The latest boxing questions on boxing equipment, punching technique, safety issues, and boxing training.

1. What headgear do you recommend for better vision?

Thank you for your excellent website. I am a grappler (wrestling & BJJ) who is focusing on boxing right now to grow as a mixed martial artist. I am new to boxing. I take punches well (I still have yet to have my bell rung or even be stunned despite getting bloody bruised and cut) but I feel maligned with most headgear since my peripheral vision is compromised. One of my trainers told me to take off my head gear recently and when I did I was un-hittable. I even threw my hands down and slipped everything. With the headgear on I took about 50 shots in a 3 minute round. Big difference. I read your list of headgear and tried them to no avail. I get the claustrophobia going and get blindsided as soon as the Hannibal Lecter mask comes on. I feel like a swarm of bees are coming at me. Any new headgear you recommend? – Ali

• Try the competition headgear like Adidas/Everlast/Title…and get the ones with the open face and no cheek protectors. There’s also a chance that you’re wearing the wrong size which could make your face feel buried in there.

2. Is it possible for smaller fighters to beat bigger fighters?

Hi Johnny!

I’m from Italy and i joined boxing a few mounts ago…Boxing is really difficult O_o!!!! First of all I want to thank you for your site. Very interesting, I learnt a lot!!!!

Secondly I wish to ask you something about boxing…You said that the force of a fist is proportional to the weight of the boxer. Is for this reason that weight categories exists? I mean can a smaller boxer beat an heavier one? Or it is just impossible? I guess smaller one are faster than the heavier ones.

I thank you, and I hope that you’ll never get tired to write articles! I’m sorry for my bad english -_-’…

 Goodbye and arrivederci a presto!
Alessio

• Hi Alessio. It’s definitely possible to beat a bigger fighter. Assuming all attributes are the same, a fighter with an advantage in one area can win. Having an advantage in size is a whole other story. Being bigger allows you to punch harder, absorb shots better, be able to push your opponent while not being easily pushed back. The bigger fighter might also have advantages in height and reach.
• So it’s possible but fighting someone bigger, you may give up many advantages and just because you’re smaller doesn’t guarantee you’ll be faster.

3. Do you have any strength exercises using free weights?

alriight johnny,been reading your website for a while now and i have started boxing training 4 months ago.I really enjoy going the gym and currently go 3 times a week for maybe 1 1\2 hours per session.my workout consists of 15 mins interval running ,30 secs slow jog 1min faster pace,3x3mins d/e bag,3x3mins hook and uppercut bag,3x3mins heavy bag and 3x3mins speedball, to finish off i do some weights not heavy just enough to do 20 reps 3sets(back,shoulders,arms),what i’m asking for is some strength exercises using free weights ,i do a few sets of clap pushups and medicine ball throws against a wall ,just want some new exercises to keep my workouts from getting too repetitive,by the way i’m 44 ,6ft 5 and weigh 110kg.Great website mate, really enjoy reading it! Thanks, robby

• I really like the exercises using a medicine ball. They’re all over the internet.

4. Are Title heavy bag gloves any good or Everlast better?

• I prefer the bag gloves by Title. They’re good.

5. What how many sets/reps/recovery time should I have during my workouts?

A few last things – I am interested in trying to increase speed as well and have been hearing about plyometric exercises. Is there an exercise routine with detailed information like number of sets/reps/frequency you would recommend? I am also wondering if there is any recovery time recommended between workouts (like with weight lifting)? Right now I’m doing 4-5 days a week 60-90 minutes per day since I have more free time. When work gets busy I can usually only fit in 3 days or so. – Mike

• There’s a workout I released on this website. A good break time is 1 minute as most.

6. Can you tell me if my workout is good?

Johnny,

When I am unable to work in an actual training class here is the workout I do. Check it out and tell me if this an effective way to train or what I can do to improve on it.

30 min run 3.5-4.0 miles

10 min jump rope

10 min shadow boxing

20 min heavy bag

10 min pushups

10 min ab work

10 min pull ups

Any input you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

How long before you get t-shirts?

Thanks

SEBASTIAN

• I would take time off the heavy bag and put it into the speed bag and double-end bag. The t-shirts are on their way! (Thanks for asking.)

7. What size boxing gloves should I use?

Let me start by saying I love your newsletter, man. I’m a beginner and I’m looking into buying my first set of boxing gloves. I weigh about 220, do you have any suggestions of what size of glove I should use? Also what are some of the better brands out there?  - Juan

• 16oz is the minimum size for you. Check out my Boxing Gloves Buyer’s Review.

8. Do you have any tips or ideas to fight like James Toney?

Hello Johnny, I am Spaniardguy… I enjoy your site and now I am enjoy your boxing intructional video and ebook. Sorry to bother you, but I take a motivation that you can help to resolve partly. Yo are a great fan to James Toney. I too. If you have time, could you tell me some tips or ideas about fighting like him (I wouldn´t go that far, hehehe)?

• Spar at slow speed and try to evade your opponent’s punches without taking a backstep. See if you can become more creative at slipping. Instead of just moving your head, see if you can angle your body so that your opponent misses entirely. I have a guide coming out to teach more advanced body movement.

9. Can you please help me with my reflexes? – Zach

• Spar slower so you can see everything. It’s hard to have fast reflexes when you can’t see what you’re suppose to react to.

10. Do you have any recommendations on the Fighting Sports Tri-Tech gloves?

Hello Sir,

First, I want to say that this is the most valuable, real and useful information I got over the internet about spurring. My name is Yuval, and I am new to the fighting sport. I am doing Krav Maga, Spurring, Bag, Cross fit, and I love it. I totally hooked.

I bought my gear at Sport Chalet, and after the guy at the fight store that I went yesterday told me how poor quality they are, I decided to return them and do some of my research before I am investing hundreds of dollars in high quality gear. Your website and experience have been very useful and helped educate me about the field.

I am thinking on getting Fighting Sports Tri-Tech brand. Any recommendations? Laces? Loop & Hook?

Also, thank you for the recommendation to put hand wraps on anytime I train.

I could not find any review on grappling gloves or mouth pieces?

Is the Dr. Shock brand worth the price? or is the plain, cheap Everlast mouth piece is good enough?

Is the Hayabusa MMA pro gloves are the way to go with those sort of gloves?

Again, thank you very much. Sharing you knowledge and experience have definitely made a difference for me.

Yuval

•  I like the Fighting Sports Tri-Tech gloves, a couple of the guys here use them. The hook & loop are a much better choice. They secure the wrist well and make it easy for you to strap yourself up. I’m not an MMA expert and never use those MMA gloves so I can’t give you any advice there.
• Doctor Shock mouthguards are definitely worth it. The cheap mouthguards wear down fast and don’t seem to lock my jaw as well.

11. Do you any good body weight exercises to stay in shape?

Hey Johnny,

I’ve got a question. I’m away from home for about a year and that means no boxing either, unfortunately. Do you know any good body weight exercises that will me keep in shape? That means no dumbbells, or any other type of equipment. Thanks in advance!

- S.J.

• Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, dips (use a chair). Search the internet for calisthenics (bodyweight exercises). As long as you have gravity, you can get a full workout using only your body weight.

12. Is 33 too old to start boxing and compete?

First of all, I appreciate the website. Very informative, and positive. Not the brash, tough guy, in-your-face talk that I see on some sites.

I am 33 years old, and I work on computers for a living. I sit a lot because of my job so I workout after the workday. I have always been interested in boxing but never did anything about it. Just over two months ago I found a gym, and I love going there. I am still working on basics, as well as my weight, but I am making pretty good progress on all fronts.

My question for you is, how old is too old to get into the sport? Now I know that I am not too old to train, spar, etc.., but is 33 too old to begin the pursuit of possibly fighting an amateur bout or two?

Thank you very much.

Tony

• There are open divisions and masters divisions for older fighters. 33 is not too old at all, there are many people who get into the sport late and still have a  great time. You might be too late for the olympics and a pro career but it’s never too late to get in awesome shape and challenge yourself.

13. What I do to increase jab strength?

hi johnny

first of all great site and thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

i just wanted to ask regarding the jab im a cruiserwaight boxer and have a weak jab, thus setting up other shots after the jab can be a little difficult in the ring. my arms are conditioned so im not to sure what to do although my coach think not too much of it however i my self know i realy much on the jab

so what if anthing would you recomend i do to help my jab strenth wise

once again thanks for all the time

kam

• The jab’s strength is its speed and accuracy. The power comes from the snap, not necessarily the strength behind the jab. You can add power to the jab by stepping forward an inch when you throw it.

14. Should I adopt the outside boxing style?

Johnny, I am 12 years old and I have just begun boxing. I am medium-height and am pretty fast, but I don’t have much power. Would a outboxer be a good style to adopt? – Ty

• Everybody who wants to learn how to box must learn how to box from the inside, outside, everything. Boxing from the outside is not a style, it’s a part of boxing. You have to be ready for whatever situation presents itself.

15. Can you help me with ______?

Hi Coach,

first off, great website, I’m a big fan.

I am a newbie to boxing and have been training for about the last 6 months. I am looking at signing up for a locally hosted charity fight night between us and our sister boxing club. I have several questions in regards to my training over the next few months:

1. Roadwork – I do none at present. I am EXTREMELY flat footed and use customised orthotics. Being on the heavier side, I avoid running as it tends to hurt my knees. Is there any effect from replacing running with an elliptical cross trainer or other low impact cardio machinery in the gym? How much and how often should I be doing? – do you have any guide on this?

2. Do you have any tips or aids to ensure your wrist/forearm is aligned the right way when punches impact. I tend to use a fairly powerful cross and recently my outer wrist has been hurting after every session. I have tried taking some time away from training and the usual icing of the affected spot. I also try and wrap my wrists tighter. This has all helped but not reduced the problem. I am trying to change my punching style from a “great big powerful cross” to a “snapping punch”. Do you have any other recommendations?

3. The common sense boxing diet is logical, but can you provide some advise around quantities? I am unable to keep up with 6x meals a day due to work/study/training commitments. I can only manage 4 meals a day. I am currently 110kgs at 6’0 tall. My objective is to get down to 95kgs over the next 6 months. What macro break down shall I aim for with the proteins/carbs/fats split in terms of weight (g) per day. eg: 180g protein, 250g carb, 50g fats, etc.

4. I know this is subjective, but how many training sessions do you recommend?

At present I attend:

2x squad sessions a week – these cover technique/drills/sparring

1x technique session a week

2x conditioning sessions a week

I am looking to add one bag session with several rounds on the heavy bag followed by the speed ball.

Is that a suitable target?

5. Lastly, I like to add in 1x session a week of heavy compound lifting – military presses, bench presses, squats, deadlifts, etc – I know you aren’t a big fan of weight training, but I definitely feel like these help my “power shots”. What are your thoughts?

regards,

V.V.

ps: Is mailbag a fortnightly/monthly feature – just so I know when to expect an answer and don’t get fired from work for refreshing your webpage every minute waiting for a reply

• Hey VV, I update the mailbag whenever I have time which isn’t much nowadays. For you, I will make this one special exception and answer it now because the next one might not be for a month. I don’t have a guide on running alternatives but will certainly make one.
• The reason why your wrist hurts is usually because of punching form and/or technique. My suggestion is that you stretch the INSIDE LENGTH of your arm when you throw those crosses. That’s the distance from the index knuckle to the inside of your shoulder (where it meets the chest).
• The Common Sense Boxing Diet already answers the recommended number of calories to consumer per day. How much should you eat? This is what your body needs, according to the American Dietary Guidelines 2010 (from the US Department of Health): 2400-3000 calories for active men (reference size 5’10″ 154lbs), 2000-2400 calories for active women (reference size 5’4″ 126lbs)
• Everyone’s body is different. You will have to experiment with different amounts to know what is right. There’s a section in that guide called “Meal Portions”. Other than that, I recommend you follow what is recommended by the American Dietary Guidelines. If you are unable to keep up with the 6x meals schedule, you will have to find a way…otherwise, your diet will be less than perfect. That’s simply the way the body works. I use to pack food in a plastic container everywhere I went. It was a hassle but I made health my priority and always found a way.
• Your current training session is pretty intense so I wouldn’t recommend any more training than that. I would say it’s perfect for competing amateur boxers.
• Lifting weights to punch harder is like trying to build muscle so you can jump higher. Can it work? It depends on how you do it. Is that how the old school greats did it? NOPE. Are there far better exercises than weightlifting for building power? OH YEAH!
• I’m not a big fan of heavy weightlifting for boxing because I use to be a powerlifter and it turned out to be a huge waste of time for boxing purposes. But since you asked… I beg you to try 2 months of weight training…and then 2 months without weight training. And see for yourself which period allowed you punch harder, with greater punching range, with higher punch output, using less energy. I’m not asking you to believe me…I’m asking you to see for yourself how big the difference is.

16. What can I do to improve my ability to see punches better?

I just love all the advise u give us!!!!it helps allot. I just wane know(if u can help) what can I do to basically make myself to see the punches coming my way? – storm

• Spar at a slower speed so that you can learn to SEE the punches. Once you can see it, you can slowly pick up the pace. If you spar too fast in the beginning, you’ll never be able to see it and you’ll flinch for ever. Of course, I don’t want you to watch every punch being thrown at you. The goal is to build your sensitivity to punches so that you can feel them coming.

17. When are you considered a boxer?

I had a question, when are you considered a boxer? Is it when you are training and full on sparring with other ametuer fighters? Or when you are actually competing? – Vinnie

• In a literal sense, you’re a boxer if you train and participate in the sport of boxing. But if you want to be serious boxer, then it will take a least a couple months of hard training before you will be respected as a fighter.

18. Do you have any advice for sparring body shots?

hi was just wondering if you could do an artical or give me some advice on body sparring. We do it alot at my gym in england and i know it can give you bad habbits because you always block your body rather than your head. Can you tell me how you should block and where you should hit your opponent and how to look good. thank you rob

• Block wherever your opponent tries to attack you. Aim anywhere you can reach your opponent (chest, stomach, solar plexus, heart, liver, kidney, ribs). A good idea is to intercept with an uppercut straight up the middle when your opponent throws a wide hook to the body.

19. How can I box professionally if my country doesn’t have professional boxing?

Hello Johhney,

first of all i want to convey me greetings to u and your team. i am ahmad sadeed and i live in afghanistan. i am really a boxing fanatic and i have been following ur site for a long time. i have a bachelor degree in law and i am working with an american company in afghanistan right now. previously i was going to a kickboxing gym but it was not what i wanted. after graduating from law school, i started going to boxing gym. i exercised a lot and tried to be a smart and sharp boxer. no exaggeration, i am good at it. coming to the point, in my country there are no pro boxers who participates in any kind of competitions. all of them are amatuer and our boxing national team has never taken part in olympics or any major championship. maybe the reason is our poor boxing quality and less interst of our officials. i don’t know. i am really suffering and frustrated cause i am getting older. now i am 22 but until i reach the level i have to, considering these conditions, it might take so long. i am looking forward to ur comments. every day inside the gym i discuss ur topics and my trainer likes them a lot and he encourages me to continue my hard work. i want to sacrifice every thing of my life for boxing. even i refused my promotion at work cause it will prevent me from concentrating on boxing. but i am scared that after losing every thing i may not reach anywhere. is there any other way to become a pro? i will try my best to get to our national team and maybe through that i reach other competitions.

• Ahmad, I suggest for you to enter the amateur boxing competitions in your country and do really well. Record videos of yourself doing well in competition and send them to promotion companies and boxing managers around the world. Somebody may be willing to sponsor you and handle the paperwork for you to fight in another country. Your best bet is to talk to an experienced amateur boxing coach, maybe he has connections.

20. Can you recommend a couple of quick snacks to eat before training?

Hi Johnny.

I train twice a week at a local club for fitness and weight loss. I have lost over 30lb in 3 months and really enjoy the training. I leave work and go straight to training and then have my evening meal when I get home ~ I’m usually ravenous by the time I get home.

Please could you recommend a couple of quick snacks I could eat a couple of hours prior to training as I have tried bananas or sandwiches but I can’t find the right balance. I either run out of energy or get a stitch.

Brilliant site especially from a beginners point of view.

Regards

Simon

• I’ll eat a large meal about 2 hours before training, and then a small meal like protein bar and a fruit right before training. You can also eat something small (even a candy bar) during training.

21. What can you tell me about hand problems and safety issues in boxing training?

Dear Mr.Nguyen,

My name is Santos, and I currently attending the Science Academy of South Texas. I am enrolled in a course named Engineering Development and Design in which I am required to identify and create a solution for a problem using engineering. I am interested reducing felt force in the hands during boxing training sessions in order to help prevent hand and wrist injuries.

I found your website, and I was wondering, as an expert, what you could tell me about common current hand protection during boxing training (i.e. using a punching bag).

You help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Santos

• The biggest problem with hand injuries is that boxers are punching an irregular shaped object. The human body is shaped differently and hard and soft in different places. You can use proper form to keep the wrist from bending but often, you attack and whatever angle is available. An opponent could easily move or parry which may bend your wrist. Hundreds of punches can be thrown in a round at high speeds making it highly likely for the wrist to be at slightly angled upon impact.
• All safety equipment can only cushion the impact, it doesn’t keep the wrist from bending. I guess the solution would be to find a way to secure the boxer’s wrists during punches. Maybe better handwraps or gloves would be the solution.

22. How much should I train?

Hello, thanks for the website, it has helped me a lot in my boxing goals. But I have some questions.

My name is Kurt, and I’m currently 18 and I’ve been interested in boxing since I was 17. I just turned 18 in July and I want to one day go pro. I just had a few questions on some things. Now the first is concerning my age. At 18, is it too late for me to want to turn pro if I’m just starting out? And if not, How long do you suppose it will take me to do it?

Also, I’m 5’11 1/2 – 6′ and I currently weigh 218. Now I can cut some body fat off to be a good fighting weight and I’ll probably get down to 200 or 205. Now I’ve been weight training for about a year before I got into boxing and my current trainer said I should stop lifting and I did stop and now I just do a lot of calisthenics. My trainer also told me that for my height I should be fighting at cruiser-weight because heavyweight is mainly has taller guys. But here’s the problem, I gained A LOT of muscle mass in just a year to the point where many thought I was on steroids. And 90% of my family has a long history of having big people. So genetically I’m prone to gaining weight. Which means that even if I do calisthenics, I’m still probably gunna gain muscle from it. I’m a good example of a mesomorph. So is this a problem? And if I do become a heavyweight, what are some of the pros and cons of the situation.

And one last question. I like to train a lot and I want to be the best conditioned boxer I can be. Now I looked up some boxers routines online and the only boxer that has any resemblance to my body type that I can think of is Mike Tyson (and by no means am I saying I’ll be anything like Tyson). But I looked up his training program and I watched some videos of him talking about it, and I found out that he jogs 3-5 miles everyday, he does a ton of calisthenics every day, and he does a lot of other boxing training (like ring work, mitts, heavy bag, speed bag, slip bag, jump rope, etc.) and he did this at least 6 days a week. If I wanted to be well conditioned could I follow this routine, or would I risk over-training?

• You’ll only get injured if you try to train like Mike Tyson, or any other professional boxer. It takes years to develop the body to handle that amount of punishment. You’ll have to trust your coach to guide you at the right pace. I would match the workout of other boxers in your gym before you increase the workload. Don’t forget that rest is an important part of strengthening the body.

23. How do I shadowbox properly?

Hey Johnny – I really dig your site and put lot of your ideas to use.

Just seeing if you’ve already done a write up on how to properly shadowbox..I can’t seem to find anything. In particular, how many rounds, pacing, things to concentrate on etc

Cheers dude!!

Ben

• Shadowbox by throwing punches using proper form. Once you can throw single punches with proper form, you can start throwing combinations and increasing the speed. There’s no set rules, you throw punches and work on your defensive movements like slipping and rolling while you do it. It helps to do it in front of a mirror for you to check your form. You can shadowbox to warm up, work out, or warm down.

24. What’s the footwork when coming forward with the 1-2?

Hey man,

I love your site, it’s awesome! I’ve got a quick question for you please.

Can you explain the footwork for coming forward with a 1-2? Usually, my weight is 40-60, front foot back foot. If I come forward with a 1-2. I’ll step forward with my left foot AS I throw the jab and then I twist into the right hand, with the right foot twisting with it and slightly pushing so my weight comes forward to my front foot. I get a lot of power with this.

This is all fine, but if I want to throw the jab, 1-2-1, I literally have to jump into it because my weight is now more on the front foot after throwing the right.

I asked a guy at the gym and he said that the right foot moves forward after the jab and just before the right hand, so the stance is shortened back to normal. This allows me to throw the second jab as normal, but I don’t get any power on the right hand at all? :S

I’d really appreciate if you could explain this please, thanks man!

Matt

• Hehehe…great question, many boxers will fight for years before learning this. If you’re moving forward, you have to bring your feet with you in order to reach with both hands. If you have a strong weight transfer, you can fire the right hand while sliding up the right foot. If you take a smaller step, you can plant the right foot before firing the right hand. If you’re really clever, you’ll get into range without letting your opponent know.

I couldn’t resist making one of these funny meme’s for boxers. I was laughing while picking the images for this but then I started wondering: how do other people look at boxing? Most people I meet are always shocked to find out that I box. I’ve gotten better at explaining the sweet science over the years. Here’s what I tell them:

Boxing is a community sport where people come together to improve themselves. It’s a sport that challenges you mentally and physically more than you ever thought possible. You suffer only as much pain as you dare to push yourself. Although fighting is not required, testing your limits will be! It’s most certainly the best workout you’ve ever had.

Like everything else in life, boxing can be dangerous if you’re reckless about it. It’s dangerous if you let pride stand in the way of common sense, emotion in the way of intelligence. The only pain in boxing is having your ego shredded to pieces. The biggest risk in boxing is being too scared to improve yourself.

What do you tell them?

There’s a popular misconception that lifting [heavy] weights could increase punching power. Every month I see endless emails, forums, and websites full of fighters trying to rationalize the benefits of weights for fighting. Not surprisingly, many are written by guys with limited fighting experience. Lifting heavy weights has never been proven to increase punching power. It never has and it never will. Weight training CAN build powerful muscles but won’t give you powerful punches.

I’ll give you 5 reasons why…

My experience with weights

As a teenager, I lifted weights for all sorts of reasons — functional & aesthetic. In middle school, I lifted weights to impress the girls (it didn’t work, by the way). In high school, I followed an explosive weight training routine in track & field to increase my sprinting power. After track & field, I spent 5 years in powerlifting developing my strength and power through intense weight training. It was during my powerlifting phase that I discovered boxing.

I TOO, thought my powerlifting background would give me an advantage in boxing. If lifting weights made me a more powerful lifter, shouldn’t it make me a more powerful puncher as well? I heard about old school boxers staying away from weights but I refused to give up my self-proclaimed “advantage”. When comparing myself to other beginners, I could see that I was stronger than all of them. My boxing trainer and all the pro boxers in the gym told me to stop lifting weights. They all challenged my theories stressing that weights would make me slow and stiff, and get tired faster. They told me the back-in-the-days boxing champions never lifted weights. Yet still, I resisted. I couldn’t understand how a power exercise could ever be dentrimental to a power-sport!

The turning point came when I started losing sparring matches against faster, skinnier guys. They carried a slender build but hit so much harder than me! I kept thinking their technique was better or that maybe I hadn’t been boxing long enough. I finally got sick of losing and decided to obey my trainer’s every word. I stopped lifting weights among other things and within weeks, I was punching faster and harder. What shocked me was that I wasn’t only punching harder, my boxing skill had also improved. Looking back, I can see clearly that lifting weights really held me back. It makes a lot of sense when you understand punching technique.

Why Lifting Weights Won’t Increase Punching Power

REASON #1 – Punching is a snapping motion, NOT a pushing motion

Lifting weights is a PUSHING MOTION.

You exert as much force as possible, as consistently as possible, to lift the heaviest weight you can. During a pushing motion, the object is moved by you first establishing contact and exerting force over a relatively extended period of time.

The natural progression of lifting weights is to lift heavier. Of course, everyone tries to lift fast but once they’re able to lift something, the next step is to lift HEAVIER. Speed is not the focus, strength is. Unfortunately many beginner fighters falsely believe punching to be the same pushing motion. These beginners think the goal of punching is to push their fist with as much force as possible to penetrate their opponent as hard as possible.

Examples of sports with PUSHING motions (all of these also have snapping motions):

• sprinting
• gymnastics
• football
• wrestling
• weightlifting

Punching is a SNAPPING MOTION.

A snapping motion is to exert as much force as possible in the least amount of time. With a snapping motion, you accelerate your hand towards the object and then use the IMPACT of that acceleration to exert force.

Suppose you want to punch fast. The goal would be to explode on your opponent with the fastest punch possible and make contact with your opponent with the shortest amount of time. A punch is not a push, it’s a quick explosion, an accelerated force that reaches maximum power upon contact. When lifting weights, you can take a few seconds to exert your strength. When punching an opponent, you don’t have this luxury of time–he has to feel your power right when you touch him. Your fist must SNAP upon impact and return quickly so you can throw other punches or go back on defense. The speed requirement of punching increases the explosive damage your opponent feels. Lifting weights has far less emphasis on speed, which costs you EXPLOSIVE power.

Examples of sports with SNAPPING motions:

• tennis
• baseball (hitting, not throwing)
• golf
• volleyball
• BOXING!

Pushing vs Snapping

The main difference between a pushing motion and a snapping motion is the amount of contact time made and the consistency of energy committed. Compare the bodies of these different types of athletes. If weightlifting improved snapping movements, wouldn’t professional volleyball players be lifting weights so they could spike the ball harder? If weightlifters had punching advantages, they would all be strong punchers, right?

Pushing definitely allows you to move heavier objects because you have more time to apply force. Snapping allows you to apply more explosive force (damage) because you have the freedom to accelerate. You could say that pushing is like throwing a baseball, whereas snapping is like spiking a volleyball. Both are powerful movements but punching is definitely more like snapping than pushing.

REASON #2 – Powerful Punches Require Relaxation, NOT Strong Muscles

Many fighters don’t know how to punch…

When you don’t know how to punch, all your punches become pushes. Without the proper technique, all you can do is use your strength and power. This is why lifting weights actually helped me punch harder as a beginner. But the difference was only marginal, I was maybe 20% more powerful at best. Learning proper technique maybe tripled my power.

So how DO you punch?

I won’t go into specifics right now but here are some simple concepts:

1. Punching power (damage caused) = acceleration (hand speed) x force (muscle strength & body weight)
2. You punch harder by using committing more speed and more force.

How do you increase power WITHOUT using more energy?

Now here’s the trick to punching RIDICULOUSLY HARD. There are 2 ways to accelerate more force into your opponent. One common way is to spend more energy. It’s logical, it works, but is it effective? NOPE! Using more energy increases your punching power but it doesn’t increase the explosion effect. It feels like a harder push and it doesn’t give your punches that *BANG!* effect.

The OTHER way (the only way) to generate explosive force, is to DECREASE the “weight” so that your punch travels faster. Then you add the weight at the very end of the punch when it lands—this makes your punches faster and use less energy! So what is “the weight” and how do you decrease it? The weight in this case is the TENSION in your body! The more tense and the heavier your body is, the heavier your punching weight becomes. You decrease this weight by RELAXING YOUR BODY as you punch, allowing your punching weight to accelerate freely towards your opponent. Right before your punch lands is when your foot finishes the pivot, your hip rotates, and the shoulders turn over to form the punch. In this final moment, you need only a short compact contraction to SNAP your entire body (like a rubberband) into one unified explosive punch. The better you are at relaxing your body, the more powerful you will be!

Relax to aid the snap

The relaxing motion is a critical aspect of punching power.

Relax the body by letting go of your muscles. This relaxing motion, this “release” of your body allows your punch to accelerate faster creating a far more devastating explosion when you finally add weight. If you think about it: the punching motion is relaxing your fist as much as possible towards your opponent, leaving only the final moment of impact for your muscle contraction. Learn how to exert force through relaxation and you will have mastered 99% of your punching technique.

Now of course, relaxing your body doesn’t mean letting your body flop all over the place. Use proper punching form to relax your body INTO the motion of the punch. Then contract all your muscles simultaneously at the very end to finally add weight to the punch. Mastering this split-second timing of punching with your entire body all at once, is what makes the punch incredibly powerful. (Increasing your muscle power is useless if you can’t get your body to hit all at once.)

An explosive punch is 99.99% snap, and 0.01% push.

Lifting weights will not train you to relax and only makes your body slow during the contraction phase of the punch. If you’re so use to exerting force over a period of several seconds, how will you be able to exert maximum force in only a split second? The simple answer is that you can’t (or you won’t be as good at it).

Proper punching requires snapping movement (exerting maximum force in the shortest time possible). Unfortunately, most fighters are only taught the proper punching form, which is easy to teach because you can see it. Technique on the other hand, has to be felt and has to be taught. It’s a special skill requiring a combination of timing and visualization. Now you understand why an old skillful boxer can still punch harder than a young athletic kid. It’s because he’s mastered the timing of relaxing his body and then contracting his muscles in the right moment to deliver the explosive power.

Beginner punchers increase power through effort.
Skilled punchers increase power through relaxation.

REASON #3 – Lifting Weights Can Decrease Your Muscle Relaxation Capacity

This is where the old school arguments against weights come in. I’m sure you’ve heard them all before.

Lifting weights:

• makes you slow
• makes you stiff
• makes you tire out faster

Is it true? Well, let’s think about the extremes. Suppose I was to compare two guys– one being a weightlifter and the other being a dancer. How might their bodies look differently? How might their bodies move differently? Which body do you think would better mimic the movements of a boxer?

In my case the old school arguments were true. Powerlifting limited my speed and endurance, while making me “stiff”. I didn’t feel disadvantaged against other beginners but against experienced fighters, they were all MUCH faster and punched harder with more endurance. They didn’t use any weights and begged me to do the same.

Suppose you don’t care about being slower or having less endurance. You should still consider the chances that lifting weights might HAMPER your relaxation capacity and thus your power punching ability. Even a slight decrease in speed can make the difference between a landed punch and a missed punch. Being more powerful isn’t worth it if you can’t sustain that power for a whole 3 rounds.

The Real Problem with Weights and Fighting

I don’t truly believe that lifting weights makes you stiff. Maybe it just promotes the wrong attitude in beginner athletes. Most people only know how to move powerfully by straining their muscles instead of relaxing. Relaxing for power is a very foreign concept and takes time to practice. The real risk of lifting weights is that you never learn how to move powerfully by relaxing.

Weight lifting doesn’t teach you how to relax,
and doesn’t help you practice that type of movement.

REASON #4 – The Weight Behind Your Punches Is NOT Your Muscle

Lifting weights generates force PURELY from your muscles. Punching generates force by converting your body weight’s gravitational into forward impact. Of course, you could try and generate punching power using your muscle but everybody knows that’s inefficient use of energy. I’d rather drop my 145lb frame 100 times each round then to try and generate 145lbs of force with every punch through my muscles…you get what I’m saying?

The force behind your punches is generately mostly from your body weight. Your muscles’ role in punching power is to make your body weight heavier AND DIRECT THE FORCE into your opponent. Your muscles don’t have to generate any punching force, they simply tighten your body into a compact “weight” and direct this weight into your opponent.

Visualize This

Imagine if you wanted to punch the ground. Instead of punching the ground directly, you drop a weight a mid-air, and use your muscles to SLAP that weight making it drop faster to the ground. So instead of using your muscles to punch your opponent, you’re using your muscles to snap your body to punch your opponent.

Alternative visualization: imagine that you want you cannonball jump into the water and make a big splash. You can be as powerfully muscular as you want, but your body weight doesn’t change and that splash stays relatively the same. Your ability to relax determines how high you can jump. Your muscle power and technique determines how tight you can squeeze yourself into a compact cannonball. My point is: muscle power alone can’t punch harder than your body weight.

REASON #5 – Punching Power Doesn’t Guarantee Damage Delivered

Punching Power vs Damaged Delivered

The amount of damage delivered is determined by:

• muscle power (conditioning)
• technique (skill)
• angle (skill)
• accuracy (skill)
• timing (skill)

Boxing is a punching contest, not a power contest.

Having powerful muscles doesn’t guarantee a great punch. You’ve got to have skill. You need technique, angle, accuracy, and timing. Beginners rely on raw power during slugfests, but experienced fighters generate far more power using SKILLS!

Your skills make up more of your FUNCTIONAL punching power than anything else. I can punch 3 times harder than when I first started boxing, and I’m sure it’s not because I’m 3 times stronger. If I only had a limited number of hours to workout, I’d be prioritizing my skill development. Boxing is a skill sport so you need skills to be able to use your power. Unless you’re only interested in showing off on the heavy bag, you need skills to use your power in fights.

Try hitting the double-end bag with your hardest punches and use that as an indicator of your functional punching power. If you can’t hit the moving bag with your power, you probably won’t be able to hit a live opponent either. Good opponents move more like double-end bags than heavy bags.

Is it IMPOSSIBLE to Lift Weights for Boxing?

I’m not saying you can’t ever lift weights for boxing. I’m saying: “lifting heavy weights will not increase punching power”.

There are dozens of great uses for weights. There are nice exercises for targeting different muscle groups. You can build your support muscles with small dumbbells. You can work on specific muscle groups that are otherwise difficult to target with calisthenics (bodyweight exercises).

The key to any effective exercise, weightlifting or not, is to develop functional boxing conditioning. Whatever exercise you do, make sure it translates into better boxing ability—this can mean an increase in physical capacity or an increase in motor control or even muscle support (reduce chance of injury). Look carefully at the bodies of most boxers. If your exercises make your body look different, you might be developing the wrong physique for boxing.

NOTE: those of you wondering if it’s a good idea to shadowbox at high speed while holding dumbbells–it’s a bad idea. It hurts your joints and doesn’t make you much faster or stronger. That exercise is usually done by the pros using slow movements to build support muscle (not punching speed/power).

Lifting Weights Can Affect Your Fighting Ability

I wrote this article because I’ve tried dozen ways to adapt weight lifting for boxing. A part of me always searches for every possible advantage and I really thought I had it in being a powerlifter. I was humbled by so many “weaker” and less-built punchers that I had no choice but to accept the truth. There will always be someone who thinks they’re beyond the rules (me included). There will always be someone who thinks they’re so special that their body and “special training” can overcome simple facts about boxing. The worst part about training incorrectly is waking up one day to realize you’re holding back your progress.

The truth is, boxing is a fast movement type of sport. Boxing requires quick snapping movements and many of them. A single fight can have hundreds of quick snappy movements in all sorts of directions. Lifting weights is a relatively slow movement using a relatively limited range of motion, making it less effective for boxing training. Even if lifting weights did increase your punching power, you’re still better off developing your punching skills. You have to workout like a boxer if you want to be a boxer.

Boxing is thousands of years old and weights are not a new invention. If weight-training had a place in boxing training, there would have been a mainstream use for them by now. I am aware of recent boxers weight-training but none that achieved the levels of physicality and skill as the old timers did. The overwhelming majority of trained boxers and coaches are against weight lifting. The exceptions to this rule are few and far between. I’ve been to a bagillion gyms and seen hundreds of pros work out. To this day, I have never seen ANY of them using heavy weights. I beg you to go to the best boxing gym you can find, ask the head coach about weights and see what he says.

Unless you’re the small percentage of ambidextrous fighters, one of your hands is faster, stronger, and more accurate than the other. Knowing this allows you to determine your proper boxing stance for strategic and anatomic benefits. It may not be an advantage but at least you don’t handicap yourself.

But first of all, how do you figure out your dominant hand?

Dominant Hand Test for Fighters

Here’s a simple test I use to help fighters figure out their dominant hand.

1. Go up to a speed bag
2. Hit the speed bag 10 times with one hand
3. Now hit 10 times with the other hand
4. Keep repeating, switching smoothly from one hand to the other

Try to hit it faster with better timing and accuracy, while making smaller circles in the air with your fist. Within a few minutes, one arm will start to outperform the other. Sometimes it’s as obvious as one hand getting tired quickly or not being as fast. You might notice one hand drawing better circles in the air.

• The hand that performs the best overall is your dominant hand.

Now that you know which is your strong hand, I have one piece of advice for you:

The dominant hand belongs in the back.

Why must the dominant hand be in the back?

Here we go again. It’s a reminder for some and an eye-opener for others. The average person isn’t ambidextrous. Knowing that, you have to respect YOUR OWN BODY’s preference to give different responsibilities to each hand.

Front Hand Responsibilities:

• measuring range
• setting up bigger punches
• defense

Your front hand is responsible for controlling the distance, setting up other punches, and serving as your first line of defense. When you think about it, the jab is a perfect weapon for that front hand. The jab can control the range, set up power shots, and even act as a defense (counter-offense). If you have a great jab, you can win the entire fight by controlling the range and peppering your opponent with constant jabs. You can win a whole fight without ever bringing in the power. Now we know the front hand does the bulk of the work.

Back Hand Responsibilities:

• accuracy
• speed
• power

The back hand is responsible for hitting a moving target, being fast, and having power. Think of your back hand as the cannon. It’s farther away from your opponent so it has to be more accurate and fast. The back hand also needs to be powerful because any opponent that gets close to you should be backed off immediately with power. This is why your dominant hand belongs in the back.

…Some of you may be wondering…

IF THE FRONT HAND IS MORE IMPORTANT, THEN HOW COME THE STRONG HAND ISN’T IN FRONT?

The moment you put your strong hand in front, you become a one-handed fighter. Your accurate/fast/power hand is forced take on the weak hand responsibilities like measuring range, defense, and setting other punches. The weak will go to the rear where it becomes far less useful because it’s not as accurate, not as fast, and not as powerful.

There is where people like to argue and say, “But can’t I train the weak hand to be more powerful/fast/accurate?!” The answer is yes, but why would you do that when you already have a hand that’s perfectly made for the task? Having the strong hand in the back is like having a strong safety net, it’s the threat of the back hand’s power that keeps them away. If your back hand is weak, your opponents can rush past your front arm and force you into losing exchanges.

But doesn’t the front arm (jab arm) need accuracy, speed, and power?

Yes it does, but most of all it needs skill. Accuracy, speed, and power will having great boxing skills is the ultimate goal of making both your arms effective. The front arm is already much closer to your opponent that it doesn’t require all the physical qualities as the back arm. The back arm however, will be USELESS, if it doesn’t have the accuracy/speed/power to threaten from the rear.

What about having a southpaw advantage?

The advantage to being a southpaw is not about having a power hand in front. The southpaw advantage is to have the southpaw angles. You can stand like a southpaw but unless you’re a true southpaw, you won’t benefit from their angles because your body isn’t as comfortable in that stance. You might feel more powerful or faster but I promise you won’t be as fluid as a natural southpaw AND you’re still giving up your natural orthodox qualities.

What if my “weak hand” is faster or stronger?

The dominant hand, as shown in the speed bag test, is the one you would rely on. (The more accurate and skillful one.) If you had to amputate one arm, which one would you save? — that’s your dominant one. Sure, having speed and power helps, but ultimately the hand with more ability wins.

It’s not about stance, it’s about boxing

You’re free to stand anyway you want, but ultimately you will have to accept that you are boxing and the game of boxing sets limits on how you must move. Boxing doesn’t favor fighters with no defense, it doesn’t favor you to stand on one leg (like kickboxing), it doesn’t favor you to run straight into opponents (like grappling).

Positioning the dominant hand in the back isn’t a rule, it’s a fact of boxing. I didn’t make this rule and there’s no official book saying you MUST fight this way. The nature of boxing makes it easier for fighters with their dominant hand in the back. For reasons anatomic or strategic, boxing is easier when you follow this rule. I won’t say there are no exceptions but be aware of the natural advantages you give up by using a switch stance. As long as you’re winning fights, nobody can tell you otherwise.

See my other guides on being an orthodox or southpaw:

• Why the Strong Arm Belongs in the Back
• Deciding Between Orthodox or Southpaw

Last Sunday, I cornered for 2 fighters for their first fights. My friends, Van and Richard were training hard for the past couple months. I was proud to see both of them win their first fight. (Video included.)

I figured you’d want to know how I coached Van and Richard. To all the guys that trained hard, you deserve to win–this guide is for YOU. To everyone else that only trained 99% and/or like to make excuses, this guide will keep you from getting KO’ed in front of your friends.

Here are some strategies and tips for your first fight…

The Truth

You’re either ready or you’re not. If you’re only one week away from the fight, there isn’t much that I (or anybody) can say that will make you a better fighter overnight. You either have the capacity to win or you don’t.

THE GOOD NEWS, is that I can help you fight to the BEST OF YOUR ABILITY. And that right there is all you really need. If you go out there and fight to the best of your ability, I promise you will be happy with the result no matter what happens. Nobody likes to get tire out early and get outpunched. Nobody likes to lose a fight where they didn’t perform their best.

So again, I can’t make you any better than you are but I can help you perform at 100% capacity.

What If You’re Nervous?

I can only think of a few reasons why people get nervous before fights. One is you didn’t train hard enough. If you slacked off in training, don’t ask for a victory. Other reasons for being nervous is that you don’t actually enjoy fighting or maybe the crowd atmosphere gets to you. If you don’t genuinely enjoy THE RISK of getting hurt, you shouldn’t be competing.

Everybody gets emotional before a fight. Fear, anxiety, stress, excitement…it’s all part of the reason you fight. Never forget that the emotions are the reason why you love fighting (or why you love anything). The risk of losing, the glory of winning–it’s why you enjoy competing! So go out there and take that risk.

The fight is your reward.

When you train hard, the fight becomes your reward. You get to show everyone how hard you trained and how amazing you are. You’re excited come fight day and you’re anxious to get in the ring. You WANT to fight, you WANT to have your fun.

I want to share a story about my fighter, Van, who trained 100% everyday for his first fight in December. Unfortunately the event got cancelled on the day of the fight, but what happened next was really inspiring. When I broke the news to Van that the fight got cancelled, he got sad as if his birthday was cancelled. I tried to cheer him up and let him know it was only more time for him to get better but he didn’t care.

Luckily, we were able to enter him into a smoker fight in January. When the day finally arrived, I had never seen a happier fighter. He was smiling and giggling like he had already won. He worked hard for it and couldn’t wait for the moment. I hope that when your first fight arrives, that you want it as bad as Van. And if you don’t want it as bad, then I pray that you’re not fighting Van.

STRATEGY FOR YOUR FIRST FIGHT!

Round 1 – BOX

• establish: control, skills, respect

Come out with some feeler jabs but watch out for HIS right hand. Trust me, he’s itching to throw it as much as you are. Block his jabs but watch out for that right hand. You’re free to land your own right hands and maybe a quick combo here and there but don’t go tearing after him and trying to finish him off. SAVE YOUR ENERGY! Try to hold center ring and keep circling your opponent instead of backing away from him. Establish dominance, confidence, and ring generalship. The first round should look even.

Touch Him

This is the most important part of the first round. You have to establish your reach and boxing ability. Make sure you can touch him before you commit to power punches later. You’re also letting him know that you’re able to reach his vulnerable spots; let him know you can hurt him. This keeps him cautious instead of trying to run you over. Throw fast jabs, fast right hands. Hook him when he drops his hands. Touch him to the head and body, up and down. Move around and keep finding new angles. Sneak some counters around him to see where he’s open when he throws.

Box Him

Unless he’s wide open for your right hands, don’t go in there trying to knock him out. Let him create his own vulnerabilities, not you. If he wants to waste energy brawling, pick your shots and knock him out. Otherwise, stick to your game plan and learn as much as you can about his vulnerabilities while you box him.

Breathe

I thought this was obvious but it isn’t. The hardest thing for most beginners is to maintain their breathing while they fight. Everything they do seems to distract them from breathing. Think of it this way. Your breathing is your pace. If you can fight to your own breathing, you are fighting at your pace. Your opponent might move all crazy and throw lots of punches, but if you can maintain YOUR BREATHING, you will be in control of yourself, not him. Breathe when you punch, breathe when you defend, breathe when you move. Most important of all, breathe when YOU want (not when he lets you).

Round 2 – PUNCH

• establish: power, strength, aggression

Now is the time for you to start pushing him. Start committing more to your punches. Step in more. More power, more push, more aggression. See if you can force him all the way to the ropes. Be ready to take the damage you dish out. The fight will be going back and forth with both fighters trying to hurt each other. Natural common sense applies here.

Sit Down On Your Punches

Don’t lift your hips so much. Let your hips drop and pivot your feet harder against the ground. The more connected you are with the ground, the more power your opponent will feel. Drop that weight to punch harder!

Follow Up With More Punches

This is a huge one! Too many beginners will sit there and admire their work. If you get a good hit in on a guy, try to capitalize on that. Don’t give him a chance to regain his sense. Try to turn 1 connect, into a 3-hit combo. Don’t step away from him, keep hitting until he throws something back. And then when he does, you slip that, and follow it up with more counters. Don’t ever let him fight, don’t let him stand, don’t let him breathe. The real trick is learning how to put pressure without throwing punches (or wasting energy).

Inexperienced fighters don’t start throwing
until their opponents throw first.
Experienced fighters don’t stop throwing
until their opponents throw back.

Move After the Last Shot

Move after you throw your hardest punches. Your opponent is going to come back after you just cracked him with a good one. Throw a combo, take a step. Throw another combo, take 2 steps. You don’t have to jump away from him, that’s a waste of energy. Just the act of you MOVING AWAY is enough to deflect the power from his punch. Don’t be so cautious about not getting touched. The goal is to throw off his rhythm by constantly changing directions. It’s not about BEING in and out, it’s about MOVING in and out. Take small steps, as long as you’re moving in and out, you’re doing fine.

Defend the Mirror Side

A good rule of thumb is to defend from the side you just threw. If you ended your combo with a right hand, expect a counter from his left. If you threw your left hand last, expect a counter to your left side. Don’t sit there and over-think it. Just let your combinations flow but whatever arm punched last should expect a counter on that side.

Round 3 – BRAWL

• establish: endurance, position, dominance

By now, both fighters have accepted their roles. Maybe one is the aggressor whereas the other is passively waiting along the ropes. Or both are boxers or both are brawlers.

I hope you’re in great shape for what’s about to happen. The 3rd and final round is where you go all-out throwing non-stop punches. The only time you stop punching is to let him miss. Otherwise, stay busy and keep pouring the pressure on him. Leave nothing in the ring. Come after him with non-stop combinations. Stop, catch your breath and adjust your defense if you need, but keep moving forward. He might have a good counter or two, slip them, and keep coming forward. Don’t wait, let your hands go! More punches, more pressure, more aggression!

You want to remind the judges who worked harder. You want to look like the more aggressive fighter. (Running in the last round is a common way to lose decisions! So make sure you have energy to fight at the end and finish strong.)

Automatic Combinations

Now is NOT the time to be thinking. You should have 2 sets of automatic combinations at hand: the ones you practiced in the gym, and the ones you figured out from the first two rounds. For me it’s double-jab, right cross, roll under the left hook, and follow up with a right cross, left uppercut, right cross. Then I’ll step to one side and swing a big left hook. At close range, I throw 1-2-1-2-1-2, and then step back. I’m stepping off to new angles everytime so my opponent doesn’t realize I’m doing the same thing over and over because I’m hitting from new angles every time.

It’s easy, I don’t have to think about it. I can throw a thousand of them if I need. Your automatic combos might be different. The last round is when you are most tired. You save energy by repeating what works.

Punch & Smother vs Punch & Defend

When you don’t have energy, it’s tiring to punch and then defend or punch and then step out of range. Many amateur fighters are very clever in that they will smother and fall INTO their opponents when they finish punching. This way, your opponent is busy holding you up and you don’t have to use energy for defense. By the time your opponent pushes you off him, you’ve gained some wind and just keep punching him again. Instead of spending energy on defense, you save all your energy for punching.

NOTE: I am not saying for you to disregard defense. I’m just saying it’s easier and more energy-efficient to smother instead of trying to use an active defense like slipping or back-stepping during the last round. Learn how to lean cleverly into your opponent after you finish punching.

Forced punches

This is a concept of forcing your opponent to absorb your punches. You’re tired now and don’t have the energy to chase him down with punches. Instead of trying to throw harder and faster, there are some clever things you can do to make him an easier target to hit. He’s tired too so with proper tactics, you can force him to block or take punches. Throw at his chest, throw at his ribs, almost anywhere at the body really. Body punches are a great endgame tactic because your opponent is less mobile. He’ll have no choice but to block your punches or absorb painful body shots. This pins down his arms giving you precious time to go to the head. If he’s stuck in one place, your head shots will do damage even if he blocks them.

Another way to force punches is to get him off balance. Muscle him on the inside, shoulder him when you step around him. Grab the back of his shoulder and spin him as you pivot out. When he blocks your punch, try to push him off balance if you can. When he swings hard, lean back so he can fall off balance. When he lands a punch, grab his glove and pull him towards you. Get him off balance anyway you can so you can land more forced punches on him.

The last tip to create forced punches is common sense. Throw with a margin of error. If he likes to lean back or step out, throw your punches a little long (hook at the back of his head, not the front). If he likes to slip or roll under, aim for his chest or shoulders. If he likes to block a lot, start at the body and move your punches up to the head. Last but not least, THROW SOME FEINTS, this makes him commit to a movement so you can hit him after.

Weaken His Legs

Every fighter’s legs are weak in the last round. Anytime you end up in a clinch, spin him around you. You do this by weighing down your hips as you pivot one leg behind you. This motion creates a hole on one side making him fall into the hole and come off balance (especially if he’s leaning into you). It helps to know some basic wrestling skills.

You can also weaken his legs by walking into him as you throw punches. I especially love to do this against fighters with skinny chicken legs.

Tips for your First Fight

1. Act Aggressive

Make your opponent FEEL that you want to hit him.

This single tip alone is worth like 5 tips in itself. Turn on your aggressive attitude. Don’t worry about confidence or punching power or whatever. Make your opponent think you’re going to hurt him. Twitch that right arm like you’re going to hit him with the biggest right cross in the world. When you chase him down, make him FEEL like you want to throw more punches. When he attacks you, always look like you’re about to counter back with something hard. This aggression makes him cautious, makes him less aggressive.

Stare your opponent down. This alone will stop any opponent from attacking you. Think of an opponent hiding behind his guard. When you don’t see his eyes, he looks vulnerable and easy to attack (like a sleeping person). But when he stares straight back at you with his eyes, you back off cautiously. Do the same to your opponent, if he attacks you stare straight back at him even harder. Make him think, “I’m watching you, I’m gonna hit you!”

How amazing, right? You might not have to BE aggressive, you only have to act the part.

2. Don’t Brawl Too Early

Most guys I see that screw it all up, they brawl first and then try to box the last round when they’re out of energy. Fighting this way makes it easy for you to be at a disadvantage because you’re showing your opponent your cards first. He gets to see how hard you hit, what skills you have, and how conditioned you are. Don’t forget that he has a trainer! If you show all your tricks early, his trainer will have him make the adjustment and figure you out by rounds 2 & 3.

Your opponent’s trainer will probably tell him
to conserve his energy in the first round.

Brawling early means you’ll be tired when you try to box later. If you start boxing late in the fight, he wins the last round easily because it looks like you’re scared and not trying to engage. Unless you’re 100% sure that you can knock him out, save the fighting for the end. When you get better, you can start fighting however you like but for now, try to box > punch > brawl.

3. Box at Center Ring, Brawl Along the Ropes

Try to box and use the space at center ring to move and outbox your opponent. It’s not smart to throw hard punches here because your opponent can escape easily by back-stepping or side-stepping and countering you. When you’re at center, keep boxing and moving on your opponent. Keep turning him and moving so that you hold center ring, let him try to push you around (with punches) as you outmove him.

The closer you get to the ropes the harder you punch. The closer you push your opponent to the ropes, the less room he has to move and the more you can force him back with your power. Likewise if you’re the one on the ropes, you will probably have to use power to get him off you. There’s also nowhere to go so you HAVE to fight if you’re stuck in the corner.

4. Stay Warm

Wear sweats in the 24 hours before the fight so you’re body stays warm and loose. Don’t stretch within 2 hours before the fight, do it all before. When you warm up before the fight, make sure you break a sweat! (Your body performs better at higher temperatures–hence, the phrase “warming up”.) Drink lots of water hours before the fight. As your fight approaches, take only small sips of water. If you have too much water in the stomach, you’ll feel nauseous or bloated.

5. Walk

Holding that boxing stance can make you tense during a fight. Any time that you’re not actively punching, relax your body and take a walk. When you’re opponent bounces around from long range, walk a bit to relax your legs. Even when you’re taking punches, there’s no rule saying you have to stand there. You could literally just WALK away (even while you’re blocking). Even if his punches hit you, they carry less power if you’re moving away from them.

Many of the slickest fighters never bounce around the ring, they’re able to fight while walking. You can throw a few punches, then walk, throw a few more, walk again. Watch Miguel Cotto, Joan Guzman, Ivan Calderon, to see how they do it.

6. This Isn’t Sparring

Official competition is very different. You can’t pull the same crap you do in sparring. Laying on the ropes looks bad and will cost you decisions. In sparring you might have felt like a rope-a-dope but to the judges it looks like a passive fighter. Ducking your head down to waist level is also not allowed. It’s ok in sparring but not allowed in the amateurs. No passive fighting allowed in competition, you must ALWAYS show aggression. If you take 15-20 unanswered punches, the ref jumps in and gives you a standing 8-count.

7. TRY to Punch!

So many fighters will get caught in that standoff where neither guy will punch first because they’re both afraid of each other’s counters. It’s ok to be cautious, I’m proud of you for having a brain and caring about defense.

Now find a way to hit your opponent. Instead of waiting for him all day, figure out how to be intelligently aggressive. Usually the guy that gets knocked out is the one being reckless, not the one being aggressive. Have some faith in your chin. If you’ve taken hard punches in training before, you probably won’t get knocked out in your first fight. It will HURT but you will be ok.

Be aggressive, not reckless.

Go With the Flow!

Don’t try to memorize a million new things before the fight. It hasn’t worked for me or for anybody else. In fact, it’s never worked. The idea of memorizing how you’re going to fight is like trying to trying to plan out how you’re going to dance with a girl at the club. There’s no time to remember, no time to think. I can show you exactly how Floyd Mayweather rolls punches but it won’t work if you have to think about it before doing it. All your skills need to be automatic by now. In moments of extreme stress, everyone resorts to their comfort zone. This is part of our human nature.

Learn how to box, practice it, master it…then forget about it, just go with the flow, and enjoy the fight. Good luck!

Highlights of my fighters, Van and Richard winning their first fights:

Now post your first fight video and tell me how you felt!

Hey guys, you asked for it time and time again and I listened. I spent the past year of my life creating the fastest boxing course for beginners, fighters, trainers, or anybody wanting to learn how to box.

The “How to Box in 10 Days” boxing course consists of a 300-page instructional ebook, 32-page workbook, and 1hr 45min of video instruction — for only $77.
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This accelerated boxing course will teach you all the proper fundamentals of boxing to go from day one to sparring in just 10 days. You’ll learn all of the proper boxing techniques such as punching, defending, countering, and moving around the ring. You’ll also find tons of advice, drills and workout routines to develop your skills. Even if you don’t plan on competing, you’ll still get a great workout and have lots of fun learning how to box.

I’ve put equal amounts of love and energy into this as I have into the articles in my site. The advice comes from my own experiences and from the boxers and trainers around me 24/7. As always, it comes with the special ‘EB’ Touch: my own epiphanies, discoveries, and secrets on how to become a better boxer.

I’m excited to share it with you, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you for the support and good luck!
Johnny Nguyen, founder of ExpertBoxing.com

CLICK to see actual pages from the E-book

10 days of organized boxing instruction.

Stance, Footwork, and Punching.

• Intro – Safety briefings, details of boxing equipment, gym, and trainer
• Day 1 – Stance & Footwork
• Day 2 – Straight Punches (jab, right cross, 1-2 combination)
• Day 3 – Curved Punches (hooks, uppercuts, body shots)

Defense, Combinations, and Counter Punching.

• Day 4 – Basic Defense (blocking & parrying)
• Day 5 – Advanced Defense (rolling & slipping)
• Day 6 – Punch Combinations (basic combos, advanced combos, mitt drills)
• Day 7 – Counter Punching (steps and details of over 60 common counters)

Advanced Skills, Training and Sparring.

• Day 8 – Advanced Skills (tips to improve your punching, defense, body movement)
• Day 9 – Boxing Training (weekly workout plan to develop fight conditioning)
• Day 10 – Sparring (sparring drills, fight tips, fight strategy)
• Final Words – advice, top 10 boxing questions, congratulatory hug

30-Day Money Back Guarantee

“How to Box in 10 Days” comes with a no-questions-asked, no-hassle, thirty days money-back guarantee. If for any reason whatsoever you decide you aren’t completely satisfied with the course, just email me anytime within the next 30 days and you’ll get your money back. It’s as simple as that!

PS: If you want to see more details (or like reading sales pages), click How to Box in 10 Days

The great Henry Ford said, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”

We can only accomplish what we THINK is possible. Your mind sets the goals in your life and determines whether you’ll get there. If you dare to be great, how strong must your mind be?

Better yet, how do you strengthen the mind?

Boxing Life is 90% mental and 10% physical.

Your whole life will be a collection of emotions, thoughts, and memories. What you did and how you did it, will never compare to what you felt in the moment. A sad memory is a thousand times more painful than a broken bone. Human beings are emotional creatures; our lives will ALWAYS be more mental than physical. Our strength is our minds, not our bodies!

Everyone works out the body, but how often do you work out the mind? Your mind is your health, your capability, your human identity. A strong mind can overcome fear, paint a picture, strategize a fight. If your mind can do it, then yes — YOU can do it!

LESSON TWO: Strengthening the Mind

Do you remember that time when you couldn’t do something? It was something you’ve never done before like jumping in the water or getting on a bike. You were so afraid and your mom had to tell you, “You can do it. It’s all mental. It’s all in your head.”

Your whole life is going to be that moment over and over again. For the rest of your life, you will be forced do things that you couldn’t previously do. Not just you but everyone. We will forever be faced with the moment of truth, day after day after day…this is, of course, assuming you’re living the life of greatness.

Back in high school, I was facing my very own “moment of truth” on a daily basis. And I’ll tell you exactly how I dealt with them…

Auto Suggestion

Auto-suggestion allows you
to control your self-conscious and strengthen your mind.

Auto-suggestion is a concept commonly toted of all time as one of the best ways to mentally train yourself for success. The concept is simple, you keep telling yourself the same thing over and over. It’s a form of self-hypnosis allowing you to control your sub-conscious, and empower yourself to do the impossible. There’s an entire field psychology and countless success books established around this concept.

I never heard of the term “auto-suggestion” until about 3 years ago. The funny thing was, I was doing it long before I started boxing. When I was 15 years old, I built a reputation as being one of LA’s best young skateboarders. Everyone called me “Crazy Johnny”. I was notorious for jumping down long flights of stairs, leaping off rooftops, and other dangerously high drops.

But nobody knew my one secret…

Before every jump, I was scared out of my mind!!!

I am not fearless. I’m made of flesh and bone. I bleed just like all other skaters. I had to talk myself into the stunt several hours before attempting the jump. I would stand at the top of the stairs for hours, repeating to myself over and over with this one poem I made up:

I have no fear.
I feel no pain.
I cannot bleed.
I will not die.

…am I being a sissy? YES. Am I freaken insane? YES. Did my silly poem work? YES!!!

I had to repeat the poem maybe a hundred times, sometimes for a few hours before I was brave enough to jump. I recited it in my head at first. Then saying it out so that I could hear it. Then I yelled it for the whole world to hear. My friends loved it, they knew the poem meant that I was going to jump after all. The jump seemed less daunting after every time that I recited the poem.

At some point, I stopped reciting because the poem echoed endlessly in my head. Ok, NOW I’m ready.

This is me on a skateboard.
2 hours of mental preparation, 10 seconds of physical execution.

Mental Exercise

Treat the mind like you would your body. It needs regular exercise. If you don’t strengthen your mind regularly, it grows weak. Your mind forgets what you’re capable of; it lets you down when you need it most.

We all need mental strength. In the most precious moments of our lives, we become more human than ever. More afraid and more alive than ever. These moments will shred you to pieces if your mind isn’t strong! But if you’ve been strengthening your mind, your fear WILL be replace with peace, confidence, and guidance. The LAST thing you need during your moment of truth, is a little voice in your head telling you that you can’t do it.

You need to tell yourself over and over:

You can do it!
You can do it!
You can do it!

Recite this in the locker room before your fight. And don’t you DARE leave that locker room until you believe in your victory 100%. I mean, if you can’t even convince yourself that you’re gonna win, you have no business taking the fight. Don’t expect in others to believe in you, this is YOUR FIGHT, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, YOUR VICTORY. The greatest fights you will have in life will be won alone. So start now, start today. Tell yourself what you need to hear, what you need to do.

“You can do it.”

It’s awkward at first. You feel stupid. You feel like you’re lying to yourself. That there is no way you can ever be good. That’s ok, I felt just as stupid the first time I tried push-ups. My arms couldn’t hold my body but I kept trying. A few years later, I held the record in my army platoon for most push-ups in one minute.

Work out your mind
just like you work out your body.

You can do it, keep saying it. At least believe in the words, if not in yourself. Little by little, you start to think success MIGHT be possible. A few more times and now you’re sure it’s possible. Then you keep saying it, and you say it louder and prouder because now you KNOW you can do it. You’re not only sure it’s possible, you’re certain of victory. It’s in these moments of self-conviction, that one becomes great.

Look yourself in the mirror. Look at yourself dead in the eye and tell yourself, “You can do it!” Do it now or cry later when you lose. One way or another, you will have to face yourself.

Coach Yourself for YOUR Future

No champion ever says after his victory, “I was so afraid I wasn’t going to win. I never thought I could do it. I’m so lucky to be champion.”

It’s usually more along these lines of…”I worked hard and I deserved it. I want to thank everyone for their support. I’ve been dreaming of this day for a very long time.”

Becoming great takes a long time. If I want a sandwich, I can make one in 15 minutes. But if I want to be great, it will take me years, maybe decades. If you want to win that fight tomorrow, your mind should have been strengthened a long time ago! It would have changed the way you trained up until this moment. And you wouldn’t be nervous now.

“My passion is my strength.
I’m dedicated and motivated.
I work hard and I deserve it.
I use my resources to overcome challenges.
Success is my reward, my right, my future.
I can do it.”

- Johnny Nguyen (I made this up right now)

Tell yourself what you need to hear. Say to yourself what you wish people would say to you. Motivate yourself, compliment yourself, strengthen yourself. Take care of yourself and be responsible for YOUR future.

You’re not being great for others,
you’re being great for yourself!

Self-Coaching for Greatness

You’re going to be alone if you want to be great. You will be training when no one else trains. You will have thoughts no one can understand. You may ask for help one day and no one will be there. Be prepared to cry alone. Without a strong mind to guide yourself, you will not survive the path to greatness.

Being great is more than overcoming the odds, achieving the impossible, or proving people wrong. Being great means having a strong mind and working for what you want in life. I didn’t tell you about auto-suggestion for you to inflate your ego. Use auto-suggestion to become great, instead of just thinking that you are great.

I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.
- Muhammad Ali

Want to know the real secret to strengthening your mind? You don’t wait until right before the fight. You do it when you wake up and get dressed in the morning. You do it long before training starts, before you even step into the gym. You have to remind yourself every day and every second of your life, what you’re capable of.

You can do it.

Welcome to my personal recipe for success, a series of articles based on the experiences of my life and the lives of great individuals I’ve gotten to know personally. Of all the amazing individuals I’ve met, my brother was the only one I watched from his humble beginnings. It’s inspiring to witness the daily struggles of someone so close to you.

The first lesson in becoming great: deciding what you want…

“Be great.”

It’s good advice, but it’s nothing new. You’ve probably known from the beginning being great was the one of the best ways to impact your life. It’s pretty obvious that it takes great planning to be great.

But how are you supposed to do it exactly? How can you “be great”?

Far too much of what we know about being great feels impossible. Talent, perfection, opportunity… all seem like things we can’t get enough of. Everyone talks about hard work, dedication, self-belief — all useful concepts, but you can’t point to them. You can’t hold out your hand and say, “Give me some self-belief.” As a result, it’s hard to understand what those things actually mean.

Does anybody even know what hard work truly means? Any fool can define the meaning of “hard work”, it takes true understanding to bring great success out of “hard work”. Over the past years, I’ve paid attention to the things that lead to greatness, both in myself and in others. It’s far from complete, but it should be enough to get you started.

LESSON ONE: Deciding to Be Great

1. Set a solid goal

A solid goal is one that is meaningful to you. It has to be so good that you stick to it. Your goal has to outlive your laziness, your indecisiveness, your weak ambition. Great goals will take years to achieve. If you’re the kind of person that changes his/her desires every year, you’ll never achieve your goals. If you’re the kind of person that likes to say, “I’m only going to try if I’m good at it.” then quit now. Again, your goal has to OUTLIVE your desire to have that goal. If you choose a goal that takes 10 years to accomplish, you better be sure that you will DESIRE that goal for 10 years. You have to know that you won’t change your mind next year.

This is where the fear factor comes in. You start to have all sorts of self-doubt… What if I don’t have the talent? What if I’m too old? What if… blah blah blah *more excuses* blah blah blah. Just quit now. If you’re already doubting yourself at the very beginning, quit and do something else.

The best thing I can tell you is that real goals require passion. If you’re passionate about something and I mean REALLY PASSIONATE about something, then yes, you have a chance. Talent, training, opportunity, luck, etc… all that matters too, but passion matters most. With passion, comes true dedication, self-motivation, and enjoyment in hard work.

I want to give an example of my passion: how much I love boxing. I think about boxing everyday for the past 10 years. I watch all the big fights, read up on all the latest boxing news, watch every boxing youtube video, shadowbox everywhere I go, and train in the gym every week. Is that enough passion to be a champion? NOPE! Sorry buddy, that only scratches the surface of average-level passion.

Now I’m going to ramp up my passion a notch. I love boxing so much I installed a double-end bag in my bedroom. I go to the gym even when I only have work clothes with me. I look for boxing gyms in every new city I visit. I spar even when I KNOW I’m going to lose.

I created a website where I spend countless hours of my personal time EVERY WEEK writing boxing guides and answering questions for total strangers around the world. I’m not being paid (at least not yet), and I’m not always rewarded for my work. Some people even tell me I’m wrong. Out of the 40,000 readers that visit every month, only 20-50 ever take the time to say thank you. And every once in a blue moon, I get a hater who says something nasty like, “Johnny, you suck. You don’t know boxing, you’re not a champion. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

And yet I’m still here…because this is my passion. Boxing is what I’ll be doing no matter how much I “suck” at it. When you find something you love, I believe it’s safe to make it your goal.

A solid goal is passion without conditions.

2. Decide early

Whatever your goals are, set them early. The moment you find your true passion, don’t sit around waiting to see how good you get before you set a goal. The sooner you decide to be great, the sooner you can start working towards it.

Last September, my brother came home from Argentina with the 3rd place cup in the World Tango Championship 2011. (FYI: he also won the US Tango championships 1st place in 2010 & 2011.) The first thing I asked him, “Brian, when did you decide you wanted to be champion?”

His answer surprised me a bit:

“I decided to be champion 5 years ago, about 6 months after I first started tango. I fell in love with it and knew right then that I wanted to be the best dancer in the world. I’ve been working for it ever since.”

I thought people just trained and developed themselves as time went on. And that becoming great was just something that kind of happens when you discover your hidden talent. The way my brother explained it, you can’t sit there waiting to discover your talent. You have to decide early on what you want and then work for it. Champions don’t leave greatness to chance.

Decide early to be great.

3. Prioritize

It’s not about knowing “what you want”, it’s about knowing “what you want FIRST”. The secret is prioritizing your desires! We’re all people and people generally want everything. Love, happiness, freedom, friendship, respect, rewards, etc. It’s safe to say everybody wants all the good things in life.

The trick to having everything in life is to go after them one at a time! Figure out what you want FIRST, and don’t move on to the next thing until your accomplish your first goal. If you spread yourself out too thin, you won’t succeed at anything and will never truly experience anything. There’s a side benefit to doing things one at a time, you get to pass on the skills you learned from one passion to another. But if you’re trying to learn too many things at once, you’ll feel like they’re all distracting and keeping you from truly understanding. Focus, achieve, and then move on. Don’t get distracted from your priorities.

Know what you want FIRST.

You Are ALWAYS Competing

Deciding to be great sounds like it takes courage, but actually, you don’t have a choice. I promise you, that you will be competing your entire life in school, at work, in business, a social setting, or even in the ring. You can deny it all you want with, “I’m just doing this for fun/money/etc. It’s not important.” and that’s fine. If you don’t care to become boxing champion of the world, then would you at least care to become the greatest of something else?

What are you doing now in your life? Can you be the greatest at it? And if you can’t or if you’re not willing to, then why would you do it?

Life isn’t easy, just know that you will always be forced to compete. Now you can struggle to be the average boxer, average student, average employee…or you can struggle to be great. Getting up everyday to tackle life’s responsibilities is hard! You will always be fighting for something, and I hope you’re fighting for something meaningful to you.

Keep reading: How to Be Great, Part 2: Strengthen the Mind

How many new exercises have you learned since you started boxing? How many have you tried and then never used again?

If you count everything you’ve seen in the gym, pre-fight training videos, and Youtube, we’ve got all the exercises we need … and more. Much more. It’s easy to think there’s some magical exercise out there to make you the next Muhammad Ali but I disagree. There’s only so much exercise your body can handle so you’ll have to prioritize.

How are my favorite boxing exercises…

1. Sparring

There’s no training that better mimics fighting conditions than sparring. Aside from the excitement of trading punches, it’s a great boxing workout. Sparring is so much harder than training! You work every muscle in your body jumping, twisting, and contorting in an effort to respond to your opponent’s every move. Your arms get tired because you’re swinging at the air. Your legs wear out faster because you keep going off balance. Your mind is panicking because you’re don’t usually have to think so fast during training. You can’t breathe as quickly because you got a mouthpiece on and an opponent who won’t give you any room to breathe!

Is there any workout more challenging
than punching and trying not to get punched?

How to Spar

I don’t recommend this for everyone but here’s how I do sparring: I try to spend as much time as possible in the ring. I spar for warm-up, I spar for exercise, I spar to develop my skills. If no one says anything, I’ll hog the ring for over an hour!

Here’s my secret:

I go slow. When I first hit the gym, I’ll spar light with a beginner to warm-up my muscles. I’m only touching him, not trying to hurt him. He’ll usually have a trainer coaching him but it’s ok, he’s only a beginner anyway. It works out nicely because I’m getting a live opponent instead of boring shadowboxing (which I still do, btw). After the warm-up sparring, I head to the jump rope (if I haven’t already done this), bag work, stretching, etc.

After the warm-up exercises, I’m back in the ring again! This time it’s a workout, I’m in there moving and trading with a solid opponent. We’re both being fast and powerful. It’s controlled, but it’s still a workout. I last 3-6 rounds, tops. I step out of the ring exhausted this time, and start chatting with coaches and other fighters about improvements to make on technique or strategy. I do some work on the mitts, try out the new moves in front of the mirror and on the heavy bag.

And then, I’m BACK IN THE RING AGAIN! This time, I go light with another skilled boxer. We work on different combos and strategies but we’re not trying to beat each other up. We’re helping each other out, giving each other different looks and chances to improve. For example: If I throw a combo that lands and he didn’t see it, I’ll throw it again for him to develop the counter for it. I might throw the exact same combo 5 times in a row until he sees it counters it perfectly. Once he’s got it, we both smile and move on to other things. We’ll trade punches again giving each other chances to work on new things, sometimes coaching each other as we fight. Because it’s really light sparring, we’re usually more aggressive and staying in range with each other to keep a continuous flow of punching. Being that nobody’s getting hurt, we go up to 30 minutes straight — no breaks.

When sparring is done right, it develops EVERYTHING a fighter needs — conditioning, skills, and mental confidence. You’ll learn more from sparring if you keep it controlled. Don’t try to be a tough guy. If you’re just sparring to beat each other up, you won’t last beyond a few rounds.

2. Mitts

The mitts is probably the best boxing drill to learn new technique. It’s similar to sparring in that you get to improve your offense and defense simultaneously. (Actually, I can’t think of anything other than sparring to test your defense.) The real benefit is that you get a trainer who can see your every move and give you instant feedback. Hitting the mitts is the probably the best way to develop new skills and it’s a lot of fun.

The advantage of the mitts is that it works your timing and accuracy in conditions that mimic a real fight. You’ll have a moving target that also punches back at you. My advice when working on the mitts is DON’T GET TIRED. Yes, hit it hard if you must but learn how to punch right. Try going for 30 minutes straight and then when you’re ready to stop, finish off with 3 hard rounds. Don’t just throw power into every shot, develop your accuracy, timing, breathing, coordination, and reflexes. Just like with sparring, the keyword is “CONTROL”. Control yourself, don’t get tired!

Anybody that gets tired hitting the mitts
is definitely going to get tired against a live opponent.

3. Shadowboxing

One of boxing’s most underrated exercises. Physically, it develops your form, speed, and balance. You can practice anything you want at full speed and move around. Sure, it’s not as glamorous as beating up the heavy bag but it’s deadly effective. It conditions your body to throw fast punches and gives you the opportunity to practice all fighting movements.

Shadowboxing is like
meditation and visualization exercise for a boxer.

Use the opportunity to practice anything you want — like a difficult counter getting past your opponent’s guard. You visualize as you shadowbox, moving around an imaginary opponent. Shadowboxing in front of a mirror allows you to check your form and see instant changes in your movements.

My favorite benefit of shadowboxing — you can do it anywhere. In front of the TV during commercials, while talking to friends, waiting in line at the grocery store, underwater in the pool, or anywhere you can find a mirror. The only equipment you need to shadowbox is a place to stand and a few seconds of time.

4. Double-end Bag

This right here is my favorite bag. The double-end bag is something between a heavy bag and a speed-bag. Hitting a speed-bag can get repetitive and a heavy bag is a bit hard on my hands over the years, so the double-end bag naturally became my favorite “bag”.

You can hit the double-end bag as hard as you want
but you have to time it right and be deadly accurate.

It’s far more challenging to hit and develops your higher level skills, mainly timing & accuracy. I understand some fighters (especially beginners) don’t spend much time on it but I will say this, “Do it! Train on the double-end bag, and you will get much better at hitting opponents in the ring.” It’s pretty satisfying to land combos on the double-end bag and much more satisfying when you can do it to a moving opponent.

Aside from the timing and accuracy, the speed bag is great for developing hand speed and arm conditioning. It’s far more tiring to the double-end bag because you have to be fast each time. I think of it as the minimum hand speed — if you’re not fast enough to hit the double-end bag, you’re probably not fast enough to hit an opponent. I recommend you wear 12 to 16oz gloves and hit the double-end bag for at least 3 rounds. Sometimes I’ll go for 30 minutes straight (even while chatting with other boxers), but hey, that’s just me.

5. Jumprope

The jumprope is one of
the best exercises for full-body conditioning!

I’ll tell you it’s my why favorite conditioning exercise for boxing. It teaches you how to increase your muscle efficiency, WHILE developing your muscle conditioning! If you’ve ever skipped rope before you’ll know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t then you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Using the jumprope trains 2 things, body conditioning and relaxation. Most beginners have a problem of always using their muscles and not knowing how to relax. If you do this on a jumprope, you’ll gas out in a few minutes tops. However, if you DO know how to relax you can jump rope forever and not spend much energy. A beginner will exert his energy the whole time on the jump rope whereas an experience skipper will relax with very quick bounces that require only a split second of muscle contractions.

When I first started jumping rope, I was out of breath in about 2 minutes. Now I can go for at least 2 hours; I actually don’t break a sweat until 15 minutes in. The difference is that I know how to relax and contract my muscles just in time to skip over the rope. It develops my mental relaxation and maintains a minimum level of awareness of all times (you have to always be aware of the rope). Later on this raised level of awareness can be used to slip jabs or other punches. You’re always use to moving and thinking AND you can still relax while doing so.

Physically, it works the arms, shoulders, back, and legs. You’ll develop better footwork and more relaxed footwork. Combine that great body conditioning with the improved muscle relaxation, and raised minimum level of awareness and you’ll see why the jump rope makes better fighters. At the very least, you should be able to jump rope and tell jokes without getting tired. Anybody that can do that will be able to box without getting tired.

Honorable mention: CRUNCHES & RUNNING

These exercises ALMOST made it to my list but unfortunately they don’t because they’re boring as hell and don’t develop any boxing skills.

Core exercises like crunches are important for ANY sport because your core connects your entire body together. Having a stronger core allows you to combine the power of all your muscles so to exert force as one solid unit. Almost all moves that you make in boxing requires the synergistic output of your entire body. Having a strong core allows you to punch harder, run faster, and move explosively without losing control. Most fighters that have bad balance will typically have a weak core. Think about it…if balance is about staying centered, then what muscles in your body are helping center yourself? THE CORE! The core is especially important in boxing because your opponent is hittnig you there with punches. If you don’t have a strong stomach, your stomach will hurt when you try to move your legs or throw punches. You’ll be weak and you’ll be in pain if you don’t do those crunches. Quite simply, it’s impossible to make explosive movements with your body if you don’t have a strong core.

Running is one of the most functional movements of the human body. Human bodies were MADE to run — yes, we were anatomically evolved to travel quickly using 2 limbs. I can’t think of any other animal that can run the same way we humans run. Our bodies were built to run as a means of transportation, but I guess nowadays in this age of technology running just means exercise to most people. Well, it’s a good exercise because our body is made to run efficiently. The structural placement of our limbs and muscles make running one of the most natural and efficient ways to use (and exercise) our entire body. I guess that’s the secret to developing athletic ability, you have to workout using natural movements to make your body more functional. Sure, you can lift a ton of rocks and argue that lifting rocks is harder than running. But does lifting rocks really make you more functional overall as an athlete? Hmmm…

The Best Exercises for Boxing

The best boxing exercises should help to develop higher level boxing skills. After training for so many years, you get sick of just running or doing crunches. You start to appreciate the more challenging exercises. All of these exercises (except the jump rope) will allow you to practice your more advanced fighting moves. The best exercises to me are challenging AND fun.

What about other boxing exercises?

Calisthenics, push-ups, etc. I don’t enjoy them as much but they’re all important. You need to do everything, but if it were up to me…you know exactly where I’d be spending my time.

You can do all the exercises you want,
but PRIORITIZE!

All the competing boxers I know have been to every gym across town. Some went for sparring, others went just to work out. Can training at multiple gyms make you a better fighter?

Outside fighters have been visiting our gym a lot lately. Their main reason was to find sparring partners their size. Boxing trainers were switching between different boxing and mma gyms to support themselves with enough clients. (Some trainers were pro boxers themselves and met their trainers at other gyms.) And then you’ve also got the MMA guys that work their striking at one gym and then their groundgame at another. Friends are invited along and somewhere along the way, fighters make it a routine of training at different gyms throughout the week.

Could training in multiple gyms be beneficial for your boxing?

• See the benefits and decide for yourself:

More Sparring Partners

This is probably the biggest benefit. Maybe you’re a featherweight or heavyweight and can’t find somebody your size at your home gym. Or maybe you’re king of the hill and need to find more competitive sparring to improve. Sparring at other gyms will allow you to increase your skills and keep your training from getting stale. You’ll test yourself against different styles and trickier opponents who can sharpen you skills. Your confidence will skyrocket before the local tournaments when you’ve already fought everyone across town.

Better Equipment

There’s no rule saying you have to do your mitt drills, bagwork, sparring, and weights all in one stinky basement gym. Many fighters I know work their boxing technique and mitt drills with their head trainer at a local gym. Then go to another gym to find quality sparring partners and pick up tips from their friends’ trainers. Then do their conditioning, weights and running at a nice clean commercial gym. This doesn’t always happen all in one day, of course.

Mixing up multiple training centers works out nicely. You find quality sparring partners at a busy pro gym. Then spend quality time with your trainer at your home gym. Then go workout with some nice equipment at the local fitness center. Being around so many different groups of people, you’re bound to pick-up new tips about fighting or fitness.

Multiple Trainers

Going to multiple gyms will inevitably lead you to meeting other trainers and fresh sources of information. You learn new boxing styles, tips, and tricks from not just the trainers but your sparring partners as well. Who knows, you may even fall in love with another combat art like BJJ and find something to supplement your boxing, it happens. Visiting multiple gyms helps you stay motivated and always excited to be learning something new about fighting. It’s the same excitement you get when going to new restaurants or bars. (First it’s excitement, then doubt, then fear, then you fall in love with something you never knew existed. I recommend you try it.)

Competition Scouting

You will see your future competition beforehand. You will have a good idea of how good you need to be to win fights. When tournament season comes around, you will have seen it all and have less surprises to be afraid of. Make sure you introduce yourself as a competing fighter when you first go into the gym. Let them know you’re there to learn and show your respect. Do not showoff and don’t knock anybody out unless you have to. It’s always nice to have multiple places to train. You never know if you might need a new gym and trainer one day.

Do you really need to train at multiple gyms?

If you’re not a competing fighter, then no. Or maybe you already come from a famous boxing gym and visiting fighters come from other gyms all the time. It’s not really needed but it can help. Your trainer might also be offended if you tell him you want to learn from other sources. This was the case for several fighters that sparred at our gym without letting us record their sparring. It turns out they were desperate for new sparring partners and didn’t want their trainer to find out they were scouting new gyms.

If there’s one thing that can revive a stale boxing career, it’s training at different gyms. Several trainers at my gym drive their fighters as far as 100 miles away once every month, to give their fighters looks at the future competition. The experience has always been positive. Watching others train makes our fighters more motivated to train harder and give it their all in training. They realize that they’re not competiting with each other but the unknown out there. It builds a sense of community at our gym, creating stronger friendships and respect amongst each other. Some guys are more motivated to compete while others realize they’re only good enough for smokers. The trainers get to share tips with each other. It’s a fun experience for all.

A long time ago, I use to train boxing at 2 different gyms, went to local commercial gym to work out and still scoped out new gyms every other week. Even now, I train and spar at 2 different gyms and still look for new places all the time.  All the competing fighters at my gym train and spar at a minimum of 2 different places and it makes a lot of sense. It’s the only way to really know that your techniques are working and up to date. It always help to get new looks at new fighters and keep an eye on your competition. You’ll know exactly how hard you have to work to win. When the tournament rolls around, you’ll be confident as you say to yourself, “Ahhh, I’ve seen him before.”

So the question is…how many gyms are you going to now?