fitness and skill...

[Sharla]

I can sort of relate to your dilema. I have found it is very difficult to work both fitness and skill well even when you can get to a boxing gym often.

My last gym was fairly casual in when we would arrive to training and the coaches would randomly give us pointers when they felt like it.

I found that randomness terrible for planning any kind of routine. Sometimes I would have too many hard nights in a row because I would kill myself on the bag etc and then have hard padwork from one particular caoch offered to me.

He would always offer to help when he saw I'd been thrashing myself because he was impressed by that but then i didn't really get enough recovery between these sessions to improve my conditioning.

He would get me to do pad work towards the end of the night when I was already well past warmed up and tired too so it didn't even really train my maximum explosiveness either.

Another coach would talk so much that I would get cold listening to him. If i was warmed up before we began i was shivering once we were into the session because the gym doesn't have heating and i'd sweat during the warm up.

What made it worse was the randomness of the coaching sessions meant i got the feeling he was basing what he felt i needed to know on observations made briefly months ago and wasn't really 100 % aware of where I was up to at the time he was talking to me.

It also meant he didn't know if he'd shown me something before so when things became repetitive and i wasn't improving something the way he might have suspected there was no further investigation into what else we might do to tackle the problem in another way or something else that needed strengthening in order for me to be able to do what he was asking. Plus I just got stale.

Randomness is really too much to deal with in training i think but if you know what to expect from your two gym sessions a week you can plan to make the best possible use of that time.

I'd try to get a feel of what type of gym sessions these typically are. Also maybe ask the coach if there's something simple he thinks you understand well enough to practice at home alone and explain your financial situation to him. If he is impressed by your eagerness and notices you trying he is more likely to try to develop you in sparring when he feels you are ready.

Once you have that information come back here and post it and you may be able to get a plan going for what you can do for your conditioning which will help you improve as much as possible.

I'd also let him know how you feel about the sparring and that you are eager to get back in there and overcome your fear of it as soon as he thinks you are ready.

I stress that point because sometimes a coach will have one or two things for you to learn before you go back in there which will make sparring so much easier for you it is worth being patient and developing yourself for another month or two outside the ring.

If he feels you are patient enough to wait he's more likely to feel you're going to stick around a while and that could work in your favour too.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Everyone gets beat up when they first spar, its a baptism of fire that tests your mettle for the sport.

Sparring isn't meant to be a competition, or even a gauge of how good you are. What it is is a learning tool to be used to apply what you've learned and to steal tidbits from the guys that you work with in the ring.

The more "beatings" you can come across the better. Sparring will accelerate your learning and will teach you things your coach could never impart with words.

[leggy]

cheers for that salty good read,

why did you quite fella ? try skipping for like 10 15 minutes picking the pace up every 30 seconds for 10 seconds, and running picking it up every so often maybe at one point of the run lampost to lampost

[BoxingDude66]

Based on your description of your opponents who made you feel like shit when you faced them, I can understand why you're frustrated, especially with the shorter guy. As for the taller guy, guys your own height are such a pain to fight because you guys have the same advantages. For a guy your own height, I suggest this:

Master parries and use them whenever your opponent throws straight punches at you. It is easier than you think. Look for patterns when he throws straight shots and when he throw these shots, counter him.

As for the 5' 8"-5' 9" guy, you have the advantage on this guy, I just think you didn't know how to deal with him. As a taller guy, you can't afford to stand still too often, especially against a Inside Fighter that comes in and unloads on the body, which I believe is what your opponent does. Like in "Rocky", as Apollo Creed's corner told him "Stick and move". Basically, move in with a Jab or a Jab Cross, and move out. Always move side to side, if you move back your opponent will just "chase" you some more.

If you're clever and devious, you can set "traps" for him. For instance, you can cover up or just stand there throwing Jabs. Your opponent will move in and slip your Jabs , thinking you're covering up. Just before he unloads with body hooks or head hooks, give him a vicious Right Uppercut, Left Head Hook, Cross. Here is a perfect example, Tyson vs. Buster Douglas at Toyko:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=herKRIrsks4

Buster flicked that Jab out and Tyson moved in, and Buster unleashed that Uppercut, Left Head Hook, Cross- and Tyson stayed down. Boxing is strategy and aggression. Short guys are annoying and aggressive, but if you know their weaknesses, like the Right Uppercut, they aren't so tough (with exceptions of course).

[troubleBound]

Thank you all for your advice. I did have some trouble with randomness too. I would go monday, wednesday and friday, and on a tuesday I'd do lots of legs exercises and ab exercises at home, then on wednesday that trainer would have us do lots of ab exercises again, and stuff like that killed me too. I will post more details on those gym sessions. Some tips on nutrition would be great too. I feel like I could get rid of some fat (I'm definitively not obese, but I'm not that lean either) and I'd feel much lighter. I guess I could check the nutrition threads, though. I feel like I've got a decent jab and 1-2 (not saying it's perfect... heck, it's still what I practice most), but could definitively use help with footwork and guard.

[leggy]

Thank you all for your advice. I did have some trouble with randomness too. I would go monday, wednesday and friday, and on a tuesday I'd do lots of legs exercises and ab exercises at home, then on wednesday that trainer would have us do lots of ab exercises again, and stuff like that killed me too. I will post more details on those gym sessions. Some tips on nutrition would be great too. I feel like I could get rid of some fat (I'm definitively not obese, but I'm not that lean either) and I'd feel much lighter. I guess I could check the nutrition threads, though. I feel like I've got a decent jab and 1-2 (not saying it's perfect... heck, it's still what I practice most), but could definitively use help with footwork and guard.

might sound a bit weird but jamie olivers just realsed a new book which i think is spot on some really healthy nutrious meals in there
footwork i had a big problem with just shadow loads, move round look at your feet stance move about throw the odd shot then it comes naturaly

[Sharla]

Thank you all for your advice. I did have some trouble with randomness too. I would go monday, wednesday and friday, and on a tuesday I'd do lots of legs exercises and ab exercises at home, then on wednesday that trainer would have us do lots of ab exercises again, and stuff like that killed me too. I will post more details on those gym sessions. Some tips on nutrition would be great too. I feel like I could get rid of some fat (I'm definitively not obese, but I'm not that lean either) and I'd feel much lighter. I guess I could check the nutrition threads, though. I feel like I've got a decent jab and 1-2 (not saying it's perfect... heck, it's still what I practice most), but could definitively use help with footwork and guard.

You might find some threads in the Useful Posts section good for this

[Trainer Monkey]

Quit Now While You Can
Your Only Going To Get Lasting Headaches So Some Fat A-hole Can Make Money Off You, And When You Get Older They'll Toss You Off Like You Arent Even Roadkill.

[Sharla]

Quit Now While You Can
Your Only Going To Get Lasting Headaches So Some Fat A-hole Can Make Money Off You, And When You Get Older They'll Toss You Off Like You Arent Even Roadkill.

That's a bit negative considering he said his coaches don't even get him to spar often. Why do you think he's at risk of brain damage from what he's said?