Just another New Kid

[The Student]

How's it going guys.

I've been reading the board for a few weeks now, and finally decided to sign up. I've already learned A LOT from the posts I read and hope to expand my knowledge some more on the sweet science.

and thank you Scrap, your posts have exponentially increased my interest in the sport.. Through the tons and tons of great posts, I've found yours quite intriguing, this far.


So I guess I should give a quick overview of myself...

Age: 23
Weight: 152 lbs. (would like to decrease this)
Height: 5'6"
Dominant Eye: Right
Stance: Orthodox

Experience: on and off just messing around for about a month or two, been a week and a half since I joined the gym and decided I seriously want to learn the sport.

Goal: Learn boxing, and when comfortable start competing at an amateur level (unfortunately I'm too old, or else I would have loved to keep that as a serious goal). Furthermore I'd like to learn more about my body and get fit while I'm at it.

Conditioning: I'm not horrible, because I was doing a bit of weight training before getting into boxing, but I have a looong way to go from where I want to be.


ok, so heres my routine so far.. Please feel free to critique it and give me advice on what I might want to change. This routine is basically the same, daily 4-5 per week.

1) Warm Up (2 km jog) .. once in a while I skip instead for like 3 rounds (3 min each)
2) Shadow Box - 5 Rounds (3 min each)
3) Bag Work - 5 rounds (3 min each) ... at the moment I'm working the floor to ceiling bag since I'm still recovering from a prior injury in my right hand. I will start using the heavy bag, hopefully in a week.
4) Speed Bag - 3 rounds (3 min each)

.. I know its not the most intensive routine, but you gotta start somewhere right? As far as having a coach, I do not have one yet, because I usually end up going to the Boxing Club at odd hours, and I do not think they have coaches around when I go. They do sometimes but they're always running classes which I'm free to join, but they told me, its for mostly conditioning and most of the work they do is on the heavy bag, so I'm going to wait a week or two and then attend a few classes.

I do have the help of my cousin, he's been boxing for a year so he guides me here and there and helps me with technique. Obviously he doesnt have the same wealth of knowledge as a coach would, but he has been quite helpful so far.

Currently I'm really trying to focus on keeping my weight on the back leg, moving and keeping balance, as well as jabbing. (my jabs seem to be really really weak at the moment).


Anyways thats about it.. expect a lot of dumb questions from me

[HerbM]

Actually, if you are doing all that vigorously, with no long extra rests between sets then it does look pretty intense.

We only do about: 3 rounds rope, 3 rounds shadow boxing, 3 rounds boxercise (running in place and squats etc), 3 rounds heavy bag, (maybe) 3 rounds burnout on heavy bag, 10 min running, and 10 minutes sit-ups.

[We are in Central Texas, and our temps are all over 90 F for the last couple of months, 95-100 some days already in the gym, so we've been leaving out the 3 rounds of 'burn-out' most days.]

Almost anyone new to boxing is going to feel like their jab is really weak (I did) for a couple of months when you go hard against the heavy bag for 3-5 rounds. Your jab is going to get thrown more (probably 2-3 to 1) than your power hand, and your jab is more arm based than your power hand which uses hip, shoulder, leg, and back to help a lot more.

Go watch all the videos at Fran's MyBoxingCoach.com if you haven't done that yet.

Keep looking for a real trainer until you find one.

Have fun!

--
HerbM

[The Student]

Thanks,

yea I've seen most of Fran's videos. I guess I just have to keep practicing the concepts to make them habitual.

I also read a post by Scrap that suggested, closing your dominant eye (my right) and shadow boxing will really help the left hand. For some reason I always forget this as soon as I enter the gym.

Also after some time I find it really hard to keep my weight on my back leg.. as soon as it starts getting tired I tend to shift my weight more to the front to give my back leg a break.. Not a good habit to get into though, I'm assuming.

[Scrap]

Hi young man, not been getting on here to much at the moment busy. Give us some time and Ill put a few ideas up for you.

[Scrap]

okay you did weights, at a guess i would think the muscles that oppose the action of the jab the frontal muscles of the shoulder want losening and stretching. Look at scraps stretches try the stick one you can do it with a woody band. Now another you can try is put your hands to your side. Palms facing forward then pushing your shouders back, put one of your hands behind you and put it on the forearm 4 inch above the wrist of the other arm. Now push up with the straight arm and resists with the other arm and hand, while raising, when at 90% start coming down with the bent arm and resist with the other arm 3 times each side that should sort it after 2 weeks of doing it the jab should be a lot faster. Do it 2 times a day.

[Drago]

yo student welcome bro!

that workout seems pretty good fella

i aint got the equipment @ the moment so am doing 10-15 rds shadow boxing @ the moment with a 2 weight workouts a week & 2 hill sprint sessions thrown in

[The Student]

okay you did weights, at a guess i would think the muscles that oppose the action of the jab the frontal muscles of the shoulder want losening and stretching. Look at scraps stretches try the stick one you can do it with a woody band. Now another you can try is put your hands to your side. Palms facing forward then pushing your shouders back, put one of your hands behind you and put it on the forearm 4 inch above the wrist of the other arm. Now push up with the straight arm and resists with the other arm and hand, while raising, when at 90% start coming down with the bent arm and resist with the other arm 3 times each side that should sort it after 2 weeks of doing it the jab should be a lot faster. Do it 2 times a day.

Thanks, I watched the stick video, I haven't tried it yet.. I did however try the one that you described above.

It felt really good when I stretched around with my left hand, but not so much with my right. But that's because I fractured my 5th metacarpal a few years ago. I never felt it since I recovered from that injury, but I aggravated it again about a month ago when I was messing around with mitts with a friend.

Anyone have any ideas on how to either help speed up the recovery or tips on handwrapping techniques or something of that nature that might help?

I really want to start utilizing my right hand again. Main thing is I want to start going to the classes, but its basically an hour of straight heavy-bag work.

Thanks

yo student welcome bro!

that workout seems pretty good fella

i aint got the equipment @ the moment so am doing 10-15 rds shadow boxing @ the moment with a 2 weight workouts a week & 2 hill sprint sessions thrown in

Whats Up Drago,

Keep doing ur thing man, ur routine looks really good for conditioning. It'll help a lot when you finally get gear or get to the gym. One thing I might want to suggest is really focus on ur technique, form and balance while shadow boxing, if you haven't already been doing so... I noticed for me, when I originally started, I was not paying enough mind to proper movement and balance and all that good stuff. Learning the stance and how to move is like learning how to walk all over again (for me at least). Its always nice to get a head start on that. Also from what I noticed is that when u start fixing ur stance and working on balance etc. your punches naturally come out better.