autoboxer- So you're like an engineer or something? that sounds pretty cool. I think I knew what you're saying though. In wrestling/jiu jutsu we used to always say that every match is determined before we ever step onto the mats. grey- I was able to locate the book so I'll take a few to look over it today. and that step right was for the left hook? I am trying to envision it, so instead of going left, go right with my left hook? and I feel what you are talking about with the distance thing. I feel like I step in too hard on my jab and I have suffocated the ability of my cross to get that full extension for the pop. bogotazo- a year and a half minimum before I'm back to the states, and that's if I dont get sent somewhere else. I've been overseas for 5 years now, and this is where I started learning boxing. I know what you're saying, but patience is not my strong suit. It's my mentality. If I stop training, then I'm done. I dont know if that makes sense or not. which part of my guard is wrong? the hands part? the elbows part? I've been looking at myself and I think i square up too much leaving my entire body open. for the feet, are you saying that I should be more evenly centered? I feel the heavy on the front foot part. I think grey was commenting on it too. I'm going to work on setting in on my punching thank you guys again
That is exactly what you are doing with your jab and the way you hop in. And it breaks the line of your body, disrupts the force of your punch. Yes, you slide the right foot just barley to the right when you throw the left hook (in this instance). Think about why- which way is the flow of the punch going? The weight has to go left to right, AHEAD of the punch to make it work. Get into those drills- the book was written in 1940 and is the foundation of most good 'how to...' boxing books. With all due respect to Bogotazo, you can teach yourself to be proficient- not competition ready, perhaps, but to know what's up. When I started teaching boxing, I had been around and watched some pretty good teachers teach other people, but nobody had taught me. I had taught myself boxing; once I started teaching I looked to this book to format what i was doing, and then, fortunately, I had the opportunity to have a lot of knowledgeable people share their wisdom with me. But you can, if you are diligent and really attentive, teach yourself a great deal.
If you insist on training then just be prepared to start over from the ground up and have a tough time in a year and a half. You won't be improving your skills training by yourself with nobody to teach you. If you MUST, then check out the beginner tutorials on youtube. Learn how to stand and step first and foremost. Since you have no fighting experience you shouldn't even be hitting a bag. Learn to step left with your left foot first, right with your right foot first; back with the back foot first, forward with the front foot first. Keep the left hand on the chin and your right glove "on the phone". Elbows tucked. For your stance, stand square with your feet on par with your shoulders, then take a step forward, and balance the weight evenly. Throw your jab at full range, without unsettling your feet. Your elbow cannot flare out. Practice this in a mirror over and over and over. Watch until your fist simply looks like it gets bigger in size when you shoot it out. Make sure your shoulder covers your chin when you do so. That in itself is paramount. It will set everything else up. If you can't get that down, anything else you do will be flawed and impractical. The impulse to run before you can walk is very strong in boxing, and you're sprinting with a severe limp right now. I'm probably wasting my time since boxing is not something you can learn by yourself, but at the very least I can make you understand how important the fundamentals are. This is true. With educated people around you can start picking things up and habituating yourself to the most basic things, even if they're done in a flawed manner. But my concern is that this guy has nobody around like that, and wants to be serious in one year and a half. Based on what I've seen, he might be doing more harm than good for himself. But whatever, he's asking for help and has no other option.
I don't know...My thought on that has been, for some time now, that it is relatively easy to break certain bad habits. By that I mean that you have to learn bad habits (and here I am referring to things like balance and footwork issues particularly) because they are unnatural and awkward. Once you get it right, it feels right and is easy. The same is true of punching technique; when it is right you feel it and wonder how you ever did it wrong. If there is not another option, why couldn't we help him out? It is possible to watch video and comment, share ideas...that, certainly, is better than doing nothing. Just to get the rudimentary things- jab/right/hook, move up and back, circle with the jab, etc...-into working order. Then, when the situation changes, take it to a gym and you aren't starting from zero.
Grey- I just got around to starting that book. It is already blowing my mind. I see, to some minor extent (in and that I cannot expertly review) how my stance has been wrong. I have not gotten to any drills yet as I just started reading a bit ago, but I wish I'd had this before. Bogotazo- Thank you for your honesty as I see where it's coming from. Understandably, you are giving honest advice that I will likely (more so than not so) develop inhibiting habits and then have to spend a considerable amout of time undoing them once I get to a point where I can do professional training. But like I said before, I once quit training due to an injury from a brazilian jiu jutsu/judo match. Not being able to train, made me really depressed and I got fat. I may not be good, yet or ever, but training is my inspiration. It may be a year and a half, it may be more if I get sent to another overseas station. So, in order to keep myself inspired I find myself the speed bag, the heavy bag, and lines on the gym floor. And occasionally someone that wants to punch me. I don't have delusions of being a champion or ranked boxer, I just want to step in the ring some day and until I get a coach maybe criticism, like yours (which has really made me re-evaluate the entirity of my tactics) and greys advice (which I put to use on that left hook and felt the power, and stability) So thank you thus far. I'm definately spending a lot more time on footwork the last few days, and my jab-(turning over my body) cross. But yeah, Thank you for your help thus far. It means alot. Grey- I did the left hook step you were talking about, probably more than an inch, and someone mentioned that I was standing too heavy on my front foot, so I tried to stand more on my back foot and then work everything from there. I did feel and difference in power and speed. But I also realized that I need new shoes cause my tread is worn off completely and I keep slipping when trying to power off my right foot. I might buy some basketball shoes. They're supposed to be good for gym floors. Thank you for your advice and support thus far.
Another question, Some guy rolled into the gym yesterday and asked me if I wanted to spar, so of course I said yes, but body blows only. After about thirty seconds it was obvious who was better. He was about a head taller than me, and I'm 5'8". I think he was doing the philly shell thing, south paw, and everytime I went for the right cross to the body he was always just out of range. I'm gonna hatch that up to foot work. I found myself looking to counter his right cross as it always came after a jab jab. I would use my forearm to perry, not block in hopes that it would cause him to over extend, and then after catching several of these I started working on making sure that my left was in place to throw and head hook. Is that a reasonable tactic? This was about the only technique I had going for me except my left hook which I was throwing quite often, but still found myself slapping with instead of digging. but because he was doing the philly shell and we were doing all body (though that probably really didn't matter) it seemed like his forearms were everywhere all the time. instead of waiting for openings, should I just pound forearms until something opens? make him think twice about putting his arm in the way? I know my forearms were getting sore from his barrages, and my ribs and chest (which was a result of all the times that I missed that cross of his) I was also flenching up a lot until the third round when I kinda start to move more and losen up, but still flicnched up a lot. I was just seeing the opening a little better.
Sparring for you is useless at this point. Get the fundamentals down. Balance, footwork, straight punches, slowly. Move with balance. Shadowbox while paying attention to form. Circle an imaginary opponent and maintain range. Keep your chin tucked and your elbows in. Keep one hand up while throwing with the other. Slowly. 1-2, move left. 1-2, move right. Be patient. If you want to be good the first part has to be boring. Think of it as the karate kid wax on, wax off techniques. Also how could a southpaw have a right cross? Watch this and emulate this relentlessly. It's the direct opposite of what you've demonstrated on the bag. Get this down before you practice the rest. [yt]gAB-BG1B-78[/yt] [yt]VH0rO2RFBPw[/yt] Also just stop hitting the speed bag like you've been doing in your videos. You're not punching as you would in a fight, and you're punching upwards with no follow through.
Ripper- I'm glad I did. I've gotten a lot of good criticism so far. Bogotazo- it was me with the right cross. and thank you for that note on an exercise, definitely going into use. And thank you for the video links. Was it you that noted that I was too heavy on my front foot? I've been working on being more on my back foot but I feel like I'm too upright. Should I be worrying about this now, or just be more mindful of being balanced?
Yeah, I recommended you shift the weight back more evenly. Right now just get the stance and steps as perfect as you can. Your knees should be bent, and you chin tucked, and with your hands in the right place. You may feel a bit upright, but with your knees bent it's not as bad. Just worry about balance and proper footwork when stepping right/left, forwards/backwards. Slowly add the jab in gradually as you continue but for now just move around in stance. As you advance you may find you like to keep your head a bit off center and give a bit more weight to your back foot in a wider stance, but don't worry about that yet. In the right stance, you shouldn't feel vulnerable or overly upright. Your hands are there to block or parry, and your balanced enough to slip to either side if need be, or move, or throw . Again, try your best to emulate that video link. I know you've mentioned that hitting the bags are something you need to stay motivated, but try if you can cut down on it and use it as a reward, replacing it with just shadowboxing in a mirror. You won't get stronger or faster or sharper unless your balance is right. That's the groundwork for everything else.
bogotazo- Roger that. Thank you. I'll give it some work over the next few days (and beyond of course) and post on here with video update for critique. Thank you again.
