jab

Boxing Tip #15 - Pre-Emption

admin — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:07:11 -0500

To preempt someone is to forestall or prevent (something anticipated) by acting first.

It is a mission verb used in combat to describe a situation where you attempt to launch an offensive effort before your opponent in order to seize and then maintain the initiative. You know your opponent is planning something, but you need to beat him to the punch (literally).

Everyone has a decision cycle (also referred to as an OODA loop). When you see something happening, your brain has to process it, make decisions about that event and then cause you to react to it.

In boxing, reaction is bad.

Actually in combat, reaction is bad.

If you are reacting, you are always in the defensive. Proactivity is the remedy for reactivity. I've made it clear you cannot win without an offense, so to be reactive means defeat.

Back to the OODA loop, if you can launch your offensive before your opponent makes his next decision, you get inside his OODA loop and preempt his attack. You always want to be one step ahead of your opponent, planning your next move while he is still reacting to the last one.

A while ago I wrote about universal and idiosynchratic tells. These are the little cues people give off before they do something that basically tell you what they are going to do. For this boxing tip, we are going to look in depth at tells that forecast an opponent has decided to throw a jab so that you can pick up on them and preempt his attack with a jab of your own.

A Quick Story

Preemption: Hit Before Getting Hit
Photo by mx5tx

Once you know what your opponent is going to throw, it causes shock and disbelief when you beat him to the punch. I remember sparring with a young guy and it was incredibly easy to see when he was going to throw a jab. Repeatedly, I would strike first knowing that over and over again, he was going to tell me exactly when he was about to throw his jab. Not only did I preempt his attack with an offense of my own, but I also disrupted his attack. (another combat mission verb).

By the end of the sparring, the lad was completely demoralized. He thought I possessed super speed to be able to beat his jab time and time again with a jab of my own, and his nose was quite sore where he got popped over and over again.

I was completely inside his OODA loop and knew what he was going to do before he did. It's about this time you begin to feel invulnerable.

Preempting the Jab

To preempt anything you need to be quick. Jabs are well suited for preemption because you can throw one from pretty much any situation - off balance, stepping back, down, up, and so on. So first thing you need to do is practice your jab, throwing it out quickly, cleanly, and with decisive force and then recovering to your guard just as quick. Practice from odd angles - in close, and far out. You need your jab to flick out with force and intensity and 100% accuracy.

Read Your Opponent

In order to preempt, you need to know when your opponent is going to launch his attack. So, watch for the signs of an incoming punch. For a jab:

weight shifts slightly to his front foot;
hips begin to rotate;
shoulder drops (in poor jabs);
elbow of the front arm begins to rotate up;
you can see it in your opponent's face; or
you see movement of the glove.

Obviously not a definitive list and it will vary from boxer to boxer, but all of us forecast our intentions in some way. The quicker you can pick up on your opponent's tells, the quicker you can decide how the fight is going to go.

Strike First

As soon as you see any of these signs, strike. Do not think about it, just throw the punch. If you are right and he is throwing a punch, by the time yours makes it to him, he will be wide open. Have faith that you will hit first. You will be elated the first time you do this and you connect. It's like your opponent just drops his hands and lets you hit him.

Look for the Surprise

A bonus feature - look for the look of utter surprise in your opponent's face following your jab. He will have no idea how you managed to throw a punch that quick. Remember, he is caught up in his decision cycle and is oblivious to what is happening around him. His brain is engaged in deciding to throw a jab. He won't be able to react to yours until his cycle has completed - so beat him to it and you win.

Do you have any stories of pre-emption? Is there some tell you've noticed your sparring partners give before they launch? Leave a comment, or ask a question.

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.

help my jab

chris025 — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:09:24 -0400

Hey guys well i just wanted help again but this time with my jab how do you get it faster and stronger at the same time? I could do one really hard jab. But i if i do alot of jabs they either some out hard and slow or fast and shity all weak and stuff. So can you help me make it fast and hard at the same time. I would like to hear of any drill or anything actually so please help cause i got my ass kick by a guy 2 day he throw like six hard fast jabs in a row and all of them were fast and hard so 2 me a jab is really important right now

Boxing Punches

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:22:00 -0500

You can't win if you don't punch!

There are four basic offensive moves in boxing:

These boxing punches can be delivered anywhere above the waist and it is best to mix up where they are delivered.

You cannot win a battle without a great offense. You can have the best defense in the world, never allowing your opponent to hit you, but you cannot win if you don't hit him. That of course is where these boxing punches come in.

A couple of things you want to remember when thinking about the offensive part of your game. First, you always want to keep your opponent guessing. The worst thing you can do is forecast your punches or get in the habit of delivering the same punches in the same order over and over again. If your opponent is any good, he will quickly pick up on it and the effectiveness of your offense will be diminished if not completely obliterated.

You can forecast your punches in a variety of ways. Most common are wide sweeping punches and dropping your shoulder to kind of wind up and punch. All signs of a true beginner and not what you want to be known as. You have to watch other things as well like your breathing, facial expressions, head movement, the list goes on and on. Put on your poker face when you enter the ring.

Second, don't always focus on delivering the power punch. Have them at the ready but give a constant barrage of jabs. These smaller hits over the course of a fight can do a tonne of damage, don't take a lot of energy, and can win the fight for you.

So, with those points in mind, let's get technical. Oh, and one other note, I'm going to describe the punches for right hander's, that is left foot forward. If you're a left hander, please don't feel offended, just reverse the instructions.

A final note on breathing. Don't hold your breath, which, believe it or not, is the natural thing to do when you punch. With every punch breathe out through pursed lips making a quick short "fffffff" sound. This ensures you are breathing and aids in your power distribution. It's like karate guys yelling whenever they punch or kick. Kind of centers you...if that makes any sense.

One last thing to mention. Never forget about the hand which is not punching. It is a common error, especially for beginners to forget about the hand which is supposed to be guarding when the other is punching. This is especially obvious while throwing the jab with the left hand. Watch yourself in the mirror and you will be sure to notice that while you are jabbing with the left, your right mysteriously slides down to chest height instead of being up protecting the chin.

It's natural, gravity is pulling at it all the time, but everyone, especially in the beginning has to make a conscious effort to keep their hands up where they should be. Don't worry, it's even harder to remember when you have both hands flying out delivering combinations as we'll see next.