I don't like doing Pad drills much either. They're good for coordination and practicing combinations, but i feel like they can make you a bit robotic. There's something about the heavy bag that forces you to focus on your followthrough, hitting technique, and leverage to get the right "feeling" and sound of your hits to satisfy. Pads definitely have their place, but there's a lot of emphasis on pitty pat flurry drills from guys who love them.. Which is why IMO a guy like Devon Alexander has all the tools to be a KO puncher but is imbalanced as a result. I like the way freddie roach and margarito/rios trainer do them with a body shield, moving around, forcing them to get set and providing them with a mobile target. In the future a heavybag guided by a robot with individual moving targets would be awesome.
Wasn't it Manny Steward who really popularized padwork? I know he thinks most people do it wrong though, it's not about those flashy 20 second long combinations, he has his fighters throw normal combinations.
What specifically? Focusing on any training equipment in particular will mess up your game a bit though.
I don't remember if he explained exactly. I have seen plenty of guys trying to impress the gym with their heavybag work, meanwhile ignoring the finer points of punching as it pertains to effective boxing... like getting your glove back as quick as possible and balanced footwork... I like ol' Foreman's routine of jabbing at the bag for a few rounds, over and over, before even throwing a right.
If old school figters never hit the mits than is it safe to say that they fine tuned their accuracy in sparring alone ? **** this thread has taugt me allot :good
I like pad work, teached precision in a way you probably don't get from working the heavy bag. But it's annoying when they're not held right. With the bag you don't have to rely on anyone else.