Thread: How Do You Get Used To Being Punched To Be Able To Stand Up For Yourself?

his isnt a question about how to take a punch by turning your head with it or bobbing and weaving its about the best way to be conditioned to the act of being punched to the point where your not afraid to fight and more importantly stand up for yourself.

I started boxing training with shadowboxing, hitting heavy and speed bag and gonna start sparring with friends with headgear but I never actually been in a fight sorta having been picked on in school to the point of PTSD where I think walking by someone I feel like their gonna beat me up. So rather then getting angry at the situation I do nothing and then feel shamed about it after.

So Im thinking the best way is use to being punched at low levels and working my way up. Does anyone have any other ideas that arent about avoiding the punches in the first place? Thanks.

Trying to avoid being punched should always be your first port of call.

Even the toughest fighters still wouldn't fancy a gloves off punch from a random stranger. If you get your nose or jaw broke, it's gonna hurt no matter what!

I'd say to stop provoking a situation but if it does come up, make sure you get in first.

I do think you need phycology training rather than boxing training. Sounds like your heads pretty messed up from the school beatings.

Originally Posted by Surfgod

his isnt a question about how to take a punch by turning your head with it or bobbing and weaving its about the best way to be conditioned to the act of being punched to the point where your not afraid to fight and more importantly stand up for yourself.

I started boxing training with shadowboxing, hitting heavy and speed bag and gonna start sparring with friends with headgear but I never actually been in a fight sorta having been picked on in school to the point of PTSD where I think walking by someone I feel like their gonna beat me up. So rather then getting angry at the situation I do nothing and then feel shamed about it after.

So Im thinking the best way is use to being punched at low levels and working my way up. Does anyone have any other ideas that arent about avoiding the punches in the first place? Thanks.

Im sorry to hear that.

This may or may not help.

It is hard to get angry when fear of the unknown is allowed.


It is possible to change those energies or frequencies around in place of each other though.

If you have little respect for yourself or if you fear pain or the unknown, any of those can stop you from defending yourself freely.

If you think on this: that the worse thing that can happen to you if someone belts you the wrong way or if you go down and hit your head for instance is that you will die.
Some people dont care one way or the other about their own demise (that can be utilized to an advantage quite easily; Not hard to switch those two around and go off on someone.

But if you care, then all the people who you love or who love you will all suffer greatly by your loss for a very long time, maybe forever, all from that assholes actions (because he thinks its funny) or because he has always gotten away with belting people and hasnt had someone pull a few pieces off of him yet. (thats because the weak prick chooses his victums because they feel like a victim. Its catch 22 at that stage.

Either way if you think about it enough it should get you emotional enough to want to do something about it next time around. When you do you will have an aura that says mess with me and you will pay some price and then you'll find that it wont happen to you anymore anyway because you changed your aura or the feeling you wear around.
You are on the right track as training will remove any fears of the unknown, you should be free to act after that.

Originally Posted by Surfgod

his isnt a question about how to take a punch by turning your head with it or bobbing and weaving its about the best way to be conditioned to the act of being punched to the point where your not afraid to fight and more importantly stand up for yourself.
...
So Im thinking the best way is use to being punched at low levels and working my way up. Does anyone have any other ideas that arent about avoiding the punches in the first place? Thanks.

Find an NLP practitioner or someone else to help you if you have PTSD or any sort of phobia -- get that stuff out of the way.

Do consider avoiding the punch, but if you have a lot of trouble flinching, then getting really good at defensive and EFFECTIVE moves can help. So learning to absorb punches, slip them, parry them, bob, weave etc IS PART of learning both "not to flinch" (ineffectively) and to be more confident and comfortable.

Also, practicing with people you TRUST, to accept incoming punches VERY SLOW, and deal with them (using effective techniques) is a sometimes useful way to desensitize such reactions (but not necessarily the best way -- see NLP above). Don't go any harder or faster than you can react comfortably. This might be GLACIAL SLOW at first and even for some time.


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HerbM

Originally Posted by HerbM

Originally Posted by Surfgod

his isnt a question about how to take a punch by turning your head with it or bobbing and weaving its about the best way to be conditioned to the act of being punched to the point where your not afraid to fight and more importantly stand up for yourself.
...
So Im thinking the best way is use to being punched at low levels and working my way up. Does anyone have any other ideas that arent about avoiding the punches in the first place? Thanks.

Find an NLP practitioner or someone else to help you if you have PTSD or any sort of phobia -- get that stuff out of the way.

Do consider avoiding the punch, but if you have a lot of trouble flinching, then getting really good at defensive and EFFECTIVE moves can help. So learning to absorb punches, slip them, parry them, bob, weave etc IS PART of learning both "not to flinch" (ineffectively) and to be more confident and comfortable.

Also, practicing with people you TRUST, to accept incoming punches VERY SLOW, and deal with them (using effective techniques) is a sometimes useful way to desensitize such reactions (but not necessarily the best way -- see NLP above). Don't go any harder or faster than you can react comfortably. This might be GLACIAL SLOW at first and even for some time.


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HerbM

Good points; concerning the post tramatic stress disorder.

Tft; Thought field therapy people can teach you how to dissolve the links between the emotion and the thought. They have an above 90 % success rate with phobias.

LOL thanks for the advice it sorta went more into counselling. This isnt really a big problem but since I started working out years ago you get more jerks giving you dirty looks or saying shit to prove their tough so Im looking more for to know that if the worse that happens is getting punched really hard and having it happen in training so its not so bad then the fear goes away and theres no need to fight in first place but at least having the confidence to do so.

For past week I been doing shadow boxing with 3 pound dumbbells then natural, thirty minutes a day on speed bag, hitting heavy bag and waiting for a friend to get his two head guards and gloves to spar. Ive noticed just walking down the street and seeing bigger guys with bad attitudes rather than being afraid I see myself dropping them with combinations.

I also will get use to avoiding punches by tying my hands behind my back and letting someone punch the headguard while I bob and weave so if in a street fight if someone were to attack suddenly Id react with a bob and weave followed with either a jab and cross combo or close elbow.

Thanks again for the tips and I think with exposure to being punched at soft hits and working my way up the fear of unknown goes away replaced with calm confidence to either end the fight quickly or just laugh it off.

Be careful about practicing punching with weights -- I am not saying don't do it, but I am saying be careful and investigate the recommendations from people who know. Some trainers recommend against it as being dangerous to your joints etc.

Also, consider Shadow Sparring where you are fighting normally but hitting VERY lightly. Hitting just enough to let each other know you are there. If you do this enough you will definitely find that you "get hit" occasionally and as long as you keep it to mostly very light that won't be too much for most people. (Work only with guys you trust to play fairly close to the rules that you agree upon.)

Wear a mouthpiece (and headgear if you wish). Sometimes a punch will otherwise bust a lip etc if you don't wear the mouthpiece. Don't hit so hard you NEED the headguard, but don't hesitate to use if if that seems the safest course.

If you are getting angry or frightened you are going too hard -- or working with the wrong partner. Talk to each other, slow down, or find someone else for THIS exercise.

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HerbM

Yah I started using 20 pounds and my working my way down for HIIT purposes before reading it should be 3 pounds where it really works the corkscrew snap without hurting joints.

Do headguards protect the nose or is open season there?

Some headgear offers some limited protection to the nose. There is also headgear specifically designed with a bar, or other barrier over the face, to truly protect the nose but these are not the common type.

For shadow sparring with no heavy contact you may not need such protection, but you will occasionally get hit if you and your partner are enthusiastic -- and depending on the level of work you agree upon and accept.

Personally, I like getting hit (and hitting) hard enough to "keep us honest" so that we don't just walk through good punches because they are too light and so that we get some feedback about mistakes and openings we leave, but no hard enough to do any real damage (i.e., injury.)


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HerbM

just skimming the thread-if you are looking to spar please find a decent gym. Punching your mates can soon get ugly.

Andre is right, there is a certain fear of the unknown & guess what? The brain is a wonderful thing, if someone tells you something is going to hurt you will perceive it as hurting more than if they didn't say anything.

I think boxing has given lots of people an inner strength that means they avoid conflict but they have the confidence to protect themselves if need be. I'm not saying you become a strutting peacock

Thanks, that inner peace thing is exactly why I started the boxing training in first place so its good to see it helps others too.

Your a guy I would love to spend some time with and give you what advice and experience I could. I do not know the extent of someone picking on you, I do not know if this is one individual or a group. Is it happening at school and if so, what is their policy toward bullies?
When I was in the 7th grade, I was being bullied by two guys who were 16 and 17..both bigger then me. I feared taking a hit in the face. My uncle,who had a reputation in the county as being someone not to mess with gave me some advice. He told me that first I had to learn that getting hit and beat on was not the end of the world. If I lost blood, I would not bleed to death. I had to mentally set my mind to the fact that pain could be overcome. His second lesson was for me to get in the first punch and make it count. The nose, the area between the rib cage and gouging to the eyes---inflict pain immediately and keep fighting. You may get the hell beat out of you...but the guy will know and remember that you can and will hurt him. He wont be so anxious to come back for seconds. Continue on with your boxing lessons and make it your goal to get stronger and proficient to one day return and knock him out. Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory) was almost beaten to death by a bully in his youth. His family did not seek revenge and said that once Andy got his size and some more years, he would return and set things right with the bully....he did.

You have to spar at a MUCH MUCH slower pace until you can get the hang of it. It takes time for your body, defensive awareness, reflexes, and eyes to be able to see the punch and prepare your body to absorb the impact intelligently. Some people are more naturally able to absorb punches than others.

If you feel like you're always getting "surprised" by punches, you must slow the pace down and give yourself some time to get accustomed to it. It's that simple. The most basic thing I can tell you is that it's all in the eyes. You need to train your eyes to the punches coming. Keep slowing down the pace until you see every detail of every punch. This might mean slow motion but you will improve greatly from it. Good luck!