Confidence takes time for most people to build up, at least legitimate confidence. I’ve seen a lot of guys who “ain’t afraid of nobody!” get humbled fast and then they have to start all over again. Boxing is really good for that though, isn’t it? It lets you know where you really stand, not where you think you stand or where you want to tell people you stand. That’s one of my favorite things about it. But I’ll spare you the pseudo-philosophical rambling lol
Just going by how your coaches are treating you, I’d say you’re doing a lot of things right.
[quote]Melvin Smiley wrote:
Confidence takes time for most people to build up, at least legitimate confidence. I’ve seen a lot of guys who “ain’t afraid of nobody!” get humbled fast and then they have to start all over again. Boxing is really good for that though, isn’t it? It lets you know where you really stand, not where you think you stand or where you want to tell people you stand. That’s one of my favorite things about it. But I’ll spare you the pseudo-philosophical rambling lol
Just going by how your coaches are treating you, I’d say you’re doing a lot of things right.[/quote]
Thanks mate. You couldn’t be more right, it’s extremely humbling. It also makes you legitimately more confident though as a result, I think. Once you realise how bad at fighting (naturally, discounting any ‘other experience’ they may have) even the scariest looking people are, you recognise your own capabilities more as they develop, and how quickly dedicated training in a combat sport moves you up the food chain.
None of this is to say it makes you bullet proof, or immune to being sucker punched by a seasoned street fighter etc, but it does make you realise that you can be a force to be reckoned with.
How’s that for a rambling post?!
23/05/14 Boxing gym
Didn’t get any sparring in tonight, but did plenty of sparring drills. Practiced keeping an aggressive opponent away with my jab, and with a pivot hook. Also did a lot of work on my short hook, which sucks at the moment. I can do it on the bags, but I’m struggling to bring it to the mitts and sparring.
Anyway, training looked a bit like this:
Warm up: 4x3 skipping
Sparring drills 6 x 3
Mitts 6 x 3
bag work 3 x 3
25/5/14 - Went into the gym to train 1-2-1 with the coach today.
Did mitt work solidly for 2 hours. Started to work more on combinations now. Long hooks, head and body, and 3 punch combos as counters. It was a good session, he wants me to try to train 6 days a week with him/the other coach. It’s quite a commitment, and a step up quite quickly, but I am going to try to do it as far as possible. With any luck, if I get 3 x 1-2-1 sessions a week (including sparring with the coach) I might be ready to compete by September.
Some of the combos:
Jab, hook off the jab, straight right, long left hook to the body, straight to the head, long left hook to the head
Slipping jabs and crosses and answering with an uppercut and a hook.
Jabbing with a slip right, right hand over the top of the jab, straight left with a step in.
27/5/14 Boxing gym
Warm up
1 Mile run
15 mins skipping
Training. 10 x 3 mitt work
10 x 2 skipping/stepper
Early finish. Stand in coach tonight. Could have done with a more demanding session. Don’t feel like I got that much out of it.
29/5/14 Boxing gym
Warm up:
1 mile run, 3 rounds skipping
Sparring
2 rounds, with no time limit. Just go until there was a natural break. Did just shy of 13 minutes in the end. We don’t usually do this, but it felt good to break that mindset of just holding on til the bell. It was my first time in with an experienced heavyweight. We did one round at distance, one round at close range. He was a very big man. I think the coaches did this to raise my confidence. I certainly feel good for the experience, although I got hit pretty hard a few times on the inside. My uppercut defense is not what it could (read should) be. I do feel a lot more confident though. Even though it wasn’t balls to the wall from the big guy, I realised I could take some good shots without breaking into a million pieces, and I could still think and try to impose my own limited range of tactics on him.
Circuit training: 1 minute of each:
kettlebell snatch
Sledgehammer swings
tire flips
dumbell shadowboxing
skipping
Heavy bags:
5 x 1 straight punches
5 x 1 footwork
Situps:
Ladders from 12
Crunches
Leg raises
Roman crunches
30/05/14 boxing gym.
Arrived at 1730, left at 2150.
Trained a ridiculous amount. Can’t remember a great deal of it. A shitload of mitts, and sparring basically. I hurt my thumb quite badly in sparring. There was a loud crack, and it is pretty stiff now. Having broken quite a lot of bones before, I don’t think it is a break, but I may have done something to a tendon or what have you. I have a pretty good range of motion, and can apply pressure with it in most directions, although it is not strong. Will have to see how it is in the morning. I would be gutted to have a set back now, when progress is coming so quickly.
I can’t compete now 'til next season, as they aren’t registering any new boxers for this season (and it would be too soon anyway), but the coaches want me to get carded so that I can compete from September. I asked whether they thought I’d be ready in time, and they said they thought I’d be ready sooner than that. Mid-September would be 6 months into my boxing career, so it’s probably a good goal, but we’ll see how I’m getting on nearer the time. So pissed off about the thumb now.
The time before competition will mean that by the time you’re ready to fight, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with 
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
The time before competition will mean that by the time you’re ready to fight, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with ;)[/quote]
Thanks mate. I really hope so. Just so pissed off about my thumb now. Still can’t move it properly, although I can just about make a fist. The whole knuckle is still pretty black and swollen. I can’t train tonight anyway, but I’m hoping it’s healed in time for training on Thursday.
I see you’ve scaled back the posting in your log. Hope training is still going well for you!
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
Thanks mate. I really hope so. Just so pissed off about my thumb now. Still can’t move it properly, although I can just about make a fist. The whole knuckle is still pretty black and swollen. I can’t train tonight anyway, but I’m hoping it’s healed in time for training on Thursday.
I see you’ve scaled back the posting in your log. Hope training is still going well for you![/quote]
Yeah; thats gotta be frustrating; but you are smart enough to adapt your training to suit!
Ahh to be honest, I’m just due a catch up on it.
I’ll give it an hour and play catch up later on 
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
Thanks mate. I really hope so. Just so pissed off about my thumb now. Still can’t move it properly, although I can just about make a fist. The whole knuckle is still pretty black and swollen. I can’t train tonight anyway, but I’m hoping it’s healed in time for training on Thursday.
I see you’ve scaled back the posting in your log. Hope training is still going well for you![/quote]
Yeah; thats gotta be frustrating; but you are smart enough to adapt your training to suit!
Ahh to be honest, I’m just due a catch up on it.
I’ll give it an hour and play catch up later on :)[/quote]
Never underestimate my capacity to do something stupid.
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
Never underestimate my capacity to do something stupid.
[/quote]
Honestly;
I just text that very same quote to my sister, not five minutes ago.
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
Never underestimate my capacity to do something stupid.
[/quote]
Honestly;
I just text that very same quote to my sister, not five minutes ago.[/quote]
I’m not surprised. This is the start of something beautiful.
Seriously though, your poor sister, she has a pro boxer and a senior front row rugby player for brothers? She must have the boys lining up to take her out on a date.
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
I’m not surprised. This is the start of something beautiful.
Seriously though, your poor sister, she has a pro boxer and a senior front row rugby player for brothers? She must have the boys lining up to take her out on a date. [/quote]
She’s got a boyfriend - God bless him.
He’s the nicest, most mannerly, most terrified guy I know 
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
I’m not surprised. This is the start of something beautiful.
Seriously though, your poor sister, she has a pro boxer and a senior front row rugby player for brothers? She must have the boys lining up to take her out on a date. [/quote]
She’s got a boyfriend - God bless him.
He’s the nicest, most mannerly, most terrified guy I know
[/quote]
Sensible fellow!
5/6/14 boxing gym
My thumb is still screwed up. Still, I went down to train smart.
Warm up:
1 mile run, 3 x 3 skipping.
Sparring:
I used only my lead hand, my opponents had both hands at their disposal.
6 x 3 - This went really well. I am surprised. I really dictated with the jab and my movement. I only took one clean right hand in 6 rounds. I concentrated really hard on using m range, and feints, to dictate my opponents shots. It’s the first time I’ve really managed to pull it off, and I was far more relaxed. Can’t explain it, but ours is not to reason why. I’m also starting to land the hook on the pivot when I get rushed, and it’s pretty satisfying.
‘Play sparring’
6 x 3 - this was done outside the ring. Only lead hands and crosses to the body. No power/open hand touch sparring stuff. focus on speed and movement. This also went really well.
3 x 3 - pivot hook drill with partner
2 mile run as warm down/extra conditioning.
All in all a good session. I got some really good work in, improved a lot, and didn’t make my thumb any worse.
6/6/14 boxing gym
Another long session.
Warm up:
Run 1 mile, Skip 3 x 3
Training
Partner drills and mitts constantly for 2 hours. Only rest was swapping roles. Worked hooks off the jab, hooking and pivoting, and leaning back with a hook and a pivot. Also worked through a lot of basics, slips etc. Quite basic, but I’m still learning it and improving at it, so not in any rush to move on to more complicated stuff just yet.
The main bonus of this week is that I’ve manged to noticeably improve without stalling the recovery of my thumb. It’s almost fully healed, and I’m happy the injury isn’t as bad as I feared it might have been. I’m hoping I’ll be ready to spar as normal on Tuesday night.
10/6/14 Boxing Gym
Warm up
Run 1 mile, skip 4 x 3, stepper 4 x 3
Mitt work:
Worked a variety of things based around bouncing in and out of range. Started with bouncing in, jabbing, bouncing out on the partner’s jab, an then bouncin in again with a jab. Moved on to finishing with 1-2s, 1-2-3s etc. Did more work on the pivot hook too.
Sparring:
5 x 3 - Still only using the left hand. For some reason, this has been extraordinarily useful experience for me. The past 3 times I’ve sparred, I’ve only had my left hand, and everyone else has been allowed to spar as normal. Far from making me more timid, I have found it has given me a lot more clarity an composure in the ring. Tonight, for the first time, I felt truly calm in the ring. Even though my left hand tired, I was very relaxed. Shots that would have shocked me, or made me flustered, didn’t make me bat an eyelid. I actually took pleasure in how little it bothered me, and how few got through cleanly. I did end up doing one round with a guy who has been boxing the best part of 10 years (compared with my 2.5 months), and I wasn’t quite as effective against him.
He is shorter but heavier and stronger than me, and he was able to rough me up a bit and push me around. I took a few clean hits from him, but it didn’t bother me at all. I wasn’t that effective in stopping him getting shots off on the inside, but it used to really shake me when this guy hit me, this time all that happened when I left the ring was I was pissed off that I didn’t do more and that he had the beating of me. Previously I would have been happy to survive. Progress of a kind.
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
10/6/14 Boxing Gym
Still only using the left hand. For some reason, this has been extraordinarily useful experience for me. [/quote]
I’ve seen that happen more than once. It sucks being injured, obviously, but in the long run it can make you a smarter fighter. Especially since you’re having to do so much more work with your jab now, and not just using it to set up the right. Using it for offense, for defense, controlling range, getting in when you want, keeping him out when he wants in. It’s gonna make a big difference for you. Plus when you get your right hand back it’s like a kid opening a Christmas present ha
[quote]Melvin Smiley wrote:
[quote]Newboxer wrote:
10/6/14 Boxing Gym
Still only using the left hand. For some reason, this has been extraordinarily useful experience for me. [/quote]
I’ve seen that happen more than once. It sucks being injured, obviously, but in the long run it can make you a smarter fighter. Especially since you’re having to do so much more work with your jab now, and not just using it to set up the right. Using it for offense, for defense, controlling range, getting in when you want, keeping him out when he wants in. It’s gonna make a big difference for you. Plus when you get your right hand back it’s like a kid opening a Christmas present ha[/quote]
Ye it was amazing, I threw it a couple of times yesterday (hurting my thumb each time, just as I thought it was getting back to normal) and it was landing almost at will. I was very surprised what a big difference it made, especially since I’ve only really sparred 12 or 15 rounds since I injured it.