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What can I do at home to improve my foot work and balance ?
Also you know that thing where you tie a rope around your legs and just practice moving making sure your feet move excaly the same distance, how long/short should the rope be.
Also any alternatives to skipping ? It seems to hurt my shins a lot,I have flat feet and do get shin splints from running and even walking so I think thats why it may hurt me when I skip.
Some basic footwork drills:
- Moving forward and backward: slide your lead foot forward a bit, immediately bring your rear foot forward so that your feet are the same distance apart as they were when you started. To go back, move the rear foot first, then the front foot. Then start working your hands; everytime you slide your front foot forward, jab. When you bring the rear foot up, throw that hand. When moving back, it is reversed: as the rear foot moves, jab. Throw the rear hand as the front foot comes back. You'll see how to do that as you practice.
To move faster, going forward push off the rear foot and to go backwards push off the front foot. The same punches work the same way.
- Circling left and right:(I'm assuming here that you are an orthodox, non-southpaw boxer)To circle left, slide your left foot to the left just a couple inches, then pivot to your left, on the left foot. The pivot determines how far you 'circle.' When you move your left foot jab and when you've finished the pivot, throw a right hand. To circle right, slide your left foot to the right a couple inches, then pivot, on that foot, to your right. When your left foot moves, jab, but this time, throw the right hand as you pivot (gets your weight behind it better, and once the right foot lands you'll be in a perfect spot to throw a left hook.)
I don't mention "side-to-side" movement as it is pointless, takes you out of counterpunching range and moves you onto ropes and into corners. Always circle. Never cross your feet or bring them together; your feet should be the same distance apart all the time because the stance you start out in should be the one that leaves you perfectly balanced, able to move fast and punch hard. So why change it?
Thanks for the tips
Now should I ALWAYS be on the balls of my feet and never flat footed ?
Also ive noticed I seem to hop/bounce more than slide
When I say this I mean one foot will land before the other.
Now is this bad ?
I seem to move quicker but am guessing if am in a fight and someone catches me with a good punch I will be going down as am only on one foot for like a fraction of a second.
Or should you do both sliding and hopping
Or have I got this "sliding" wrong
When I slide (just tired it then on my carpeted floor) it seems to be more like my feet are dragging across the floor,like I can hear the friction with my feet.
But when I do more of a bounce it seems quicker but slightly less stable.
And does the balance while moving and throwing punches just come naturally or do you need to specificity work on it ?
Typically, you should be on the ball of your rear foot, for several reasons. First, to move you will generally be pushing off that foot. Second, when you throw a punch with your rear hand, you'll need to pivot that foot sharply to get your hip turned and that is much easier on the ball of the foot. Last, when you hook with your lead hand, the weight needs to shift to your back leg and that foot needs to drop flat at that point. Your front foot should be flat.
It is much easier to slide your feet on concrete or canvas, or anything but carpet, but maybe we should use the word glide instead. It sounds better. That whole bouncing and "on your toes" thing is just wasted energy and wasted motion; you can certainly move fast enough and far enough without it. And, as you noted, it is less stable, and stability is a key to taking punches, throwing them, and defending against them.
I neglected to mention another exercise that helps with balance. It is pretty simple; just move, keeping your feet in proper position and moving as described above, but jabbing constantly. You are teaching yourself that the jab does not affect your balance; that is, there is no, NONE, weight shift when you jab. There is a weight shift when you throw the rear hand, and that is something you'll need to feel to catch on to.
thanks for the tips man,will try this stuff out through out the week.