Looking for critique on my training

NOTE: Skip to my second post if you're not interested in my intro and just wanna read about my training.

Hi guys! I'm new to this forum so I'd first like to quickly introduce myself. I'm from Australia but now working in Canada, and I've had an interest in boxing for a few years now. This forum seems to have some really educated people who are more mature than your typical crowd on forums like Sherdog. I like it here, so I'm hoping to learn but also contribute as much as I can :)

A brief note on my history: I've never been the athletic type. I pretty much sucked at every sport I tried, and as a result I didn't enjoy any of them and grew up with a very non-active lifestyle. I've never been overweight, but at the same time I've always been in pretty poor shape.

I've always had an interest in boxing and last year decided to join a gym. It was pretty scary the first time I stepped into the gym, and the workout absolutely killed me. I was, however, determined to give it an honest effort so I kept going back and after about 2 months, I got some great results.

After taking 8 months off training while travelling, I've joined a new gym here in Vancouver and I've started working out again. I'd like to post up my training log/regime here and get some feedback. Thanks in advance to everyone who has made it this far in my post!

My training is done in 3 parts:

1. CONDITIONING

- I start with 3 rounds of skipping with 30 second breaks in between
- I then do "front and backs". Basically, I start by dropping down low until I'm lying face down on the ground and then get back up again, before dropping down the opposite way until my shoulders touch the floor. I do three 45 second sets of this with 30 second breaks in between
- Burpees. Three 45 second sets with 30 second breaks.
- Ab exercises. Three different types of exercises, 30 reps each (total 90 reps)
- Lower back exercises. Three different types of exercises, 30 reps each
- Front planks. 1:30 continuous
- Pushups. Usually do around 15 pushpus or so, but I'm working to get this higher.
- 50 air squats.
- Arm rotations. I hold my arms out parallel to the ground and rotate them in little circles for 3 minutes, changing directions every 10 seconds. I can't quite do the full 3 minutes yet, I get a total of around 2:30.

2. BOXING (on average 3 or 4 of each activity is one session - I don't do all of them in the same day)
- Shadow boxing, minimum 3 rounds
- Heavy bag, minimum 3 rounds
- Speed bag, minimum 3 rounds
- Floor to ceiling bag, minimum 3 rounds
- Footwork practice, minimum 3 rounds
- Slip bag and slip ropes, minimum 3 rounds

3. RECOVERY
- Bikram's yoga. A 90 minute session once a week.


Currently I'm training on average 5 - 6 days a week. The conditioning is the most gruelling, so I can only manage that around once or twice a week at this stage. I would eventually like to be able to do this at least 3 times a week.

On the lighter days of training, I'll usually pick around 3 or 4 of the exercises listed for a minimum of 30 minutes. Skipping is mandatory for every training session, and even on the days where I don't hit the gym I try to do the 3 rounds of skipping at home. The only time I'll miss a session of skipping is if my legs are really sore. The gym I go to doesn't have a strict teaching regime, so often I'm just working out by myself. I'll usually get some pointers and tips, and then just work on it myself for a week or so before asking the trainers opinion again. Total workout time for these sessions is generally between 45 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes.

I've decided to use yoga on one of my rest days as an active rest day. It's great to get a good stretch, and the heat gets blood moving through my system which helps with the muscle soreness I get from the conditioning.

That's pretty much it. I don't do any sparring cos I'm not at that level yet, and I haven't had a chance to do padwork with the instructors yet. For now I'm not too concerned as I'm trying to get my fitness levels up. I started from scratch, and it's been about 2 months of solid training now.


DIET

Thought I'd add a little note about my diet. I generally eat pretty clean, I stay away from processed sugars as much as I can and drink plenty of water. Breakfast will soon be a protein shake and fruit, lunch is usually some sort of roast with veggies, and dinner time usually grilled meat with veggies. I snack on almond nuts. I've also started taking a men's multivitamin, but that probably won't kick in for at least another month.


WHAT I WANNA IMPROVE

- I really want to improve my fitness, and I think if I stick to what I'm doing at the moment and continue pushing myself that'll come with time
- Balance: my balance isn't so great especially when I'm moving backwards in my stance, so I need to work on my footwork. I took up yoga to also help in this area.
- Speed: I suppose my speed isn't too bad, but there's no power at all in my shots :(
- Power: Will adding a light weights workout help to increase power?
- Technique: I know this will definitely increase my power, I guess it'll just take lots of practice and time


..and that's pretty much it! I apologise for the long post, but I figured I may aswell get it all down in one go! :)

hi remy, and welcome to Saddos. The board is a bit slow at times, and as well long posts sometimes get passed over. but I just read. you're doing lot of work there which is good. just don't burn yourself out too early in the game. Keep us posted as to how it goes. And again, welcome. :)

If your are interested in improving your boxing/punching abilities, do that first, while your mind and body are alert, and work sharp. When you get tired, or doing a whole bunch of something, there is a tendency to just grind it out and get those reps done. That is counter-productive to learning to box.
As to your balance- and this will affect the power in your punches- there are a few exercises you can do, and they are posted on here- maybe under 'Useful Posts'? Keep in mind: when looking in the mirror, your feet should be under your shoulders, looking from the front or from the side. When you move forward, bring your rear foot with you. Getting the feet too far apart is a huge cause of loss of balance.
I'll bet you that the reason you don't have power in your punches is because you are throwing them- arm punching- instead of driving them. And the harder to try to punch hard, the harder it gets. Turn your hips into your punches- and this starts at the floor, goes through the hips to the shoulders, and only then do your arms move.
You'll need to spend a lot of time in front of a mirror, really watching what you are doing and correcting stuff immediately.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I just got back from the gym and I employed a few of the things you've said. You were right - I was arm-throwing my punches. I made a conscious effort to really rotate my hips, and it made a difference to my punching power. I'm going to incorporate medicine balls and resistance bands to give my hips a workout, and I'll keep practicing on the heavy bag.

There was one guy in my gym who had loads of power, especially for someone so small. His punches make a nice crisp popping sound when they hit the bag, like a loud BAM! I watched what he was doing, and I noticed a few things:

1.) He pushes off his back foot with a lot more force than I do
2.) He rotates his hips into his punches like you advised
3.) His stance is really wide

Now, I'm not totally sure whether he's just bashing the bag as hard as he can to get a good cardio workout, but he *is* generating a lot of power. I don't want to completely copy him though, because I'm afraid of a few things.

First of all, with a stance that wide I think it might affect mobility around the ring. Maybe it would be good when in-fighting, but it doesn't seem ideal when you're at range, am I correct?

The next thing is, the lunge that he takes does generate a lot of power and he gets good forward movement, but I'm a little worried about commiting that much to a punch - especially a jab.

The third thing is that I'm worried about telegraphing the jab with so much movement. A big step and a big hip rotation would make it pretty obvious, right?

What do you guys think?


EDIT: I should probably mention that I'm not looking for heaps and heaps of power, it's just that my punches are incredibly weak. It's a little embarassing, but I'm determined to keep working on it to figure it out. The thing that really draws me to boxing is that it's such a technical sport, like a brutal chess game. I like the science and artistry of it and I'd like to one day be a sharp technical boxer, not so much a slugger. Having said that though, I still want to aim for good solid punches.

A very wide stance makes it very hard to move and it isn't good for infighting, either, if by that you mean throwing punches from close range. If you are looking to throw sharp punches that travel 6" or 8"...well, you can't do it with your feet far apart because your weight won't get turned through. Watch the Chavez/Rosario fight: Rosario kept his feet wide and thus needed more room to punch, and Chavez, with a proper stance, was not only able to move in and out, but he punched the hell out of Rosario with short hooks and uppercuts.
Dempsey stepped in real hard with his straight left- it wouldn't be fitting to call it a jab- and, when you are looking to get inside, stepping in with the jab (by pushing off the back foot) is a good way to do it. Remember to bring your back foot in with you. The jab only needs a short turn of the shoulders and a very slight turn of the hips, unless you are very squared up, in which case the jab will be slow and the right hand will be another jab.
Many years ago, at this gym where I would take my fighter, there were two guys that everybody would stand and watch hit the heavybag. One guy was short and went 230, the other guy was tall, maybe 200, and they'd whack at that bag. Make all kinds of noise, spin in place, but not move much. My kid was 14, 115 pounds, and he'd pratically knock that thing off the swivel with his jab. He punched real good, good balance, and turned his hips.

While walking to the gym today, I bumped into that guy that I mentioned who hits with a lot of power. We said hi and had a chat, and I mentioned how I was impressed with his power and asked him for some tips. He gave me the following:

1. Shifting your weight is important depending on which punch you want to throw.
2. When taking a step, don't make it a gentle step but plant the foot into the ground. So it's kinda like pushing off the back foot and landing on the lead foot with a bit of force, which can then get transferred through to the punch.
3. Turn the hips half a second before turning the shoulders. This gives your momentum a bit more of a 'snap'.

Afterwards I hurried to the gym and got my skipping done, wrapped up and headed to the bags. I tried out all the stuff that he told me, and it really helped! Tip #3 helped the most, and now my punches are starting to sound a lot better. They make that popping noise now when I hit the bag.

A few things I noticed that I need to improve on:

1. Sometimes I forget to turn my fist in. When I do, the punch is sharper and when I don't I sometimes hurt my wrist.
2. If I step forward with my punch and I don't bring my back foot up like you told me to - I lose balance.

I feel like tonight I made some real improvements, so I'm going to keep working on it to ingrain it into muscle memory...and then work on it some more ;D Skipping has also improved a lot, when I started I could barely finish a round but now I can do 3. My goal is to get 5 rounds comfortably, and then after that I'll start mixing in sprints into my skipping rounds.

~Remy

He gave you good advice. A punch starts at the floor and goes in sequnce: you pivot your foot, you turn your hips, your shoulders turn, that drives the blow.