I know that boxing needs to be learned with another person in front of me. I cannot learn wrestling, tennis, basketball or any other human on human sport without a partner. Why would I think that boxing, with so many additional risks, would be any different. Getting to a gym with a reputable coach and challenging teammates is obviously option #1. But what if that isn't available, what's option #2? question for the wanna-be WITHOUT a gym: What if you had drilling/spar mates (friends, family, etc), but not the resources? What would you want to learn? question for the boxer WITH a real gym: what are some of the topics/experiences you've had that you are grateful for, especially in the beginning (I'm more interested in the "what" and then later we'll figure out the "how")? it's a pretty open ended question with no wrong answer. your experience is your experience (ex. "i like my coach made me practice only the jab/footwork/some other skill/etc for a month", "my gym is around the corner from my house", "my teammates give me a healthy challenge", etc). Thanks!
Boxer with a real gym: - Constant feedback from my coaches and club mates. - Learning from different styles and physical conditions of everyone. - Good enviroment. Respectful people without envy nor big egos, they want you to improve so they can improve too. - Different kind of routines and drills. Not limited to my point of view. - Real time reflexes improved in sparring, mitt work and other works. - Competitive attitude (balls) to try to overcome physical and mental limits in long intese works (you don't ever want to look tired or floppy before your partner). - Variety of people keep you humble and openminded.
For not having a gym... In college I used to have a few pair of gloves. Usually none of my friends wanted to spar which made sense. So I would have them just try to hit me without hittting back, and I would just defend as long as possible. Dodging blocking, parrying, clinching. Eventually they would get tired after a few minutes and frustrated after not hitting me. It got me to become really comfortable with the rhythm and pace of punches coming towards me, and how to maneuver on the inside. How to brace for and catch punches. And how to nullify an attack to close the distance.
I think that if you don't have a gym available at the moment just focus on conditioning a lot. Once you start training boxing and sparring seriously you'll get some wear and tear on your body and you won't be able to train as much. Athletic people in shape always start great as beginners.
Interesting. I see how my question looks like it's for me, but it's not. I thought I was being "open ended" to discover other points of view. I've been coaching boxing over 26 years, and I have a gym. I'm also developing a website for people who don't have access to a gym to learn real boxing from partner drills. I'm looking for suggestions on what people in that situation (no gym, no coach) think that they need to learn, even if it isn't the ideal learning environment (a gym, and coach). and, at the same time, you did answer me ... conditioning. thanks!
