Nerdcore Boxing

I initially started this blog because even though I’ve been training in combat sports for seemingly forever, I want to compete. I want to enter the ranks of the real fighters. And I don’t have an abundance of time to get going. My wife is pregnant and due in mid January. I really need to fit in some amateur fights this year.

My ankle injury has been a major setback in this quest, but I’m over it. While an injury is a legitimate reason to miss training, last Friday night I skipped class and sat at home eating pizza. There is just no excuse for that.

October Is Crunch Time

I have work to do, about a months worth. I’m 178 lbs, 10 lbs up from my goal weight of 168. My trainer wants me to get in another 30 rounds sparring and be able to do 5 rounds at a time before fighting.

The good news is October is a new month. But if I don’t bust my ass this month, my dream may never happen.

I’m Making a Pact

These things I swear:

• I will not miss any sessions with my trainer
• I will do my roadwork/cardio a minimum of 6 times each week, and not miss any of our boxing club’s organized runs
• I will not deviate from my diet, and I will lose 10 lbs
• I will start fighting in November

For those new to sparring, this post lays out what I remember to be the stages of my progression until the point I became comfortable sparring with good boxers. If you haven’t sparred yet, in addition to reading this you might want to start developing pre-sparring skills.

Stage 1: Basic Defense

No matter how hard you try, new boxers seem destined to keeping their hands down during the initial rounds. Forget trying to look like Sugar Ray Leonard the first time you spar. Set a modest goal such as keeping your hands up. Try overcompensating, put them extra high.

Other basic defensive goals are, stay calm, don’t lose your temper and generally try to circle away from your opponent’s power hand.

Stage 2: Endurance

The first major barrier to sparring proficiency is getting your wind. When you start sparring will probably be the first time you take roadwork seriously. Not only will lack of endurance rob you of the latter parts of rounds, but it will make you afraid to do certain things when you’re fresh. Best get to work on your sparring endurance training.

Stage 3: Developing a Good Jab

Against a good boxer, you’ll have difficulty landing punches at all and likely the first punch you will land regularly will be your jab.

To be continued…

I’m a busy guy I want to get right into my workout, finish, then go home. Unfortunately this can cause me to skip some of the less glamorous portions of my workout. Even though they’re not fun, I find these workout rituals can go a long way in preventing muscle soreness and preventing injury.

1. The Cooldown Period - When you engage in extreme workouts, and certainly boxing qualifies in this category, one can get chills after the session is done. This is cause by the blood leaving your muscles too rapidly. It’s a bad thing. Some trainers believe you can lose up to 30% of the value of your workout by cooling down too fast.

I always carry a light jacket, sweat pants and a beanie in my bag of equipment. Beanies are great because you lose so much heat from your head. Make sure you bundle up for 15 minutes after your workout. This will eliminate the chills and improve recovery time.

2. The Warmup - A good warmup prevents injury and can prevent muscle soreness. Everybody knows this, but we still skip it. Before slacking on the warm up you should really ponder how much time you lose to muscle soreness and the occasional injury.

3. The Stretch - After getting the blood flowing, stretch out. Then when you’re done stretch again. Besides eliminating soreness and injuries, flexibility can help you move better and even goes hand in hand with muscle strength.

I’ve found that if I want to push my training to a high level I need to add these to my workout. If I skip them I see a pronounced increase in muscle soreness and recovery time.

A few days ago I went to another gym to watch one of my sparring partners spar with a few pro boxers and some very experience amateurs. We weren’t the only ones there and I had the fortune to watch a number of very talented pro and am boxers step in the ring.

When bringing a fighter to another gym, it’s not a real fight, but it’s definitely a different experience than watching two “sparring partners” go at it. A couple of the boxers looked initially surprised at their opponents whaling away, as was I. As expected, the pros that had less to prove weren’t the ones dishing out most of the punishment, it was the amateur boxers trying to make a name for themselves.

A few guys were “hurt” and needed the equivalent of standing 8’s, and some blood was split. But for me, it was a good lesson learned.

A lot of times boxing training feels like a physical and mental marathon. How hard can you push your mind and body compared to your opponent? Certainly one of the biggest setbacks to training (outside real injury), is significant muscle soreness.

What causes soreness? Generally the theories are small muscle tears, torn capillaries and waste products left in the muscles. The remedies and preventative measures generally involve increasing blood flow to the area, and ensuring a proper blood flow after exercise to cleanup the waste products.

My 5 Tips to Eliminate Muscle Soreness

Based on my experience I’m listing these in reverse order of effectiveness:

5. Massage - I might rank massage higher if I had a professional sports oriented masseuse doing my massages, but so far the effects haven’ been as pronounced as the other 4 tips.

4. Stretching - I can’t emphasize how important this is. I was never into stretching, but I’ve only been able to manage the intense workouts I’ve done in boxing with regular stretching.

3. Hot Baths - These work well and feel great, though I’ve had even more luck with the dreaded ice bath.

2. Ice - Ice baths are a regular part of my training. Fill the tub with the coldest water that comes out of the faucet. For treating your legs use just enough water to submerse your legs. Then throw in 3 medium sized bags of ice. Wait till the ice almost melts and get in for 8-20 minutes.

I’m not going to lie, the first 3 minutes of pre-numbness are pretty rough. The first time is like torture, the second is not so pleasant either, but you get used to it. But to quote the now celebrity CEO of the UFC, Dana White, “Do you wanna be a (bleeping) fighter?”

1. Light Exercise - This is a great way to get the blood flowing into the sore muscles. If you have sore thigh muscles, you can do 10 light minutes on the exercise bike. Calf muscle soreness can be a real annoyance, try a half round of jump rope (or maybe less if you’re just starting out). It sounds counter intuitive, but because it floods blood to the area it works amazingly well.

Well it’s been 3 days of training and I’m so happy to be back. Sitting at home eating pizza and watching TV can be fun, but during your downtime you really forget how fun training is. At this point I’d much rather be in the boxing gym than in front of my TV.

I wish I could say I followed my own conditioning advice on getting into boxing shape, but I’m still pretty sore from coming back. During my downtime I did do some drills to keep up my punch output, and as a result my arms and shoulders are fine. Unfortunately due to the fact that I was babying my ankle, I skipped on the cardio and jump rope. As a result, in my training sessions, I dragged my butt in those areas.

My physical therapy is going well and it’s finally feeling better. I think I’ve said it before but I’m a big fan of physical therapy. I’ve been easing back into my training routine and tomorrow night I’ll be back in the gym with my trainer.

I’m really looking forward to strengthening a weak link in my chain with these ankle exercises. Ankles are so important in boxing. Obviously we work on extending the ankle to raise oneself on our toes, but lateral rotation is really important too. That lateral ankle motion can give you those little explosive steps in any direction.

If you can get to the point in your footwork where one foot is always pushing and the other is always pulling, you’ll be amazed at the increase in “foot speed” and explosivity. One of my trainers pushed me to develop this skill earlier in the year and I’ve been very pleased with the results.

This is the second installment 0f Hiding Injuries from White Collar Jobs. In all likelihood you won’t need this particular type of boxing tips often, but they make an excellent insurance policy.

Learning the Art of Cover Up

I once had my nose busted and two black eyes from sparring (long story). At my current job this wouldn’t have been a big deal, but at that time I worked as a spokesperson for an good sized software company. I often took interviews with the media, once even being interviewed on CNN. Needless to say, I risked being fired if I didn’t handle it carefully.

Let’s just say sometimes you may have to swallow your manly pride and buy some makeup. This sounds complicated, but it’s not. Go to the beauty dept of the applicable store near you and explain your predicament to the women who works there. She’ll probably laugh at you, but then she’ll help you pick out the makeup and explain how to apply it.

Practice Makes Perfect

Don’t let the morning of work be the first time you breakout the Preparation H and makeup and attempt to rest your old pair of glasses on that fat sausage of a swollen nose. Run through your routine the night before. After spending a week managing one black eye, you’ll develop the skills that would make even a mortician proud. My wife will tell you, she is in awe of my skills.

Nose Issues

Fortunately your nose toughens up a bit. Swelling and bleeding are most common when you first start sparring. Nose injuries tend to cause numbness and are not very painful (I don’t consider them painful at all), but they are kind of annoying.

Really swollen noses are tough to breath through. Fortunately most people don’t realize this and won’t associate your temporarily nasal voice with boxing.

The day after I busted my nose boxing, the president of my company called me into her office and had me read something off a document (just my luck). At the end she squinted at me and asked, “Do you have a cold?” I replied, “Nah, my nose is just stuffed up” Heh, heh, heh…

If your nose bled a lot the night before, you’ve got some scabs holding the internal cuts together. Bleeding can start again if you rub, wiggle or bump it. You might consider avoiding a white shirt.

Using Do-It-Yourself Coagulants 
There are some over-the-counter products that act as blood coagulants and can prevent or stop a nose bleed.

Disclaimer:

Ask your doctor about this next tip before attempting it. The Nerd of Steel is not a doctor, doesn’t give medical advice, and writes this blog for entertainment purposes only.

Anyway Neosporin is a blood coagulant. If nose bleeds are a big issue apply some in your nostril using a q-tip.

Summary

• Don’t worry, people are unobservant regarding changes to appearance.
• Don’t put your attention on your facial bruise while talking to others.
• Use Preparation H to manage swelling.
• Wear glasses to hide black eyes.
• If you’re desperate, and very comfortable with your masculinity, use makeup. Practice applying the night before.
• Avoid white shirts in case of spontaneous nose bleeding.
• Neosporin is a useful coagulant.

All of these tips make white collar boxing sound more dangerous to your face than it really is. Put this post in perspective, these are remedies for the rare worse case scenarios.

I rarely get my face marked up from sparring. That said there have been a couple of times where I looked in the mirror after sparring and thought, “I’m going to be fired or disciplined at work.” Other boxers don’t get this, but to white collar boxers this is probably the biggest fear. But fear not, I get away with boxing injuries and you will too.

Being a fair skinned guy with a long and still somewhat thin nose, I’m prone to getting visible bruises, swelling, abrasions and once even a cut. Yet I’ve never been “busted” at work. Before I give some basic remedies, there are 4 points to keep in mind if you’re looking in the mirror and stressing:

1. People Are Remarkably Unobservant - You surely are familiar with the phenomena of girls changing their hair color from blonde to red only to have no one notice. People miss changes in appearance, even striking ones.

2. It Always Looks Worse to You - This is really just an extension of the last point. Don’t look in the mirror and worry, ask somebody else if it’s noticeable.

3. People Notice What You’re Self Conscious About - If you’re worried about the shape of your nose and all of your attention is on your nose, it draws other people’s attention to your nose. On the flip side if it’s the last thing on your mind and your body language remains the norm, people are less likely to be tipped off.

4. People Do Notice Bruises On Boxer’s Faces - I have found this to be true so many times. If they don’t know I box, they either don’t notice small changes to my face or they don’t associate them with getting punched. Once I tell a coworker that I box, they notice every little abrasion.

So if you can help it, don’t tell them you box. Additionally if you do have a job where coming in with a black eye is a potential firing offense, keeping your little hobby quiet opens up a wider range of explanations.

Prevention

You should be wearing headgear to spar, so cuts should be very rare or non-existent. Abrasions are cause by the gloves “catching” on your skin and are the most common thing you’ll deal with. Using Vaseline on your nose, around the eyes, on your headgear, and if possible, on your opponents gloves can make the punches slide off.

Preparation H: Not Just for Hemroidal Swelling

Swelling is the easiest thing to fix, thanks to the over the counter miracle drug: Preparation H. Yes, your fellow boxers might call you buttface, but you’ll be amazed how much of the swelling disappears. The effects last about 4 hours.

Glasses Hid Superman, They Hide Black Eyes Too

Superman’s Clark Kent disguise always seemed stupid, but you’ll be amazed how few people notice bruises behind glasses. If you are vision impaired, wear glasses instead of contacts. I wouldn’t recommend wearing sunglasses all day, it looks suspicious.

Stay tuned for Part II of this article!

Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards out of all of us!” I think this quote is particularly relevant to boxing.

Fatigue Dictates Style

Fear of fatigue effects a boxer’s style and which technique they use. Bending ones legs is something boxers often skip in the ring, even though it provides safety during body punching and allows one to sit down in their punches to squeeze out more power.

Punch output is important, especially with the scoring in amateur boxing. There are many cases where a boxer should get busy punching but he’s saving his strength. This same fear can rob a boxer of his mobility.

Fatigue and Mental Toughness

While some gyms spar when their fighters legs are fresh, I always end up training where we spar after a tough workout. Sparring after training conditions the mind too. All through training you’ll wonder if you should go easy and save your energy so you don’t end up as somebody’s human punching bag. Yet deep down you know training all out is the best way to become great. As well as building mental toughness these pressures encourage one to work on their cardio outside their gym time.

Endurance is King

Cardiovascular endurance is vital. Leg strength and endurance are of supreme importance. Punching endurance is required. Endurance will make you brave in the ring, fatigue will make you a coward.