Starting again after 2 years away from boxing

[boyla]

It's almost been 2 years since I moved to university and lost touch with boxing.
Age 20, 6'3", 12st (ish)

I had an itch i couldn't scratch and am now getting back to my true love boxing

I am starting again (yesterday) my fitness is better than most average people, but needs to improve while my speed and reflexes are still good.

However my footwork is poor, and my new gym teaches differently,

I need to spend time on the bag, to get use to hitting the bags again

I'd appreciate some help getting my footwork up to standard, especially while punching and moving at the same time
ie ,bringing the jab and front leg forward, then right leg forward before using the cross

Some footwork exercises

I also need to learn to punch and move at the same time

Also one of the coaches says I am jumping when moving my feet, and when i go forward i should go front foot forward, land toe then heel then bring the back foot forward

Hitting the bag also feels so alien to me

I know in a couple of weeks I'll be able to box well again I hope

Also I need a fitness plan to fit around work, i work mon-fri with gym on mon-fri

I have access to weights and a pushbike

thanks for any advice

[Trainer Monkey]

Hooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeee Chris is gonna have a fit when he sees the footwork part

[AdamGB]

you can drop step with your lead foot, you can't throw properly with your lead foot moving though...

think about it, what would happen if you were hanging from a crayon and hit a punch bag which was planted into the floor?

[Chris Nagel]

Welcome back boyla, I haven't seen you around in almost a year.

In regarding to putting your footwork and punches together you obviously need balance. This brings me to the reason why you shouldn't move your front foot forward first. There's a lot of problems that this can bring. As Adam has said you can't throw properly while you're moving your front foot forward, at least not without commiting to the punch, ala Dempsey's drop-step. While your front foot is up in the air a quick counterpuncher can hit you without fear of being countered.

The other problem is that your back foot has to play catch up to get balanced enough to move and hit. If you find yourself in a position where you can't bring your back foot forward, you'll have the tendency to reach to land your punches. Reaching puts you off balance, easy to get countered and hard to counter, throw combinations and move. It's worst if you find yourself to put more of your weight on your front leg just for the sake of reaching him, which would also make it so you'd be eating the full power of your opponent's punches.

I find it better to move the back foot first, or both feet at the same time. This is to keep my feet at about shoulders width. This is better for balance, and in turn allows me to become quick on my feet which feeds into my punches. Scrap has a couple good posts on this, it just takes some getting used to.

There's a good post by greynotsoold in the Useful/Important posts section titled, Coordination of Hands and Feet. Check it out, it has just the kind of drills that you're looking for.

Also when you're working the bag you should begin to incorporate your footwork. There's a few things that you gotta keep some things in mind. You don't want to become complacent so you have to treat the bag like an opponent. This means circling left away from their right hand, retreating to the safest angle. Even when it comes to offense you should be moving with the bag, shifting with your opponent, controlling the range, and moving forward when you need to press your attack. Once you got the basics down it's a good idea to get the bag swinging with a little push so that you can work on some of the things that I have meantioned.

This is what I posted a while back, I thought you might like to read it:

"This is what Joe Louis advised about hitting the heavy bag:

"After learning how to hit the bag while it is stationary, try giving it a slight push to start it slowly swinging. Then when it has started to swing away, hook sharply with the left or right in the direction of the swing of the bag. This is good practice as it accustoms you to hitting the side of an opponent who turns from a blow.
The heavy bag is also used to develop rapid hitting to the body which is called in-fighting. Crouch slightly forward with both feet in line together, and bring both hands upward in sharp, short blows to the bag. Treat the bag as you would your opponent. If the bag gives way, assume your opponent is retreating from your attack, step closer and continue punching away with both hands. Then assume that your opponent is holding, back away but quickly return to the attack with both hands. This will help you get more power behind your blows and teach you to stay in close, so that your opponent's blows are robbed of their force.
Punching the heavy bag should be timed into rounds, three minutes punching with one minute of rest in between.

Sessions with the bag help tune up your footwork, too. The bag keeps you shifting your weight around a good deal like you must when facing an opponent in the ring."

I agree with Louis on this. This allows you to deal with a deal with an on-coming or moving force as opposed to simply a stationary target.

So in general you'd want the back to swing a little when you hit it; This allows you to react to the bag, changing angles, shifting your weight, moving, and fighting in close.

Hitting a stationary bag has its own merits as well, as it allows you to work on particular things."

[Chris Nagel]

Hooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeee Chris is gonna have a fit when he sees the footwork part

Believe it.

[boyla]

Thanks, its been a while


Just juggling my life about if its not uni, its work,
dam I just need more time.

[Chris Nagel]

I know what you mean. A wise man once told me that boxing can be a jealous girlfriend.

If possible just try squeezing in some time every other day. The roadwork and much of the exercises can be fit into a busy schedule as long as you don't have any big paper or exams to contend with.