Thread: Closing eyes

hi. does anyone know any way of training yourself not to shut/blink your eyes when having punches thrown at you? or if it is just more of experience in getting used to it happen...ive only been boxing 2 months.

I had my first bouts last friday at a University Championship and it became quite troublesome as some punches i wouldnt see until quite late...

thanks.

a lot of that comes with experience, IMO. And practice.. with guys n the gym doing jab drills and that kind of stuff... Also, confidence in your defensive skills to bob weave etc (ie, to not get hit) will help.

But one thing I saw and found interesting was how Chinese kung fu fighters train to keep their eye open by splashing water in front of their face... easiest to do when in a swimming pool. I tried it in the summer and it is VERY hard to fight the body's natural reflex to close the eyes.

The good news for you and most boxers is that you'll never have your eyes closed when you get knock out. Well, seldom. Why? Because it's the one you don't even see coming that knocks you out.

The bottom line here is that all boxers, even the best of the best, close their eyes to some degree when getting pelted. It's human nature and almost can't be changed.

thanks for the reply! i know its obviously a natural reaction to protect your eyes and would be near impossible to overcome completely, it wasnt certain punches that would do it it was just abit random really.

thats an interesting concept the chinese use! did you have any success with it? is it actually splashing water into the eyes or just infront of them? i'll have to try it one time if i get the opportunity.

i won my first fight and got an odd stoppage in my 2nd against the home fighter that noone seemed to understand. im gettin the dvd's somtime next week so i may have some more questions after ive seen it back.

thanks for your advise anyway mate.

Good habits will come with practice, but it's also important to develop awareness. Let's face it, we've all been hit because of one way or another we weren't paying attention. It's not because we aren't trying to pay attention, it's that we become so preoccupied with trying to hit them that we get hit in process or at times we don't know of what punches to expect.

Good posture is important to begin with, and not just for defense and setting up your offense but to be able to see what's happening in front of you. When you can see what's going on you can then be able to more easily predict what your opponent is going to do. Now in order to keep from getting hit you want is to make your opponent much more predictable.

Keep your distance (usually this is just slightly out of reach) with circling so that they have step in to reach you. It'll be easier to see their punches because for one they'll be throwing less and that you'll have time to deal with their leads. On the other hand if you want to mix it up, choose the time and nature of your exchanges so that you don't walk into something.

Work on different situations as well as fighting at close range so that you'll become more comfortable with a lot changes that will come with a fight. At first you can work on developing the right defensive responses, and the counters that come right off of them, and later on you can work on different tactics that allow you to get into position and set-up your punches.

Anyways what I tried to explain is why we get hit in the first place, and how we can get hit a lot less by controlling the situation and seeing the punches coming. Practicing good habits and becoming more deliberate when you're boxing it'll become much easier to respond appropriately with the right defensive maneuver instead of freezing up at the wrong moment, flinching, taking your eyes off of your opponent or something that leads to you getting hit more.

Lastly one tool that I'd like to mention is the the good old double-end bag. Used properly it can help develop quick reactions and overcome a tendency of flinching when thing get close to your eyes. Work close enough so that you have to either move your head out of the way, or catch the bag off of your right hand like you would a jab. Actually allow the bag the bag to come closer to you instead of constantly at arms length. You can also block it with your lead shoulder, while using shifting or pivoting to assist with your defense.

2 months you dont hang about

Anger determination and focus.
If you continue,you will learn to teach your body,that while your instinct is to close your eyes at the threat of pain,you are only inviting more pain by doing that.
The mouse usually gets caught by the cat

Originally Posted by leggy

2 months you dont hang about

Yeah...the uni gets points for each participant and other things and as i was the only person at the weight i kinda got thrown in at the deep end. worked out ok though, luckily...i did better than the rest of our team!

thanks for the advise guys

I pretty much agree with everyone else i think all that can help is experience. I remember my first couple of sparring sessions i'd close my eyes and i would get clocked right down the pipe, but i can assure you. You will get used to it, even the great fighters had that problem when they first started.

Your eyes are your most important tool in boxing, because you need to watch there shoulders, feet, eyes, ETC. When you have more and more sparring sessions you'll pick up on stuff that you wouldn't of noticed before. But good luck and let us know how you get on.

A trick that works well is to stand in front of a bowl of water wet your hands and hold your eyes open and flick water backwards into them,practice no blinking; this trains your mind to ignore incomming anything.

Works.