Ultra White Collar Boxing

[Slickus]

We were told last night that Sports Direct gloves are useless, and in the same breath the guy said "buy ours!". Eradicate the competition, first lesson covered then ;-)
Another set have been ordered off Amazon and should be here soon.

Running wise, I feel it's my best option for now, with my situation and lack of available time. I pulled up last week after 50 yards as my knee didn't feel 100%, so I'm making sure I don't push it, or jeperdise the whole experience.

[Slickus]

Weekend homework...




Poxy iPad

[Liokault]

ORD said:

I would ditch running almost entirely in the OP's position - it's not very specific to boxing at all. Circuits and HIIT would be better.

Distance running is fairly pointless. I would be looking at hill sprinting. Also not so hard on the knees if the hill is steep enough.

[ben5575]

Great that you've signed up and have such a positive approach to it.

Gloves aside, you might want to keep that left hand up

Seriously though, a big part of it is getting in to the ring in the first place. Expect a lot to drop out.

You have to get sparring. Pretty much everybody who hasn't stood in front of somebody trying to hit them, will flinch/turn their back/drop their head/ball up to some extent the first couple of times they get hit in the face. Once you get used to it, you'll stop, but you probably want to stop doing it before before the big night.

You also need to get punched hard as well. Sparring at 40% is one thing, having somebody hitting you for real and realising that those little parries you've mastered aren't quite as effective as you thought is something else... As others have said, getting hit and controlling the red mist is an important skill.

On the night it is all about the basics. Hands up, move, hit hard. Keep it really simple.

Keep us posted on how you get on and good luck

[Halb]

Parkrun every sat morning at 9, is a good run for big guys, the sweet spot. Long enough to get your tank up but not so long that'll it'll affect strength.

[Slickus]

Well the weekend has been and gone. Sadly both days were rest days as we had so much on, but was kept busy and moving. Should of counted the amount of steps i done, oh well. Anyway, weighed myself yesterday and managed to shed 2 pounds over the week, so not as much as the week before but still dropping and can feel muscle building slowly around me, and fat slowly disappearing.
Tickets wise, well, have put myself down for a VIP table for friends and family and then there's people that want to come as a standing ticket, so more tickets to sell. Do find it slightly odd though that all money has to come via the fighter by way of cash on each training day to be handed over, or bank transfer. Still, not difficult to sort out. Would of thought buying tickets on the website, you could stipulate who you are going to watch and support, thus creating a list showing how many tickets each fighter has sold.

Talking of training, the weekly sessions that will be run at the boxing gym were released over the weekend, Thursdays 8pm-9pm, not a bad time as it lets the OH sort out her horse and i can see the boy. Other session is Saturdays 12pm-1pm. This one is a bit more of a pain as it breaks up a Saturday, and i really want to get to all sessions as much as i can, and more, sparring sessions being one of them. All for charity and my health, and only an hour and free so can't really moan.
Gloves got returned to Sports Direct and new ones on order from Amazon.

Run this morning was good. Nice to get out after 2 days of rest, and actually get a sweat on and push myself. New PB also today, only stopped twice to catch my breath and then back running (did the first 1.5 miles without a stop). Gym tonight and then repeat for tomorrow. Knee support arrived at the weekend also and this worked wonders this morning.

Cheers guys

[5LDC]

I'm in the same boat as you OP, been to the welcome meeting this week with training starting Thursday, fight 3rd June. Never been in a ring myself either so should be a good challenge.
I'm around 90kg and do go to the gym only a couple of times a week usually, I've only been lifting weights recently too, definitely need to work on the cardio.
Good luck.

[Slickus]

5LDC said:

I'm in the same boat as you OP, been to the welcome meeting this week with training starting Thursday, fight 3rd June. Never been in a ring myself either so should be a good challenge.
I'm around 90kg and do go to the gym only a couple of times a week usually, I've only been lifting weights recently too, definitely need to work on the cardio.
Good luck.

Where about's are you doing your training/fight 5LDC?

We've had a few drop out since last Friday's introduction meeting. Seems the demand for VIP tables was very high (24 tables and around 40 fighters wanting a table each) and getting a VIP table as a fighter relieves some pressure for securing the first 10 tickets each fighter needs to sell within the first 2 weeks of training. After that, the following 2 weeks, another 10 tickets need to be sold (Standing as VIP is now sold out) by the fighter to secure their place on the fight card, and the 8 week training course. Puts a little pressure on to sell tickets, and takes it away slightly from the real reason we all want to take part, for charity.
Guess ticket sales covers overheads etc, but one question i will be putting to the organizers tonight is how much of ticket sales will actually go to CRUK.

Training has been good this week. Been eating well and running every morning (except this morning) and gym each night. 'Rest' day today, although first full training session in the boxing gym tonight, and want to have my body in the best state it can be. Last night at the gym was difficult. Body felt tired and drained, but pushed through and got a good sweat on.
Tomorrow i will go for a swim to recover from tonight. Sounds as though tonight and the next week or 2, will all be about finding out where peoples fitness levels are at. Expect a lot of sit ups, push ups, burpees etc tonight, no gloves on just yet.

Weigh in day on Sunday, hoping for another drop in weight. I can tell my body is shrinking, which makes me very happy and a good motivator.

[briangriffin]

Slickus said:

Well the weekend has been and gone. Sadly both days were rest days as we had so much on, but was kept busy and moving. Should of counted the amount of steps i done, oh well. Anyway, weighed myself yesterday and managed to shed 2 pounds over the week, so not as much as the week before but still dropping and can feel muscle building slowly around me, and fat slowly disappearing.
Tickets wise, well, have put myself down for a VIP table for friends and family and then there's people that want to come as a standing ticket, so more tickets to sell. Do find it slightly odd though that all money has to come via the fighter by way of cash on each training day to be handed over, or bank transfer. Still, not difficult to sort out. Would of thought buying tickets on the website, you could stipulate who you are going to watch and support, thus creating a list showing how many tickets each fighter has sold.

Talking of training, the weekly sessions that will be run at the boxing gym were released over the weekend, Thursdays 8pm-9pm, not a bad time as it lets the OH sort out her horse and i can see the boy. Other session is Saturdays 12pm-1pm. This one is a bit more of a pain as it breaks up a Saturday, and i really want to get to all sessions as much as i can, and more, sparring sessions being one of them. All for charity and my health, and only an hour and free so can't really moan.
Gloves got returned to Sports Direct and new ones on order from Amazon.

Run this morning was good. Nice to get out after 2 days of rest, and actually get a sweat on and push myself. New PB also today, only stopped twice to catch my breath and then back running (did the first 1.5 miles without a stop). Gym tonight and then repeat for tomorrow. Knee support arrived at the weekend also and this worked wonders this morning.

Cheers guys

Look for another boxing gym local to you if the Saturday session doesn't suit you mate, I'm in the sticks so we only have evening sessions but I've been to a gym in Bristol a few times and there pretty much sessions on most of the day every day.

[Slickus]

Well, update time......

So the first Boxing session was Thursday last week. Must of been between 50 and 60 of us crammed into a small boxing gym. Guys leading the session were really good, getting us to stretch out at the start and a warm up. Followed by kettle bell work and medicine ball 'fun'. Then halfway through we were told to put our gloves on and we started with finding our individual stance. I was slightly surprised we had our gloves on this early, but enjoyed it and figured out a good stance for myself and best positioning for my body. Left there feeling drained, and the next day, my thighs were burning from all the squats etc.
Friday i decided to go for a swim as some form of workout and not heavy impacting on the already aching muscles. Not sure this was a good idea or not, as that night (Friday) my thighs were very sore, and even getting up off the sofa was hard work.
Saturday came and another boxing session. This time learning about following through with the punch, and using our hips and leading foot to deliver the best punch. We were partnered up and each 'pad' drill lasted 2 minutes, so i was already gauging how i would be on a 2 minute round. Not good it would seem, i was blowing, although this was 45 minutes into the session and a lot of work done beforehand. I was dripping with sweat at the end, and being placed in the ring for more room to work out, you could see my body imprint on the canvas where i was doing sit ups etc.
Sunday and Monday were rest days although took the family out for some decent walks to keep the thighs active. Put on 2 pound last week also, but i'm thinking (hoping) this is muscle as I've been eating very well and drinking gallons of water.

Back to my morning run this morning and completed 2 miles without stopping which i was very happy about. Had a couple of brief stops to catch my breath but then ran most of the way home so was chuffed when i got in. Skipping and gym work tonight and repeat all for tomorrow, leading up to another boxing session on Thursday.

Almost reached my halfway target for my full target with raising money for Cancer Research UK. Ticket sales for the event have stalled so need to push on with this in the coming days.

Other then that, not much else to report.

Need to learn how to wrap my hands!!

[egor110]

Where abouts is your fight ? maybe there could be a pistonheads table ?

Re your cardio have you thought about spinning instead ? you either spin fast or moderate but up hills per song , each song is going to be around your total boxing round.

How do they score your fights , like do you get points for shots landed or just knock outs?

[ORD]

egor110 said:

Where abouts is your fight ? maybe there could be a pistonheads table ?

Re your cardio have you thought about spinning instead ? you either spin fast or moderate but up hills per song , each song is going to be around your total boxing round.

How do they score your fights , like do you get points for shots landed or just knock outs?

Spinning would be a lot better than running, in my opinion. A lot less impact and almost no risk of injury.

[egor110]

ORD said:

egor110 said:

Where abouts is your fight ? maybe there could be a pistonheads table ?

Re your cardio have you thought about spinning instead ? you either spin fast or moderate but up hills per song , each song is going to be around your total boxing round.

How do they score your fights , like do you get points for shots landed or just knock outs?

Spinning would be a lot better than running, in my opinion. A lot less impact and almost no risk of injury.

Spinning and sparring , get used to being out of breath and recovering quick and being hit.

Nobody likes being hit so make it 'normal ' so on your night you don't hold your breath and freeze.

Work out if you can hit hard , if not cover up and just take points rather than windmilling away trying to knock the other guys head off whilst totally knackering yourself out to the point you can't even keep your hands up.

Somebody else said go for body shots , let them come out all guns blazing then once they've blown out start banging in those body shots especially if you know you haven't got that big knock out punch .

[Slickus]

egor110 said:

ORD said:

egor110 said:

Where abouts is your fight ? maybe there could be a pistonheads table ?

Re your cardio have you thought about spinning instead ? you either spin fast or moderate but up hills per song , each song is going to be around your total boxing round.

How do they score your fights , like do you get points for shots landed or just knock outs?

Spinning would be a lot better than running, in my opinion. A lot less impact and almost no risk of injury.

Spinning and sparring , get used to being out of breath and recovering quick and being hit.

Nobody likes being hit so make it 'normal ' so on your night you don't hold your breath and freeze.

Work out if you can hit hard , if not cover up and just take points rather than windmilling away trying to knock the other guys head off whilst totally knackering yourself out to the point you can't even keep your hands up.

Somebody else said go for body shots , let them come out all guns blazing then once they've blown out start banging in those body shots especially if you know you haven't got that big knock out punch .

Fight is in Southampton at the Novotel Hotel on the 3rd June. Sadly all VIP tables are sold out but there are Standing tickets still available at £20 a piece.

Spinning could be a good shout, i need something as you say that is high intensity over a 2-3 minute range, get me use to the round lengths (2 minute rounds). I have pads now to also train with, and a few mates are happy to come over mine to help out and let me reel off some punches.
I plan also as of 4 weeks to the fight, start having extra 1-to-1 sessions at the boxing gym with sparring, so i can get used to taking a punch as you mentioned.
The ref will score each round. Although looking at a lot of YouTube clips, it would seem there are more fighters just giving up through exhaustion then fighting on. Ref scores each round and after 3 rounds, normally there's a winner. They do have draws also though, but again, up to the ref.

YouTube also gives a good idea of what different fighters approach is to their own fight. Some come out windmilling, the crowd with their supporters cheering them on, they'll throw the kitchen sink if they could. Others seem to hang back and actually want to last the fight, and box. Problem seems the windmilling opponent has other ideas and comes out aimlessly swinging, then leaving the 'boxer' type fighter with no option but to windmill back. Something i'll be aware of and if i can take a decent punch, i'll let my opponent box himself out in the first round, and then i'll come swinging in the 2nd and 3rd, that is if my body lets me!

[ben5575]

Sounds like you're enjoying it. Well done and keep going.

These are £14 well spent. They really help with the aches and pains, particularly in your legs:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016RF2Q44/ref...

There are so many boxing videos on youtube that you'll end up punch drunk (excuse the pun...). My 'go to guy' is JT Van V. Great technician whose videos operate on a lot of different levels; for the complete beginner they are really simple, for the more experienced there is a lot going on beneath the surface. Some examples:

Common beginner mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foT9yEmY3Ys

Common heavy bag mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TFDkN7L-4

Common sparring problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=age6OfzAPmE

Head movement (this is the truth): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ6vTjTrelI

Fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBPbyT-da2Y

Shadow boxing (for your rest days). Forget about how much better his technique is than yours, just recognise and try and replicate his intensity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMBWfrErX9U

As I say it is easy to get overwhelmed and you're certainly not going to learn everything in 8 weeks (or even 8 years!), but sometimes it is easier to get a handle on the basics if you understand the bigger picture.

[ben5575]

Sorry, just to add, some excellent advice above as well.

Re fight strategy, just remember Tyson's famous quote 'Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth'. I hear what you're doing in the gym, but you really need to start sparring and getting hit - go to other gyms and explain what you're doing and ask if you can join a sparring session. We get lads in all the time and they invariably come in swinging and tense, blowing after 3 mins.

You need to learn how you react and get used to being in somebody's face when they are trying to hit you - you can't train for it, you have to experience it. All the bag work in the world will be of no use if you freeze when you get punched and are too scared to get shots off.

[Halb]

ben5575 said:

These are £14 well spent. They really help with the aches and pains, particularly in your legs:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016RF2Q44/ref...

These are money well spent? How long do you use them for?

---

OP, here is the endurance circuit.

Halb said:

Posting BMW's™ heavy bag routine from 'What training have you done today'

Lost_BMW said:

Based on 2 minute rounds for now (if a timer is available it can be a god send as it stops the slacking/tailing off early when guessing as 2 mins can seem an awfully long time if full at it!) of:

2 x rounds shadow boxing/working on foot work, balance, correctness of punch delivery, varying the punch types and loosening up - a good warming up prep. to get the muscles and ligaments ready

1 x round of jab work with one hand only then (as you aren't a pro and don't need to worry about learning to be/fixating the body on one lead hand) . . .

1 x round of jab with the other hand - will help balance across the body and gain endurance in both hands

1 x round jab => straight punch pairs; if technique is an issue (or you just want to master it!) then for now maybe work on one jab followed by one straight shot, aiming to perfect the ankle, foot, knee, hip twist and hand position on impact and building power in the later punches, say in the last 20 seconds of the round, or maybe every 3rd or 4th. I find trying to make every punch a power shot (absolutely flat out) is likely to compromise form + is hard on hands and joints. If boredom is an issue and perfection less important you could vary the combinations, like following the 2nd or 3rd jab with a straight shot, ater adding crosses and hooks to the combinations once the technique of those is sound.*

1 x round repeating but again, swapping the jab and straight punch hands over

Then 1 round each of the same for the cross and/or the hook depending on how much time you have and whether you have built these into the above* or stuck with just jab=>straight pairs

To finish 1 x round of endurance work, like the 'ladders' I mentioned before or the stuff you often see on TV with boxers doing loads of short uppercuts/hooks on a bag.

Lost_BMW said:

Basically, for each arm separately:

10 single jabs - hard and fast as possible and pulling the hand back to guard as fast as possible too but a small pause before letting the second jab go, so I'd describe them as 'singles'. So, 10 'reps' . . .

Then 'doubles' - similar but this time each jab followed immediately by the second with no pause then the small pause (still very little basically but would feel different, just a momentary rest, then the next pair). I do five of these so now up to 20 'reps'

Then 'triples' - as above but three at a time with as close to zero pause as possible between each of three x three jabs; then I add one to make another 10 = 30 reps so far

Then 'fours', obviously 4 in a row, just two of these - and then 2 more reps to 10 to make 40 reps so far

Then 'fives' as above - 5 jabs, briefest pause, 5 more jabs; twice to make 10 => 50 so far

Then reverse via:

another pair of fives

then the fours (+2)

then the triples (+1)

then the doubles

and ending with 10 singles. So 100 'reps'/ jabs all in.

If I'm really after endurance - or short of time; this might be my entire workout! - I sometimes go up through sixes, sevens, eights and nines to a set of ten non-stop jabs before coming back down to the last set of singles.

edit
How to grease the groove;
http://cbass.com/Pavel%27sLadders.htm

How to learn pistols;
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_r...

Edited by Halb on Sunday 12th February 09:09

Also a nice thread for conditioning training, which is where I think you primary focus should be along with getting punched in the face as described above.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...

[egor110]

Like Ben says 8 weeks isn't long , you almost want a good instructor who finds what your st at and works around it.

ie cardio is crap and your blind as a bat , so let the other guy do all the work and come to you , get good at moving as little as possible to avoid his shots using as little energy as possible and go for the body as it's a larger area to hit.

to be honest the more sparring you can do the better even if you reduce the bag work , you need to get used to being hit and the fact that you can't just punch with no threat of anything coming the other way.

[egor110]

Halb - re the foam rolling you should be able to do the whole body in 15 mins max , this video is good to copy :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXbpx_DFXEc

[Slickus]

ben5575 said:

Sounds like you're enjoying it. Well done and keep going.

These are £14 well spent. They really help with the aches and pains, particularly in your legs:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016RF2Q44/ref...

There are so many boxing videos on youtube that you'll end up punch drunk (excuse the pun...). My 'go to guy' is JT Van V. Great technician whose videos operate on a lot of different levels; for the complete beginner they are really simple, for the more experienced there is a lot going on beneath the surface. Some examples:

Common beginner mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foT9yEmY3Ys

Common heavy bag mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TFDkN7L-4

Common sparring problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=age6OfzAPmE

Head movement (this is the truth): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ6vTjTrelI

Fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBPbyT-da2Y

Shadow boxing (for your rest days). Forget about how much better his technique is than yours, just recognise and try and replicate his intensity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMBWfrErX9U

As I say it is easy to get overwhelmed and you're certainly not going to learn everything in 8 weeks (or even 8 years!), but sometimes it is easier to get a handle on the basics if you understand the bigger picture.

Cheers Ben, might have to purchase one of those for after training, and the day after.

I will look up these videos tonight, do some research but sounds like it's all good stuff.

Thanks