Advice For Slow Fighters

Do your shadowboxing underwater or with weights in hands.

 

There's only one way to find out.

For me I only use what other people say as a basic guide. If I really want to know I try it myself. You won't get any slower I promise you that.

 

How long have you been training, attempting to increase hand speed specifically? Most trainees have bad punching form in the first few months/years of training so repetition of specific punches is probably all you'll need for a good while.

A lot of guys go straight for training methods that are too advanced for their level and end up wasting time. Some guys that lift weights immediately start taking creatine for example which is pretty pointless for a newbie as they'll make big gains in their first months of training with nothing special added in.

 

There are different types of "slow". Do you have slow hand speed or slow footwork?

There can be a variety of reasons for it. For example maybe your conditioning sucks and you have to slow down to pace yourself. Maybe you carry around too much weight. Maybe you sit down on your punches a lot and throw them with more mean intention rather than throwing fast but not so powerful punches.

Also what are your physical characteristics, are you short/tall for your weight, what is your reach?

It's impossible to give an answer but if you are just naturally slow the best way is to develop a good static defense. Basically you need to learn how to stand in front of your opponent and get hit at least as possible or at least roll with the punches. Study James Toney and his defense for example. If you have problems with fast fighters who move around and stick you with jabs study Golovkin and how to cut off the ring.

I think the most important lesson is to not trying to outspeed the faster opponent but rather bait him into throwing punches and then time him and carefully pick your counters when he opens up. Let him have more output and volume and focus on precise powerful counters. Canelo vs Khan is actually a good example of how to methodically wait for the faster fighter to show holes.

 

I wouldn't recommend too much proper shadowboxing with weights, you can injure yourself easily. If you overextend your elbow with that extra weight it can lead to a painful elbow injury.

Instead, do specific drills with small weights. For example mimic straight punches but don't put your hips into them and don't extend your elbows too much, just try to throw a lot of short arm punches. That's especially good for developing a quick jab.

Speed ball like this is good too because it improves your precision and hand eye coordination which will lead to faster reaction times during fights:
http://www.blitzsport.com/images/large/Leather-Floor-To-Ceiling-Speedball-Black-Red.jpg

 

I've heard that shadowboxing with weights is mostly pretty useless (other than helping with shoulder stamina for your guard, maybe)

 

Punching with hand weights will negatively effect punching mechanics, increases risk of injury and has no effect on punching speed (apart from maybe slowing you down after screwing over your punch mechanics).

Try this - lift a 10kg weight for 5 reps however you feel comfortable. Now go lift 30kg the same way for 5 reps. Give about 5-10 seconds, go back and lift the 10kg weight again, it'll feel a lot lighter than normal. You haven't gotten stronger in the last minute, it's just a way to prime your CNS for heavy weights. This is basically what happens when people shadowbox with weights. Box with weights, drop them and wow I'm faster. No. Its just an illusion played by your CNS.

 

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These are the kind of exercises with small weights that I would recommend. I don't think they have that much of an effect on speed but they definitely do condition your hands. If you do them right there is no risk of injury.

 

If you're only training at home, do not throw any punches at all until you can get to a boxing gym, unless of course you want to completely relearn everything which takes about 5-10x longer than just learning good technique in the first place.

 

If you are training at home then you need to live and die by this book:
http://bmsi.ru/issueview/50fc5c79-9b3d-43d8-b013-05838f82720e/files/jack dempsey - championship fighting.pdf

It was written by Jack Dempsey who was one of the greatest punchers that ever lived. He wasn't a natural puncher but over time developed the power of someone who weighed 250 lbs.

He explains in detail everything you need to know about the basics of fighting. You will NOT regret reading it.

The only part that is crap is the diet which is geared towards guys who are overweight imo. The roadwork might be too much so if you find yourself taking off weight excessively then you need to back off of the roadwork and/or eat more.