Things You’ll Only Understand if Boxing is your sport – not a Boxercise fitness class!
If boxing is a huge part of your routine, we’re sure it will have changed your life in one way or another.
It winds you up when people say “boxing is easy” because all it is is punching
No matter who it is you always get defensive and irritated when someone says “boxing is easy”. If you’ve been training for a long time you know this is simply not true and there’s a lot more to it. Stand your ground, it’s so much more than just punching! It takes years to perfect those defensive moves and the footwork needed to maximize your performance in the ring. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. You don’t carry small bags anymore
Lugging around a huge bag is not ideal but when you’re a boxer it has to be done. With your protective headgear, hand wraps, boxing boots, and gloves, long gone are the days where you can travel with a small bag.
The smell of your wraps, kit and gloves
Boxing is a sweaty sport and your hand wraps, gloves and kit will start to smell in no time… it’s a fact of life that you need an endless supply of deodorisers. Your glove’s durability period will start to decrease over time, but regularly cleaning them will help until it’s time to treat yourself to a new pair.
Pre-fight nerves
It’s only natural to get nervous before a fight and no fighter is exempt from fight nerves. After all, you’re about to do something potentially dangerous and it takes a lot of courage. Some fear and anxiety is a good thing as it’s important to be amped up and alert. Just make sure you channel the fear into your punches and let it make you stronger rather than weaker.
Aching jaw
If you get caught with a hook this will more often than not result in an aching jaw, this is something you are going to have to get used to. Getting hit here jars the muscles that operate the jaw, which will cause them to tighten up. It all just comes with the territory.
You basically become a semi-professional runner
If you don’t like running, unfortunately, you don’t have a choice when it comes to amateur and professional boxing. Running is the core fitness from which everything else is built. You better get used to running at least 5 times a week whether it be 80-metre sprints or a full 10k. You may not enjoy it at the time, although music helps, it all pays off in the ring.
A skipping rope becomes your new best friend
Many will think this is a cliché of the sport but you will know all too well that it’s not. Skipping is a huge element in boxing conditioning and no matter what level you are at every session will start by warming up with a skipping rope. The main reason is that it requires hand and foot coordination and in boxing, it’s really important to achieve this and have your hands and feet work together. Also. it is a great way to get your heart rate up quickly.
Triple Knots in your laces
Running, skipping and other activities that you have to undertake always result in your shoelaces coming untied. Triple knotting is the way forward, after all, you can’t just stop a boxing match halfway through to tie your laces!
So, it’s not as easy as everyone thinks. Like the great Sugar Ray Leonard once said, “Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There is nothing that compares to testing yourself like the way you do in the ring.”
Despite all of this (which we actually secretly love), boxing & kickboxing will always be there for you, even through the tough times, just like any other true Martial Arts or true Combative system. So, if someone tells you in a short period of time that you are on fire and ready to fight competitively, you really need to stop and check their motivation and the lack of ‘duty of care’ towards you…There is so much more to preparing a person for a fight beyond the physical…Without, correct complete preparation you and your life might never be the same again – more often than not, not in a good way! Not everyone can coach either, but it always helps when your coach has actually been a fighter legitimately, because they actually understand and can convey all that you will be confronted with and the physical manifestations your body with throw at you.
Remember, these kinds of adventures will impact you for life, so training with a coach that not only sees you as an athlete & a person, not his next meal ticket!
