Where I live (Vancouver, Canada) it's mostly gyms offering 'boxing' classes for beginners - most of whom are still absolute beginners even a year or so down the line because said classes mostly focus on the punches without ever teaching proper stance, foot placement and movement. Same problem where you are?
Yep. i have to train boxing at a muay thai gym which have boxing classes. but the boxing only classes are only twice a week. One is a group session with amateur fighters and beginners/fitness people and the other one is where people wanting to fight, spar. So really its only 2 days in the gym and the other 3 week days i have to go to a commercial gym to do weights, cardio and some extra bag work. This trainer still gets guys in to have amateur fights when they're ready so he's legit and he used to fight also but it just sucks only being twice a week, i want to be with a trainer 5 days a week in the gym.
If the classes aren't teaching stance, footwork, or movement, IMO, you'd be better off not "learning" from them. Bad habits are just as hard to break as good ones. You can't really do the punches without proper stance, footwork, and movement. I see people all the time who have learned the "wrong" way, and they are more difficult to work with than people who are new and know nothing about boxing at all. You might watch some Youtube "how to box" videos and work on your conditioning and you'll probably be advanced when you do find a trainer. If you train yourself, keep your elbows in, bend at the knees to change levels, keep your chin down, don't cross your feet, (just good body mechanics) and you probably won't be doing anything wrong. When you find a good trainer, he can tweak what you're already doing and you should be okay.
At first I thought "isn't Vancouver a big city, what are you talking about?" but then I googled and understood your problem! http://boxing.bc.ca if you look at this site, you can see where the competing boxers come from. Don't know how large British Columbia is, but at least some guys should come from BC!
i just wanted to give a shoutout because I grew up in Richmond. Its a common dilemna with lots people. My plan is to build a setup in a garage of a future house. Get a double end bag in your bed room... do what you can. yizzer
Well first off boxing is a niche sport. Despite gloves and bags being sold and most mainstream sports stores, very few people actually do full contact boxing. Most gyms doing boxing or outdoor boot camps with boxing exercises I have noticed are boxercise (i.e. with all the contact taken out - this means throwing a punch with proper technique isn't a big deal because those people just want the cardio benefits). You have to go where there are fighters, you have to learn the real thing. And unfortunately in boxing unlike lots of other sports its more a trial by fire. If you got to a proper gym and hang around enough they will teach you properly. I trained at a pro gym for almost 6 months without the trainer calling me up for pads and I was already experienced by that point. 5 days a week I hit the bags, did the drills, sparred guys and watched everyone closely. Coaches don't want to waste their time as people don't last long. Getting punched in the face sucks and lots of people just can't handle it. I tell the young guys I have trained - the really good guys just kept coming back that's why they are tough. Otherwise you have to pay for one on one sessions which is very expensive. I travelled to Vancouver a while back for a holiday. I went to a gym, it was in the city, kinda near downtown, I remember lots of homeless people on the way home after dark in the snow. I wanted to train hard like amateur fighters do. Instead it was some crappy boxercise class. 1 hour of just flopping around holding pads for people that had no idea about a real punch coming at them. Well the teacher noticed my technique and asked me to stay at the end to spar his fighter. Which was a damn surprise especially after 1 hour of training. Well I went in there and really put in on this guy. Afterwards they asked me to come back regularly and train with the fighters and do the proper training.
That's exactly the problem, though - you had had previous training and already learned the fundamentals. So you were able to join the fighters for the proper training. But where does a beginner go to get that essential grounding in the basics. The kind of gym you describe looks like it caters to two groups, and two groups only: 1. People who want to do boxercise 2. People who already learned to box elsewhere.
Move to South Texas. In the 70 miles from Mission to Brownsville there are well over 100 real boxing gyms and more than that on the Mexican side.
Well, that's one way to do it! Sadly, moving to Texas is not really an option. I reckon there is a decent market for real boxing gyms in most major cities - just a pity that the supply isn't there.
The problem is, that there is no rly good gyms. Not enough ppl looking for the same... So not enought demand
It's very difficult right now. Gyms are popping up EVERYWHERE and it's all group classes for yuppies and women. And they are EXPEN$$$IVE. Most of they gyms dont even allow you in for self training, you need to be part of the class. Being in Houston is tough. Ronnie Shields gym is pretty far from downtown but im not even sure if they take walk-ins. Might be a private gym only for training pro's.
There are many boxing gyms in Houston; Rocky Juarez and Juan Diaz both have gyms. I do not believe that the Shields gym is closed to the public.
Baby Bull gym is at the forefront of this crap trend. Good on him, he capitalized on it big time. Haven't checked out rocky Juarez though I will
Seems to be a lot harder in the states canada etc to find a gym. Most places ive trained in Liverpool england and north wales anyone more or less can walk in a proper amateur boxing gym and train
