Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Tuesday the first, I learned 1 is left jab, 2 is right jab 3 is left hook, 4 is right hook, 5 is left uppercut and 6 is right uppercut. Odds left, evens right
Thursday the third, I sparred with trainer and another newcomer to the gym - my defense is otherworldly impeccable, I’m impressing myself with it and surprising myself with it
I don’t have the proclivity to step in and engage offensively, I threw mostly jabs to the body to see where I could land them and what my distance was. This was a half speed sparring kind of thing, mostly experiencing the movements and response to someone coming at me
Saturday the gym was closed, presumably due to 4th of July the night before
This previous Tuesday we were back to mitt work
And yesterday, sparring again. Picked partners around the room and just kind of sparred each other each round. Different skills levels, and different weight classes, and one is a girl
Me and one other person did not wear headgear. I looked on the rack to see if there was headgear available and then concluded that I wouldn’t know how to put it in, it might not fit correctly causing me to adjust my head and neck to make it sit properly and it might move … something I saw it doing with one of the boxers going the hardest in there (he was inside of the ring), most of the other sparring was taking place outside of the ring
First sparring opponent, we did two rounds 2 head shots rolled off of me but landed … kinda, not clean though. I smile and laugh when opponents
I’m new at this and I realize this expression may inspire “I want to wipe that smile off his face” mentality, I just in general laugh when I’m fearfully nervous, so I then remind myself to be even more defensively guarded and mostly increase my movement. I eventually realize I can get two jabs to the body before he really responds with a hook to the head, but I block, parry or move away from all punches. The jabs I land are just taps, taking what they’re giving me but also keeping them distanced from me. Coach chimed in that I need to double up on the combinations to give him something to think about - I’m not ready for that, I genuinely feel what I’d have to do to be offensively effective would require me to exert more force than would be appropriate for sparring
And I felt like
But I’m watching and I’m getting a sense of “oh, yeah …. This guy’s about to engage, about to attack, etc.
Next I am sparring with some travel kinda kid. Remember when you played youth sports and then there was that kid in your regular town league who had the travel team experience and thus often had the bag with all the gear, kind of like that kind of young fella. This dude was actually intimidating, my mouth guard was in so I didn’t verbally have the ability to say “I’m not ready for this yet, don’t wanna slow you down” I did specifically circle around him for 3 minutes, at one point I made light of this by pretending to check my watch (I wasn’t wearing a watch), I looked over at the time. He really didn’t throw any punches at me. He had a great stance and was doing these little circles with his head as he was stepping toward me, little stutter steps that reminded me of baseball batter. I literally avoided him, I’m clearly outmatched and don’t have headgear on, the learning lessons are too obvious
Okay next the girl the skill level of the girl allows me to box exactly the way I wanna box, nonetheless I don’t make contact with her. I block all of her wide shots and feint to shoe her where I would’ve hit and give her time to react to slow throws. Nontheless I was able to utilize 52 blocks against her because my natural skill level is higher and my fear of opponent was none existent
But I’m not wearing head gear and the next opponent is at least 6 foot 4, probably more. I’m 6 foot 1, 145 pounds. This guy’s at least 190 pounds easy, probably more he was shaped like Tyson Fury
Mind you, I’m not wearing head gear and he is literally a heavyweight, he starts throwing these literal bombs at my head, I got a few light jab to the body on him. I got the sense that made him feel an invitation to come at me because there was no consequence
And I had these feeling that there’s an understanding about this, like when people are sparring the girl. I was practically doing patty cake with her (but I literally got to use 52 blocks
She even said, “I wish my defense was as good as yours, you make me feel like a chihuahua” and I’m thinking, it would be easy for your defense to be this good if your opponent was throwing such wide shots at the body, my mouthguard was in but I wanted to show her that I’m literally just moving my elbows down. But in retrospect, she threw no headshots - maybe because I didn’t have headgear
Any tips on how to properly fit headgear?
And am I right to feel like there should be an understanding in these regards? Should I just decline sparring outside of my weight class?
Honestly in retrospect, the kind punches he was throwing in sparring were a bit ridiculous, he was literally throwing overhand rights like a baseball pitcher, they were easy to avoid but in all reality for me to be effective against someone of such disparity requires me to end things quickly and swiftly and thus there’s necessity for more force than should be exerted in sparring
I am paying $100 a month for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Tuesday the first, I learned 1 is left jab, 2 is right jab 3 is left hook, 4 is right hook, 5 is left uppercut and 6 is right uppercut. Odds left, evens right
Thursday the third, I sparred with trainer and another newcomer to the gym - my defense is otherworldly impeccable, I’m impressing myself with it and surprising myself with it
I don’t have the proclivity to step in and engage offensively, I threw mostly jabs to the body to see where I could land them and what my distance was. This was a half speed sparring kind of thing, mostly experiencing the movements and response to someone coming at me
Saturday the gym was closed, presumably due to 4th of July the night before
This previous Tuesday we were back to mitt work
And yesterday, sparring again. Picked partners around the room and just kind of sparred each other each round. Different skills levels, and different weight classes, and one is a girl
Me and one other person did not wear headgear. I looked on the rack to see if there was headgear available and then concluded that I wouldn’t know how to put it in, it might not fit correctly causing me to adjust my head and neck to make it sit properly and it might move … something I saw it doing with one of the boxers going the hardest in there (he was inside of the ring), most of the other sparring was taking place outside of the ring
First sparring opponent, we did two rounds 2 head shots rolled off of me but landed … kinda, not clean though. I smile and laugh when opponents
I’m new at this and I realize this expression may inspire “I want to wipe that smile off his face” mentality, I just in general laugh when I’m fearfully nervous, so I then remind myself to be even more defensively guarded and mostly increase my movement. I eventually realize I can get two jabs to the body before he really responds with a hook to the head, but I block, parry or move away from all punches. The jabs I land are just taps, taking what they’re giving me but also keeping them distanced from me. Coach chimed in that I need to double up on the combinations to give him something to think about - I’m not ready for that, I genuinely feel what I’d have to do to be offensively effective would require me to exert more force than would be appropriate for sparring
And I felt like
But I’m watching and I’m getting a sense of “oh, yeah …. This guy’s about to engage, about to attack, etc.
Next I am sparring with some travel kinda kid. Remember when you played youth sports and then there was that kid in your regular town league who had the travel team experience and thus often had the bag with all the gear, kind of like that kind of young fella. This dude was actually intimidating, my mouth guard was in so I didn’t verbally have the ability to say “I’m not ready for this yet, don’t wanna slow you down” I did specifically circle around him for 3 minutes, at one point I made light of this by pretending to check my watch (I wasn’t wearing a watch), I looked over at the time. He really didn’t throw any punches at me. He had a great stance and was doing these little circles with his head as he was stepping toward me, little stutter steps that reminded me of baseball batter. I literally avoided him, I’m clearly outmatched and don’t have headgear on, the learning lessons are too obvious
Okay next the girl the skill level of the girl allows me to box exactly the way I wanna box, nonetheless I don’t make contact with her. I block all of her wide shots and feint to shoe her where I would’ve hit and give her time to react to slow throws. Nontheless I was able to utilize 52 blocks against her because my natural skill level is higher and my fear of opponent was none existent
But I’m not wearing head gear and the next opponent is at least 6 foot 4, probably more. I’m 6 foot 1, 145 pounds. This guy’s at least 190 pounds easy, probably more he was shaped like Tyson Fury
Mind you, I’m not wearing head gear and he is literally a heavyweight, he starts throwing these literal bombs at my head, I got a few light jab to the body on him. I got the sense that made him feel an invitation to come at me because there was no consequence
And I had these feeling that there’s an understanding about this, like when people are sparring the girl. I was practically doing patty cake with her (but I literally got to use 52 blocks
She even said, “I wish my defense was as good as yours, you make me feel like a chihuahua” and I’m thinking, it would be easy for your defense to be this good if your opponent was throwing such wide shots at the body, my mouthguard was in but I wanted to show her that I’m literally just moving my elbows down. But in retrospect, she threw no headshots - maybe because I didn’t have headgear
Any tips on how to properly fit headgear?
And am I right to feel like there should be an understanding in these regards? Should I just decline sparring outside of my weight class?
Honestly in retrospect, the kind punches he was throwing in sparring were a bit ridiculous, he was literally throwing overhand rights like a baseball pitcher, they were easy to avoid but in all reality for me to be effective against someone of such disparity requires me to end things quickly and swiftly and thus there’s necessity for more force than should be exerted in sparring
I am paying $100 a month for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
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nvm sparring one of the pros.