TRAINING TIPS:

1. Stay calm and punch lighter on the bag so you can last more rounds, keep your form together, and punch sharp. This will allow you to get in more minutes of quality bag work. You want to have energy to hit the bag with correct form and keep your punches snappy, instead of spending most of your bag work panting and huffing to show that you have “heart”. Don’t waste energy showing off on the bag – nobody cares.
2. Don’t workout till complete failure. Get tired, break a sweat, and just push yourself a little more each day. If you go until failure every day of the week without a reason, you’ll probably over train and quit training very soon.
3. Drink lots of water. One cup every hour minimum!
4. Make friends in the school, be humble, and ask your trainer for fighting tips. When another fighters beats you, ask him how he did it; you may be surprised at how helpful he might be at showing you your own weaknesses.

PUNCHING TIPS:

1. Turn your whole body into the punch. If your feet are slow, (most people have slow feet at first) you will find that punching a little slower actually hits harder than punching faster. So in other words, punch as fast as your body can turn so you won’t sacrifice power. Again, use your whole body instead of just the arms to punch.
2. Throw short hooks, short uppercuts, and short rights but long jabs.
3. You don’t always have to throw one knockout punch after another. Combo light and hard punches and use head movement to fake out your opponent. Remember that the harder you try, the harder they will counter, and the harder you will get hurt. Calm down and throw the hard punches when you know they’ll land.
4. Never forget to go to the body. Try a jab to the head, and right hand to the body. When you’re in real close, lean your head inside to smother him and throw 2-3 body punches.
5. Throw 3-5 punch combos maximum. You don’t need 10-punch combos – all those do is sap your energy and leave you open to counters. Don’t even practice these for now.
6. Breathe out when you punch and always look at your target when you punch. Don’t hold your breath and don’t look at the ground. Learn to keep your eyes open during the heat of the battle!
7. Let your hands go! Don’t wait around forever to let your opponent hit you all day. Throw something even if it doesn’t land. Keep him thinking and keep your eyes open for more punching opportunities.

DEFENSE TIPS:

1. Stay calm and never stop breathing. If you’re starting to panic, ask the other guy to slow down so your mind and body can catch up.
2. Hold your hands high, elbows low, and move your head.
3. Don’t waste energy running around the ring, just take one step and pivot out of the way if your opponent is overly aggressive. Think of yourself as a matador pivoting out of the way as the bull misses. Don’t forget to hit him back.
4. Don’t lean back and don’t take your eyes off your opponent when you’re taking punches (this is especially hard for most beginners). Establish your ground and defend it with hard counters. Pivot so that you don’t get countered.
5. Don’t always wait for your opponent to finish punching before you start punching back. Interrupt his combos and hit him! Too many speedy fighters get caught up in trying to block all the oncoming punches that they never get to counter. Let your hands go!

Fitness training is vital to maximize performance during fights. The number of rounds a fighter will fight depends on their category of the fight they are competing in, and it’s important to ensure that you have the stamina to perform until the final round. It also helps burn calories. Warm up your muscles and tendons before training to increase their flexibility and prevent injury. Spend at least ten minutes warming up. You should train at least three times a week to see an improvement in your fitness. Make sure you keep hydrated during training.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #1: Mind Set

Fitness training should be performed with consistency and dedication. Set aside time for fitness training and focus on the exercises, making sure that you have no distractions. Find ways to motivate yourself, such as making arrangements to train with a friend.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #2: Sleep

Make sure you get enough sleep. This allows your muscles to recover from training. It also helps increase your concentration and performance during training. Eight hours of sleep a night is the recommended amount.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #3: Nutrition

Take care of your body and eat the right foods to ensure good health. Good nutrition gives you energy to participate in a vigorous fitness training program. Consuming the right amount of calories is important, as excessive fat will inhibit your fitness training.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #4: Preparation

Wear comfortable clothes and footwear that are suited to your workout. Prepare all equipment and remove distractions. This will help your mental fitness and allow you to focus on training.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #5: Jogging

Jog 3 to 5 miles at a steady rate. Sprinting at the end can help increase fitness and improve your technique. This will help you have a burst of energy at the end of rounds to perform at your peak. Occasionally increase your runs to 6 to 10 miles.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #6: Interval Training

Interval training recreates the demands of a fighters round. Begin by warming up, which can include jogging, skipping and sprinting. Run for 600m, and then have a 1 minute break. Repeat 3 times. Run for 200m at an increased speed and then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat three times. Perform interval training twice a week. Other interval training can include fast sit ups, pushups and squats with short intervals between them. Another exercise is a workout on the bag or with a sparring partner at a high intensity, with one minute intervals. This helps mimic rounds and increases fitness and stamina.

San Shou Fitness Training Tip #7: Skipping Rope

Skipping burns calories and helps increase fitness. It also strengthens calf muscles, which is essential to fighting. Skipping helps improve balance and increases coordination. Skip for 3 minutes, with 1 minute intervals. A variety of techniques can be used. You can jump using both feet firmly planted on the ground after each jump. Another technique is jumping using one foot while keeping the other foot off ground. Another option is to alternate between which foot is held off the ground. You can increase the pace by turning the rope twice for each jump.

Train for yourself, not for others. When you feel you have to impress others your focus is not centered, your true feelings are not at work and your true martial arts abilities cannot be expressed.

Train to expand yourself spiritually, mentally and physically. The true training comes from learning to train the emotions that result from our life experiences. The discipline of the mind is vital to becoming physically disciplined and skilled.

Train to better your life and all it has to offer. Every time we train, we teach ourselves how to overcome life’s day to day difficulties. To hurt people is easy, to understand life is hard.

Focus on developing intention and technique. The mind is the weapon, and it should control the body, not the other way around. If you have no control over your mind and spirit, you have no control over your body.

Be proactive, not reactive. Don’t think about what is going to happen, feel what is happening. He who looks can only see, he who feels can only better himself.
Study meditation techniques so that you can learn to concentrate. Concentration is mind conception, mind acceptance and mind application. Use these tools to train your mind to stay one step ahead of your opponent by anticipating his next move, processing it, and deciding your response in a split second.

Adopt the mindset when you train of thinking as if you or your loved one is about to die, otherwise your response is meaningless and futile. Training your mind to visualize real danger will naturally result in more power and accuracy in your moves.

Hitting the Heavy bag is a comprehensive cardiovascular and anaerobic workout that builds strength, stamina and quickness. Training with the heavy bag incorporates all of the body’s major muscle groups and is a functional exercise that can lead to better muscle balance and joint stability.

Heavy bags are filled with sand, water, or synthetic material, a heavy bag is hung with the top about a foot or two above your head. A good pair of handwrap will protect the bones and tendons in your hands from injury and provide support for the wrists. For small hands, choose 120″ wraps and opt for 170″ or longer for medium to large hands. Handwraps can be WASHED and reused, but if you train often you’ll want to invest in a few pairs.

Start wrapping at the wrists and work up the hands, remembering to keep the marked “this side up” to Velcro the wraps properly. Wrap the wrists and hands tight enough that the wraps are firmly in place but not so tight that they impede circulation. Lastly, find a good pair of bag gloves. Bag gloves are perfect for a brisk session with a heavy or speed bag, but are not appropriate for sparring. Bag gloves protect the hands and can offer limited wrist support, depending on the model. Leather gloves are a superior choice because of their durability, and you’ll want gloves that secure with Velcro unless you have a partner to lace your gloves for you. Push your fingers into the gloves as deep as they will go and wrap them around the internal bar for a proper fit.

The proper fighting stance for right-handed boxers is to put your left foot three to six inches in front of your right, lean forward with 60 percent of your weight on the balls of the feet, and stand with your feet hip-width apart. The knees are bent with kneecaps roughly even with the balls of the feet. The upper body should be loose and the shoulders should be slightly in front of the hips. Point your left shoulder toward your target. Keep your chin down and your hands up around your chin or cheeks. Test your stance by asking someone to give you a push; you shouldn’t stagger in any direction.

You can improve your overall quickness, agility and coordination with speed training on the heavy bag. Try training in one-minute intervals, throwing continuous combinations of four or more punches at a time. The key in speed training is to throw as many punches as you can as fast as possible with proper form. Lightly pepper the bag with jabs, straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts– save the heavy hitting for power training.

The most basic speed drill is the “outside drill,” where you circle the bag and throw jabs with your front hand and then move to combinations by adding straight punches with your back hand. After your interval is up, take a 30- to 60- second breather.

Power bag training increases your punching power and overall strength with intervals of hitting the bag as hard as possible while maintaining proper technique and form. You will run out of energy much faster when power punching than in speed training. For power training on the heavy bag, punch 15 to 25 repetitions or in 30-second intervals with a minute of rest in between. Try the “inside drill,” where you get close to the bag and throw only hooks and uppercuts, bobbing and weaving in between punches. As your stamina increases, increase the workout time and decrease the rest interval.

It always helps to have a certified coach around for at least your first few heavy bag sessions. The heavy bag is not forgiving on the joints if your technique is off. Start slow in practicing fighting bag techniques to avoid injury, and remember that it takes hours of repetition to develop sound form.

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious” Vince Lombardi

1. Adjust bag to proper height. The belly (the fattest part) of the bag should be level with your mouth or chin. Many people hang their speed bags too high, and this will result in unnecessary muscle strain and poor technique.

2. Get in the “standard” speed bag stance. Face the bag with your feet apart at about shoulder width. Your whole body, from your feet to your head, should be facing the bag, and your shoulders should be squared up with the bag. You should be near enough to the bag that you don’t need to extend your arm more than a few inches to hit it, but far enough from it so that it won’t hit you in the head on the rebound.

3. Hold your fists up at chin level or just slightly below, and raise your elbows up so that they are almost parallel to the ground. Your arms should be bent in at about 90 degrees, and both your upper arms and your forearms should be nearly parallel to the ground.

4. Execute a front circle punch. Extend one fist to punch the bag lightly. You should be able to extend your fist straight out or just slightly up to strike the belly of the bag in the front (the part that is facing you directly), and you want to make contact with the bag with the side or heel of your fist—ideally, you will contact the bag with the side of your little finger near the first knuckle).

5. Circle your fist down and back to the starting position, all in one smooth motion. Once you strike the bag, immediately circle your fist back. The circle should be small: just large enough to bring your fist back into position near your chin.

6. Count the rebounds of the moving bag. After an odd number of rebounds, the bag can be hit again. After striking forwards, the bag will rebound off of the back of the platform (rebound “1”). When the bag swings back toward you it will rebound off the platform again (rebound “2”), followed by the bag swinging back away from you and rebounding off the platform on the far side again (rebound “3”). As you become faster it will be difficult to see the rebounds, but you will still be able to hear them.

7. Strike the bag again as it’s tilted away from you. You can use the same hand or the other hand. Strike the bag after the third rebound, as the bag is returning toward you. You should make contact with the bag while it is still tilted away from, ideally when it is tilted at about a 45-degree angle from the board. This punch restarts your “1-2-3” count, and you can continue in this same cadence with as many punches as you like.

8. Combine a straight punch with a front circle punch. Start in the same starting position as above, but drop your elbows a bit so that they are angled slightly toward the ground but still held away from your body. This will allow you to execute a right straight punch. Punch the belly of the bag, making contact with the front knuckles of your fist. Punch “through” the bag so that your arm crosses your chest. Meet the bag on the third (or other odd-numbered) rebound with a circle punch that comes up, strikes the bag as it tilted away from you, and then proceeds to carry your arm back to the starting position in one fluid motion. This is the most basic speed bag combination, and it can be repeated over and over with one fist, or you can alternate fists.

9. Change the fist that is punching every two or three punches. After a circle punch with one fist, follow with the straight punch of the other.

10. Move your feet and swivel your hips. When performing combinations or alternating between fists, you should move your body, not just your arms. For example, suppose you do a straight punch – circle punch combination, alternating between the right and left fists. When you throw your right straight punch your right leg should come forward a bit, and your hips should swivel in the direction of the punch. As you return you fist to the starting position by throwing a right circle punch, your hips should swivel back and right foot should swivel back as well. This puts you into position to throw your left straight punch, during which you’re left leg, will move forward, etc

There are three generally accepted Fighting styles that are used to define fighters. These are the inside-fighter, the outside-fighter and the brawler.

Inside-fighter

This style favors closing inside an opponent, overwhelming them with intensity and flurries of hooks and uppercuts. They tend to be fast on their feet which can make them difficult to evade for a slower fighter. They also tend to have a rock for a chin, because sometimes this usually involves being hit with many jabs before they can maneuver inside where they are more effective.

Outside-fighter

Outside-fighters are the opposite of the inside-fighter. Where the inside-fighter tries to close the gap between himself and his opponent, the outside-fighter seeks to maintain that gap and fight with faster, longer range punches. Since they rely on the weaker jabs and straights (as opposed to hooks and uppercuts), they tend to win by points decisions rather than by knockout, although some outside-fighters have notable knock-out punches, outside fighters are known for being extremely quick on their feet, which often makes up for their relative lack of power. Outside-fighters are often regarded as the best style of fighter on account of their desire to win a fight by wearing an opponent down and outclassing an opponent by strategy, rather than simply knocking him out.

Brawler

If the outside-fighter represents everything classy about boxing, the brawler (also known as the ‘slugger’, ‘hard hitter’ or ‘one puncher’) often stands for everything that’s brutal in the sport. Sluggers tend to lack finesse in the ring, but make up for it in raw power, often able to knock almost any opponent out with a single punch. This ability makes them exciting to watch. Also makes their fights unpredictable. Many brawlers tend to lack mobility in the ring and have difficulty pursuing fighters who are fast on their feet. They prefer the harder, slower punches (such as hooks and uppercuts) and tend to ignore combination punching. Their slowness and predictable punching patterns (single punches with obvious leads) often leaves them open for counterpunching.

There are three other Fighting styles that you may see, that can define a fighter. These are the Hybrid Fighters, The Swarmer, and the Peek-a-Boo.

Hybrid Fighters

These styles are merely archetypes that many Fighters fall into. However, some fighters can transcend any one category. To say Fighter A…Although known primarily as a brawler, he/she can also have a very intense inside-fighter game. He/ she would have the strength of a brawler, but the combos, agility and ferocity of an inside-fighter.

The Swarmer

A less common style of Fighting, the swarmer is a fighter who attempts to overwhelm his opponent by applying constant pressure. Swarmers tend to have a very good bob and weave, good power, a good chin, and a tremendous punch output (resulting in a great need for stamina and conditioning). Fighters who use the Swarmer style tend to have shorter careers than the other styles. Sustaining the adequate amount of training required to execute this style is nearly impossible throughout an entire fight career, so most Swarmers can only maintain it for a relatively brief period of time. This inevitably leads to the gradual degradation of the sheer ability to perform the style, leaving them open to increasing amounts of punishment.

Peek-a-Boo

Peek-a-Boo is a fighting style where the hands are placed in front of the fighter’s face, like in the babies game of the same name. It offers extra protection to the face and makes it easier to jab the opponent’s face. A Peek-a-Boo fighter utilizes relaxed hands with the forearms in front of the face and the fist at nose-eye level. Other unique features, includes side to side head movements, bobbing, weaving and blind siding your opponent. The Body-head-body or Body-Body-head is drilled with the stationary dummy and on the bag until the fighter is able to punch by rapid combinations with “bad intentions”. The style allows swift neck movements as well quick ducking and bad returning damage, usually by rising uppercuts or even rising hooks..

There is a commonly accepted theory about the success each of these Fighting styles has against the others. Each fighting style has advantages over one, but disadvantages against the other. Brawlers tend to overcome inside-fighters, because the inside-fighter likes to be on the inside, where the hard-hitting brawler is most effective. The inside-fighters flurries tend to be less effective than the power punches of the slugger, who quickly overwhelms his opponents.

The inside-fighter tends to succeed against outside-fighters. Outside-fighters prefer a slower fight, with some distance between themselves and the opponent. The inside-fighter tries to close that gap and unleash furious flurries. On the inside, the outside-fighter loses a lot of his combat effectiveness, because he cannot throw the hard punches. The inside-fighter is generally successful in this case, due to his intensity in advancing on his opponent and his good agility, which makes him difficult to evade.

The outside-fighter tends to be most successful against the brawler, whose slow speed (both hand and foot) and poor technique make them an easy target to hit for the faster outside-fighter. The outside-fighter’s main key is to stay alert, as the brawler only needs to land one good punch to finish the fight. If the outside-fighter can avoid those power punches, he can often wear the brawler down with fast jabs, tiring the slugger out. If he is successful enough, he may even apply extra pressure in the later rounds in an attempt to achieve a knockout.

Hybrid boxers tend to be the most successful in the ring, because they often have advantages against most opponents. He/she may be able to overwhelm any inside-fighter with his tremendous power of a slugger, also able to use his inside-fighting foot speed to close in and knock out many outside-fighters who tried to stay out of his range.

Be a student of full contact fighting. Look for these styles in your opponent. Talk this, and all tips-up with your Coaches and Instructors.

Quote of the Month:

When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. — John F. Kennedy