New guy with a question.

Hey guys, im new to your forum and have read a lot of interesting info on here. I am 26 yrs of age and pretty athletic 5'10" 185 lbs. I wanted to start a boxing routine to get in shape. I was looking to get in to a gym but wanted to get in decent shape before i make a fool out of myself. I currently own a heavy bag and speed bag, jump rope, some free weights.

My question is how can i start training at home with the equipment i have for now? I have a general understanding of the fundamentals. I would like to trim down a bit( 185 is too heavy for my height) along with learning more.

Im a southpaw with a decent jab and right hook. If you guys could suggest a workout routine or a link to someone that posted already, that would be great!! Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

Anybody here will tell you is to forget about your ego and just go to the gym. But if you're set on getting yourself ready then don't put it off for long. You can do roadwork in the morning or afternoon, just don't try to push yourself until your legs start to get used to the new stint. Make sure you your body warmed up before you run, you could do a light jog for several minutes, and follow up with stretching your legs, particularly the calves and hamstrings. A good stretch is the hurdler's stretch which involves you sitting on the floor with one leg extended, leaning forward touching your foot while stretching your hamstrings. Don't just do it for a couple minutes, make sure that you spend at least 5-10 minutes getting your muscle loosened up, you aren't trying to force your leg into a stretch as you're supposed to get it prepped for the running.

When you're done with your roadwork, you can take short break, stretching when your done is a good way to recuperate better and relax. While you're muscles are are still warm you can follow it up with a few calisthenics of your preference, situps, pushups, etc. Nothing big because your body has spent it's own stored fuels in the exercise, you can have a small meal that will replenish your body's fuel, and help you remain feeling fresh and energetic.

Although the jumprope makes for a fine exercise for the legs and body, it also makes a good warmup. You can do it for 5 minutes and follow up with stretching the muscles that you're going to be using.

I think one of the most important exercises for all fighters is shadowboxing, it exercises both your mind and body so that the reasons behind your movement will ingrainded in your mind through its practice, and it'll will go without thinking while you are in a real fight. Anyways check out this link below for more information about shadowboxing: http://www.saddoboxing.com/boxing_fo...html#msg552707

When you're hitting the bags make sure you approach them as you would a human being, I mean don't just walk up to the bag and go 1-2,1-2, or throw 5-6 punches to the body, you don't want to build bad habits like that. Instead you can really learn things and make good habits that a lot of guys just don't get. For instance imagine that the bag is a real person and has thrown you a jab, you slip it, but you're are aware of his rear hand so therefore you move away from it. Through such mental exercises you can separate yourself from the guys that do everything without a purpose. While you're doing this you can coordinate the hands and feet, side-step to avoid their imaginary lean, and hit them, put punches together while building up your awareness of yourself and how you'd fight your opponent.

You can make a routine of doing the jumprope, bagwork, shadowboxing and calisthenics. Don't do too much at first, just get into the habit of doing it, and as a priority you should make going to a good reputable boxing gym your goal.

To kinda add on to what Chris said about punching,think of every single punch as not only what you might hit,but what you throwing there might open up
I encourage fighters to think of the body as an X if I throw a jab to the body,and its blocked,what has that motion by my opponent opened up?
Hit that
Another thing I encourage is to write down combinations,and tell me what you were trying to do with it
It aint brawling,its boxing
You have to think to do this

I agree with that point to, you plan around their reactions. As you get better you can build upon this by adjusting your stance, stepping/shifting and feinting. I remember reading about Benny Leonard whom was one of the most crafty observant fighters would tell the kids that would come up to him. You always gotta be thinking, if I throw this what is he going to do, I'm paraphrasing him but idea is to do things with reason. It's important to capture the idea behind these moves while you are training on the bags or shadowboxing, so you don't have to go through the whole thought process when there's a guy trying to take your head off. With all the right moves/reactions built into your system you'll do all the right things without even thinking about it. Also train yourself to be more observant, if you can get yourself a large mirror so you can see your whole body, when you go though your punches see what you give away, then explore your imagination by going through all the different possiblities and reactions that you are sure to encounter.

Anyways I don't want to blow your head up, but that's the kind of stuff you'll have to get into, not many gyms/trainers are give you the answers so it's best that you ask all the right questions and look for the solutions yourself. Since you're starting out be careful about your movements, some books will help as a reference point. Learn how to throw the punches properly, how to incorporate it into your footwork. When you got that down, work on reactions, how are you going to defend against a particular attack, are you going to step, circle, slip, duck, catch or parry? Then think about how you can counter. As you get better there'll be more techniques that you'll go over, and more tactics that you can employ for specific situations.

yeah, you can't teach yourself no matter how good the advice might be on here. Just doesn't work. Just go to a gym and have fun. Nobody knows anything when they first go so yuo're not alone..

Tommy Loughran taught himself and became champ, it didn't mean that he was ignorant, it just means he had to take a different approach. But most people aren't in it to become on top, sure they want to good boxer, but they're not going to go through all the steps to get there. Is it possible to teach yourself and beat most of the fighters out there, sure, it's more difficult. I'm not sure if Loughran had sparring partners, but in those days having a lot more fights than is the case to day formed the important eduction of becoming a good fighter.

Unless you're going to approach this like a job, it probably be best to join a gym and to take it from there. The hard part is to find a gym that is on the same page as what your goals are.

As for your weight... you could be 185 at 5 foot 10 and be OK... I haven't seen your build/how fat you are etc so I can't really say.

What ever details though... you can't be that overweight at 5 foot 10 unless all of your mass is fat (you said you were fairly athletic though didn't you? :))... so basically just focus on your conditioning... how you perform etc and your weight will sort itself out.

Just get training! :)

There's a difference of being fit and being fighting fit. ;) There's nothing holding you back.

[quote=Trainer Monkey ]
Another thing I encourage is to write down combinations,and tell me what you were trying to do with it
It aint brawling,its boxing
You have to think to do this

CC Monkey
I have difficultly visualizing when dong bag work and shadow sparring. For some reason I'm not a very visual person mentally with boxing. I can see how this might be an intermediate step for me to learn to do that. Or I'm hoping so anyway :)

Yeah,even if you had the ability,the ring or doing bag work isnt the best time to get thoughful and introspective,so I find writing them down in advance is a good tool to make it instinct.It helps you visualise what your trying to do in there,before you have to actually do it.

Thanks guys, i appreciate all the feedback!! I will put together a little routine today based on the info you guys gave me and gradually increase the volume with time.

Just needed a good starting point (and motivation) to get on it! Eventually ill get to a gym and check it out. So should i workout one day and rest the next? Or just do something different the next day?

Whatever works for you, just listen to your body and take it a little slow at first so you won't feel sore and beat. You could do 5 days a week for the bulk of it, and do some exercises such as roadwork, skipping rope, and calisthenics on a day-to-day basis. It doesn't require a split like you'd find in weight training.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trainer Monkey

Yeah,even if you had the ability,the ring or doing bag work isnt the best time to get thoughful and introspective,so I find writing them down in advance is a good tool to make it instinct.It helps you visualise what your trying to do in there,before you have to actually do it.

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I didn't mention it but that's what I do myself. You can really check up on your progress, and your work will be more result orientated. It gives me some good ideas that I'll post later on.

Got it, i'll do Mon. thru Fri. and rest the weekends. I need to get out of that split mentality, i used to lift weights.

A lot of things still apply here. You want to avoid overtraining, such as when you start going to the gym soon you don't want to do too much extra work on the days that you're going to be sparring, in that instance you would lighten up on your roadwork, and some of the exercises that you do that day may change as well. One thing that carries on well from weight training is writing down your exercises, how you did, and what you want to work on. If it helps before you start your boxing program, come up with a log or some notes that you gives you input on a regular basis.