Tag Archives | Boxing

Style and its Limitations (diary entry)

April 16, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
jack johnson 3

13.04.21 My teacher consultancy concluded its trilogy of lessons on Jack Johnson with his last two title defences. Prior to analysing the fights, it was relevant to discuss the campaign against Johnson. Having defeated the previously undefeated James J Jeffries in a bout that resulted in a nation wide series of riots, there was  growing tension within the white establishment to handle Johnson. Not only was he destroying all the “Great White Hopes” sent his way, but his extravagent behaviour […]

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Tactics are Important (diary entry)

April 6, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
last boxing lesson athena diary

30.03.21 Monday night’s lesson concluded my online course with Athena Karate focusing on boxing principles for cross-training. Each week we have put the spotlight on individual techniques and also shared that light with several noted experts in this field. Tonight we went through 6  x 3 minute rounds. The first four rounds alternating between outside and inside boxing. For the outside boxing we looked at the jabbing skills of Muhammad Ali, Joe Louie, Lennox Lewis, Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard […]

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The Uppercut is Important (diary entry)

March 24, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
uppercut athena diary

22.03.21 Monday night’s final lesson was my class with Athena School of Karate where I continued my boxing programme. Tonight the uppercut came under the spotlight. Along with the cross/straight right, this is considered to be a true power punch. There have been many famous knockouts achieved using the uppercut, but there are few real masters of this particular punch and even fewer in modern boxing due to the current trend in outside fighting. The uppercut requires toe-to-toe range to […]

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Combination 6 Partner Work (diary entry)

March 23, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Spinning Back fist diary entry

22.03.21 My second lesson on Monday night took my two lockdown partnered clients into the sixth combination on focus mitts. This is their second course on stand-up focusing on rythm and flow and they are into their eighth hour. Tonight’s training looked at a hands-only series of chained techniques, involving two hammer/back-fists and one spinning variation of this technique. After a 10 minute round of warming up where we went through various Muay Thai combinations, we  completed a 10 minute […]

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The Hook is important (diary entry)

March 17, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
athena diary workshop hook

15.02.21 Monday night’s second lesson was the third in Athena Karate’s course on Boxing techniques. Tonight we covered variations of the hook punch and a selection of legendary boxers who exemplified its use. For details on the hook in self-defence and its relationship with boxing, please check out my private lesson/teacher consultancy blog post. Before we moved onto techniques, I warmed everyone up with a routine inspired by the late “Marvellous” Marvin Hagler who died last week. Hagler was an […]

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The Rear Hand Straight/Cross is Important (diary entry)

March 11, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
downward cross

08.03.21 My second lesson of this course on Boxing for Athena School of Karate focused on the rear straight and the cross.  We discussed the difference between throwing a rear straight, commonly referred to as a straight right, and a cross. Rear straights are thrown directly at the centre line of the opponent whereas the cross is thrown across the centre line. I decided to cover the following examples of these punches: Rear straights and crosses were best exemplified by […]

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Deconstructing Basics (diary entry)

March 5, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
19TH CENTURY BOXING SPARRING

02.03.21 Work continues in my teacher consultancy regarding the progress of sparring/pressure-testing for grades, especially but not exclusively to child students. As my progressive and proactive client suggested, we began at the beginning and looked at where and how sparring should be introduced. Key things to consider would be that gradings would not be a test for everything. A club does not have to have sparring in the first grading and yet students by this stage can be accustomed to […]

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The Jab is Important (diary entry)

March 4, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
jab

01.03.21 Athena School of Karate booked me for a third course this year. We decided to change from Kickboxing/Muay Thai to modern Boxing basics. Each week I will go through a technique, teach its variations and spotlight various fighters who best exemplified its use. This week was the jab, arguably the most important punch in modern Boxing, Muay and MMA. It is and should be the most regularly thrown punch in Boxing as it allows a fighter to control the […]

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Combination 3 Partner Work (diary entry)

March 3, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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01.03.21 Monday evening began with hour five of my client’s course on stand-up pad-work. As previously mentioned these are both lockdown partners, one of which is on the road to recovery from a knee injury. The previous course took them through the 14 Muay Thai combination for rhythm and flow. Now we are taking each combination and applying them to the focus mitts. Having a lockdown partner allows for me to coach pad work whilst not holding pads and it […]

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Virtual Focus Mitts on Combos

March 1, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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27.02.21 Saturday morning’s first lesson was my client’s third hour on training stand-up fighting combinations for rhythm and flow. We are currently going back through all the 14 combinations and training them on virtual focus mitts. These exercises help develop and maintain timing that cannot be acquired through just training the combinations in a shadow boxing. This morning we worked through combinations eight to 10. Combination eight links opposite leg kicks together and finishes with a drawing technique onto a […]

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Combination 2 partner work (diary entry)

February 23, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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22.02.21 Hour four of my client’s second course on stand-up striking combinations continued her and her lockdown partner’s work on transferring shadow boxing to focus mitts. We looked at combination two, which is short and deals with chasing an opponent off landing a powerful head kick at its climax. Her lockdown partner is doing well with his recovery, but we adapted the head kick to a calf kick. This combination also introduces the same side cross and kick dynamic. The […]

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Combination 1 on the focus mitts (diary entry)

February 16, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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15.02.21 This is the third hour of my client’s second 10 hour course on stand-up striking. After a 10 minute round of warming up, my client with her lockdown partner decided to completely focus on the first combination from our 14 rhythm and flow sequences. The benefit of having a lockdown partner allowed me to teach the combination in three stages: Stage 1: Shadow boxing the entire combination Stage 2: Virtual focus-mitt training – using the combination in direct response […]

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Footwork! (diary entry)

January 20, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
footwork 4

17.01.21 I was booked for teacher consultancy on footwork development for stand-up fighting. We went through a pattern of basic footwork exercises, layered them with punching combinations and then moved onto footwork conditioning exercises. Key things to remember include retaining a balanced stance (Never place more than 50% of your weight on the front foot, preferrably less), back heel should always be raised and front heel should be just off at all times, most Western Boxing stances (with the exception […]

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Lengthy Combos and Superman Punches (diary entry)

January 6, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
check superman punch 3

05.01.21 Tonigth my teacher consultancy continued with pre-lesson prep on Dutch-inspired kickboxing combinations. We revised the first two taught last week and I introduced two more. The new combinations included a lengthy one that brought in aspects from the first two – slip/crosses, slip/hooks and hook/body kicks – and a kick-based one that was more traditional Muay Thai in flavour.

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Dutch Division Training (diary entry)

December 15, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
diary catherine 14 12 20

14.12.20 Hour six of my client’s current online course saw the lockdown partners begin work on the recent Dutch-style kickboxing work introduced to my client on Saturday.  This time due to my client recovering from his aforementioned football injury, I split the combination work into two variations. Where one client threw kicks he would through corresponding punches. Kicks to body would be shovel hooks; high round kick would be hooks to the head. We used the 4 x 10 minute […]

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Defence & Counter (diary entry)

November 18, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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17.11.20 Tuesday night’s third and final lesson saw my client reach the ninth hour of his Western Boxing for Martial Arts Cross Training course. Tonight we completely threw the spotlight onto defence. After warming up we would be going through 12 x 3 minute rounds of virtual specific sparring, mainly isolating certain defences and then adding on counter punches. My client would be responding to techniques I through at the camera. Round 1 – Slipping Round 2 – Slip and […]

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