Nerdcore Boxing

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” -Muhammad Ali

Have a great weekend of training!

If you ever get the attitude that you’re better than the other guy because you’re faster, you have a better jab, or because you use angles, then you won’t be better for long.

I have a number of skilled and hard working sparring partners. Their skills, weapons, styles and attributes are constantly changing. If I slack off, inferior boxers catch up to me. If I miss training, I lose my ability to hang with better boxers.

The only way to stay a better boxer than Jimmy is to continually work harder than Jimmy.

I’m a big fan of these variations to traditional shadowboxing. Try them out, I hope you like them.

Wear Sparring Gloves

Have you ever felt frustrated that your seemingly well drilled punches, footwork and balance went to crap when sparring? Join the club. There are probably a lot of reasons for this. One reason could be the sparring gloves affecting your balance.

Try wearing sparring gloves during shadowboxing. You might suddenly notice that the weight of sparring gloves is just enough to throw off your balance, structure and punch “snappiness.” This is especially true when you miss. Keep drilling until you get your balance back.

Wear Headgear Too

Does the tight defensive structure you worked on suddenly open up?

Try shadow boxing with headgear. Headgear sticks out and makes it awkward to rest your glove on your face. This can really throw off your defenses. Drill until you get over this.

Shadowbox Blind & Naked

Not really naked, but without gloves and a mirror. When your watch yourself in the mirror you’ll notice the punches flying at the mirror and have your attention on a number of areas.

When you go blind and naked, you’re looking through your guard at nothing. You’ll feel wide open as if there are huge holes in your defenses. It creates a natural urge to pull your elbows in tight and keep your hands up. Try a few rounds this way.

At the end of my grueling boxing class I’ve been sparring 3-4 rounds. The problem is my boxing club requires you to do 5 rounds before you can represent them in competition (note amateur competitions are usually 3 rounds, but we over-prepare).

I’ve been working at getting my “sparring endurance” up, but it’s been a real chore. A few months ago somebody told me to do 40 minutes of cardio, which just didn’t work.

I’ve recently been focusing on 3 areas and have started to see some success:

1. Extra Jump Rope - If you think about it, the two major activities in the ring are punching and making small fast steps. Jump rope works on the latter. I’ve been jumping for 20 minutes straight while moving in different directions.
2. High Intensity Cardiovascular Training - Instead of doing 40 minutes of cardio, I’m doing shorter and more intense sessions. My goal is to always maintain the intensity of running 8 minute miles. Right now I’m doing 25 intense minute sessions.
3. Shadow Boxing in Sparring Gear - Shadow boxing is often done without gloves or a mouthpiece, but I’ve been putting on everything. I’ve been using 20 oz gloves, which are even heavier than sparring gloves.

This past Saturday I weighed in at 171 lbs, one pound down. When I decided to train for amateur boxing my original goal weight was 174.  When I approached 174 I revised the goal to 170, then more recently to 165.  Beating goals makes me happy. 

It seems like exercise programs gain a head of steam and provide the greatest effort-to-benefit rations after you have been in them for about 3 weeks. This seems to be the case after I increased the intensity of my cardio.

Today it occurred to me how great boxing is to motivate one to get in shape. See I’ve been feeling burned out this past week and I skipped a number of workouts. This morning I even had thoughts of quitting (not serious thoughts, but thoughts nevertheless).

Tonight I get in the ring and sparred with my first really good southpaw. He beat the crap out of me. I don’t remember the last time a sparring partner cleanly landed such a high percentage of punches. Real good shots, the same beautiful counter punches over an over. I walked away frustrated and a little humiliated, but with a new fire in my eye. I gained a focused determination to get back to working hard.

Sparring partners are kind of like the ultimate personal trainer. If you don’t work hard in the gym, they’ll beat your @$$.

I talk about my boxing class a lot on this blog. I thought I would post the details of our workout so you can compare it with yours.

Strictly speaking boxing isn’t taught in classes. Often a boxing gym has trainers around that work with fighters individually along with encouraging these boxers to spend time working on their own.

These days classes are becoming more common, even at the most hardcore gyms. I could, and probably will, spend an entire post discussing advantages and disadvantages of training in a class format.

My boxing club has a pretty intense class. Our class runs 2.5 hours, though the last 30 minutes is sparring. Below is our regiment.

Note, for those brand new to boxing, training is almost always done on the round system. We do an activity for a 3 minute rounds, have a 30 second rest and then go back to the next 3 minute activity.

Stretching

We do full body stretching for about 7 or so minutes.

Running

A short run, including running forward, sideways, backwards and skipping.

Footwork Drills

Footwork and balance form the backbone of boxing. We do a variety of drills, moving forward and backwards bobbing/weaving, v-slipping, pivoting and various other exercises.

Shadow Boxing

Three or four rounds of group shadow boxing. The trainer calls out a boxer to choose a sequence and everyone does this sequence. I’m a big fan of this format because another boxer often picks sequences that I would never think of and it avoids falling into the trap of working on only things one feels comfortable with.

Jump Rope

Four rounds of jump rope with sets of 20 push ups during the 30 second breaks. At the end of the four rounds we do 2 more sets of push ups, making for 6 total sets. Note sometimes we do lunges instead of push ups on the break (but in this case we do 30-40 reps).

Focus Mitts

People pair up and each do 3 rounds of mitt work. This is the downside of a boxing class. Poor focus mitt holders can completely waste a training session. There’s nothing worse than the guy holding the mitt with floppy wrists. Would you like a hyper extended elbow with your round of mitts?

Open Period

During this period some people get extra rounds of focus mitts. Others do work on the heavy bag or speed bag, or do some shadow boxing. There is probably enough time in this period for 6-8 rounds of work.

Calisthenics/Isometrics

We do roughly 16-17 sets of work on the core. 90% abdominals, but a little lower back work too. I can’t emphasize how important core work is. Despite what beginners often believe, punching power comes from your legs and core. Upper body strength has only a very minor part in power punching. Conditioned abs also armor your body against punches and allow you to rapidly move your head when slipping punches.

Stretching

To finish off we repeat the same stretching routine done at the beginning of the class.

Sparring

Now it’s time to gear up and get in line to spar. Fighters spar a different number of rounds depending on their experience level, conditioning and if they have an upcoming fight. This varies anywhere from a few half rounds to 5 full rounds against a rotation of fresh boxers.

Weighed in Saturday at 172 lbs. I was a little surprised because my diet got a little out of hand and I went light on my cardio.  This week I plan to bring those things back in line and hopefully I drop into the 160’s.

Some trainers just want to throw you into sparring and have you learn the hard way. But I’m going to give you the Cliff Notes on the initial rounds of sparring.

When you first start training you feel really clumsy, you look awkward and as training sessions wear on, your strikes quickly become inept due to fatigue. But once you get passed this, you start to think, “Hey, I look pretty good in mirror.” You start to think you’re becoming a real boxer. Maybe you even start to size up other guys in the gym that you might spar in the future.

You’re also going to work on things in preparation for sparring, like attempting to gauge your power on the bag/mitts, working on slips, etc. Well, here is what you should be working on:

80/20 Rule

A little boxing theory:

• 80% of offense is your lead hand, 20% is your read hand.
• The best defense is a good offense
• “Boxing is easy — if you know how to jab.” - George Foreman

Notice a pattern here? If you said work on your jab and lead hand, you are correct. Beginners like to feel the power of hooks on the bag. But if all you did was perfect your jab, you’d be far better than the guy that’s focusing on hooks, crosses and uppercuts.

How about spending 80% of your training efforts on jabbing?

Hands Up, Elbows In, Rapidly Bring Punches Straight Back

Even if you hold your hands up in training, under the pressure of sparring you will probably drop them here and there. If you train with them down, your first few rounds of sparring will hurt.

Besides keeping your hands up, keep your elbows in and guard tight in practice. Trying to pick your shots against good boxers requires some work. But beginner stances/guards often present a huge number of options for landing punches.

When you train throwing a punch, snap it back as fast as you threw it. And bring it back on the same path, don’t drop it. If you find you’re eating lots of right hands after you jab, this is probably your mistake.

Personally I would recommend avoiding guards, like the Philly Shell, that keep one hand low. Or at least avoid this type of stance until you’ve developed some defensive proficiency.

Punch & Move

Beginners usually stand still when throwing punches. Boxing is probably more about moving between punches and during punches than it is about punching.

For orthodox boxers (right handers) circling to your right and punching is harder than to your left. The reverse is true of unorthodox (lefty) boxers. Practice circling both ways, but especially to your right. Then spend your initial time in sparring circling away from your opponents power. If you think circling away from the power is for wimps, go watch the Barrera/Prince Hamed fight.

Find your range. When you punch the bag or mitts extend your lead arm straight out. If you can reach your target you’re in range. Don’t stand in range unless you’re punching. Or at least ensure you’re moving your head when in range. When training don’t get in the habit of standing in range and doing nothing.

Forget Power

Beginners have no business working on punch power or even thinking about it. When you spar for the first time it will probably be against a better boxer. If you do spar a skilled boxer you will likely have difficulty landing even a clean jab. You probably won’t land a stiff jab, let alone a power punch. For now, train to maintain balance and work on crisp fast punches.

Good luck.

This will be the first of the more informative posts which I’m going to focus on in this blog.

How much does boxing sparring hurt? …Well, it really depends on what level of training you’re involved in.

Hobbyists, Weekend Warriors, White Collar Folks
I spent years in a Muay Thai and boxing as a hobbyist. I definitely trained at reputable gyms that had reputations for producing top amateur and professional fighters, but I never expressed an interest in competing and only sparred so I could develop some proficiency.

During this period of training I would have said, “No, it doesn’t hurt that much.” The adrenalin is pumping, you’re wearing protective gear, there is a kind of a gentleman’s agreement not to kill each other, etc.

In this period of my training I did accrue some bruises, even got a black eye here or there. But overall, despite the excitement, it was pretty tame.
Competitive Boxing
Once you express a desire to compete in the amateur ranks, your training and sparring becomes more intense. You spar longer and with a better class of fighters. These guys/girls are much harder to hit and hit back a lot harder.

Getting a broken or swollen nose, black eyes, bruised or broken ribs is more common in this type of sparring. Also sparring with body punchers is more common (beginners rarely have developed body punches). The types of dings I listed don’t happen all the time, but are more common. Additionally as you develop your defensive game, it gets easier.

Really with the adrenalin pumping you often don’t feel head punches when they occur, you feel them afterwards. But body punches can hurt a lot, even with well developed abs. Taking your first liver shot is quite an experience.

I will say that sometimes there is no distinction between the sparring for the hobbyists and the real boxers. Some gyms put the hobbyists through the school of hard knocks too. However with so many hobbyists, women and yuppies flocking to even the most hardcore inner city boxing gyms, there generally are two type of sparring going on.