Some Training Videos

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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You guys will probably get a good laugh out of this, but I am doing some “shadow striking” just warming up before a heavy-bag session, trying to get a sense of non-pushed punches and the left/right combo. pretty clumsy with the left but whatever. criticism welcome esp on the straight right.

the reason I keep doing the left repeatedly is it doesn’t “feel” right. I obviously need to practice the speed/snap of that punch.

and

(I also managed to ruin my punching bag. ripped apart as I was punching it. I’ll put a video up of that later, should make some people laugh.)

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Thanks!

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Why did Rundymc put that video up?

I am confused.

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I didn’t link it properly the first time. any criticisms though? (I realize I should be more proficient with the left because it’s a safer shot to take (closer to the opponent. helps set up the right, etc)

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[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Why did Rundymc put that video up?

I am confused.[/quote]

Cause the Tight like that-

sure rundy was just helping with the solid

if you click on quote the URL is usually salvageable

7

Ok, haven’t got much time but I’ll throw out a couple of things.

  1. You are leaving your punches out away from your body/hanging at the end (“waiting for an autograph”). Not only is that going to leave you open to getting counter punched, but unless you are throwing full power strikes where you are fully committing to the punches and therefore following through to the maximal extend possible it is also going to cause more of the force to “rebound” back into your body. You should just “whip” the punches out, remaining relaxed and loose (relaxation is the key to speed, and speed is a huge component in power), especially when shadow boxing. You never want to throw power punches in the air, that’s a good way to mess up your elbows. Save the power strikes for when you are actually hitting the bag.

  2. You should start implementing the “double contact” rule (got this one from Master Joe Lewis). That means that your fists/hands should always both be in contact with either your head or your target. So, when your jab goes out, your right hand is in contact with your head. When your jab comes back and your right hand goes out, your left hand should come right back to your head. This goes for every punch. If the left is landing, the right is up defending, and vice versa. Very advanced guys can get away with breaking this rule and there are variations on defensive hand positioning, but this is the easiest method for beginners to utilize to always be in a good defensive position and keep their hands up IME.

That’s all I have time to say atm, hopefully others will offer some more helpful advice.

8

Actually really quick, can’t tell for sure but it seems like you are breathing with your mouth open. Bad idea. You always want your mouth to be closed (the jaw becomes much less structurally sound when the mouth is open, leaving it vulnerable to getting broken/getting KO’d). You should keep your teeth together (you don’t have to clench them really hard as that will tire your jaw out and add unwanted tension, but closed nonetheless) and breath through your teeth. It should sound like a “shh” sound not a “fuuuuh” sound when your breath.

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Ok, one more. Find a good coach, you are teaching yourself bad habits.

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Thanks for all the advice. Just 1 thing:

  1. My elbows/etc are okay to throw shadow-strikes. This used to be a painful thing to do, I used to avoid it because of how awkward it felt on the joints and tendons but a lot of the maul work I do is brutal on the tendons that run along the length of the elbow, the shoulders, etc. after awhile they got pretty thick and “resistant” way back it used to hurt or feel awkward to throw powerful “air punches” on the elbow-joint, on the shoulder, it doesn’t seem to bother me that much anymore though.

I should be training with a mouth-guard just to get into that habit. thanks!

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it slowly builds up bone size/strength and tendons which makes the impact on the joints (elbow joint/associated tissues) not too bad. So I do tend to “bomb” all out, but even with that keeping the muscles loose and then powerfully contracting them (the muscles in the line of power)is still the better choice, you still want that energy going into them and not rebounding into you. (hopefully when closing the fist tightly and hardening the muscles in the “power line” I could avoid that.) So i’ll need to watch that.

levering by the wrist also seems to help those elbow joints/tendons. even light ones:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/315507_10150941356830644_590405643_22113805_553778781_n.jpg

(I am breathing with my mouth open. 1-3 of the noises is cutting the air with the punching though. Which I can only hear on my surround sound TV and not my PC. :frowning: )

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You can do sledge or maul work all you want, but if you are throwing full force punches and hitting nothing, then it is still bad for your joints. Now, if you can’t really generate full power yet because your technique isn’t at that level, then you might not feel any discomfort. But it still isn’t doing you any good to be throwing power punches into the air.

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[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
You can do sledge or maul work all you want, but if you are throwing full force punches and hitting nothing, then it is still bad for your joints. Now, if you can’t really generate full power yet because your technique isn’t at that level, then you might not feel any discomfort. But it still isn’t doing you any good to be throwing power punches into the air.[/quote]

Do not, I repeat, do not get into it with this dude Sento. There’s a reason that NOBODY commented on this thread 36 hours after he posted it.

Although I do like how in his video he bounces around like he’s gonna fight…right before he chops wood.

This may be one of the greatest trolls of all time.

We are witnessing history on TN I believe.

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I am bouncing around in the video like I am going to fight for the same reason I bounce around after a couple hours on the sledge hammer, to loosen up tight muscles, to untighten tight tendons. If your shoulder was capable of using a maul and you had the work ethic to put in a couple hours you might know that.

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re-watching that my quads and leg tendons were probably sore and shaky. Not to mention I could be dancing a jig whatever works, you need to hit that wood as hard as you can pretty much every-time or nothing happens, after hours of it you get into the tendency of “going” through the motions and that won’t work. So loosening up, a bit of psychological prep, then BAM.

Also it’s “splitting” wood, not “chopping” not “cutting” not “slicing”. A maul has a fairly blunt face on it. It’s dangerous to “chop” with a maul.

about the punching with power at air, It’s not a common habit. Was just wondering about form on some higher up punches and didn’t want to rip my heavy-bag down. (which I ended up doing later anyway)

but if that’s the case should I not do that with weights? I do tend to train with various size dumb-bells and throw out punches like that. When I feel a strain it’s on the tendons and not the joint, though?

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[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
You can do sledge or maul work all you want, but if you are throwing full force punches and hitting nothing, then it is still bad for your joints. Now, if you can’t really generate full power yet because your technique isn’t at that level, then you might not feel any discomfort. But it still isn’t doing you any good to be throwing power punches into the air.[/quote]

Do not, I repeat, do not get into it with this dude Sento. There’s a reason that NOBODY commented on this thread 36 hours after he posted it.

Although I do like how in his video he bounces around like he’s gonna fight…right before he chops wood.

This may be one of the greatest trolls of all time.

We are witnessing history on TN I believe.[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up Irish.

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We have one aspiring professional wood chopper right here, but you are nothing close to a fighter my friend.

Lol if everything translates from wood-chopping as you imply, Rufus the lumberjacker would be the p4p king.

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wood splitting. maybe you should get out of the comfort of the city some-time and try it. You chop with an axe, a maul is closer to a hammer.

I never said everything from wood-splitting translates into ability. but it improves general physical preparedness, it can improve anaerobic capacity, endurance and recovery time, it can improve conditioning, it can even give you some lean hypertrophy, improved tendon strength. many fighters have utilized maul and sledge work to become better fighters. people who use sledge hammers and axes for hours and hours every-day have insane grip strength (in some ways) which is also good for fighting. The better conditioned you are, the injury free career you have, the less training injuries you are likely to have.

gene tunney, earnie shavers, jack dempsey, and many many others have all used sledge hammer or maul work. A useful conditioning program for any fighter’s program. I feel like you probably already know this and you’re just riding my back because you think i’m a troll.

Not one of you who picks up a maul or sledge hammer for some serious conditioning wouldn’t find yourself hitting harder or maintaining endurance better. Say what you want about me, but that’s a fact. It’s a serious way to condition the body.

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Its a tool to improve your conditioning, its not a conditioning program. No professional athlete relies entierly on woodchopping, wood splitting or eating rusty nails and shitting iron chain, its a small part of the big picture. What matters a ton more is how good your timing and technique is, you won’t become UFC hall of famer even if you swung that maul every day just because they do so in TUF.

(Sorry for spelling, must be full of all sorts of stupid typos thanks to all the sleep I’ve been gettin this week)

20

Yeah, I don’t watch the ultimate fighter and I do swing a maul or sledge-hammer every-day. I aspire to build up to a 12hour day on a 16pound sledge for reasons un-related to the ultimate fighter.

Besides that you won’t hear any real debate from me that skill and technique are probably the most important aspect of any fighter’s game. But on the same train of thought the best skill in the world won’t get you anywhere if your cardio, strength, anaerobic capacity/endurance and etc are sub-par. At the very least fighting an opponent who is more conditioned in every-way, it’s going to be a war whether your way more skilled or not. What should be easy fights, aren’t.

Look for a sparring partner some-time find someone who splits wood or uses a sledge hammer for hours and hours every-day, ones that seriously train their sprinting and etc. You’ll find out that even their clumsy punches probably feel like hammer blows, and when they cover up they can take a hell of a lot of punches, and then proceed to bomb you (clumsy or not) repeatedly.

Very few people here will ever achieve the level of skill that Gene Tunney did but still wanted “the solitude and the strenuous labors of the woods to help condition himself for the career that appeared before him.”

it conditions you for that type of thing. That’s all i’m saying.

have any of you shit-talkers been hit by anyone who works a sledge hammer every-day for hours, or a serious lumberjack that works the heavy-bag? one that was 200pounds? It felt like a tap? even the most unskilled person in the world is hitting harder than what is comfortable for anyone to absorb at that level of physical conditioning.

Which is why you can see strong-men who have no training at all drop their fist like a hammer and bring about something like 1300pounds of force, the kind of weight a strike a serious heavy-weight brings about. No, I am no strongman, but my point is that strong people, lacking any technique can still DROP the HAMMER.

but I never said skill wasn’t the most important or next important thing. I am largely in agreement about that. I am just of the belief that if you are a fighter, training to be a fighter, or whatever it’s a good idea to be as conditioned, as fit, as you humanly can be. A strength program is part of that, I’ve maintained that sentiment and have been called a “troll” for it.

A lot of people working full time jobs, doing boxing training a couple hours a week, barely doing any road-work, 3hours of strength training a week (if that) no, you aren’t going to win a fight against someone who trains 7 days a week, who trains every-day until the breaking point, who has x2 or x3 your conditioning. That’s also, realistic.