#116 - 10 Misconceptions in Boxing

It was the first time ever that people just expected me to win. As a kid I always had a dream of being a world champion as a pro. Not touting the life but again I've been in a real chill and hungry Chengo. I had a good journey with Dilly and I'm not bitter, I'm not one bit. We were trying to have to be careful of everybody who loved it. The way he was explaining it, he just went really deep into some philosophies. It became popular to him probably earlier, but Rick had to and Jamie Moore, John Morris. I was calling the one I fighting now that was there back then when I didn't have nothing. It's still the same for the world. My favourite combination was the jab, the throw away left talking then big right hand. I couldn't jump up and celebrate all four to my knees like I'd had planned them ahead for all of them years. Don't forget he's got a pair on as well and not talking my head. We had one a quarter of the medals that the whole country had won for the history of Olympic Games. The optimal time to teach something again is right when they're about to forget it. At that point, we thought Roy is going to freeze here. We're going to be out of here in ten minutes. People are going to be throwing astrays at us and Roy just went into a speech. He went into this whole thing and started throwing punches. This is the Box Gathering podcast. Okay, so ten misconceptions of amateur boxing and the first one is the more sparring, the better. We all know that the more punishment that we take especially on the brain, the more problems that we're going to have in later life. That is a health and safety issue and of course more than that in the end of the body and the wear and tear. In terms of skill, then if the boxer is constantly doing open sparring all the time, they might be constantly making similar mistakes. So a good coach will then be able to slide down the scale, go into more of a condition or constraint-based approach and then identify the issues and then be able to get the boxer to focus or concentrate on the relevant information by the constraints that are being put into place by the coach. So they can really focus on how to solve those problems and not constantly making the same mistakes they do in open sparring. Okay, number two, running long distances is key in amateur boxing. Okay, it's not. Whilst there is a place for good aerobic conditioning, of course, such as pre-season or in recovery, boxes, tender box for three twos or three threes. So therefore if they're constantly doing long distance runs, they're not utilising fully the energy systems that are required in amateur boxing. So there needs to be more sprint interval training, there needs to be more intervals in general, things like fart lick training, things like speed endurance intervals to really get those kind of adaptations within the body. So don't just go for the long runs and really move to what and think about what are the demands of amateur boxing. Okay, number three, we have got, you've got to have big arms to be an amateur boxer. While it's great to have the guns and we do need force in the limbs, especially if it's strong around the joints, an extension rotation, etc. And flexion within the limbs, most of the force generally comes through the legs and through the waist as well. So we need to be able to have that connection from the floor to the face or from the roots of the fruit and really develop the whole punching technique from roots to fruit. So we don't need to have massive guns and in some ways overdevelopment in certain areas can actually slow punching as well. So we need to make sure that we understand the kinematics of how punches work and we need to be strong in all areas, but not an over focus in the arms. If you think about some of the most famous boxes, you look at someone like perhaps a Morales, they weren't cut to pieces, you know, but they understood how the punch correctly. Number four, sleep when you die, okay, so it's number four, sleep when you die. Yes, we need to work hard. This is a very, very difficult sport. You need to work very, very hard. However, some people work so, so hard that actually they're not able to harness the benefits and adaptations within their body. So need to make sure that we are resting appropriately and actually been able to understand that by resting our harness. A lot of these physiological changes within the body is much, much better for us. So yes, we need to overload and push at the right times, but also get in your athletes to understand when to rest is, you could say, equal is important and probably even more so important to really harness those those changes. So looking at the whole periodization of what you're doing and knowing to push and pull is really important. Okay, halfway. Number five now. So we are on the more shadow box in the better. Whilst I am a great advocate of shadow boxing because we can't open spiral the time because of the impact injuries that we're doing and the way in care of on our body. Yes, it is great, but however you do think about doing too much and I know I did far too much shadow boxing when I was competing as an amateur boxing. You're not hitting someone. You don't know if your shots have been successful and landed all the time and you don't know whether your defenses, whether they be hand defenses, trunk defenses, or defenses. You don't know whether they were successful or not either. So the immediate feedback is not there. And when we also talk about things like timing and range control, we only know if we have a good range control. We are able to change the tempo set up because of an opponent. So uncoupled train often can lead to problems as well. So while it is, you could say a staple part too much of it can give you the wrong information back. So that's why we need to have a general picture and a general blending of coupled and uncoupled practice, but I would always move towards more of a coupled practice. So that we do have perception and action in our training as much as possible whilst considering any potential injuries. Okay, let's move up to number six. There we go with the hands. Here's number six. We've got always lead off with your jab. Okay, bit of a nonsense really because some people are able to land the back hand. Some people lead off with the lead hook. Upper cuts depends whether you are deciding to lead off yourself or an opponent is coming into your striking area, wherever that might be. It always depends on that. So whilst the jab is often high reward and low risk. Sometimes the opponent will get used to this and if you're always leading off with your jab, then they're going to throw overhand. And they're going to have it's a lot easier for them to calculate and respond to your attacks. Actually, being able to lead off of different shots makes it very, very hard for them perception. It's attuned into what you're doing and therefore you have a tactical advantage. So while it is often safe, it's not always an advantage to lead off with your jab. Okay, seven. That's five on there. There's two on there. Okay. Speedball teaches rhythm and timing. This is one that I have a lot of trouble with. So I do see this at all the time. So whilst working the speedball is impressive and there are lots of people who do some wonderful stuff with that and it's great coordination. When people talk about rhythm and timing, the fact that you are able to when you're moving and hitting and striking the speedball, not even look. Now it takes away the cognitive part. It takes away the thinking part away from it. It just becomes a rhythm that is innate. So if I clap my hands like clap, clap, clap, clap. You'll be able to follow that pattern very, very quickly. So actually there is no thinking. There is no problem solving going on. Once you have that rhythm, you have that rhythm and it becomes like riding a bike. So it's rope repetition essentially, which we all have that ability to learn rope repetition very, very quickly. But the problem with speedballs is it doesn't have any perturbations or any variations that you would get in boxing. So it can be very easy to learn. So in terms of rhythm and timing, timing is about actually being able to work out when someone's going to attack, when they're trying to think, when they're trying to change to the tempo. So when you're moving into all these types of manipulations of space and time and a speedball does not teach you that because it doesn't have any variation within that time or that rhythm. So once you've learned it, you have learned it and it becomes a very close skill when boxing is a very open skill. And you have to have the ability to perceive and to act and act to perceive and bring those things together. Speedballs just don't do that. Once it is a very clever technique, there's very little external factors on the speedball that make it a skill as such that's related to boxing. So I know I'm going to get some stick from that one, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the or come back on that one as well. Okay, so we are now moving on to what have we got here? I've gotten in front of me. Number eight, train in open spaces. Okay, so we're all in the gym floor a lot of the time and we train in certain areas. Now the only issue that I have of training in open areas is you watch boxes sparring, technical conditions bar boxes off the move back in straight lines because I've got the whole hall to move back to. And then what happens is then you have pairs moving across each other. So it becomes a health and safety issue, but the box never learns to move sideways. So I always talk about moving off the train tracks. Why would you stay on the train tracks and get hit by the train when you can just move off to the side. So actually having a shape, having a boundary area develops the boxes ability to understand where they are in the ring, their position and therefore adapt accordingly. So the environment that you're in will dictate the skill that emerge in terms of your positioning. It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be small and you can change all the time. It doesn't have to be a square. If we're rectangular, it can be triangular, it can be a circle, big small, whatever. But if you keep changing those in the boxes are more likely to learn how to adapt to their environment and that's what being skillful is, it's adapting to the environment that they're in. Okay, number nine, sparring should only be about learning. Now it's kind of a, it's kind of a clean way to say isn't it? So sparring should only be about learning. And whilst I get the notion of that, there should also be an element of pressure testing, I believe, in sparring. So when you have sparring and then maybe someone in the gym chat something out like, "I left hook and the coach turns ours and tells them off, yes, the coach needs to be in control of the sparring." So it's a safety, absolutely. But I think what we miss sometimes is the opportunity to pressure test. So why not sometimes just get all the boxes around the ring. Some of them can shout, some of them can even, you know, depends on how you look at it. Some of them can shout a few opportunities, things that you might hear a boxing show because you want it to feel real to the environment that they're going to compete in. Some can actually judge the bow and say, "How much do they want that round? Who fought?" Read one that round, who fought blue one. So actually put the scoring. So the scoring as you go also puts the pressure on the boxer as well. So noise, music, heat, where it would be a slightly hotter, slightly colder, louder, quiet. All of these different things, these environmental constraints really change the behavior of the boxer as well. So it doesn't always have to be learning in a library type environment. So by adding that on it puts pressure test on and the boxer learns to develop because of those different environmental changes. Okay, and the final one, number 10, okay, so both hands, number 10, warm-ups are all about prepping for exercise and avoiding injury. Whilst, yes, of course, you don't want your boxes getting injured and you need to heat up the body, you need to get the heart pumping, you need to get the core of the muscles, warm as well. So, you know what else in the muscle can be applied. Yes, there is part of that, but I think there's an over-empossess on that. So one thing that most warm-ups traditionally, probably across a lot of sports, and I don't think I'll be wrong in saying that, don't warm-up the perceptual system. So they don't switch on the abilities of the boxer to start picking up relevant information from an opponent. Whilst there can be some unopposed training at the start, I think it's also important to have a pose part of the warm-up where you are pairing up and whether it's tags, bars, lots of different games that we have in the box gathering in terms of the warm-up. So you're tuning into relevant information to the perceptual system of the boxer is switched on. We always say we give away the first round because we're slow-start as you hear that all the time. It's part of the reason it's not because of the physical, it's because of the mental they haven't switched on their perceptual system, not picking up on the relevant information yet. So we need that information to be present in the warm-up. So there we are, there are ten misconceptions in boxing, social media, jump on, give us your thoughts on any of those points that we've made or anything that we may have missed. Cheers guys. If you enjoyed today's episode, then head on over to theboxgathering.com. We have a wide range of resources for coaches, boxes and boxing parents to support you and your club on the road to success. 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