Boxing
Sadly, not the author.
Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash.
Introduction
As a much younger person I used to spar a lot in taekwondo (more here), using light open-handed gloves. Taekwondo sparring is basically kickboxing, and the kicks are where you get the most points. Being big and slow, I don’t think my kicks were ever that good, but I have a good reach and did OK with my hands, if I could stay out of trouble.
As we get older, we know we need to invest more time in working hard to prevent muscle and bone loss. In addition, I have been wanting to up my cardio game and work up a sweat, and to do something that I felt complemented my Traditional Chinese Martial arts. My Kung Fu teacher (I am still very much a novice here) is also a Western boxer so we often done some pad work in our Kung Fu lessons, so I felt I had some insight as to what I was letting myself in for.
My local gym offers a ‘BoxFit’ class and I have been dying to try it.
After three months of working on functional strength and mobility at the gym, my PT gave me the go ahead and I did my first class on Monday night.
He gave me a 1:1 coaching session earlier in the day, showing me the basic jab, cross, hook and uppercut and also the defensive posture. A couple of days later I had another 1:1 coaching session, so all in all, this is still very new to me, and these are first impressions.
Apologies in advance to all the boxers and fighters out there!
Stance
Weight 50:50. Toes pointing to the corners. Slightly side on.
Defence
My PT, Grant, is a boxer and he is wearing focus mitts. I am wearing 16oz gloves.
If I am not whacking something with my gloves, he wants them on my chin. Literally, tight to my chin. I started with them floating out in front of my face, going back to my Taekwondo sparring maybe? Anyway, he poked holes right through that loose guard, and I learned fast, that my gloves need to be on my chin. And punches have to be snappy, pulling that glove back fast, to its properly parked, protective position.
Believe me, when somebody is punching you in the face, you need to pay attention.
With the gloves on my chin, my forearms are together and my elbows on my rib cage. If I want to cover an attack to my ribs, I have to scrunch down on that side, dropping my elbow to the attack whilst leaving the chin covered.
Jab
Snap it out, and twist.
One, one two. One, one two.
With the gloves parked on the chin, the little finger is facing the opponent. By the time the jab lands, the fist will have have rotated through 90 degrees. Tighten the glove in the hand before impact - applies to all the punches.
Snap it back. Park it.
Cross
Keeping the weight 50:50, come on to the ball of the back foot, whilst sinking the body weight. Extend the reach. Twisting the fist. Should be able to go further than the jab.
Snap it back. Park it.
Try not to get a clout around the ear by your coach.
The sinking resonated so much with what we are taught in Taiji and the shape of the cross is evocative of the body posture of classic reverse punches in karate and taekwondo. In these kata and patterns, the punch starts on the hip, palm up, and rotates a full 180 degrees to finish palm down.
Hook
Front foot pivots on the ball. It’s not about striking with the arm alone. Use the turn of the body and the hips to generate power. Keep the elbow horizontal and at eye level.
This is such a tight strike, very close to the body and with very little travel. The antithesis of a haymaker.
Kept catching my thumb on these. Very painful. Need to make a tighter fist. And wraps should help.
Snap it back. Park it.
Uppercut
Another close range attack. A short movement. A twist of the hip and use of the core to generate power.
Snap it back. Park it.
Parrying
Tiny little moves of the gloves towards the attack, deflecting them minutely and taking the sting out of the punch.
It’s so subtle.
It’s very definitely an art.
BoxFit Class
Class starts with a few minutes shadow boxing, working a few combinations.
We are paired up. We each alternate wearing gloves or using the focus mitts.
The mitt wearer calls the strikes and combos, they are the boss, pushing you off if you are getting too close and putting mitts down to signal a stop.
We are not sparring, but the mitt wearer will look for and highlight gaps in your defence with a thrust of the mitt.
There’s a lot going on mentally in this overall process…
Hear the command
Process the command (remember the difference between a jab and a cross etc., and I have not even really started with body shots yet!)
Execute the strike or strike combo
Return to defensive posture
Each of these steps will take a number of milliseconds to run. I am guessing in a sparring or competition scenario, you are chopping out one of these steps which, will make it even faster…
See a target
Execute the strike or strike combo
Return to defensive posture
After 100’s and 1000’s of hours of training, the techniques are hard-wired into new neural pathways and triggered reflexively. The brain / body is acting on auto-pilot.
Wrapping up
The guys I was training with were kind to me, the newbie. I learned a lot.
I maintained a good work rate for the hour, and came out sweating (not pretty, sorry!).
My forearms were destroyed (in a good way!), and when I got back home I found it hard to type on a keyboard. No injuries a week later, aside from an ache in my shoulders, which goes to show I need to listen to the advice I am given, and use the hips and body more to punch, and not rely on my arms.
A huge sense of achievement and physical and mental well-being after training in a safe environment, where nobody is trying to best you. We are each trying to help each other improve.
Strong recommend!
Photos by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography and The Cleveland Museum of Art on Unsplash
