fitness

Boxing Tip #14 - Jab Fake

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:05:11 -0500

Similar to the Jab Tap, I learned this technique the hard way - glove to face in the ring. I have to give you a little background - so bear with me. You see, when I first started boxing, I tended to hold my hands just below eye level. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but my trainer had a hay day with it.

In the beginning...

Being new to the sport, I didn't have the skill or reflexes to be able to bring my hands up to block what seemed like lightning bolt jabs coming from my trainer. He easily came through my mixed stance type of defence - over and over again, I might add.

Well, eventually, I wisened up a bit and decided fine, if I can't block his jabs, I'll hold my hands higher, adopting a much more peek a boo style of stance at the risk of exposing my body. I have a strong core and figured I could take the punishment the few times that I couldn't get my elbows down to block a body shot.

This actually worked -- for a little while. I held my hands more at the level of my forehead and peeked through the opening between my forearms. My head was completely protected - or so I thought.

My Demise...

Once my trainer wisened up, and it didn't take long, he taught me a valuable tip - again - the hard way. If you think about my stance, hands held high, body more or less exposed, forearms nearly directly in front of my face, getting a jab in there is pretty difficult. If you were fighting me, you could easily go to my body, but because of my stance, I'd be watching for that - I know my body was exposed and had a plan to adapt to a body assault.

Connecting with the left hook
Photo by mborowick

Instead, my trainer said, okay, I won't jab him, I'll pretend to jab and then nail him with a left hook. And that is what he did, over and over. He faked the jab meaning I braced for impact from the front and somehow he managed to change his fake jab into a solid left hook that connected everytime. I couldn't react fast enough to block it when I finally realized the jab wasn't actually going to impact. Back to the drawing board for me as I was pummeled repeatedly by left hooks the rest of the night.

He only had to connect once to make subsequent hooks easier for himself. Just the fact that he made it through my solid fortress of forearms made me question where his jab was going to actually go. Now, if I made a move to block the hook, he just carried through with the jab which nailed me anyways.

If you perfect this technique you will have a punch - hook or jab - that will land 90% of the time (at least until your opponent figures out how to use his right as a block the same time he is using his left to block - something for another tip in the future.)

When to use the Jab Fake

This works best when your opponent is in a peek a boo stance. With his arms held high, it is much more difficult for him to react quickly - partly because of the position of his arms, but also because his vision is likely partly obstructed by his own arms and hands. This lends perfectly to faking a punch, especially if you manage to do it behind one his blind spots.

If you don't know what I mean by a blind spot, sitting where you are, lift your arms up in front of your face as if you were in a peek a boo stance. Notice your arms. Anything that happens behind them is partially obstructed from view. If you can initiate a fake punch in your opponent's blind spots - causing him to flinch, you are going to buy yourself a little time to throw the actual punch.

Granted, throwing something in a blind spot is more a matter of luck than skill, but it is still something you should strive to achieve.

To summarize, use the jab fake against someone who is squared off in front of you in a fairly upright position, with arms held high partially blocking their view.

Utilizing the Jab Fake

You initiate a jab fake like you would any jab and you have to make it believable. Your opponent has to believe a jab is coming at him and is going to impact. That way, in a high peek a book guard, he will brace his forearms for impact (if he doesn't try slipping). If it is not believable, he won't, and you'll have less chance of landing the actual punch.

So, throw your jab, but pull it back about a quarter of the way into it and loop it into a left hook that goes around your opponent's forearm and strikes the intended target. This is hard to do. Stopping the forward momentum is difficult and the more you can loop on the way back, the more powerful the hook will be as you change the direction of the force. Speed is key here.

Another way to aid in making your opponent commit to an incoming jab and brace is to give other cues - such as throwing your shoulder forward. Read the boxing tip on feints for other ideas on making a believable fake.

Practicing the Jab Fake

You can practice this pretty much anywhere. The biggest thing to master is halting the forward momentum of your jab and re-routing that force into a left hook. It is going to feel awkward, but with practice you can do it and even get your torso to throw a little extra force behind it. Do this on a heavy bag and strive to achieve a solid left hook after you fake the jab.

Then, if you can find a partner willing. Have him spar with you with hands held high. See if you can get him to believe in your fake jab and trick him into receiving your left hook. It will give you a good idea of how much you need to pretend to commit the jab in order to give you the time required to land the hook.

An Alternative - Cross Fake

Of note, you can easily adapt this and do the exact same thing with a straight right. Fake throwing the fake right and instead turn it into a looping right hand (right hook). You are doing the exact same thing, just to the other side. I've actually had some good success with this and find it easier to alter the path of my right as opposed to my jab. Maybe it's because I'm right handed and have better control with my right. At any rate, it isn't a stretch to do this from either side.

Strike Fast, Strike Hard...Good Luck.

Recent Cardio Methods

Outnumbered — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:37:58 -0400

Here is some thing's I have been doing at home. For cardio purposes.

Sprints #1:

Sprint 40 yds.,20 push-ups,
Sprint 20 secs.,20 Sit-Ups,
Sprint 40 Yds, 20 Push-Ups,
Sprint 20 Secs.,20 Sit-Ups
xGo Through 8 Cycles

Sprints #2:

Sprint 30 sec, Rest 10 secs,
Sprint 20 sec., rest 8 seconds,
Sprint 15 sec., rest 10 sec.,
Sprint 35 sec., Rest 25 secs
xGo through 6 Cycles (Did Both Of These)

Then regular 30 minute runs, with calistenhics every 45 yards

Jumprope #1:

10 Minutes Jumproping,
20 reps: push-ups, sit-ups, elevated push-ups, squats, bicycle crunches
x3 cycles

Jumprope #2:

3 Minutes Jumprope, 30 sec.
jog in place, 2 Minutes
Jumprope, 30 sec.
jog in place, 1 Minute
Jumprope, 20 sec.
jog, 3 Minutes
Jumprope, 45 sec.
jogx4 cycles

There's more I have found these effective things that I have been using quite a bit this last month for weight loss and conditioning.

Boxing, Coffee, and Popping My Cherry

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 18:51:00 -0500

Three hours ago, I would have disputed the idea that drinking coffee can be good for a boxer. I have long been of the belief that coffee causes all sorts of maladies from hypertension, to irritability, to heart disease, and it can even stunt your growth (as my grandma used to tell me). My not drinking coffee is even part of who I am and of the type of person I'm known to be. I am one of few infantry officers or military personnel of all trades for that matter who doesn't drink coffee. Even in the field after being awake for days on end, I have vehemently denied myself the pleasure of downing a cup of java.

In terms of my effectiveness, and staying awake, it may have made things harder - I don't know, because I never succumbed to the temptation. I am a freak of nature in the military, a world where the daily trip to Tim Horton's is an orgiastic ritual. (Tim Horton's, for those of you not from Canada, is supposed to have the best coffee in the world, and every military base has one. To own a Tim Hortons next to a Canadian Forces military base is like printing money.)

It is impossible for people to believe I don't drink coffee when they ask if I want to go for a cup - "What! You're in the infantry, how can you not drink coffee?" I have always had the will power to resist based on my assumptions that it was doing nothing for me physically.

That was three hours ago, then I picked up a copy of Time that arrived at our house today and read the article "Measuring IQ Points By The Cupful" by Michael D. Lemonick. That article led to three hours of reading various scientific journals and the latest research on caffeine consumption as it relates to athletic performance. Guess what, right now, I am sipping on a cup of black coffee. My cherry has been popped, I am no longer a coffee virgin. After 31 years of abstinence, here's why:

The General Benefits of Coffee:

Memory Enhancing Ability: Evidence has shown coffee can significantly boost short term memory. ^1,2
Protection Against Disease: There is evidence coffee can protect against a host of health maladies and diseases such as liver damage, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, gallstones, depression, and even some forms of cancer. ¹
Brainpower Boost: It can heighten mental performance whether you are well rested or sleep deprived. In each state of sleepiness, tests have proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that coffee signficantly improves the brains ability to function. It is especially effective, and this may be obvious, when you are very sleepy. It gives you an extra boost of alertness, but most you probably already knew that.

Benefits of Coffee for Boxers:

Reaction Time Decreases: Coffee affects the CNS (Central Nervous System) and has been shown to increase neuronal excitability which heightens one's reflexes. ⁴ That's good news when you're trying to slip a flurry of punches.
Increases Endurance: Coffee increases lipolytic activity (fat breakdown) and increased fatty acids. These fatty acids are readily used as energy by your body in the place of muscle glycogen. Basically your body is able to last longer because it uses fat as energy as well as the energy found in your muscles - thus you don't burn out as soon. ⁴
Reduces Muscle Pain During Exercise: If you've done the workouts here or boxing workouts anywhere, you know your muscles take a beating. Tests have shown that people with caffeine in their systems during workouts have reported less muscle pain afterwards. ³
Increased Oxygen Consumption: One test showed a small but significant increase in oxygen consumption after 15 minutes of exercise. For a boxer, this means that you need to warmup at least 15 minutes before a fight in order to reap the benefits from your coffee in terms of your bodies ability to absorb more oxygen. ⁵

Alrighty, those are the major benefits I found, but isn't coffee a drug, and aren't drugs bad and addictive for you. Some studies have shown that caffeine behaves differently from other stimulants. The addiction isn't there. Tell that to a regular coffee drinker and they may disagree. But seriously, what are the bad things about coffee.

Coffee's Bad Side:

Increase in Blood Pressure: Coffee can increase blood pressure temporarily. If you are a normal, healthy person, this isn't a problem.
Problems in Females: Some studies have suggested coffee presents a higher risk of miscarriage in pregnant women and benign breast cysts. (highly controversial)
Heart Rate: Some studies seem to support an elevated heart rate, some don't (inconclusive). Too much coffee, though, does increase the heart rate, cause irritability, and can be harmful because of its diuretic and vasoconstricting properties. (means you have to pee and your arteries and blood vessels shrink

That's it. That's all I found worth mentioning. There were numerous older studies which suggested coffee might lead to bladder cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease, but every one of them has since been shown to be wrong. Being a healthy, male, boxer, I saw no reason not to try out the benefits of caffeine, so I popped my cherry.

How Much Coffee Should a Boxer Drink and When?

According to the research, ideally, you reap the most performance benefit from coffee if you drink 2-3 cups 1 hour before your match.⁴ There is also a benefit to having 2-3 cups of coffee spread throughout the day to keep you alert and focused (increased mental performance). Here's where it gets a little tricky. The human body will build up a tolerance (physiological tolerance) to the caffeine which means if you use it regularly, it eventually will not be as effective.

Here's the solution:

When you are just training, have 2-3 cups a day spread throughout being careful to drink some an hour before your workouts to maximize the benefit there.
When you are scheduled for a fight, go cold turkey for 2-3 weeks before the fight. (you will be motivated to train hard anyways.). Then an hour before your fight, drink maximum 2-3 cups. As well, be sure to warmup for at least 15 minutes prior to your fight to stimulate the oxygen absorbing enhancement.

There you have it. Disagree? I'd love to hear it before I do something evil to my body, but in the meantime, I'm giving coffee a chance.

References

¹Lemonick, Michael D., "Measuring IQ Points by the Cupful", Time Magazine: Canadian Edition, 16 Jan 2006.
²Radiological Society of North America, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051212091544.htm, 12 Dec 2005.
³University of Georgia, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030916073934.htm, 16 Sept 2003.
⁴Johnston, Syd, "Caffeine: More Than Just Your Morning Juice", http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/CaffeineAthletes.htm.
⁵American Physiological Society, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/07/020716075936.htm, 16 Jul 2002.

Boxing Training

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 11:21:00 -0500

Boxing Training

Boxing workouts are the most effective workouts you can do. Don't believe me, ask anyone who has ever done one. Don't believe them? Look at all the tae bo boxing videos which have sprung up over the last few years. Don't believe them? Look at any good boxer's physique. That is proof enough. Of course, physiques like theirs do not come magically, it takes work and dedication to become conditioned like that. This section will not only get you in the best shape of your life, but will also turn you into a boxer.

The Importance of Drill

I'm a soldier by trade and in the army everything is drills. We practice things over and over and over until we can do them with our eyes closed in the dark under stress. You know why? Because in battle, we do not have time to think, we must react in a specific manner for any given situation immediately without hesitation. Drills ensure this happens. When you repeat something enough, your brain no longer has to remember it because your muscles remember it and react accordingly. Another reason for drills is their calming effect. Battle is strenuous and stressful. Drills help alleviate some of the stress, because you do not have the added stress of wondering what to do if someone does a certain thing. It is ingrained in you, you know what to do.

Boxing Specific Training

Boxers have unique requirements in order to survive in the ring. Boxing workouts are the ultimate workout because they incorporate aspects of pretty much every other workout available.

They require extreme anaerobic endurance in order to fight hard for 2-3 minute rounds;
They require a finely tuned aerobic system in order to return the heart rate to a normal rate within a minute inbetween rounds;
They require the kind of strength and muscle a resistance or strength training program can provide;
They require the explosive speed and power of a plyometrics program; and
They require the boxing skills provided by a comprehensive boxing skills development program in order to compete in the sport.

All of this plus the ability to fuel their bodies correctly taking into account the principles of boxing nutrition.

I can't promise you the world, but I can promise that by following the training regimen I am about to lay out for you, I guarantee you will be in the best shape of your life and you will even learn a thing or two about how to box.