Nerdcore Boxing

I’ve been thinking a lot about conserving  energy in the ring. Apparently thus far I’ve been dense, because I never think about it while in the ring. I do what I want to do and if I gas, I curse my training. Yet I’m in control of my breathing, my work rate and rest periods.

A quote from the great military strategist Sun Tzu comes to mind: “Be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage.” – Sun Tzu

Managing supply lines (or energy levels) is an inherent part of fighting. Yeah sometimes you have to say, screw it and ignore fatigue. But to enter a conflict and never consider when to conserve energy is foolish. I’m done being foolish.

When you’re legs are fresh you have a chance. You can run, you can bend and body punch correctly, you can sit down in your punches and you can explode forward. But when your legs are dead, so are you.

I’m always in awe of how important leg strength, leg explosiveness and endurance is in boxing. It seems like I’m continually re-prioritizing my training and putting more emphasis on conditioning my legs. To be honest I usually don’t push my legs as hard as I should. I should be doing more hills, more sprints and more stairs. And I should be doing more leg related calisthenics.

Why don’t I push to the limit? Because sore legs interfere with my training. It’s really a mental barrier: I want fresh legs when I spar.

But I need to push to that next plateau. I’m not going to get KO’ed by my regular training partners, but I might in a fight if my legs are weak. So I’ve resolved to get over the fear of ruining my training with sore legs. It’s going to be a major dose of sprints, hills and stairs for me.

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 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.

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 techniques 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 and 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.

Fear definitely robs a boxer of his mobility.

Fatigue and Mental Toughness

While some gyms spar when their fighters legs are fresh, I always end up training at clubs 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

Aerobic and anaerobic endurance is vital. Leg strength and cardiovascular endurance are of supreme importance. Punching endurance is required. It will make you brave in the ring, but fatigue will make you a coward.

Many people want to get in shape before beginning boxing training. While recuperating from injuries I’ve used the following fitness rules of thumb to ensure I don’t get too out of shape. These are probably good guidelines for those wanting to ease into their first boxing class.

I must say I hesitate to give these rules of thumb to those who haven’t started training. Fear of pushing your body past it’s limits is the biggest barrier to development. Instead learn to embrace how the boxing gym environment pushes you. Continually showing up is the fastest path to boxing skill.

Here are my 4 rules of thumb, some modified for beginners:

1. Cardiovascular Fitness

I do an intense 2 hour boxing class and spar 3-4 rounds afterwards. To do this somewhat comfortably I look to be able to run at least two 8 minute miles. To start a boxing class, being able to do moderate intensity running or biking for 15-20 minutes is sufficient.

2. Jumping Rope

If you can do two 3 minute rounds, you’re where you need to be. You’ll get pushed harder than this, but that’s what trainers are for.

3. Punching

If you’re taking a class as opposed to a traditional gym, you’ll get a rest while holding the mitts for another person. If you can do 4 rounds of bag work, shadow boxing or mitt work at home, you’ll survive. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to punch right, just punch for 4 rounds.

I’m looking at more like 6-8 rounds and being able to do the “300 Drill,” or throwing 300 punches in a 3 minute round.

4. Calisthenics

You should be able to do 3 sets of push-ups and 6-8 sets of ab work.

Good luck, and don’t forget to show up!

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.

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 weighed in at 176 lbs today, 1 pound below last week. I was hoping for 175, but I’m still pleased.

I also got in 40 mins of cardio, lifted weights and did 6-8 rounds of bag work. Bag work involved:

• The 300 punch drill
• The Dempsey cage drill (deep crouch)
• Practiced countering jabs with straight rights
• Worked on the 1-2-3 (jab, cross, left hook), focusing on smoothly and rapidly transitioning from the right to the left hook.
• Focused on rotating hips
• Did a round of pivots/bumps

I’m about to go to the gym. I’m planning:

• 40 mins of high intensity cardio
• Lift a little weights, mostly to keep my back feeling good
• Lunges
• Neck exercises
• I’ll do the 300 punch drill on the bag (throw 300 punches in a 3 min round)

Besides conditioning I’m also going to work on some things on the bag and shadow boxing. I’m going to spend at least a round working on each of the following:

• Circling right and shooting in for long jabs
• Rounds focusing on left hooks, especially to the body
• Rounds of uppercuts
• Pivots and bumps
• Do at least one round in a deep crouch
• Work on slips, bob & weave, rolls, covering & parrying while on the bag
• Rounds of V-slips while moving in all directions
• Rounds to simulate counter-punches, especially going over the top of a jab with my right, or catching a jab while throwing one and then following with a right, etc.
• During all of these rounds I’ll be using my mouthpiece to ensure I breath with it comfortably, ensuring I bend at my lead knee and I’ll consciously keep my eyes up where my opponent would be.