Thread: How to get out of turtle mode...

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum... coming here after looking for answers in regard to boxing and more specifically to questions that I have about boxing.

I have been sparring for 4 weeks now. The gym that I go too is well staffed and the coaches are fairly competent... at least I think so.

My problem is that I am flinching, I have done a lot to overcome this and can honestly say that I am doing better... but now what I am finding is that when someone starts on a combo I turtle up and back-peddle... I don't know how to get out of this. My defense is good enough that I am not getting hurt and you would think that would give me the confidence to step forward and launch a jab or something... but no... I just keep back peddling until I hit the ropes.

My coach says it's just a confidence issue and being that I am new it will eventually come to me... but honestly I am getting pretty frustrated with myself... not like I am going to quit... but my frustration is driving me to look for answers to my problem... thus why I am here...

Anyone got any advice...
Blackvenom-2001

You.ve only been sparring 4 weeks... give it time and it will come... your coach seems to know what he is talking about.

One day you will get in the ring and it will all just click.

LOL... ok, ok... so maybe it's just some patience that I need.

Seriously though... once you get in this mode it's hard to get out of. I have been thinking about this all night and I think what I need to do instead of back peddling is just step in. I am already eating all of the shots being thrown by these guys with my defense... so stepping forward shouldn't hurt anymore... plus it will put me within range of being able to get off some shots of my own if/when I can get to that point...

Maybe this isn't the way to go... but I do know in backing up I am taking myself out of my own range for most of these guys.

I'm going to figure this out one way or another...

Blackvenom-2001

as adam said, it will come. I think we are all hardwired to go into this defensive mode. It's basic human instinct. Boxing, like Freddy used to say, is an unnatural act. Everything is backwards.

One thing you can do is insist to your trainer that he return, and return hard. After a while you'll get used to keeping your eyes open and watching them come at you, and you'll overcome your natural instinct to shell up and bend over and hide. Also try (and this is hard to do, it takes big balls to overcome this fear) actually challenge yourself to bob and weave. Once you find out that you are much harder to hit when you start moving when in trouble, you'll become much less affraid. This is why you see so many guys lay back on the ropes with their hands down when in trouble (which isn't the best habit to get into mind you) but they just start bobbing and weaving and get hit very seldom. They an usually just walk away at that point or hit back. Become a random movement double end bag. They are enough to hit when you know what it's doing, let olane it becoming random movements. Finally, FORCE yourself to Emulate what you see the pros do, or even just the experienced guys in your gym.... you'll quickly find out that many of those things actually work, and you'll gain confidence and try more.

Cool... thank you all for the responses.

Yea I am pretty much standing flat-footed once the flurry starts... it's funny how different this is compared to all of the training that has happened up until this point. Dang that heavy bag was easy to hit and I thought I was the cock-of-the-walk... lol...

It's hard to remember to bob and weave, to keep the elbows in and arms up, to go to the sides instead of backwards, and then in the middle of that... I have to throw a punch when a counter opens itself up... geez... how smart do you think I am?

Blackvenom-2001

Try doing more work in the ring with your coach and him using spar mitts....

Your confidence is the biggest issue here, so getting used to someone working you at an easier pace then picking it up as you go would be the way to go....

Sometimes alot of folks think that just jumping in and sparring is the way to fix this....

But, if you havenst seen very much improvement over four weeks, you need to take a different approach.

Have your Coach do more defensive drills with you, then incorporate them into your offensive drills.....this will help you with your defense and countering skills... During some sparring for a few rounds do nothing but cover up and try to make your opponent miss....This will help you learn to watch and perfect your movement in the ring...I do it with all of my fighters and it helps tremendously...

I will see if I can get some video uploaded for you to see what I mean...

Good Luck,

Coach

lol..its not that hard, ur body gets used to it and so ull find urself doing it automatically.

i had tht trouble to begin with, evry1 does. once u get used to people throwin flurries at u, ull start using ur eyes more to see where the punches are coming and be able to react.

also, u mite want to try puttin ur gloves up and standin ur ground, people usually come forward when throwin flurries so theyll hopefully walk into u and tht'll stop them from gettin their range to get their punches off

Thanks again for the responses...

It sounds like my coach is already doing what you suggested BoxingCoachBW...

I drive about an hour each way to get to my boxing gym... I can only afford to go on Monday's, Tuesday's and Friday nights.

What we have been doing is working the focus mitts for 7 rounds straight each night... the first round focusing on just combinations, the second round on cardio, and then the next five rounds it's on combining everything... the coach comes at me and I only have brief opportunities to hit the focus pads when he presents them... and trust me...he can hit you pretty hard with a focus pad if you let your guard down or get to sloppy...

On my own... on the evenings that I do not drive to the gym I have about four or five guys that come to my regular gym (strictly weights and cardio) and we go in the back room and I just let them take turns throwing punches at me...

It's not that I haven't seen any improvement in four weeks... i guess it's just that I haven't seen as much as I would like... but my friends are pretty much able to go at me at 80 or 90 percent and I can duck, block, slip, or sidestep just about 90 percent of everything... when I am focused on just defense I don't have too much problem... it's when I have to try to put in some offense with that, that I get screwed up...

I'm pushing out my jabs and right crosses... I leave them extended... I am not throwing within my range... it's all a mental thing and I realize this... so I'm pretty sure everyone on here is right... I just need a little bit more time to get use to everything...

Hey at least I can keep my eyes open 95 percent of the time now... four weeks ago... when a 'flurry would start' I couldn't see the punches coming because I had my eyes closed tight after the second shot...

Anyway... I think tonight when my friends are in the gym with me throwing shots at me... I am just going to ask them to limit what they are throwing at me to a specific punch or combo so that I at least know what is coming and can then react in a predetermined manner...

I will get it... I just want it to be now and not tomorrow... lol...

Blackvenom-2001

Head movement and avoiding punches is a skill....Its not easy making people miss, when they do, thats your opening....You have to make someone pay for missing...Thats what part of countering is.

Work on throwing shots with your rolls, movement is momentum in the ring....If you roll under another fighters punch, you have an automatic open shot....throw hooks to the body....

When you slip, work on stepping in a half step, shortening up your shots and getting off a flurry.....You can also work on snapping that jab out there from different angles....Change your angles and throw some jabs out there....Get used to doing stuff like that...


Good Luck,

Coach

Originally Posted by Blackvenom-2001

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum... coming here after looking for answers in regard to boxing and more specifically to questions that I have about boxing.

I have been sparring for 4 weeks now. The gym that I go too is well staffed and the coaches are fairly competent... at least I think so.

My problem is that I am flinching, I have done a lot to overcome this and can honestly say that I am doing better... but now what I am finding is that when someone starts on a combo I turtle up and back-peddle... I don't know how to get out of this. My defense is good enough that I am not getting hurt and you would think that would give me the confidence to step forward and launch a jab or something... but no... I just keep back peddling until I hit the ropes.

My coach says it's just a confidence issue and being that I am new it will eventually come to me... but honestly I am getting pretty frustrated with myself... not like I am going to quit... but my frustration is driving me to look for answers to my problem... thus why I am here...

Anyone got any advice...
Blackvenom-2001

A short and sweet answer for your dilemma !

The mind set is this : “embrace the fact you might get hit” ! another words don't worry about it. Make the other guy worry about that .

I remember i used to turn my head when i threw a punch. bad habit and was hard to break.
Make sure your not in against guys who are way better than you.
sparring is to help you get better.
a sparring partner is there FOR YOU.
your not there to be fodder for some better guy,doing that isn't being tough or showing grit, its dumb and counter productive.
being in with guys who you are scared of doesnt help you at all.
MY suggestion..

stand with your back against the ropes so you cant back up.
have your partner throw low speed soft punches.
practice blocking and covering up as he throws
THEN counter punch,ask HIM where can i counter,,,what do you recommend.
as your confidance builds you become more sure of your ability not to get hit.
REMEMBER an average boxer is IMMPOSSIBLE to hit and hurt when he covers up. remember the "roper doper".... you can only get caught when you open up and throw

Wow... thanks again... last night I went to my gym and really tried to put a lot of what you all suggested into practice. I learned a lot last night.

I think the two biggest things that I picked up on... was that:

1) When I was rolling under punches... while I wasn't necessarily looking down at the floor I wasn't looking up at my opponents hands or chest. I was basically looking at their crotch when I was rolling under. One of my friends kept yelling at me not to look down and in my mind I was thinking...what the heck... I am not looking down... and then for some reason in the middle of all of it... I remembered a fight I had recently watched where Tyson rolled under someones right cross and I had noticed he was looking up at his opponents chest and face... the next time I rolled I tried that and wow... what a difference. LOL... it makes a huge difference when you can see punches coming...

Landmine950 you said..."it's imppossible to hit and hurt a boxer (average) when they cover up"... that's basically where I have been at for the last two weeks. I am not getting hurt... and that's the turtle mode I am referring too... except for me it was extended and I couldn't get out of it.

2) The 2nd thing I learned last night was something that backs up a principal that I recently read is here in this forum somewhere... when I was in turtle mode all I was doing was blocking shots. Last night I had a guy get in the ring with me who is a lot faster then me, and who hits pretty hard and I told him that I just wanted him to throw left jabs at me... that he could go as hard as he wanted at me... but to only throw left jabs and I would do the same... Once again because of this guys speed and reach (he is several inches taller then me and definitely has the reach) I was still going into turtle mode just from jabs. He would hit me three or four times very fast and all I could do was cover up. However... for some reason on one of his initial jabs I parried his jab to the inside with my right and all of a sudden I had a huge opening that I could drive my left jab straight through. It was one of those moments when the light bulb comes on and all of a sudden something finally made a little bit of sense. When I was standing there moving around all covered up... I wasn't interrupting his combo's in any sort of fashion... as soon as I parried the jab it threw him out of sync. It was like... "hey look what I can do"... the next time he threw the left jab, I parried again, and then followed it up with a left jab of my own and I connected... it was a really good feeling...

Of course this is after he had already had my nose bleeding from a crisp jab in a previous round... but hey I'm learning so it's well worth it...

The only problem is... I doubt the parry thing is going to work on him tonight... he's not stupid...lol...

Dang this sport is addictive... lol...

Tonight will be much of the same... another five or six two minute rounds of pure defense in a shortened ring... and then five or six one minute rounds where we just work on a specific punch. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get inside of the right cross... there is no way in heck I am going to be able to parry some of these guys' right cross... way to much power...

Thanks so much again...
Blackvenom-2001

I'm not going to try to offer any technical suggestions because I'm not a trainer.

However, for someone who's been sparring for only 4 weeks it sounds like you have a lot of defensive skills.

That's pretty good! So what if your base is in defence and it takes a little longer to learn to hit back -
speaking from experience learning offense before defence is much MUCH worse (it hurts more)!

I think anyone who says they don't still have things they'd like to improve about their sparring no matter how experienced they are either lying, delusional or no longer concerned about being the best that they can be.

You'll always have technical stuff to work on - that's the nature of this sport. Maybe don't get too frustrated and start feeling proud of all the good stuff you are doing! This is a challenging, high pressure sport and it makes you want to learn everything instantly but nobody ever does.

Keep asking questions of course - that's intelligent but let yourself enjoy it too

Sharla... I wouldn't say I have a lot of defensive skills... just a profound aversion to getting my head taken off!

Thanks for the encouragement.

Blackvenom-2001