Learning to Box

zagdrob

I recently purchased a good sized punching bag for my basement gym, and I'm looking to add boxing-type exercises to my workout. Need to get gloves / wraps and maybe add some more sand to the base, but that's about it.

The concern I have is that while I definitely know how to 'fight' and throw a punch, I haven't ever had any real 'training' in boxing or fighting technique beyond a year of karate when I was a kid. While I certainly don't have any plan to start sparring with other people or competing, I'd rather go about this the 'right' way. I haven't counted out eventually getting in a rec-boxing or MMA type league down the line. The exercise aspect is the primary purpose, but I would like to get 'better' at fighting / punching / boxing even if I never use it. I also don't want to learn bad technique that will result in injuries or not train / utilize muscles that I should be using. Of course, I'm not going to complain if I turn into a badass 'coulda been a contender', but it's really just a few extra exercises to get me off my normal routine.

Is this something that a person can reasonably teach themselves, or is it really something that requires a knowledgeable coach / trainer or participation in a class to learn properly? If I don't get a coach, does anyone know of a good program (like a C25K type for boxing) that's not stupid and won't get me injured?

mts

yea, i did it through youtube videos to get technique down for punches and wrapping. then just string stuff together in a work out. its pretty fun

Spiritfire

Having a friend to do light sparring with was beneficial to me. Like having any workout partner, it's motivation to go out and exercise. In terms of boxing/MMA, having another person there helped me to improve my form. For example, he noted how I would drop my hands at times or telegraph my intent based on how my shoulders moved. That's nothing I could have assessed on my own. Neither of us were planning on doing martial arts competitively, but it was a lot of fun training with one another.

VeritasVR

Boxing is one of the hardest sports, if not the hardest sport. That being said, you need to figure out if you want to take it as "sport boxing" or "fitness boxing" or "fighting boxing". They're very different.

Dr. Frenchenstein

if you just want a good workout on the bag and maybe throw harder/faster punches, yeah youtube videos and stuff will be fine. it's a lot of combos and stuff basically.

head/feet movement is a big part of boxing, and the only way to really improve that is to spar or train with those hand pads you see. if you really want to improve technique-wise, a boxing gym is the way to go.

Enc

You can also take a page out of Dr. Frenchenstein's training guide and fill your bag with sundry bricks and metal rebar from a neighbor's townhouse, allowing him to train for devastating entire blocks with nothing but his fists.

Kakodaimonos

Dr. Frenchenstein wrote: »

if you just want a good workout on the bag and maybe throw harder/faster punches, yeah youtube videos and stuff will be fine. it's a lot of combos and stuff basically.

head/feet movement is a big part of boxing, and the only way to really improve that is to spar or train with those hand pads you see. if you really want to improve technique-wise, a boxing gym is the way to go.

Ring control and getting used to getting hit are a couple of other parts of boxing you'll only learn at a gym. If you aren't looking to actually do matches you don't need to worry about that.

If you do decide to start sparring and doing some geared matches you will get banged up and injured. Usually won't be serious but it will happen.

Fantasma

You will not go too far without a trainer/punching partner, you could actually just injured yourself if you don't do the routines correctly. Boxing is quite demanding, my uncle used to train people, who after one or two weeks, just decided to quit.

hsu

Freddie Roach, the boxing trainer for Manny Pacquiao, has many his of instruction videos up on youtube.

It's not the same as training in a gym, but it's useful as a supplement to actual training.

RocketSauce

zagdrob wrote: »

Is this something that a person can reasonably teach themselves

No, it's not.

is it really something that requires a knowledgeable coach / trainer or participation in a class to learn properly?

Yeah.

A year of karate as a kid isn't worth much. I understand you're probably not approaching this from a complete beginner's level, but it's hard to know if you really know how to throw a punch. While things like punching, throwing a spiral, and doing a squat are simple things, having a trained expert can get you doing them correctly, efficiently, and safely. It's all about fundamentals, and if you start with good fundamentals, it makes the rest easier.

5 sessions of boxing classes would probably be between $100-$200 or something like that depending on your area. It's good to get hands-on instruction and give you some basic tools to go off on your own.

zagdrob

Thanks all - I found a boxing gym near me and maybe I'll check it out. It's a little over two miles from my house, so a good warmup run there and back. Get a few lessons, see if it's something I want to get into more or just take home and work on for fitness.

Gotta admit, the idea of punching the hell out of someone (and honestly, I don't mind getting the hell punched out of me) seems cathartic.

I'm including their website because...it's just so bad it needs to be shared. Geocities in 1996 bad.

http://www.a2fightclub.com/

Fantasma

In the meantime, you just start training like the real masters do, in the first minutes of this movie you can see a warm up training session:

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

Indica1

If you aren't sparring you aren't learning how to fight.

If you aren't hitting pads with somebody that knows what they are doing, you aren't learning how to punch.

Dhalphir

the biggest piece of advice I can give is that whatever punching you do, make sure your wrist is straight because that's the biggest injury you can do to yourself while untrained.

Noff

From seeing friends who are into fighting sports, I would say the first thing is to make sure you have proper gloves, punching technique, and know how to correctly wrap your hands. It would be worthwhile to make a trip to a proper boxing/mma type gym to get in-person instruction when you're starting out. Wrist/hand injuries are nothing to mess around with.

LoveIsUnity

Dhalphir wrote: »

the biggest piece of advice I can give is that whatever punching you do, make sure your wrist is straight because that's the biggest injury you can do to yourself while untrained.

Yuuuup. Making sure you wrap your hands correctly will help with this, but it's very possible to mess up your wrists punching things.

Sacrilicious

Pointless without instruction and getting in the ring. I think it's a waste of time and money if you don't spar. And as other people have said you could hurt yourself.

Even classes are mostly worthless I think unless the focus is on sparring - they're a placebo, kind of like most martial arts classes. If someone tells you otherwise they just want your money.