[Umy]

Ive been there bro, if the kids have a general interest in the sport make sure you dont kill it by harming them, let them know their faults, if you cuz drops his hands tap him on the head to let him know, if he is turning his head away pop him lightly every time he does, nothing too hard, you dont want to hurt him just nice and light.

If he really does have a serious problem and doesnt seem to be listening to you I suppose you will get away with an odd medium powered shot, remember dont kill him, just tap him and if the problem increases then one medium power shot, if he doesnt learn from that go over the problem together and show him how he can get over it, a good coach can do that with words and not necessarily harming their fighter.

Remember tell him how he can get over that problem, maybe drill a little slower than usual until he gets used to it and his fault goes away then drill faster, especially if he is new to the game, things take time, if you have been training for a few years it will come to you easy whereas if your cuz is new it is new to him.

Hope it helps

good luck bro

[.smoke.]

Thanks for the info. I guess i'll just keep tapping him on the head. He seems serious about boxing, but i think he has watched to many boxers on tv who try to be funny or cute, and then he thinks he can do that stuff.

[Umy]

a lot of kids see guys like sugar ray leonard, ali and roy jones jr toying around and playing chicken games with their opponents and think they can do that, once they realise it isnt a game, they'll stop.

Remember, dont fool around unless you know you can get away with it, box smart, they dont call it the sweet science for nothing

[Umy]

A friend of mine is moving out of town soon, he asked me what the minimum requirements were for a home gym till he could find one in his new town.

I decided to write an article on this but instead of posting it in a new thread and wasting space I thought id post it hear instead so that you guys can add to it (remember this is your thread as much as it is mine, I like to hear your ideas)

The Home Gym
The time will eventually come when sooner or later you find yourself wanting or having to train at home. The question is what do you need in order to train succesfully, in this article I will be breifly listing the minimum requirements as far as equipment goes.

First up we need a nice place to train in, it should be fairly large and you should be able to move around freely in it.

OK, now we have a room lets fill it.

The heavy bag

Not many people will enjoy hitting the air all day so we need some solid piece of equipment that will be able to take our blows and build power in our shots. The heavy bag is a priceless piece of equipment for any fighter, it builds strength, stamina and skill and at the same time gives you a great workout.

A mirror

Yes our friend the mirror, when it comes to checking form and technique while training on the bag or shadow boxing its about as much feedback as you will get without a partner, its important to see what you are doing so that you pick faults in your guard, also your reflection can act as an opponent to help liven up your training.

Mitts/Gloves

It is very important, especially when hitting the heavy bag to make sure that your hands have as much protection as they can get, bag mitts will do this. You can get a pair or bag mitts from any good sports store for a reasonable price. You may also want to buy a pair or hand wraps to add that little bit extra protection to your hands when training.

Jump Rope

Yes skipping is not a compulsary activity for a fighter but I reccomend it to everyone, it will help greatly with co-ordination and footwork and is a great form of cardio as well. Make sure you change the way you skip to keep training interesting, skip at different tempos and experiment.

Feedback

This may not be an option for everone but if you can find someone who is willing to train with you, hold the pads and spar with you then you will find you workouts a lot more productive. Your partner should be roughly the same height and weight as you and should also be willing to train regularly. You really should find a partner if you find yourself training at home for more than a month or you will see yourself decline as far as skill goes, the bag wont tell you what youre doing wrong.

A mat

Again this isnt compulsary but if you find yourself doing a lot of floor conditioning exercises your back may thank you for it in the long run.

Light bag/double end bag/maize bag

Once again these arent compulsary, but its always nice to have a few surfaces and textures to punch at. If you have a training partner you may want to get yourselves a pair of focus mitts for padwork to add to variety but again this it up to you.

Radio

Workouts get boring sometimes and if your a music person then having the radio on whilst training wont harm anyone and will keep things interesting.

There is a lot more equipment that you will find in most gyms but I have covered the basic needs for home training, if anyone wants to add to this feel free.

Take care and tell me what you think

umy

[spired]

I have a question... I have problems with throwing counter punches, because I'm affraid to get hit with left or right jab's....

[.smoke.]

UMY: Good Home Gym post. You can go to Title and get the heavybag stand w/speed bag attatchment for 150$, i think its a pretty good deal.

[timing]

great thread KING UMY, very helpfull.

spired, whist i no longer fight i still train and spare reasonably regularly and when it comes to counter punching i have always been told that the best defence is attack especially when you are being attacked. therefore just start punching back. even if you miss it will give your opponent something to think about and put him off his attack. you may get hit to start with but you will improve with practice.

[Umy]

have a question... I have problems with throwing counter punches, because I'm affraid to get hit with left or right jab's....

Timing gave some good advice to this but ill see if I can help you get over your problem.

I think this is a problem you will come over in sparring. Next time you spar make a mental note to yourself that you will try to counter a punch whenever you can, if you get hit it doesnt matter, 9/10 times you wont get knocked down by a jab. Take the oppertunities you see, bruce lee used to say if you see the opening go with your instincts and go for it.

I think you will get over it in time as long as you keep practicing, remember dont be scared of getting hit, a jab wont knock you out but a nice rear hook to your opponents chin will

Another lil tip is to tap down your opponents jab with your mitt (so your hand is on top of theirs) and then jab them, this works great with fighters in the opposite stance.

Ill leave this with one quote that has seen me through sparring sessions against very good opponents:

The coward and the hero both feel the same way, its what the hero does that makes the difference, the hero has the dicipline and courage to do what needs to be done but the coward, he runs

Throwing and landing those counterpunches with the risk of getting jabed will make you a hero, sitting there and being afraid to throw shots will make you a coward (sorry fot the cruddy example :P ) next time your sparring ask yourself, what am I?

hope it helps, if you need anything else just ask

take care guys

[Umy]

heres a short article I wrote a while ago on the uppercut, again instead of making a new post about it ill leave it in here:

The uppercut
The uppercut is a wonderful blow; a punch usually executed at close range that snaps back your opponent?s head and knocks the wind out of them when thrown to the body.

When set up by a few jabs or hooks the uppercut can be a very hard punch to see coming and if thrown correctly can be a big fight stopper.

The uppercut is thrown like every other punch in boxing, the hip rotation cant be emphasised enough, the uppercut should be thrown in a smooth upward curving motion and should snap at the end of the blow with the rotation of the hips.

Remember, crush peanuts, many coaches teach their fighters to imagine they are crushing peanuts beneath their feet when throwing blows to help emphasise the twist on the balls of their feet, this works not only for the uppercut but all punches.

Unlike the other punches it is harder to practice the uppercut on the heavy bag.
There are however other pieces of equipment that the uppercut can be practiced on, the maize bag and uppercut bags are 2 examples. Speed can also be worked on when doing pad work as a partner can hold the pads in a position for the uppercut to hit them. Work hard training your uppercut as it can be a valuable tool in you arsenal.

Uppercuts are often successful at close range and are easy to land straight through an opponents guard, one combination that I have seen a few use to land the rear uppercut is a lead body hook followed by a rear body hook then a rear uppercut, your opponent will be open for an uppercut straight though the middle after the body hooks, also when fighting in close range against a fighter who puts his head down you will find the uppercut a great tool.

Well that?s it for now

Until next time take care and train hard

Umy H.

[Umy]

I have written an article on what a typical home gym should include above, it actually occured to me today that I havent said what a typical session should include

Im going to quickly try and cover a basic boxing session now.

Warm up

Shadow boxing, whether you love it, hate it or think its useless every fighter should do it. Why you ask? shadowboxing does not only help get the blood flowing and get the muscles that you will be repeatedly using ready but also helps you practice combinations you will use for sparring.
In Bruce Lee's words shadowboxing is homework for sparring.

At first throw your punches nice and light to get into things, after a few rounds build up speed and power. Many people argue that you shouldnt fully extend your arms while shadowboxing and others say there isnt anything wrong with it, the choice is up to you, personally id focus on proper technique as opposed to power when shadowboxing so you wont have to worry about your joints.

Also If you have a rope id try and skip for 5-10 minutes to really get the blood flowing, either 3 rounds or 1-3 mintues or 5-10 minutes straight, remember variation it the key to keeping workouts interesting, mix your skipping up a bit.

Next is the warm up, every gym will have its own method, I generally warm up from my neck to my feet, giving the exact rountine would take a thread of its own, but make sure you warm up thoroughly.

conditioning

Again this would require a thread of its own if i went into detail but 15-30 minutes of hard bodyweight conditioning.

If you want to box you have to be fit, its as simple as that, if your just training skill and no conditioning you may as well sit in the crowd instead of stepping into the ring, boxing isnt a game, its a serious sport with many dangers and without conditioning you wont have the fuel in your tank that you will need in later rounds.

Skill work

Bagwork

Bagwork, depending on the bag, will help develop strength, endurance, power and skill. Make sure you try and work on good form when on the bags, its easy for your hands to start dropping, especially after a few hard rounds on the bag, focus on technique rather than killing your bag.

Padwork

Padwork is taking the techniques you have practiced on the bag and shadowboxing applying them to a moving target, this will help build accuracy, stamina, reflexes and speed. If you are lucky enough to have a partner a few rounds on the pads will add flavour to your sessions and also teach you new skills, remember mix up punches when on the pads, if your holding then vary combinations and move around, make you man follow you, also test his guard whilst moving so he remembers to keep his hands up.

Sparring

Sparring is taking the techniqes you have applied on the pads and using them against a live resisting target, the aim of sparring isnt to kill eachother but to practice techniques and get a feel for new ideas practiced in training. Make sure (if you have a choice, which some people dont unfortunately) that you sparring partner is roughly the same weight and skill level as you, you will also want to spar in fairly heavy gloves 12-14 ounce should to the job, headguards arent compulsary but you can use them if you want and make sure you have your mouthpiece in unless you want to end up having a locking jaw, like myself .

Roadwork

Whether you run or not is up to you but I advise it, in the longer rounds when you need your legs you will thank yourself for it, 3 miles 3 times a week is a nice length for amatuers, time yourself if you like but at first dont focus on beating your time till you get used to it. Make sure you control your breathing when running, the best time to run is early on a morning because there is usually less traffic and fumes oh and of course less dogs :P .

Well ive gone over some very basic drills for a typical boxing session, again if there is anything specific you want covering please ask.

Until later, take care and train hard

Umy