and fatigue are the most common side effects of smoking pot. Cannabinoids bind to receptors in the brain that increase the levels of sleep-promoting adenosine and suppress the brain's arousal system. This is one reason why it is sometimes prescribed medically for people who have sleep disorders. So you probably don't need me to tell you that you are not going to perform as well, athletically and stamina-wise, when you are sleepy. What's more though, is that your heart rate does increase, which just leads to you feeling more tired faster, with less heart-rate recovery.

Benefits?

But what about the benefits of smoking weed? Are there any? First and foremost, marijuana is not an athletic performance enhancing drug on any level. You are not stronger or faster or more explosive or have better stamina when you are stoned. The only thing I have heard anyone make a case for is that it could increase your pain tolerance but I think the amount of pot required for any significant impact would render a person pretty motionless. Pain is also not really an issue (and should not be an issue) when you train in boxing OR when fighting in the ring. Even when you get punched, you don't necessarily feel pain in the way you would normally. Your adrenaline and focus takes care of that, at least in the interim. Pain may come later but not during the fight, When people get hurt in boxing, like being knocked out or staggered, they aren't necessarily in pain. Their nervous system is disrupted in some way. (Kickboxing is a little bit of a different story as leg kicks and even having your own kicks checked sometimes can hurt like the dickens but if you competing at any level, you have probably built up a pretty good tolerance to this).

It is true that I am often telling people to relax when they box, that they are too tense, and you might think that maybe being stoned would help such people. Even if that is true, and I doubt that it is, the benefit would likely be very temporary and not even close to worth the dulling of the senses. Especially while in the learning stages. Maybe if you have trained for years and are a pretty good boxer and want to see if it gives you any epiphanies, it is worth a shot, but is not a long term plan.

If you don't believe me, look at any top level athletes. Besides the Diaz brothers in MMA, do any like to compete while stoned? Sure, cannabis is on the banned substance list in many sports, including boxing, but it is not because it is performance enhancing. And you don't find many athletes training WHILE high either. There are certainly some who smoke pot after training, to help rest, recover and maybe manage some pain. Even Mike Tyson, who is now a major proponent of marijuana and even sells his own weed as well as hosts a podcast called "Hot Boxing With Mike Tyson," is staying off the herb in training camp for his upcoming "fight" with Jake Paul.

I do know that there are some people who train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, most notably Joe Rogan, who have espoused the benefits of training under the influence. BJJ is very different than boxing though. Besides the obvious differences between grappling and throwing a punch, there is a completely different vibe to how one performs the mechanics. BJJ has a feel and flow to it that I could see working a lot better with being high. Boxing is faster, more explosive, and less of a feel sport. Even still, despite Joe Rogan's claims, no world-class BJJ players who compete do so under the influence and I have also heard plenty of people say that it does not help them at all.

Like everything else, every individual is going to be different. Everyone has a slightly different reaction and I know for some, getting baked takes a little bit of the anxiety away they may feel in their daily lives. Could that be beneficial to taking a boxing class, where just about 100% of the people going in are nervous? Maybe. But the cons far outweigh the pros, from everything I have seen and experienced. And if you want to take your boxing game to the next level, you will need to have a more permanent solution to nerves and anxiety from training. Then there are those who smoke so much, being sober just feels completely wrong and messes them up. I would put the aforementioned Diaz brothers into that category. I am not sure this is a good place to be but that's up to you, I suppose.

Along those lines, don't get me wrong and think that I am just some cranky, old man who doesn't want you hippie kids smoking your drugs and whatnot. I mean, I am a cranky, old man but I am very much a "live and let live" kind of old man. Whatever you do on your own time is your business, so long as it harm none. But if you want me to teach you boxing and make you a better boxer, I ask that you please stay off the sticky icky until our session is over. My only dog in the fight is helping you achieve your goals and just as I wouldn't tell you to come in and eat an entire bucket of fried chicken right before training, I wouldn't want to spark up either.

Stages of Boxing Development - Part 3 - Boxing vs. Punching a Bag

Once someone is able to feel strong, agile and balanced in their fighting stance, able to throw good, strong punches with solid, full-body mechanics, it is time for Stage 3. This stage is harder on several levels though and usually requires a bit of prodding from the coach. Some people would be very happy to just stand in front of a bag and punch it. But this is still not quite boxing. It is only in Stage 3 where we really get into the essence of boxing and what makes it different than just punching a bag. It may/will require being uncomfortable again, which is extra challenging because most people finally got comfortable getting through Stages 1 and 2. Stepping out of your comfort zone again might not sound super appealing but I assure that the rewards are worth it. This is your chance to really elevate your game and fitness to a whole new level!

For Stage 3, that next step is quite literally a step. Moving your feet. Since we would never want to stand in front of someone and throw punches, we shouldn't do it with a heavy bag either. Take a step out of range or to a new angle before throwing the combination again. Here are 3 videos covering various aspects of post-combo footwork - general thoughts, angle steps, and circling:

Move After Every Combo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWXwETbta3k

Creating Angles (and speaking of angles, weird camera angle in this video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rYa7xsbf7k

Circling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXnLi9UP_fs

As always, this will feel awkward and unnatural. We are very used to walking around like a normal human. Have millions of reps doing that. But moving and stepping like a boxer is something new. And when we add it into the mix of all the other things going on, it can be tricky. That is okay. That is why this is Stage 3. The best way to ease into is to keep things simple and slow and at all costs, avoiding "happy feet" where you are stepping too much and off balance. Here are some videos that give examples as to how you can simply and take it one step at a time (literally and figuratively):

Deliver Your Punches Before Moving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjBCKueVoaU

Stepping Should NOT Be the Default

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iZyWyYlqAM

Another pitfall I see people fall into, even those with good footwork and mechanics, is doing what I call posing after they throw a combo or even sometimes a punch. It's like a split second freeze after that punch lands, reminding me of a baseball player who just hit a home run. We cannot do this when training boxing. There is no home run. We should always expect return fire from our opponent, even if our opponent is a heavy bag. When you train that that way, you not only become a better, quicker boxer but your conditioning improves too. Here is a video about posing specifically as well as some general thoughts on movement and the mindset you want to be in when training:

Don't Pose At The End of the Combo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTDOevsjxw

Always Stalk,  Always Being Stalked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwxSdOad_Q

Even harder than moving your feet in and out of combinations is head movement. Of all the many things that I say are not natural in boxing, head movement may be the most unnatural and the most challenging thing to learn after you develop the basic fundamentals. It is also unique to boxing so those with lots of other combat sports will struggle too. What I recommend again to everyone is to start with something really basic, like imagining a metronome as well starting to think about it in terms of rhythm and music. Here are two such videos:

Basic Metronome Head Movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX20AOaVqmA&t=152s

Funk Music And Boxing?!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ArxzBrrEI8

As things start to feel more natural, you can start to mix up your head movement and incorporate it into your footwork and even punches. Just be careful that it doesn't mess with the good punching mechanics you have developed. If you are finding it does, that is okay. Just slow things down and maybe don't proceed to this step right away. But if you are ready, there is a lot of value to learning this skill. It makes your opponent less likely to even try and punch you, makes it easier for you to evade their punches when they do through them, makes it harder for them to know what punch you are throwing or if you are even throwing a punch, helps you to relax while boxing and despite that relaxation, takes your workout to the next level. Each of these 3 videos below should cover my points:

Relax For Head Movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LOsSx--rnE&t=3s

Always In Motion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9U9iQij7bo

Throw Punches Off Of Head Movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx5Rkmw4rdw

Going back to what I said earlier about punching while stepping, that is something that you can do, especially with certain punches, but you just have to be careful that it does not come at the expense of your mechanics and form. I have seen that happen to many folks. What is probably most practical on the heavy bag is step forward and punch, going from outside range to inside range. Moving laterally/circularly and punching is generally better left to the jab or something like a check hook, for example. The key to all of these things is learning how to synch your feet and hands together. There is a relatively simple drill I like for developing this skill below, as well as a general note on closing the distance and taking the check hook as an example:

Stepping While Punching Drill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_F4jtC8LiA

Closing the Distance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-UFHGHC69g&t=12s

The Check Hook/Pivot Hook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9p5sUm-Zg

Progression through Stage 3 will not be smooth or as easy as 1 and 2. For this reason, many people like to avoid it. Others who are less personally interested in boxing and are more just about the fitness mistakenly think it will compromise their workouts but like I talked about in this post, in some of the videos, and all the time in general, this is simply not true. Throwing fewer punches does not mean you are doing less work. Learning how to box properly and treating your heavy bag like a dangerous opponent will be the most physically challenging thing you do. I guess that could be another reason why people avoid it too, huh? Even pro boxers will sometimes be bouncing around and moving well for the early and mid rounds but as the fight wages on, they start to become more still and flat-footed. This is not inherent though. It can be fixed with good, focused, and challenging training, which should always be the goal.

Stages of Boxing Development: Part 2 - Using the Whole Body

In my last post, I went through what I consider to be the first stage of boxing development from watching thousands of people brand new to the sport. As I mentioned in that post, the actual act of throwing punches was not even discussed! This is because if your feet are not in the best position to punch, defend punches, take steps and even get punched, nothing else you do is going to matter too much. Same is true for managing the distance between you and your target.

Believe it or not, the next stage also relates to our feet! Just as your feet should be in the right position before throwing a punch, your foot is also going to be the very first thing to activate when you are throwing it. This is not natural and very much a surprise to just about every person who starts training. When most of us think of punching, we think of our fists, our arms, our shoulders, maybe even our torso in general but not the feet. However, the feet are indeed where any significant punch should start. Even below the feet, as a matter of fact, because that first step is pushing your feet into the ground. From there, the power starts to work its way up through the kinetic chain - foot through the ankles, through the knees, through the hips, through the core, through the back and shoulders, and finally, comes together into the fist. Like in Part 1, I have got plenty of accompanying older videos where I go over all of this stuff in more detail, including this one:

"Throwing Hands"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyaVH3ik-cM&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=113

As this is not an intuitive way to think about throwing punches, it is easily the most challenging thing for new boxers to learn. I would say that about 99.9% of them I see stand in one place and their lower half remains perfectly still the entire time they are punching (like reverse Irish dancing). Then half of 0.1% who don't remain still have happy feet and take too many steps all over the place and are never in good position or balance to really effectively use their bodies to throw punches.

The most important thing to work on right is away is how to turn your hips and shift your weight into each punch. This starts in the feet as described earlier and then generate rotation through the legs, hips, core, torso and shoulders. Here are several older videos I made where we talk about different aspects of this critical mechanic:

Shifting Weight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv4hjdOR0Qg&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=114

Screw Your Foot Into the Ground

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtYTOvnJX-M&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=102&t=65s

Usually, most people are able to first get down the shifting of weight from their back foot to their front foot first. This is the most natural part. I am punching something in front of me so my weight should shift forward. It's the shifting lower body weight backwards, from the front foot to the back foot, that is easily the most awkward thing for new boxers to get the hang of. Here's another exciting video showing what I am talking about:

Boxing on the Front Foot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAvL656I2lE&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=157

Having worked with so many different people from all walks of life, I feel very strongly and passionately that the best way to help people learn how to use their lower bodies to throw punches is to exaggerate the lower body mechanics. Go too far with them. It is SO much easier to then tighten things up than to try and build in subtle fundamentals. I have also noticed that while I can tell someone how to use their lower body to throw a punch, it won't really click until their very own body understands it. Exaggerating the mechanic helps with this. They feel how their legs drive uppercuts and or how their hips pull hooks when we use big ranges of motion. Cue video!

Exaggerate Lower Body Mechanics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRNHnSH3JvA&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=78

While not an exaggeration, we also encourage folks to punch THROUGH the target instead of TO the target on most strikes. Besides increasing their punching power, it also helps them to better understand and use the proper mechanics, mainly rotation. Here's an accompanying video:

Punch THROUGH the Target

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fbSolb7LY&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=194

When you able to rotate through your punches properly, not only do you use every muscle in your body, but you also use your mass as a hammer. Doesn't matter if you weigh 100 pounds or 300 pounds, getting every ounce into your punch will make it more powerful as well as more work from an exercise perspective. Got 2 videos for you this time!

Mass x Velocity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBhV1pLPTY

Dropping Weight Down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDTcyIqedWY&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=123

As you have probably surmised, the goal here is to get power on those punches. Why? Lots of reasons!! Here is a video I made that gives you some (I missed one about maintaining bone density): 

Why Power?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CLrB6dZ9uc

The important thing to remember is that no matter who you are, no matter how much you weigh, and how much muscle you have, you can ALWAYS throw more powerful punches than you currently do. Many people have trouble believing this but it is 100% true for 100% of the people, barring a serious handicap or injury of course. There are other myths about throwing punches for power besides the ones I covered in the video. While it does make sense that you can concentrate separately on throwing punches for speed and for power, there is very little value in throwing punches super sub-maximally. Sometimes you hear people talk about "touching up" the bag and I think that this not only provides much less of a health benefit, but it can create some bad habits- mainly NOT using the body to properly throw your punches. Did a video about that once too. Wanna see it? Here it is!

"Touching Up" vs. Power Punching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhGz4PU3-JI&list=PLN0PPf0o8X6X1Te2zEgHrqy-BtyI-RAg3&index=170

Just like you can always throw more powerful punches, you can always improve at any of these stages, regardless of where you are in your boxing development. Sometimes, when we do something 10,000 times, we stop getting better because we start to believe that since we've done it so much, it's as good as it's going to get. Or we just don't think about it in terms of actually getting better. There are some legitimate reasons for this, mainly that improvements get harder to perceive the more you box with relatively good technique. But the big problem is when it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We stop getting better because we stop thinking that we can get better. As I have mentioned before, the greatest boxers in the world are throwing  jabs right now. The greatest basketball players are taking jump shots, football players are practicing whatever the function of their position, etc., etc. No matter how good you can get, you can always get better. At everything. Even the basics.

Stages of Boxing Development - Part 1

After owning a boxing club since 2018, I have had the opportunity to watch literally thousands of people take their first boxing classes, and I have seen plenty go on to really develop into solid technicians. It is easily the best thing about this job! And everybody learns differently. Some people are more naturally able to grasp certain concepts and movements more quickly than others. I have noticed, though, that there is somewhat of a general, natural progression of learning that most people follow- not everybody but the majority for sure.

This is Part 1 of what I consider to be those boxing stages of development. Remember though, while we may progress through each stage, we can always get better in every aspect, no matter how basic. So even if you've boxed for years, you can are still able to improve...

Part 1 - Stance, Balance, Distance Management 

This is where it all starts- the first and most important step when learning how to box. Once you are able to get comfortable in your stance and feel balanced, everything gets so much better. But the boxing stance and movement in that stance is not at all natural. So when someone comes to our club for their initial class, this is usually what they struggle with the most and it affects everything else that they do.

Sometimes even people who have been boxing for a while still struggle. These are the 4 most important components of the boxing stance to think about, as well as some accompanying videos I have made over the years touching on each thing.

Foot Position

At least 90% of new boxers either stand with their feet too far apart, too narrow, or don't have their toes in the best position to throw punches, defend punches, move, etc. Boxing is all about weight distribution. This is something we will talk a lot more about in Part 2 but before we even get there, it is critical that we stand in such a way to facilitate the shifting of weight from one foot to the other.

Here are a couple of those aforementioned videos I have made over the years about this subject:

Feet Position Relative to the Bag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI_KmbakOfY

General Fighting Stance Thoughts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31YV_1y_xGc

Balance

Besides having your feet in the right spot, many people tend to stand up too tall or lean forward. Sometimes this is because their feet are too narrow (making them stand up too tall) or too wide (leaning forward). Sometimes because they are too close or too far away from the bag (more on that later). 

Ultimately, you always want to be in a stance that best allows you to throw a powerful punch, defend any punch, take a step in any direction or take a punch and remain as balanced as possible. So for instance, if you crossed your feet and tried to punch, you wouldn't be able to get much on it. Defense would be harder too. And if you got hit or even pushed a little, you would fall right over.

Once again, here are some videos for more info!

Test Stance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALDSQCOmwM8

Hips Forward or Back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ha5fJ8XmM

Distance

Whether you are hitting a bag or anything in any way solid, you must manage the distance between you and that thing you are hitting. Being too close limits your power and ability to defend punches. Too far away means you either can't properly reach the target or you end up leaning, which is always bad. Plus the farther away you are, the more your opponent can see what's coming.

I would say that I end up telling most people to get closer, especially at first. They might be okay throwing jabs and crosses but whenever we throw the bent-arm punches like hooks and uppercuts, they are too far away and end up leaning and off balance and have no power.

Again, check out some videos!

Distances In General

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17OG_GcuBWw

Getting Closer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRKdKnNB1x4

Stepping and Footwork

Mastering footwork is definitely one of the more advanced stages of learning, but the first thing we want to get used to is maintaining our fighting stance when we take steps and move around our target. Once again, taking steps in boxing is not a natural thing either. It is not how we move in any other avenue of life, so it takes practice getting used to. Common things people struggle with are crossing their feet when they move, bringing their feet too close together, or only stepping forward with only one foot and getting into a stretched out position instead of both feet moving to get them back into their natural stance.

This time, I've got THREE videos!!

Basic Steps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_trzH-ouGpE

Circling Our Target

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXnLi9UP_fs

Staying Disciplined With Your Feet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WRjUMlrsHw

It's probably obvious, but just in case, it should be noted that I have not even discussed the mechanics of throwing a punch here in any detail. This is for a reason that I also hope is obvious: being in the right position to throw a punch, with proper posture and balance and distance, is the only way to develop those punching mechanics. Just like when you are building a house, it starts with a solid foundation. If the foundation is busted, doesn't matter how nice the house is on top of it, it is eventually going down.

And remember that if you are struggling with any of these things, that is very normal. Boxing is not easy or natural. The good news is that every time we practice, we get one step closer to perfection, so if you are brand new to the sport, spend a LOT of time practicing getting comfortable in your boxing stance. More good news - you can do this anywhere at just about any time!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Can You Breathe Better?

Have you heard of the Survival Rule of 3? It suggests you can go 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, 3 hours without shelter in an extreme (hot or cold) environments and 3 minutes without breathing oxygen. There is certainly some variance here but it's a good rule of thumb to remember. Regardless of any slight variances, it cannot be doubted what the #1 priority of our bodies is - breathing! Everything else can wait for at least a little bit.

We do things to improve our diets, hydration and shelter but most of us do nothing to improve the most important thing. Why not? Probably because we figure we've got breathing down pretty good already. I mean, we are all alive, right? So something in there is working. And since breathing happens unconsciously, we may not think it is something we can even consciously improve.

But really, our respiratory muscles are just like all the other muscles. We can train them over and over again to get stronger and when your breathing muscles are stronger, they become more efficient and your stamina increases.

So how do you build those respiratory muscles? First, you gotta know what they actually are. We usually talk about breathing in terms of lungs and lung power but while they extract oxygen from the air and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the lungs don't actually drive breathing at all. This is done mainly by the diaphragm. It's a like a little jellyfish head or shower cap that sits below the lungs and attaches to the lower rib cage, going all the way around, and can fill up about 4-5 inches, expanding the ribs.  A lot of important things go through the diaphragm, including the aorta, esophagus, vena cava, frantic nerve, psoas muscles.

When we are first born, we breathe very well through our diaphragms. Then as we get older, we tend to start breathing more through our chests. I would guess this is due to a combination of doing lots of sitting, developing bad posture, and I think we kind of get it into our heads that deep breaths = chest breaths, maybe because when we go to the doctor and they listen to our lungs, they put the stethoscope on our backs and tell us to breath into the chest. Another big one for many of us is that we don't like the feeling of our bellies sticking out. We tend to want to do the opposite - suck in our guts.

What's wrong with vertical breathing up through our chests? Nothing wrong, per se, just inefficient. It takes about 4-6 vertical breaths to equal the oxygen intake of 1 good horizontal breath. Horizontal breaths also lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, gets rid of oxidative stress better, supports posture and proper organ function, and even lowers your center of gravity helping with balance. Plus, vertical breathing requires your neck and shoulders to move, which takes some energy and yes, even requires more oxygen.

So why are our bodies so stupid to not automatically breathe efficiently? The chest breath certainly has value. It is a quicker breath, which sometimes we need in times of high stress and can even stimulate our adrenaline flow. When our heart rate increases dramatically and we go into fight or flight mode, taking in long, diaphragmatic breaths may be difficult or impossible, so switching to chest breathing makes sense in these situations. But those situations are not the norm (hopefully) and are meant to be short. We're being chased by a bear, gotta run as fast as possible for 20 seconds, then hide, then recover.

What about during a fight, like in boxing? Does vertical breathing make sense here since it is kind of like being chased by a bear? No! You would generally work very hard in a boxing round, maybe even fighting for your life, and performing anaerobically (where oxygen doesn't matter) at times, but adrenaline is something you do not want in that kind of a fight, neither physically or mentally. It is solely meant for short bursts (followed by extreme tiredness) and your adrenaline mindset is a panicked mindset, which is also no good. You want to stay calm, cool and collected under fire and as much oxygen running through your bloodstream as possible.

When your arms and legs feel heavy and tired, that is oxygenated blood leaving your limbs to support your breathing muscles, as again, they are the #1 priority of your body. The more efficient you breathe and stronger your breathing muscles are, less oxygenated blood will have to leave other parts and the less tired you feel. Then you want to recover in between rounds and this is where horizontal, diaphragmatic breathing is most important. Your breathing can and will get interrupted during the rounds but in between, you can focus purely on deep, steady, centering breaths. 

Practicing horizontal breathing is key. But it's not necessarily comfortable. Like anything else though, the more you practice, the more natural it starts to get. Start by taking in as much air as you can through your nose, flaring your nostrils just to make sure. As mentioned, you want that air to go right into your diaphragm and you will know this is happening by your belly expanding and sticking out. Eventually, you can get it to expand in all directions but start by focusing on just the front. Some people do things like lie down and put a book on top of their bellies to see that it is rising but you can also just use your hand. Then make sure to blow it all out through your mouth. You will/should notice that you seem to blow out more than you take in, or at least for longer. You may also feel somewhat lightheaded at first but if it starts to become a big distraction or issue, I would guess you are are either not inhaling enough or exhaling enough. Practice for a few minutes at a time on your own and during recovery moments in your workout.

Besides being the best way to recover between rounds, this kind of breathing can also be very useful to you in times of high stress or anxiety that doesn't involve being chased by a bear or immediate physical danger. Try it the next time you are stressed out or mad about something. Always remember that just like anything else, you can always breathe better and the better you breathe, the better you are. Make sure to stay away from bears while you are at it.

Do Sports Supplements Make Me a Better Boxer?

Once upon a time, I got really into weightlifting. I had no background in it at all, and aside from a bench press and squat, I didn't even know any more names of exercises- let alone how to do them. It opened up a whole new world for me. The lifts, the gym atmosphere and even the supplements. In fact, as weird as it might make me sound, it might have been the supplements that I liked more than anything! At that point in my life, I was very much a "better living through chemistry" kind of person so, me being me, I decided to go crazy and just use everything. I figured anything I could do to bring my numbers up was worth investing a ton of money in. This was when I was younger, dumber, single and a renter with plenty of disposable income at the time. Trying all of the different supplements also provided motivation for me to go and work out. It was like every day was an experiment.

As I started to meet people at the gym, I was told that the stuff they sold at GNC wasn't as great as whatever they special ordered, so I ended up trying everything from homemade protein powders to something that supposedly altered my blood plasma (no steroids though, I wasn't going to go that far). Later, I eventually started removing supplements from my routine to see how everything felt. In the end, I can tell you it's all pretty much BS (at least, for me) but there are some things I still take. For a more detailed explanation on some of the specific, most popular supplements, read below!

Pre-Workouts

This is the one I still take pretty much every day. But it's pretty much just for the caffeine. I love caffeine. And it undoubtedly has a positive effect on your workouts. More energy, more stamina, more strength. Why take a pre-workout versus just coffee or energy drinks? A couple of reasons. Some pre-workouts have more concentrated caffeine and just generally higher amounts of caffeine, so I can wake up in the morning and become more functional faster with the pre-workout. Plus, if I am going to exercise myself, or even teach a class, I don't like the way I feel after coffee or an energy drink as much.

Of course always remember that my body chemistry is at least slightly different than everybody else's. I am also not at all sensitive to caffeine. You might be. Most pre-workouts contain beta alanine, which can make your skin feel weird and tingly. Some people really don't like this effect. I kind of do! If you haven't tried a pre-workout before, pick one that has less caffeine per serving, like 150 milligrams. Or, if whatever you try recommends 2 scoops, start with 1 your first time. The brands of pre-workout I like these days are Ghost, Stimul8, and Kaged and Mr. Hyde. They stopped selling Mr. Hyde at Vitamin Shoppe next door and thus, I am slightly worried that someone died using it so maybe don't try that one. It does have a pretty good rush of caffeine though. Really, I like every pre-workout except for the ones that have under 200 mg of caffeine, and C4 for some reason. Just never felt right with that one.

Besides caffeine and beta alanine, many of these pre-workouts have tons of other ingredients. Mainly BCAA's (branch chain amino acids) taurine and various seed, bean, root or fruit extracts. Do any of these things make any difference in terms of overall performance? I highly doubt it. I have used plenty of BCAA supplements and not really felt anything special. Always consider that when you are reading labels for a sports supplement (or vitamins), while it may indeed contain all of these ingredients, your body might not necessarily absorb any of them. For my money, I just like the boost from pre-workouts better than any other caffeinated options so that is why I continue to use them.

Protein Powder

We can all pretty much agree that protein is needed to build muscle. But does that mean that protein powder or protein bars = more muscle building potential? Not inherently. You may already get enough protein in your regular diet to build the muscle you want and the supplement does you no significant good. Or it could be even worse. Some of those protein supplements have a lot of calories. You might want these calories if you are going for absolute bulk but for many of us, they are just unnecessary and you can gain more weight from fat than muscle mass.

That being said, if you don't eat a lot of protein in your regular diet and want to build some muscle mass, even relatively lean muscle mass, you could up your protein intake. But this still does not mean you need a supplement. You could just add it to your regular diet - meat, eggs, beans, milk, nuts, etc., etc. Just like with pre-workouts, just because a protein supplement promises a lot of grams of protein does not always mean you will absorb it all.

I actually eat protein bars pretty much every day but it is not necessarily for the protein. I just like the way they taste and the ones I get don't have sugar. I suppose if there was another type of bar that tasted good and didn't have a lot of sugar, I would eat it.

Nitric Oxide

These are designed to increase circulation. By relaxing the blood vessels, they can facilitate the "pump"  lifters like to feel. Better circulation and blood flow is certainly beneficial to all forms of physical activity, but there is little conclusive evidence to show that these supplements actually make a meaningful difference. Never did a whole lot for me personally. A normal human body will produce this on its own and even if the supplement does help you produce more, which I doubt, it is unclear if this has any significant effect.

Creatine

I have been out of the scene for a while but I feel like the creatine craze has kind of died off. I know plenty of people take the supplement, but it was all the rage for a while in the 2000s. There was one post-workout creatine product I remember that everybody liked because they felt like they looked somewhat bigger after the workout and maybe they did but it also contained a lot of sugar so that might have helped. In any case, like nitric oxide, creatine is something that our body naturally produces to improve exercise performance and increase muscle mass. Will the supplement help you make more of it? Would that even help you much? Probably not, has been my experience.

There's not really much harm to taking it so if you are body builder and every millimeter matters and you think it offers some benefit, then it's certainly worth considering. If you are a regular person, even an active regular person, I feel like it is a total waste of money. I bulked up when I was lifting heavy and taking it but then when I stopped taking it and kept lifting heavy, there was no perceivable difference.

Fat Burners

These I tend to find the most annoying because they all promise "hardcore weight loss" and that on it's own is a completely bogus claim. No one is going to lose weight taking something like Hyrdoxycut. Sure, there are people who take it and lose weight but this is due to the dietary and exercise changes and not the supplement. At best, it might curb your appetite a little bit as almost all of these contain caffeine and other stimulants. However, more negative side effects are reported from these products than other things containing caffeine. Rapid heartbeat, jitteriness, headaches, nausea, etc. There have been worse problems and Hyrdoxycut in particular was banned for a while because it contained something that might have led to a single death years ago. That ingredient is no longer in it and the product is back on the market but I still wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. There are no magic pills for weight loss yet. 

Over-the-Counter Testosterone Boosters

Just like fat burners, these tend to pray on human weakness. Most average Joes want as much testosterone as they can and they sure as hell don't want to lose it when they get older. It's what makes us men, Men, we are told. It's also the same kind of thinking that I mentioned earlier, which is "Hey, if there's even a slim chance it can help me here, might as well try it, right?" Probably because I am older guy myself, I see a lot of commercials for these products nowadays. I guess I could give it another shot to see what happens but I can tell you as a younger man into my 30s, none of these things did absolutely anything for me and there is probably no reason any younger, healthier dude should take them. If I discover anything down the road as an old guy, I will be sure to let you know!

Magnesium

I am specifically mentioning magnesium because it has been recommended to me by people in the fitness industry and actually does have a noticeable effect. Well, it has a couple. First, it is a sleep aid. Taking magnesium supplements can make your body feel relaxed and there are athletes who swear by it as a way to help them with recovery. I've certainly felt the relaxed part and slept a little better but did it lead to an overall positive outcome with my daily exercise performance? Nothing detectable. But you could consider it as a non-narcotic solution to help you sleep, I suppose. Though if sleeping is an issue for you, you should definitely have a conversation with your doctor before taking anything off the shelf. There may be other factors at play that you should address first.

The other effect it has is that magnesium supplements have is that of a diuretic. I would not consider this a positive thing but hey, maybe you are looking for some help in that department?

So I have to say again that these are my experiences, as well as what I have heard anecdotally and through just some online research. I am by no means a doctor nor nutritionist but I am smart enough to know that all of our bodies are different so what worked or didn't work for me may/may not work for you. Even just the placebo effect could have some value though. Believing you've got these magic chemicals running through your system may indeed convince you to work harder. Or motivate you to go work out. But any potential negative effects far outweigh the positive so don't charge in headfirst without doing some research of your own first. As always, this includes talking to your doctor!

Do You Want To Be Like Mike?

I grew up during a pretty exciting time for professional basketball (and college, really). Both the 80s and 90s were when the NBA grew significantly in popularity. There was the Lakers' showtime dynasty vs the legendary Celtic teams, the rise of Air Jordan and his later championship run, the Bad Boy Detroit Piston teams, legendary big men like Kareem, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaq, and I could go on and on. But don't worry, this will not be a trip down my own basketball memory lane. We are going to talk about one of those players though - Michael Jordan.

Even for those of you who don't follow or care about basketball in any way, you are probably familiar with the name, Michael Jordan. He was one of the greatest, most exciting players who eventually won 3 championships in a row before retiring to play baseball, then came back and won 3 more championships in a row before retiring again. You may not be familiar with him simply because he was good though. He transcended the sport and became a pop cultural icon mainly because of how he changed sports marketing forever. He had his own shoe that is still as iconic as it was back in mid-80s.

Anyway, in pro basketball, they play a pretty long schedule. 82 regular-season games before the playoffs start. Depending on how a team does, they could end up playing an additional 26 games in the post-season. Not every regular season game is that meaningful and given the way the game of basketball works, no one, not even Michael Jordan, is going to have a great game every game. Some nights, you are just off. To shoot a ball into a small circle, everything has to be pretty much perfect. If your shot is a millimeter off, it doesn't go in and you get 0 points. The difference between success or failure is miniscule and often imperceptible. 

I remember nights where Michael Jordan just wasn't making his shots for whatever reason. When that would happen though, he didn't just have an off-game and that was that. Instead, he would GRIND. He would drive the ball to the hoop, jump up in the air, potentially get fouled by the other team, and go to the free throw line. That is where he would get most of his points. He wouldn't give up shooting at all and sometimes he get his rhythm back. But the point is, even when he was off his game, he would step up his effort and find a way to squeeze out points and help his team win.

This is an analogy that I think everyone can use in life- and certainly during your workouts. You won't always feel it. You won't have the same energy and coordination or drive that you might normally have or want. There will be off days. But your off-days don't have to be days off! (see what I did there! huh? huh??)  

This is where you Be Like Mike. You grind. Maybe your movements seem awkward and your arms feel heavy and slow but you just press even harder. Not just to survive your workout on an off day but to actually win it! You might not win it the way you normally win it where you feel good but you win it through sheer grit and determination. 

As is usually the case, this is all mental. You would be amazed at what a little bit of visualization can do. It is like magic sometimes. Next time you might be having one of those off-days, picture Michael Jordan (or someone else you find inspirational) having an off-day too. Imagine how they were able to grind through and overcome whatever they were feeling physically to accomplish something great. Then imagine that YOU are Michael Jordan taking on that grind. It may sound silly, like something you would maybe do as a kid but never as an adult. I want you to try it as an adult. And don't just say it to yourself, actually believe it! Might seem impossible but I am telling you that it has worked for me and others. 

When I say "worked,” I just mean that it gave me strength and changed the context of my workout. Instead of feeling down and like I just can't bring the heat, I feel powerful in the knowledge that I am a champion and can grind through simply with that championship mentality and will to win.

Again, I want you to try this for real. While you are boxing, at work, or even just doing life stuff.  Don't just read this and go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, inspirational, Michael Jordan, yeah, I get it." Take it a step further, a step deeper. This has literally changed my life but you don't just have to believe in me. Believe in the power of your own mind. It's even stronger than we know, which I suppose is ironic on some level, but if you think about all of the unconscious and subconscious things our brains do, I have no doubt there are more things it can do that we may not even be aware of. I do know your mindset can drive your abilities. Tell yourself you’re a champion and you can become one. 

So You Want To Lose Weight?

Happy 2024! With the holiday season now over, this is that time of year that many of us, myself very much included, want to shed a little bit of that weight we might have gained since Thanksgiving (or in my case, since late August when pumpkin spice things started appearing in the stores). Some of us have an actual number of pounds we would like to lose, others it's just more of a look and feel thing.

Whatever the case, the levers we have to work with are obvious things like diet, exercise and yes, even sleep. Eating better, working out more and more intensely, and sleeping more/better will certain help get us onto the path of weight loss. How much, depends on you individually and your goals. Here are 8 tips I can give you from personal experience, anecdotal experience, and plenty of research on the subject:

1) It doesn't hurt to let your doctor know about your goal

This is especially true if you plan to lose a significant amount of weight, like more than 20-30 pounds. Your doctor knows your medical history and getting their buy-in is always a good idea. There may be reasons why losing weight could be prohibitive in your particular situation, or they may be certain restrictions you need to follow. They may also have some good advice for you, based on their knowledge of your history as well as just a better understanding of health and wellness than, say, the internet. Plus, telling someone kind of makes you accountable, which is usually good.

2) Differentiate between weight loss and things like body fat percentage and lean muscle mass

I know I have been using "weight loss" but I think your exact weight on a scale is less important to your own health and wellness. If there is muscle growth and fat loss, you may end up weighing exactly the same as you did before but your clothes fit totally different. And you feel better!

That being said, it feels good to see that number on the scale drop if you are looking to slim down a fair amount. I lost about 60 pounds years ago and it's much easier to say "I lost 60 pounds!", then "I dropped my body fat percentage by 10 points!" or "I feel lighter and slimmer than I used to!" Just make sure that you don't let the scale affect you too much.

3) Beware big dietary changes for long-term success!

This is a big one. Maybe the biggest. For most everybody, to lose weight, their need to be some dietary changes. Eat less, eat different, etc. But, BUT, you have to make sure that what you are doing is sustainable. Sure, you might be able to drop a lot of pounds doing intermittent fasting, cutting out carbs entirely, or skipping meals but are you planning to do this for the rest of your life? Or a modified version of it?

If not, there is a very strong possibility that you will gain the weight back. I have seen this happen to many people from several different diets. The thinking is that if you can just get your weight down to a certain number, you will be okay from there. But it's that maintenance stage that is the hardest. You can't just go back to how things were after dropping X-amount of pounds. Sometimes I find people know that, tell themselves that, maybe initially stick with a modified or generally better version of their old diet, but the weight eventually comes back.

Eating healthier is great. Eating healthier can also suck. I would recommend finding a healthier way to eat that you can actually stick with. Maybe try to eliminate something like added sugars, save for very special occasions. Or snacks. Or beer. Or maybe you experiment with eating a lighter lunch and see how it goes. I suggest smaller, gradual changes finding to find something healthier and sustainable.

4) Track It!

This, to me, is the first step anybody should take when it comes to managing their diet. Track what you eat for every meal and EVERY snack. If you grab a few M&Ms on your way through the kitchen, even if just a few, track it. Write it down or enter it in digitally. There are plenty of good apps out there that will track calories and even set limits for you to get to your goal but even if you just wrote it down and did nothing else, I bet it would be really helpful.

What happens is that we start to realize how much we actually eat. That realization alone can help you with what I mentioned above - figuring out ways to sustainably cut things out or limit things. Plus, knowing that you have to write down the 4 M&Ms you grab on the way through the kitchen might actually lead to you not eating the M&Ms. There is now some level of work associated with eating and it feels dumb to write down "4 M&Ms."

5) But you do have to get outside of your comfort zone

Just because I support finding something sustainable as far as diet and healthier eating habits, that does not mean it should be super easy. You will likely have to make some cuts and your body may not like those cuts. You will feel cravings. You may feel totally incomplete without desert. Like something is truly wrong because your body is not getting it's sugar at 8pm or whenever. Or you may just feel hungry and irritable. Especially at first. Going out to restaurants might be less fun because you don't order what you really want.

I will talk more about this later but it's worth mentioning a million times - there is no magic pill. There is no hack that will make cutting your caloric intake feel just fine. Empty calories are sometimes the ones we miss the most. If you want to really change things up, you have to get out of your comfort zone. The goal is just not to make it so uncomfortable that you cannot sustain it.

6) Super fast is not necessarily super good

I already kind of touched on this but also worth hitting on it again. While I would love to lose 20 pounds tomorrow or next week or next month, it is likely not going to happen. It might. And every body loses weight differently and in different spurts so depending on where you are, it could be a little more realistic but if I have to do anything really, really major to make it happen, we get back into what I mentioned in Point #3. It might not be sustainable and my body is going to be very confused. It dropped a bunch of pounds really quickly so as far as it knows, my food sources have been cut. Therefore, when I eat my next big dinner, it's going to want to hang on to those calories for longer because it doesn't know when the next significant meal will happen. 

1-2 pounds per week is generally recommended for an average person.

7) Beware what you hear from other people

Yes, I realize the irony of me saying this. I am another person. And you probably should scrutinize everything I say too. Everything should be challenged. But, I have read a bunch of info online or even anecdotally that seems ridiculous and makes no logical sense to me. First and foremost, consider the source. If anyone is trying to sell you something OR get you to follow them online, read their article, etc., I would take anything they say with the smallest grain of salt. As I have mentioned before, even if the source seems reputable, it could be total BS. Men's Health magazine is a major publication that has been around for almost 40 years and they still write articles about how doing core exercises can shrink your beer belly, something that I don't think any nutritionist, dietician or person with any physiological knowledge would consider remotely true.

Then there are randos online, influencers and such. Yeah, maybe what they say works for them and there's a lot more to it than they explain or maybe it's just a total lie. Remember that these people make money based on how many followers they have so if they can give you health and fitness tips that seem helpful to you, that might lead you to follow them. Sometimes it's even worse because it's someone telling you about what an influencer says or does, like a game of telephone, and it may not even be an accurate representation or explanation of what was originally said.

To continue the irony, an online source that I myself have used and pointed people too is this - https://www.myplate.gov/

It used to be Choose My Plate and yes, there are those in the dietary community who dispute some of our governmental dietary guidelines (mainly, do we really need that much fruit?) but they aren't selling anything and can even help you build a meal plan that at the very least, may be healthier that what you're doing right now. At least some good guidelines and many of the personal training certificating bodies like ACE and NASM, support using this a resource so you don't have to just take my word on it. 

8) Don't get too high, don't get too low. Or low at all.

If you believe nothing else I say, believe this: every body is different. Every person is different. Between our different bodies and different lives, we will have different experiences with everything, including weight loss. Some people lose weight by doing X. Others lose weight by doing Y. Some don't lose weight right away. Sometimes it takes a while before the numbers on the scale start to change. Some may lose a significant amount of weight relatively quickly but then plateau. It's a long journey and your journey isn't the same as anybody else's. 

Because of this and just general emotional management, I always recommend to others that they not get too high when things are going well and not get too low when they aren't. Life is always about change and fluctuation. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have any emotions all, you're a human being (I think) and it's going to happen. Just try to keep it in perspective and again, remind yourself that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Be proud of your achievements but always remember, things may change. If you get bad news from the scale, don't despair at all. Stay on track, don't get derailed and BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

 

Old Traditions vs. Modern Thinking

We live in a fast-changing world often driven by data collection, data analysis and iteration. Technology is ever-evolving and touches just about every part of of lives. We also live in a world with old, time-honored traditions that we still follow. Things we love and things that just continue to work. For instance, a fork is still an excellent way to eat salad. 

So, how do we determine what things can be innovated and what things shouldn't change at all? We simply ask the question, "Why?" Why do we use a fork to eat salad? Is there another tool that might work better? Is there anything we can do to make the experience of eating a salad more easy and efficient? Do we have new technology that could be applied to eating a salad?

When it comes to most modern sports, people are always asking these questions. Especially in the most popular American sport, which is football. The game itself has changed drastically in the last 45 years I have been watching. There are constant innovations to the style of play as well as the training and decision-making aspect to coaching, with many of the latter two things being driven by advancements in technology and data analysis. 

I could give you a billion examples of these changes but one I will just point out is "The Brotherly Shove." Long before the forward pass was even invented, teams would line up against each other and try to run the ball up the middle for short yardage. Then suddenly, a couple of years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles line up a little differently, get lower, and invent a new way to push forward to gain just a yard or two, eventually calling it "The Brotherly Shove" (or the less compelling, "Tush Push"). And here is the crazy thing - it is pretty much unstoppable! For as long as I can remember, teams trying to pick up a single yard or less was always a risky proposition. Defenses lined up to stop it and it seems like at least half the time, they usually did. But when the Eagles started this Brotherly Shove thing, it was almost 100%. Nobody can prevent them getting at least a yard with this play. How did it take over 100 years to figure this out? I have no idea but I know that it happened because somebody finally asked why. Why do we do things the way we currently do and is there a better way to do them? 

One sport that does not ask these questions as much is, unfortunately, boxing. Boxers still pretty much train the way they did in the 1960s. Fight styles have changed a little bit, erring towards being more defensive in the smaller weight classes and of course, the business of boxing has changed too, erring towards having fewer fights in general, particularly among serious contenders. Unlike football however, none of those changes have really improved the product.

For this post, I am going to focus on the training and analytics portions of boxing, which are probably the least advanced and most in need of modernization. Boxing trainers and coaches generally come from an old-school mentality. They teach boxing the way it was taught to them 30, 40, 50 years ago. They train the way Rocky Marciano trained because he had incredible conditioning and was really, really good. They are usually not as open to asking "why” and "is there a better way to do this?" Do all boxers really need to skip rope or is there something that would benefit them more? Is hitting the speed bag really the best use of their time? The answer to these questions may certainly be "yes" but my point is that they are generally not even asked at all. They are just established facts. If you walked into an NFL training camp in 1960, it would be completely different than how it would be now in 2023. If you walked into a boxing gym, it would probably not be too much different because of this reason.

Speaking as an older guy myself, I can understand that change isn't always easy and if legends like Angelo Dundee or Ray Arcel or Cus D'amato said something, who the hell am I to question it? But the world has changed and maybe there is another way of evaluating things. If we don't ask and truly scrutinize, we'll never know. And if those old school training methods are still the best, they will hold up to any scrutiny, just like forks do.

This problem is not just limited to how we train physically. Boxing is not studied to anywhere near the detail that sports like football are. For instance, during fights, there is a system called CompuBox that tracks the punches that each athlete throws. It is the same system that has been used since the mid 1980s. 2 operators watch the fight and record only 4 things - jab lands, jab misses, power punch (any punch that is not a jab) lands, power punch misses. That's it. Other types of punches are not categorized and it is extremely prone to error and bias. To be fair though, boxing can move much faster than other sports. Determining exactly which punch was thrown can be extremely difficult to do live. I've tried to figure this out and always end up having to rewind multiple times. So I don't blame CompuBox specifically, but is anyone else collecting more granular data? Things like how punches are missed (block, evade, etc.), what punches are landed/missed, where specifically punches are landed, single punches vs combinations, punch vs counterpunch, who initiates the attack vs success level, generally what successful/unsuccessful things have in common and so much more. Everything should be tracked, analyzed and learned from. This info could completely change the way boxers approach things. Again, we'll never know for sure unless we study and analyze. Maybe someone, somewhere is doing this but I highly doubt it. Boxing telecasts certainly don't make use of it.

Science and technology can also be applied to our basic movements. If you look at sports like golf and baseball, where the specific mechanics of a swing are so important, they are able to track exactly what muscles are firing when and what body parts move in what order to determine how this swing can be made better, through both targeted training of everything that goes into it as well as the specific execution of the movement itself. A boxer's punch is pretty important too. Perhaps some of these same methods of study and training can be employed but once again, I don't feel like the boxing community is receptive to this as a whole.

To a lot of the old school trainers, which encompasses most of the good ones currently, introducing new ideas like this can be seen as an affront to the gritty, tough spirit of boxing. Technology and science aren't boxing. Boxing is blood, sweat and tears. Nerds in lab coats can't teach us how to fight or even prepare for a fight. I think that was even the whole point of Rocky 4 (that and that communism doesn't work). But boxing is the sweet science and just like those salty sciences, nothing is ever settled, and we should always question whether or not there is a better way to do things. Even when it comes to eating a salad. 

Dropping Some Emotional Pounds for 2024

While I never like to look past Christmas, I do have an activity I recommend you start thinking about now, and try out after (or before)  the new year kicks off. It is relatively simple, but it is not at all easy and it takes some real courage to do. On your computer, in a notebook, whatever, write out all the things that someone did to you that were wrong, all the times people didn't do what they were supposed to do, or did things that they shouldn't have done that affected your life. Every time you were treated unfairly or got a bad shake from life in general. This will very likely be a painful process. You may re-open up some old wounds. 

But when you do reopen them and pour your heart and soul out on the paper, it will prepare you for the next important step, which is to let it all go. Symbolically tear up or burn the list if you want to, but let go of all of these past grievances, emotionally. Why would you do this? The better question is, why would you carry it around in the first place? Imagine wearing a backpack filled with heavy rocks. Maybe the thing weighs 100 or 200 pounds and just walking around with it in your daily life. It's going to wear you down. It's going to tire you out. It's going to prevent you from going as far as you possibly can in life. This is true to for our emotional baggage too. It is heavy and weighs us down, holds us back. It is only when we let it go that we can truly free.

So it's just that easy, huh? Let it all go? Of course not. If it were easy to just dump all of our baggage, we wouldn't be carrying it around all the time. But we often don't even really try to get rid of it. Perhaps we really and truly were wronged by someone else and treated unfairly. Maybe it was 100% someone else's fault and it had a major negative effect on our lives. There might not have been any sense of closure and the problems remain unchanged, unfixed. It is very difficult to tell yourself to suddenly not care about these things anymore. What is the other option though? To hold on to all of it and be bitter? How does that benefit you moving forward?

Some things may be too hard to get rid of. Many of us have permanent scars. Striving to let go of as much as we can, even if it's not everything at first, is still very helpful. This doesn't mean all is necessarily forgiven either. It's not about forgiving. If you are big enough to forgive everyone for their past wrongs as part of letting it go, then great! I myself am not always able to do this and for me, it's more about not letting things bother me anymore than forgiving those who wronged me. Many years ago, I lived in fear. It was rational fear too as every day, I was physically threatened in some form - sometimes attacked, spat on, yelled at, challenged, etc. I don't forgive any of the people who did this to me at all but I am also not mad at them either. I let go of all that. I truly and honestly no longer care and I swear to you and God that never have I thought about getting revenge on any of these people. Not once have I ever even fantasized. I used to carry these feelings around and I was a pretty angry, not particularly happy, son of gun. Dropping this emotional baggage was a huge step for me and I could not have been able to have the better life I have now without it.

But what about trying to use some of these past grievances as fuel and inspiration to drive yourself to be better? The negative stuff can definitely motivate you. Sports teams always try to adopt an "us against the world" mentality but for general, day-to-day living over a long period of time, I don't think it's very healthy and again, it will wear you down. Learning from past mistakes is a whole different ball game though. Learn from your experiences, take what you need, then let the rest of the emotions go. You'll be amazed how much lighter you can feel!

One thing I have not touched on yet is if some of your grievances are with yourself. Things you did that aren't proud of or times when you feel like you failed or screwed something up. We all have plenty of these too. This is another case where you can learn from it and move on. Let go of the emotions and bad feelings, keep the lesson. And forgive yourself too. It might be hard but you've got to live with yourself for the rest of your life, right? It doesn't do much good to stay mad.

Just like many of us will be looking to shed some holiday weight in 2024 (myself very much included), let's try and drop some emotional pounds too. First you've got to figure out what it all is though. Write it down. Even if you think you don't need to write it down, do it anyway. More things will come out and we want as much as we can. Again, this will not be a fun activity. You might have a lot of stuff buried down deep and it's easier to just ignore it sometimes. Maybe some of it is too deep for you to get to on your own. And there may be stuff you can't simply let go of. This is where therapists can certainly be helpful! In any case, I would bet you would be a lot happier overall if you can discover this stuff and let it go so you don't have to keep carrying it around on your back all day. The work you put in here is more than worth it. In fact, what could be a more worthy cause than your emotional well-being? What, I ask you???

Don't Let the Holidays Derail You!!!

I love the holiday season. I love holidays in general but THE holidays are the best time of year. Christmas movies and music always going, the government allows us to have special treats like eggnog, we generally spend more time with our friends and family but above all else, there is a magic in the air. You can feel it. And I 100% support the idea of allowing ourselves to indulge a little more than usual. Eat a little more, eat a little less healthy, drink a little more, etc. Plenty of people travel for the holidays too. Either back to where their family lives or maybe they are the hosts and have relatives staying with them. This can certainly mean that our regular routine, which includes exercise, gets interrupted. And that is okay too. Life happens and we should enjoy it. But what also happens to so many of is that we get derailed and for some, they are never able to get back on the tracks again.

As some of you may remember, back in the olden days, we used to actually go into a store to rent video tapes of movies, take them home, put the tapes in our VCRs and watch the movies. It may seem silly to young kids now but it was pretty great. Most stores would let you rent up to 3 movies at a time for about a week. I love movies and watch them all the time so I would frequently go to my local store, pick out at least 3 movies that I really wanted to see, and bring them home. Later that night, I would watch one of them. Sometimes it was tough to decide which one but I had to pick so I did. Then the next night, I would decide between the other two. This was a tougher decision but again, had to pick something. Then the NEXT night, maybe I had other plans and didn't watch a movie at all. So that final tape I rented was sitting there on my coffee table and suddenly, everything changed.

I no longer wanted to see this third and final movie I rented. Instead of thinking, "Well, at least I don't have to pick again. I am down to my final movie so that makes it easy," it was more like the idea of watching it was now this horrible chore that I did not want to do, akin to taking that last bite of my mom's disgusting Brussels Sprouts when I was a kid. How did this happen? I had originally wanted to see this third movie very much. Like I said, I am a big movie fan. Could watch them all day long and every day. But my perspective had changed. I had not watched the tape 3+ days and it felt like I just couldn't anymore.

Something like this can happen with our workouts too. Miss a couple of regularly-scheduled sessions and suddenly, getting back to it feels much, much harder. You initially liked your workout. Or at least, were interested in doing it. Now it seems more like drudgery. To make it worse, the mind loves to come up with excuses why it's okay to NOT return to your regular workout after missing a few days or weeks:

I've been so busy with the holidays, I just need some time to decompress

Got a lot going on at work too so my schedule is just CRAZY right now

Today is not a good day for me but tomorrow or later this week works much better

After eating more and not working out, I feel so out of shape and probably won't perform well

I should find something new to spice things up a bit (but then you don't actually do something new or at least, don't do it right away - it is just an excuse to not get back to the grind in this instance)

One way to combat any of these excuses is simply to give yourself permission to suck. What I mean is, show up for your workout knowing full well that you may not perform well and might feel out of shape, extra tired, unfocused, etc. and that this is okay. I am not a Nike fan but I will tell you that one of the greatest slogans I have ever heard is simply, "Just Do It." Don't even think about these excuses or any excuses. Just do it. Just get back to your workout routine and if you suck, you suck. If you find yourself getting tired faster, so be it. If you feel generally "off," so be it. All that matters is that you are getting back on track and that is a difficult thing so any effort you put forth is good effort. No one's watching and judging - it is just You vs. You and the key is, Just Do It! Tell yourself you are not going to be derailed after the holidays. Maybe you get derailed later in the year but will NOT let this happen after the holidays and be another statistic.

Let's say you are able to rise up and get back to a workout. Great! But you are not out of the woods yet. Some people can get back for a minute but then they drop off again. You don't just have to get back to your workout once, you have to get it back in your routine. May take a little while before everything starts to gel again so you have to be patient and persevere. 

It may not be as easy as I make it sound. Believe me, I know. I own a gym and am at the gym all the time and I have trouble getting back into the swing of things after even a short layoff. I give myself that permission to suck but I still don't like sucking. And those excuses that our brains make are good excuses. Or at least, so our brains tell us. Completely logical and of course, we can always get back to things later. Yeah, maybe. But I don't trust "later." There may be perfectly valid reasons not to continue my exercise program when "later" becomes "now." To me, there is no time like the present. Why put off tomorrow what you can do today? And you CAN do it today. You just have TO do it!

Planks A Lot! The Value of Planks Beyond Just Core Work and How to Win Your Own, Personal Planksgiving

In the spirit of both Thanksgiving and Planksgiving, our club has an annual challenge every November involving planks. We challenge our members to come up with the most creative plank possible and to post it on social media and we also have just a good, old-fashioned plank-off at the end of the month to see who can hold the longest plank possible. We've had people hold planks in excess of 20 minutes, 30 minutes and even 40 minutes. The world record currently is about 9 hours and 30 minutes.

How could anyone hold a plank that long? Physically, there is no good reason anyone should do it for 30 minutes, let alone 9 hours, but when it comes to any kind of endurance challenge, it has very little to do with the physical and almost entirely mental. Your mind just overriding the body and not letting you quit. That kind of disciplined training can not only help you with your boxing, but with life in general. It builds mental toughness, self-confidence, the ability to be resilient when dealing with adversity and manage emotions at all times. Obviously, there is a fine line between pushing yourself beyond your limits and causing physical harm, but that is a nice thing about holding a plank. There aren't really ways to hurt yourself doing it. Sure, your shoulders may burn and your abs will too during a long plank, but as soon as you stop, that all should go away after a minute or two.

So, should you shoot for holding a 40-minute plank then? Not at first, that is for sure. And maybe not ever, but you know what you can try? Hold a plank for one minute. Then a minute and a half. Then two minutes. Then you can keep going. You may not beat the all-time longest plank record but you can and should strive to beat your own, personal record. 

Another nice thing about planks is that you can do them just about anywhere, any time. You can watch TV while doing a plank. I did a little challenge a couple years ago where I watched an entire football game and planked for every commercial break. Most of the regular breaks are two minutes to two-and-a-half minutes so I ended up getting about 47 minutes of total plank time. Again, you may not be able to hold a plank for that long but you gotta start somewhere! And if you hang on as long as you can each time, I can guarantee you will get progressively better. 

The key is distracting the mind. If you just think about the fact that you are holding a plank, you will get tired and restless much quicker. You can concentrate on whatever you are watching if you go the TV route, listen to music or a podcast, maybe think about something entirely different, or even tap into the Buddhist concept of Mushin or "no mind,” clearing your brain of all conscious thought. I have never been able to achieve the latter state since I quit drinking, but maybe you will have better luck. Whatever you do, the key is always the mind. 

A Mantra For You

Despite living in California for 35 years, I never got into any of that new age-y stuff. Crystals, chakras, holistic medicine, meditation, etc. Most all of it comes from from Eastern spiritualism, but it always came off as kind of corny to me in the west coast hippie context.

And despite being in the fitness industry, I was never a big motivational quote guy. Again, I don't have any issue with them at all and I know a lot of people find that stuff useful, I just never really found them personally meaningful

As I have learned and continue to learn more and more about boxing though, I am starting to come around a little. Pretty much since its inception, boxing coaches have taught their fighters how to visualize in a meditative state. Visualize their fight, visualize their opponent, and most important, visualize success. Mike Tyson has said many times that he was not born as Iron Mike. He was made into it by his trainer Cus D'amato. Cus took a chubby, scared, victimized teenager and turned him into a monster, the likes of which we have never seen. D'amato is also well known for his many motivational quotes and memorable one-liners, which many fighters live by.

Something that he did with Mike was have him repeat a mantra to himself every morning. It's just one sentence and takes 5 seconds to say to yourself but it was effective - "Every day, I get better in every way." But he would have Tyson repeat it over and over during his morning routine. Say it out loud, in his head, etc. The idea being to help Mike focus, concentrate, and prepare for success. Plus, it would stick in his head and later in the day, maybe during training when he was tired and wanted to quit, suddenly it would pop in - "Every day, I get better in every way" - and remind him to keep pushing. 

This can work for you too! Come up with your own morning mantra. Or you can use Cus D'amato's. Whatever it is, it needs to have meaning and resonance to you. A positive affirmation that relates to your goals. You could even have multiple mantras. Repeat it over and over while you are going through your own morning routine. Yeah, it might feel a little silly at first but try it! What do you have to lose? Maybe you will be able to better manifest some of your goals or at the very least, hear your own voice throughout the day and help stay on track. It can also be useful to help remind yourself what is truly important to you.

Here's one of those motivational quotes that I do find pretty valid - "The body achieves what the mind believes." You would be amazed at how much you can do through this form of confidence. Plenty of us do not naturally believe in ourselves or at least, believe we can do anything we want and achieve all of our goals. There is a part of our brain that will tell us why we can't do something, as opposed to why we can.  This is a natural, human response and keeps us from doing things like trying to fly by jumping off of a cliff. But it can work its way into our regular lives that may not always be useful. Coming up with these daily mantras is one way to change this. Start to build those positive, success-oriented brain muscles. Just like our other muscles, if we don't use the ones in our brain, they atrophy and shrink.

Speaking of muscles and strength, I also like to do visualization while I exercise and I am 100% sure that it helps me. Visualize moving like one of my favorite boxers or just simply that I am getting physically stronger with every movement. Do this especially when you are tired. All that tiredness you are feeling is just you getting stronger. All that sweat equals power. This may sound very simple, and it is, but many people do the opposite. As soon as they start to feel tired, they start thinking things like, "Boy, I am SO tired!", "I must be really out of shape!" and "I just don't have it today" and like they are generally being defeated by the workout. But it's the opposite! Turn this around and I bet you will not only feel better but do better. 

Boxing, like life, is very much a mental game. At the highest levels, many people have similar physical tools but what sets the great ones apart is the mental side. That's what gives them the edge to rise above the rest. You might not think of yourself like a Muhammad Ali or a Michael Jordan but if you truly visualize yourself like them doing a task, any task, I can pretty much guarantee that you will be better at it. So next time you walk into work, start banging on the table and yelling, "The champ is here!" Well, at least do this in your mind...