We all know that training in martial arts come with many benefits. One of the biggest takeaways is fitness, both physical and mental. The arts can help develop things like strength, provide a well-rounded cardio and strength routine, better your balance, flexibility, aerobic capacity, and more.¹

Essentially, all martial arts can help you get fit. However, when deciding which style to try, it comes down to what areas of your fitness you wish to address. For instance, if you’re looking to improve areas like your stamina, strength, and flexibility, there are specific styles that excel in those areas.

The following 10 martial arts are great at providing a full cardio and aerobic experience that will tackle those areas and more to lead you to a fit, healthier body.

Taekwondo

This is a popular Korean martial art that focuses on kicking; in particular, head-height and fast kicking techniques. Due to the emphasis on that, much of your training will deal with strengthening the lower body, core, and developing greater stamina and endurance.

Aerobic and cardio exercises are a large part of the extra training seen in taekwondo. Don’t be surprised if you’re directed to undertake some running. Running alone can tackle a number of areas in your fitness goals from improving cardiovascular to building stronger bones and muscles² and lower your mortality risk in comparison to non-runners.³

As you train in taekwondo, you will perform other high-intensity exercises such as working the agility ladder, weight training, and kick drills using dummies and heavy bags. All of which serve as conditioning tools for the body. In fact, an average person weighing between 150-160 pounds can burn more than 700 calories per hour while training.

Muay Thai

If it’s the full-body you’re looking for to address aspects like stamina and strength, then you’ve come to the right place with Muay Thai. It isn’t known as the “art of eight limbs” for nothing. This martial art makes use of a number of combat techniques from elbow and knee strikes, to kicks and clinching.

The training that you must undergo in addition to actually performing these moves on an opponent can be grueling, but at the end of the day, you’ll not only better your fighting skills but greatly increase your agility and mobility. Just take a look at a Muay Thai fighter perform a flawless roundhouse kick. You’ll understand the flexibility and balance that goes into executing moves like that. It’s evident that your strength will greatly improve while practicing Muay Thai. Take a look at your core, for instance. From spinning elbows to flying knees, you’re able to work your core in ways situps won’t.

All in all, training Muay Thai will demand some superior conditioning and execution of techniques. On average, you can burn well over 600 calories an hour while building up serious muscle.

Judo

This Japanese martial art has immensely grown in popularity⁴ since its startup back in the 1800s, becoming popular across all backgrounds and ages.

Judo frequently uses a good combination of joint locks, throws, and grappling. This means that you will be going back and forth quite a bit from being on your feet to rolling around on the ground. As such, it’s pretty clear that you’ll be pushing your endurance with this art.

You’ll have to learn how to perform these moves for a certain length of time without tiring out. If you decide to compete, having better stamina than your opponent can be a deciding factor on whether you win or lose.
These types of techniques also force you to work with muscles that you may have never had to use before. Also, it gets you to train those reflex skills. All of this can then serve as an incredible anaerobic and aerobic workout, improves your cardiovascular system in order to more efficiently burn calories (a rough average between 700-800 per hour), lose weight, and add muscle.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

With such a staunch focus on ground fighting and grappling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) does something that can seem a tad different from some other martial arts: it pushes you to win the fight using your agility and flexibility more over your physical strength.
Many times in BJJ, you will find yourself up against an opponent that will be larger than you. It isn’t like working with some weights in the gym and lifting your own weight. Rather, you can grapple, lift, and throw someone who is well above your weight range. Can you still come out on top? Of course. That’s the point of BJJ. You condition other aspects of your body, like coordination and stamina, so that you are not always relying solely on your strength.

The training in BJJ will push the way you react and how fast you react. It is remarkably useful for building up that endurance you need.⁴ Plus, like with other martial arts, you can develop your metabolic process and burn a greater number of calories. The calories burned depends largely not just on your own weight/size, but how hard you’re training. On average though, you can shed over 700 calories per hour.

Capoeira

At first glance, this Afro-Brazilian martial art and dance hybrid may not look like much compared to the other art forms discussed here. In reality, anyone who is a fan of capoeira understands just how well the art style can tone up your body and improve the fitness goals you’re looking for as long as it’s performed correctly. How many calories you can burn depends on the exercises. Since training incorporates a number of things from strength to cardio, you can burn approximately 500-700 calories per hour.

This art style emphasizes the use of speed, agility, and strength all working together in harmony. If not, there’s no way you can succeed in this art. The routines are generally fast-paced, a factor that can contribute positively to your stamina levels. You will also become quickly aware how balanced you must be to execute each move. Greater balance can lead to better control of your body’s movements.
The moves in capoeira are not just fast, but they are done in a fluid, uninterrupted motion. You need just the right amount of flexibility on top of speed and balance. This helps you not just build stamina, but if you suffer from stiff muscles, this art will certainly loosen you up.

Since many of the moves in capoeira are variations of spinning, headstands, and more, you will also see an improvement in your strength. Because of all this, you will need to work to condition your body in order to consistently handle these types of movements.

Krav Maga

As a military self-defense system first started with the Israel Defense Forces, it is clear why Krav Maga is a martial art style that will help you reach your fitness goals of building strength and working on things like endurance. This hand-to-hand fighting style is meant to teach you to neutralize enemies as fast as possible. So, when you train Krav Maga, you are working to use your entire body.

The art includes a number of moves, many of which are taken from other martial art styles. You will learn kicks, elbows, punches, knees, takedowns, blocks, etc. That leads to a high-intensity workout session. Many classes include some bag training like focus mitts to help you perform the moves. By doing this, you get a good cardio workout in by losing weight and gaining muscle. You can also burn away, on average, 500-800 calories per hour.

When it comes to endurance, you need to develop good muscle memory and know how to move quickly to perform well in Krav Maga. As mentioned before, this art deals with handling an enemy as fast as you can. The moves you learn must be done with strength as well as speed.

Wing Chun

This Southern Chinese martial art rapidly gained popularity in the Western world thanks to the famous box office hit Ip Man. Other than being the art that many fans enjoy emulating, Wing Chun can be a great workout.

For those that practice Wing Chun, you have to condition both your upper and lower body in order to dish out the powerful punch and kick techniques this art calls for. There is a focus on stance and footwork here, so you are pushed to work on your legs such as developing the right amount of strength and ensuring they have unwavering stamina to endure all of the maneuvers.

Additionally, you will address your upper body just as hard as your lower body. It is common to perform several punching drills to build muscle strength and accompany those with specific stretches to aid with flexibility. These drills can help you burn around 500 calories an hour.

Wrestling

Anyone who practices wrestling understands that this exercise will hit just about any fitness goal you have in mind. There is a certain amount of athleticism that is required to be successful in the art of wrestling. It involves various techniques such as grappling holds, takedowns, and clinch fighting.

Wrestlers are insanely conditioned and disciplined. Depending on the level that you are practicing at, you have to make a certain body weight. Understanding how to make weight can have numerous of benefits beyond helping you build up strength and tone muscle. It leaves a lasting mark on your lifetime health. You will learn about proper dieting on top of managing your weight in a healthy and safe fashion.⁵

When you wrestle, you are expected to have great endurance so that you can withstand anything your opponent gives you and work through until the end of the match. That is why cardio is heavily implemented in training. Cycling and running are great ways to work on your cardiovascular fitness, insuring that your body is not only healthier, but that you can fight through a match without ever tiring out. Concerning calories, you can see yourself burn over 400 per hour depending on what you’re doing.

Mixed Martial Arts

Because Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) takes from numerous of martial arts from Western to Japanese, it is capable of providing a great overall workout. To start, this art teaches body discipline; it isn’t easy to do, so you are continually working on your self-discipline each time you push yourself to train.

The training itself is highly versatile as well. Many MMA fighters undergo weight training, strength training, and even circuit training. You can see improvement in your energy levels thanks to the intense, fast-paced workouts that simulate what your body will be pushed through during the length of an actual match. This has another benefit of working on your coordination and body awareness.

It is evident that training in MMA will help in your appearance, if toning muscle is of importance to you. Whether you train with weights or focus on other martial arts training like judo or BJJ, you will shed fat and develop some serious muscle. In fact, an average person weighing around 160 pounds or so should be able to burn over 500 calories per hour while training.

Boxing

Out of all the combat sports out there, boxing is always a popular route to take for those looking to develop a fit, lean, and strong body. Whether you’re training in the gym or in the ring, you can burn over 400 or over 600 calories per hour. In spite of its popularity in many gyms, boxing isn’t a martial art to be taken lightly. To gain the full fitness benefits of this kind of training, you have to dedicate yourself to handle the intense workout routines.

There are a number of ways you can tackle training here. One of the primary ways is by using a punching bag, and this is something you can do at home or in the gym. Whether it’s a speed bag or a heavy bag, punching bags are common. A heavy bag routine, for instance, can serve as a versatile cardiovascular workout, while speed bags can address your stamina and reflexes.

With the punching bags, you can work on developing your technique or you can opt for interval training. This will help you develop that explosive power and strength boxers need to win a match. In addition to that, boxing training will help work to develop core strength and muscle tone. A proper punch comes with proper rotation. The more you get used to throwing a punch correctly, the more all those core muscles are being worked the right way and you will notice the progress in no time.

Dedicate Yourself to a Discipline

If you want to get in a good cardio and aerobic workout that will see you getting stronger and building stamina, then consider taking up one or more of the above martial arts. They certainly can mix up your typical gym routine. No matter which discipline you decide to embark on, as long as you dedicate yourself, you should see an improvement in your overall health.

References:

1. Douris, P. “Fitness levels of middle aged martial art practitioners * Commentary“. British Journal of Sports Medicine 38, no. 2 (2004): 143-47. Accessed November 09, 2017. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2002.001768.

2. Golbidi, S; Laher, I. “Exercise and the Cardiovascular System”. Cardiology Research and Practice, vol. 2012, Article ID 210852, 15 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/210852.

3. Lee, D. “Leisure-Time Running Reduces All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Risk“. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, August 2014. Accessed November 09, 2017.

4. Matsumoto, David; Konno, Jun. “The Relationship Between Adolescents’ Participation in Judo, Quality of Life, and Life Satisfaction”. Accessed November 1, 2017.

5. “Wrestling Nutrition and Weight Control”. Accessed November 1, 2017.

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Earlier this year, I wrote about the passing of weightlifting great Tommy Kono. Recently, we saw the passing of two more of the greatest athletes in sports. The first was boxing’s Muhammad Ali who called himself “The Greatest,” and quite likely was. The second was “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe.

I shall not quibble about whether either was the greatest in his sport. If they were not, they were so close to the top that it is not worth wasting column inches arguing.

Gordie Howe (back row, second from left) with the USHL Omaha Knights during his rookie season.

When Lifting Weights Was a Sin

My articles usually focus on Olympic weightlifting and general strength training, so you may be wondering why I am commenting on these athletes. Neither of them was known to be a practitioner of weight training. Ali rose to fame during a time when boxing trainers had little use for weight training because of the notion that it would make you too big, too slow, and worst of all, muscle-bound. This was the received orthodoxy for more than 100 years.

Gordie Howe played his rookie season in the NHL in 1946, before anybody in any sport outside weightlifting would even dream of using the iron pills. He would have seen little need to do so, especially since he was already stronger than most. Howe stood six feet tall and was 205lbs of pure muscle. This may not be that impressive from a weightlifting standpoint, but he was one of the biggest players in the league during his heyday in the 1940s to 1960s. In those days, hockey players were average-sized men who did not stand out from the fans who cheered from the stands. Since salaries were not high, many players had to supplement their income with summer employment. The players favored physical labor jobs that would help them stay in shape in the off-season.

Like the football players of the 1950s, if hockey players and boxers used weight training it was often kept a secret. Coaches were against the idea and many athletes did not want their fans to know they were doing supplementary training. Fans liked to believe that their heroes were naturally big and strong. The silence did not lift until well into the 1960s.

While Tommy Kono was a weightlifter extraordinaire, Ali and Howe never lifted weights to any great degree. Howe used to advocate wrist roller curls to develop the forearms, but apart from that, you would never see either of them doing power cleans, squats, or presses. It just wasn’t done in their day. But “their day” was fast coming to an end. Athletes in all sports were discovering the advantages to systematic weight training. They discovered the same thing that people like Tommy Kono had known all along: weight training makes you stronger, not slower or tighter.

Weight Training and Hockey

Today, NHL teams have state-of-the-art weight training facilities and hockey players start weight training at a young age. They know the scouts are in the stands and that their chances of getting drafted are better if they are bigger. Players today are taller and heavier than they were back in Mr. Howe’s day, to the extent that Gordie would not stand out physically today like he did in 1946. There’s still the odd wiry little guy that makes it to the NHL, but he is now the exception. Wayne Gretzky weighed only 155lb in his rookie year, but even he was encouraged to gain weight as he got older.

Most encouraging now is how hockey players train for their sport. In the early days, weight training programs were often little more than bodybuilding routines. I recently read that in 2014, the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team was coming off of an unloading phase before Sochi. This implied that they were using periodized programming. These hockey players were now all lifting weights, and even more amazing to many old schoolers, they were also women.

Weight Training and Boxing

While boxing has been slower to accept weight training, the thin edge of the wedge has been driven in a little bit. A lot of old-school trainers still would not consider the use of weights, but there are younger ones who are exploring the possibilities. This is especially true now that the Eastern Europeans are dominating the heavier weight divisions. They have no doubt been influenced by emerging research into the science of speed-strength training.

Concepts like starting strength, explosive strength, and reversible strength are relevant to the power needed to throw a punch. Even before the Eastern Europeans, there were a few pioneers who extensively used weight training, among them Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, and Bernard Hopkins. These three used weight training to great advantage even though they were getting older and presumably slower. Perhaps that bit of extra power compensated for the slower reactions that all of us experience in our fifth decade.

The Last of Their Kind

The passing of these three great athletes – Kono, Ali, and Howe – is evidence of a changing of the guard in regard to sport training. These men have been referred to as pioneers in their sport, and they certainly were in a lot of ways. However, in regard to the world of physical training, they were not pioneers so much as they were the last of their breed, from a time when one’s natural physical endowments were the greatest determinant of sporting success.

Ali and Howe were part of the last generation to rely mostly on their inherent traits to bring about athletic success. While genetically gifted specimens will still appear, the scientific weight training now available means that smart, hard work can help close the gap for the rest of us.

What can we learn from the sporting greats of the past?

4 Mindset Lessons From the Legends

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In most cases, the ideal weight for a fighter of any given height will be somewhat lighter than that of a weightlifter, although there are exceptions.

My weightlifting comrades and I have often discussed what makes for the ideal body weight for athletes in our sport. My discussion on triple-division boxing champs also brings up the question of the ideal “fighting weight” for a boxer.

In most cases, the ideal weight for a fighter of any given height will be somewhat lighter than that of a weightlifter, although there are exceptions.

Occasionally a muscle-less wonder appears in weightlifting while a very muscular boxer also shows up every now and then. James J. Jeffries and Mike Tyson are good examples of the latter.

Most discussions I have had regarding the ideal boxer’s weight usually ended up considering the importance of the individual’s boxing style. Thus, a discussion of style is now in order.

The Three Main Styles of Boxing

The Boxer

Characterized by longer-distance fighting and relying on expert defensive skills. They are usually tall for their bodyweight and not that muscular.

Since they rely on movement, they do not want to be too muscular. This means they rely on winning by decision after wearing out opponents. Examples are Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.

“In a sense, heavyweights have it the easiest when it comes to matching style with weight.”

The Swarmer

This style relies on its proponent throwing a lot of punches to wear down the opponent. This style is not pretty, but it can often prevail over the boxer style. Swarmers fight closer in, so they end up taking a lot of punches. This is the weakness of the style.

They are often more muscular than boxer-types. The extra muscle not only helps in punching power, but it also provides a buffer when taking punches. Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, and Floyd Patterson were good examples.

RELATED: Why Boxing Is the Toughest Sport

The Puncher

Punchers are powerful and often rely on a single devastating punch to end their fights. Like boxers, they fight at a distance, but they lack the boxer’s skill and endurance so they try to end fights early.

Their one big punch often prevails over a swarmer’s many less-effective punches. In turn, punchers will have trouble with boxers. George Foreman and Sonny Liston and are the best examples here.

Balancing Strength and Weight

In a sense, heavyweights have it the easiest when it comes to matching style with weight. They can always get more muscular, since there is no weight limit in their division. Not so in the other weight categories.

“All things being equal (which they often aren’t), someone with greater body mass will also have greater ability to absorb punches.”

A fighter must be able to make weight, and he obviously cannot alter his height, so his bodyweight must be the most efficient for his style. Too heavy and he will be too slow.

Too light and he will not have any finishing power. If you are a puncher, you better not be too thin. You may have to move up in weight to be most effective. If fancy boxing is your style, a lighter division may be fine.

Finding Your Most Powerful Weight Class

Every boxer has his ideal “fighting weight”, i. e. the weight where he will be most effective, just as in weightlifting. In lifting, we use the Sinclair Formula to equalize the body-weight factor when doing our pound-for-pound comparisons.

The heavier you are, the stronger you will be – but not necessarily on a pound-for-pound basis.

RELATED: The 4 Paradoxes of Boxing (and Fighting)

The same is true in boxing. Generally speaking, the bigger the fighter, the harder they will hit and the harder it will be for an opponent to hurt them.

All things being equal (which they often aren’t), someone with greater body mass will also have greater ability to absorb punches. Similarly, when boxers gain lean bodyweight they will always hit harder. But the question becomes, “How much harder?”

Earlier in his life and while at a lower starting weight, a boxer might improve his punching power if he puts on weight. In short his “Sinclair punch” might improve. But for a fighter who has fought for years at his ideal weight and then gains, it may not work so well.

Such a fighter might have stronger punches because he has more muscle behind them, but on a pound-for-pound basis he might not be as strong, especially if the increase in body weight includes too much fat tissue.

“A fighter must be able to make weight, and he obviously cannot alter his height, so his bodyweight must be the most efficient for his style.”

This is why some fighters are great at one division and duds when they move up.

Former light-heavy champ Bob Foster was considered by many the best ever at 175 pounds. He was unbeatable there, but like many light-heavyweights he was tempted to try his luck in the more remunerative heavyweight division.

RELATED: A History of Boxing’s Greatest Champions

Heavyweight fights with Ali, Quarry, and Frazier ended with Foster being knocked out. At 6’3” he was rangy, but effective with light-heavies. But he did not have the leverage to do damage to men the same height but thirty to forty pounds heavier.

Foster gained ten pounds or so, most of it muscle, making him stronger – but he still had to throw punches at much sturdier targets. Not to mention, the effect of their punches on his body.

The Added Complication of Bone Structure

Those with slight skeletal make-up will never be able to gain a lot of muscle. Hard gainers exist in the ring, as well as the weight room. Sugar Ray Robinson was a great example.

“The heavier you are, the stronger you will be – but not necessarily on a pound-for-pound basis.”

Others have the opposite problem. Archie Moore and Jake Lamotta always had many pounds to lose to get to their weights. This was not solely due to ease of gaining. They were naturally heavier fighters, but the money and chances of winning were better for them in lower divisions. Sometimes financial considerations enter into the weight decision, too.

The Unique Nature of Boxing

Boxers’ physiques and their body weight will be determined by their height, bone structure, and style.

There is a bit more subjectivity compared to weightlifting. In our sport, the precise measurements of performances and body weights, though not always perfect predictors, do make the comparisons a little more objective than they would be in boxing.

In short, finding the right boxing fighting weight is not as simple in the boxing world as it is in weightlifting.

RELATED: How to Prepare for and Win a Fight

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Last week, I took a look at various aspects of the rare Triple Crown champions in weightlifting. This week, I’m going to take a look at their counterparts in another sport – boxing.

Boxing has a far larger number of champions than weightlifting who have won crowns in multiple weight divisions (boxing calls them “divisions,” weightlifting calls them “categories”). Roberto Duran has won in five different divisions. While still indicative of considerable merit, this boxing situation is problematic.

Roberto Duran

The Beginning: Eight Divisions and One Control Body

Traditionally, boxing had eight weight divisions, ranging from flyweight to heavyweight. In the early 1960s, a junior middleweight division was created halfway between the welterweight and middleweight limits.

This was thought necessary due to the large increment between the two categories (147 to 160 pounds). Soon after, it was decided the welterweights should have a junior division as well, for their increment was nearly as large (135 to 147 pounds).

RELATED: Five Rules for Success in Fighting (And Life)

From the 1950s into the early 1960s, there was only one recognized boxing control body, the National Boxing Association (NBA), which later became the World Boxing Association (WBA).

Occasionally, the New York Boxing Commission would recognize a different champion, but usually pressure would be brought to bear to unify the disputed titles.

A Divided History: Multiple Claims to the Title

But the mid-1960s were a time when, apart from the odd interesting fighter such as Muhammad Ali, the public in general was losing interest in the fight game.

At the same time, other sports, like football and basketball, were gaining in popularity. Soon the initials “NBA” would represent something other than boxing to most of the sporting public.

“These regulating bodies increased the number of weight divisions. Where there once were eight divisions, there are now seventeen.”

As the 1970s and 1980s decades proceeded, these trends accelerated. The only bouts that gathered much interest were the championship matches. Even bouts between high-ranked contenders garnered little attention.

Boxing promoters had to do something to maintain public interest, so they did two things, in fact:

1. They found reasons to break off and form multiple regulating bodies. Every weight division then had multiple boxers with a claim to the title.
2. These regulating bodies increased the number of weight divisions. Where there once were eight divisions, there are now seventeen. And no, they did not add these divisions to the top. They split every division in two, just like a modern heavy-duty truck transmission has splitter gears in addition to the regular transmission and range combinations. The purpose of these in-between gears is similar to the in-between divisions in boxing: they allow an easier transition from one level to the next.

But in boxing there is also a more insidious effect. There are even more champions, which allows many more fights to be billed as “title fights.”

Multiply these seventeen weight divisions by three, four, or more governing bodies to produce a bewildering number of so-called world champions (not even considering the lesser titles).

RELATED: How to Prepare for and Win a Fight

What all of this boils down to is that it is far easier to become a triple champion in boxing than it ever was before.

Title unification matches are big drawing cards, but it seems no sooner is a title unified than one of the governing bodies decides that situation is intolerable. So some excuse is found to strip the champion of one of the titles and away we go again.

Robert Fitzsimmons: An Unlikely Champion

Going back in history, there are only three fighters who have a legitimate claim to being recognized as true triple champions, a figure equal to that in weightlifting.

The first man to turn the trick was Robert Fitzsimmons back in 1903. “Ruby Robert,” as he was called, won the middleweight title in 1891 and held it for five years, until 1897 when he moved up to defeat “Gentleman” Jim Corbett for the heavyweight title.

Robert Fitzsimmons

In those days there were no divisions in between those two, so Fitzsimmons often fought at a weight disadvantage. He had an unlikely physique, being 5’11” with a powerful set of shoulders developed during his blacksmithing career. But these were set upon a pair of long, skinny legs.

Former champ John L. Sullivan described Fitzsimmons as “a fighting machine on stilts.” This is why he was such a good puncher at such a light weight for his height.

Amazingly, even when Fitzsimmons fought in the heavyweight division, he never weighed much more than the middleweight limit (160lb).

RELATED: Making Weight: Why Fighters Cut Weight and 3 Tips for Doing It

Fitzsimmons lost the heavyweight title in 1899 to a much larger James J. Jeffries (6’2″ and 225lb). This did not end the now 36-year-old Fitzsimmon’s career, though. He continued to fight until 1903. In 1903, he won the then newly created light heavyweight title, at the age of forty.

Barney Ross: Junior and Senior Champion

The second triple champion was Barney Ross. In 1933, Ross won the lightweight and junior welterweight titles, both held by Tony Canzoneri. Eleven months later, Ross won the welterweight title.

Barney Ross

Ross’s claim to be a triple champion was not always recognized since one of them was in a junior division. Today, with the proliferation of divisions, he is now generally recognized as a legitimate triple champion.

More importantly everyone recognized him as champion in those days, not just one or two insignificant governing bodies as often happens today. Ross later lost the welter crown and then regained the junior welter one.

RELATED: Why Boxing Is the Toughest Sport

Henry Armstrong: Simultaneous Triple Champion

A few years after that, Henry Armstrong was able to match Fitzsimmons’s record of winning three traditional division titles.

He first won the featherweight title in1937, then decided to challenge for the welterweight crown in 1938, skipping the lightweight division entirely. Once successful there, he decided to fill in the gap, winning the lightweight crown two and a half months later.

“Armstrong held all three simultaneously for a brief period. He eventually did relinquish the featherweight title, but it was because he could no longer make that weight.”

Armstrong later tried to win the middleweight title, but that bout ended in a draw many thought he should have won. Armstrong’s feat tops that of Fitzsimmons for two reasons:

1. All three titles were won within a span of ten months.
2. None of the titles were relinquished.

Armstrong held all three simultaneously for a brief period. He eventually did relinquish the featherweight title, but it was because he could no longer make that weight.

Henry Armstrong

An Unlikely Progression

It is interesting that all three of these men were able to win their titles after dropping down in weight. This does not happen often in boxing, and even less often in weightlifting.

RELATED: Cutting Weight in Weightlifting: Is There a Better Way?

Athletes in both boxing and weightlifting usually start their careers at a lower body weight than what they end up in. This is due to the fact they must get an early start in life and at that time most people have not reached full adult development.

Conversely, many athletes end up having to fight or lift in a higher weight category at the end of their careers as making weight is ever more difficult. It is unlikely that Ilya Ilyin will win any gold medals at 94kg again.

In any case, it is difficult to win the Triple Crown in either sport, so the select group of such winners will remain small, but also revered over many decades.

Photo 1 by Jim Accordino (Flickr: Roberto Duran 2) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 by Unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 3 by Unknown [GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 4 by Carl Van Vechten [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The post The Triple Crown: A History of Boxing’s True Champions appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“The best fighters hit the most and get hit the least.” – Rocky Marciano

There’s an adage in boxing that the best defense is to not get hit. Being a proficient defender is the key part of not getting hit, or at least getting hit less. So, it’s amazing to me that many self-defense and martial arts schools teach primarily one thing – offense.

Hard punches and fancy kicks won’t make you a better defender if your footwork is lousy and your head is always in the same place. Make no mistake – whether you’re in a sporting match or a self-defense situation, in a fight you will get hit.

RELATED: The 4 Paradoxes of Boxing (and Fighting)

Conditioning yourself to get hit, learning how to take a hit, and learning to evade hits will help you come out a victor on the other end. Here are five ways to better your defense as a boxer or martial artist.

1. Spar More

Nothing prepares you for a real fight like a practice one. The challenge comes in knowing when and how to spar. Here’s some advice:

1. Don’t spar until you’re ready.
2. Make sure you spar at the right gym with the right people.

Start by doing your due diligence in finding the right coach, instructor, and school. Any martial arts school, dojo, or boxing gym should have an aura of respect permeating every corner of the room. If you don’t get the respect vibe, turn and walk away. 

“Sparring is about practice. You and your partner are each trying to get better, not prove who can hit harder.”

Once you and your instructor determine you are ready to spar, the most important aspect is control. One of my coaches used the term “volume control” in relation to intensity of sparring. That is, you discuss and agree with your partner the intensity (or volume level) at which you are going to work – before the bell rings.

If your partner is going too hard (or too easy), adjust your volume by telling him or her to turn it up or down. Sparring is about practice. You and your partner are each trying to get better, not prove who can hit harder. 

RELATED: 5 Tips for Successful Sparring in Martial Arts 

Also, spar with people of different shapes, sizes, and abilities. Each opponent provides a specific and unique challenge. It’s a lot different to spar with a lanky fighter versus a lumbering one. Vary your partners and you will learn to apply different techniques in different situations.

2. Fast Feet Equals Getting Hit Less

It’s probably not news to you that running or skipping rope can make your feet faster. The challenge with jumping rope (or running) is that many do it the same way every time. But fights move at different speeds and tempos throughout. You slow your rhythm when you need to conserve energy, but switch to all-out speed in another instant.

RELATED: Rhythm Is an Athlete: 3 Tools for Learning Rhythm 

Here are ways to train different speeds and tempos to prepare for the erratic rhythms of fighting:

• Do sprint and hill intervals, not just jogging and road work at a steady pace.
• Jump rope for three-minute rounds at intervals of :30 sprint and :30 slow. Also, jump rope one foot at a time. For example, ten times in a row on one foot, then the other foot – for three minutes!
• Work “fast feet” on a high step or box. Manny Pacquiao likes this drill and it helps in developing both speed and power. Find a high step or box and work your feet for sprint intervals of :30, :45, and one minute.
• Move backward. Muhammad Ali is considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time. Ali, very unconventionally, moved backward a lot. To train like him, set up four cones and jog backward around them in a back-pedaling style, then pivot and change direction.

3. Move Your Head

Other than moving your feet, the best way to not get hit is to move your head. Unfortunately, the practice of head movement is a lost art in boxing and the mixed martial arts. In boxing, the first thing you learn is to keep your hands up. Blocking and covering with your hands can save your hide, but even when you cover your head, you can still get your bell rung.

Better than shielding your head or blocking a strike, is to miss it entirely. My coach used to have us practice tracing the alphabet. We would get in front of the mirror and trace each letter with our heads. Some letters make more sense than others:

• “T” is a side-to-side slip and a duck.
• “V” is a good down and in slip.
• “C” is a good bob and weave letter.
• “B” is kind of hard to do in a fight!

Next time you shadowbox or spar, pick a few good letters to remind yourself to keep that head moving. Of course, in a combat sport other than boxing, be mindful of ducking too low because there may be a knee waiting for you down there. 

“Blocking and covering with your hands can save your hide, but even when you cover your head, you can still get your bell rung.”

4. Get Good at Holding Pads

As someone who has spent more time over the years holding pads and mitts than hitting them, I can tell you that doing so keeps you sharp. Holding pads or mitts well allows you to work on a few important things:

1. You can study your opponent and determine where he or she is open without getting hit. Each time your opponent throws a punch or kick, he or she is open somewhere. When you are sparring often you are too busy defending to see these openings.
2. Holding pads allows you to practice your blocks and shields. Getting “hit” while holding a shield, mitt, or pad allows you to experience the sensation of impact and relax in preparation for the real thing.
3. When you are holding pads, you’re the coach. You’re in control of the timing and tempo, which gives you a chance to work on your footwork. When you’re doing partner drills, don’t think of it as “your turn” only when you’re on offense. Holding pads is a live round and your chance to get better in the same way it is when it’s your turn to strike.

RELATED: How to Hold Pads for Boxing (Video)

5. Condition Yourself to Get Hit

Nothing zaps your energy like getting hit. So, the first rule is to protect your most valuable asset – your head. When you get tired in a fight, your hands are likely to drop. One tip is to use three- or five-pound weights for your arms (and legs) when you train. When you take the weight off after a few rounds, you’ll not only feel faster, but you’ll be better conditioned to keep holding your hands high. Working the speed bag also works wonders for shoulder conditioning and keeping your hands up for extended periods.

“When you get tired in a fight, your hands are likely to drop. One tip is to use three- or five-pound weights for your arms (and legs) when you train.”

Then, there’s conditioning for the body shot. To condition your midsection, you’re going to have to do more than crunches and leg lifts. Straight out of the old-school boxing playbook is getting hit with the medicine ball right in the abdomen. With a partner, have him or her stand right above you while you do crunches or ab pikes. Between each rep have your partner drop, press, or throw the medicine ball into your abdomen. The drill also works well with a Thai pad. But please make sure to use volume control with this exercise!

RELATED: Living Life Like a Boxer: Making and Breaking the Rules 

Summary

Ultimately it’s a lot more fun to hit something than get hit. But learning how to take a hit or miss one will not only help you win fights, but make you stronger in every arena of life.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 5 Ways to Improve Your Defense and Win More Fights appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What the research says:

• World-champion boxers had the highest levels of acidosis and blood lactate concentration.
• Researchers suggested athletes train to increase anaerobic fitness and buffering capacity.

Study Design

Three teams of boxers, each team having one boxer in each weight category, competed on two different occasions. There were 28 boxers total. Team A competed against both Team B and Team C, separated by four months.

All the subjects were elite boxers from three national teams. They were chosen as the best from their respective countries. In fact, six of the 28 boxers had won world titles (either world championship or Olympic medals).

For teams A and C, the researchers collected data for five different factors:

• Mean blood lactate concentration
• Bicarbonate concentration
• Hemoglobin O2 saturation
• Partial pressure for CO2
• pH levels

These values represented work performed, the resulting acid byproducts from fatigue, and the buffering ability of the body. The researchers also took punch counts for the final rounds.

RELATED: Go Anaerobic: What It Is and Why to Do It

Results

The boxers achieved a moderate level of blood lactate and acidosis. This means there was a substantial contribution from anaerobic energy sources, which may be a limiting factor for performance. Blood lactate levels were highest in the middle-weight classes (average weight was about 140lb).

As the researchers noted, there was also a difference in the world-champion boxers:

It is of note that the three boxers who presented the greatest mean blood lactate concentration and acidosis in comparison to others were previous world champions, suggesting that the best world-class boxers are able to achieve a high physical intensity during the three rounds and support a high level of acidosis.

Interestingly, when team A competed against and defeated team C, there was a significant difference in the markers of acid and fatigue between the two groups. This difference may have been a contributing factor to the victory of team A. However, the researchers noted other factors as simple as a difference in mouth guards could have also contributed.

Considerations

In order to perform well in boxing, an athlete must have a broad range of physical attributes. This study underlined need for acid buffering capacity and tolerance of acidosis.

However, that’s not to say aerobic conditioning is unimportant for combat athletes. The researchers noted previous investigations have shown trained boxers to be in good aerobic shape. The researchers explained no one has performed a complete analysis of the aerobic needs of boxers because, quite simply, it isn’t possible. Anaerobic contribution to performance, on the other hand, is much easier to quantify and measure.

As demonstrated in this study, training that improves the ability to buffer acid can be beneficial for boxers. Buffering capactiy is particularly important toward the end of rounds when activity levels increase. But don’t skimp on the aerobic work, either.

References:

1. Christine Hanon, et. al., “Blood lactate and acid-base balance of world-class amateur boxers after 3 three-minute rounds in international competition,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2014, DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000736

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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One of the hotly contested debates in sport is which sport produces the best athlete? The age-old debate does not necessarily have a definitive answer, although there are clear-cut favorites.

Jim Thorpe was considered the greatest athlete of the past century and he excelled in football, baseball, and track and field. So did Jackie Robinson after Thorpe. In the modern era, Bo Jackson was a beast. Herschel Walker (pictured below) was also a hell of an athlete as an elite sprinter, as well as one of the best college football players of all time.

Certainly track and field athletes show us who is fast, can jump high, or generate massive power. Additionally football, basketball, and baseball are also great displays of these athletic variables.

These big three are not only the most popular sports in the United States, but they are also the barometer to which athleticism seems to be measured.

But Which Is the Toughest Sport?

While there has long been debate over who the greatest athletes are and which sports produce them, there isn’t nearly as much discussion over which sport is the toughest sport. That is, the sport that demands the most out of its athletes.

Anyone who has ever played a round of golf can attest to how frustrating and difficult golf is to master. But golf is tough in a different way. It’s difficult mentally and situationally, not physically. The big three are also difficult, but a lot less difficult if you’re built to play these sports.

But according to ESPN’s comprehensive ranking of sixty different sports, the toughest sport of all is boxing. Having spent plenty of time around the sweet science, I wholeheartedly agree.

Why Boxing Is Tough

Anyone who has put on boxing gloves to do a class, workout, or even to hit the heavy bag can attest to the difficulty and stamina it takes to box.

The standard three-minute round sounds like a short duration, but many of the longest moments of my life have occurred during those three minutes while boxing.

Even thirty seconds can be a deceiving. Try punching with all-out speed and power on a heavy bag for a thirty second sprint and you’ll know what I am talking about. Add in the variable of someone punching you while you’re trying to punch and you’ll understand why boxing is the most difficult sport.

In its analysis, ESPN took ten different athletic categories and ranked each category with a scale of zero to a hundred in degree of difficulty. The categories included every imaginable facet of athleticism from speed and power to hand-eye coordination.

The aforementioned golf scored a respectable and understandable 6.38 on analytic aptitude, but a paltry 1.63 in the speed category.

The big three were all in the top ten of the toughest sports – football at third, basketball at fourth, and baseball at ninth.

But boxing took the cake with high scores across the board. From power to durability, boxing is one tough sport according to the experts. However, it isn’t just the typical athletic variables that make boxing hard. Yes, it takes incredible endurance and strength to box, but more than anything, it takes nerve.

According to ESPN, this was boxing’s most pronounced athletic category – nerve, or the ability to overcome fear. When it comes to nerve, boxing scored an 8.88 average, among the top four of all sports.

Fear and the Ability to Face It

There are a lot of tough sports out there. Golf seems so hard that I have wanted to break every club in my bag while on the course. I remember football practices back in the day that made me want to throw up. Wrestling is as rigorous as it gets in terms of its grueling conditioning.

Still, the sheer mental and physical exhaustion in a boxing ring is indescribable, even at the amateur level.

It’s not just physical exhaustion, but also the mental concentration required in boxing. It’s the willingness to confront not only your opponent, but also your own fear.

That reason, fear, as ESPN indirectly pointed out, is the reason more than any other that boxing is the most difficult sport. Nothing drains you and creates exhaustion like fear.

Fear occurs in many sports. Skiing and surfing can be dangerous, but the mountain and ocean are not trying to destroy you on purpose. In football, a knockout may be a byproduct, but it isn’t the goal.

In boxing, your opponent has one objective – to hurt you. This makes boxing intoxicating, brutal, and barbaric, as well as one damn tough sport.

Boxing ain’t for the faint of heart. Having coached boxing, I can tell you that boxing is not for most people. The only way to box with any proficiency is to face this fear – the fear of getting hit, hurt, or worse. Still, facing fear is why I love the sport so much. It is a metaphor for life.

We all take hits and learning how to take them and fight back is a lesson we encounter in life many, many times.

The Hardest Skill to Master, in Sport and Life

As for which sport produces the best athletes, the debate rages on. I still think the big three are hard to beat on overall athletic ability. But an elite-level athlete in one of those sports does not necessarily translate to an elite boxer.

USA Boxing was so desperate for talent in preparation for the last Olympic games that they chose former college football quarterback Dominic Breazeale to represent Team USA in the super heavyweight division.

The experiment failed as Breazeale lost in the first round of the Olympics. A great athlete doesn’t necessarily make a great boxer and vice versa.

Ultimately, boxing is an incredible display of many athletic variables. Really though, boxing is about that ability to measure nerve or fear. That is the hardest skill to master in both sport and life.

To ride the wave effortlessly with the knowledge that wave could potentially kill you is the most mysterious and intriguing athletic variable in any sport.

Boxing is full of this intrigue, mystery, and raw competition. Boxing is also dangerous and detrimental to your health. Despite its flaws, boxing is the pinnacle when it comes to the true test of difficulty in athletic skill.

This is why fighters fight for one word more than any other – respect.

References:

1. “Boxing’s Knockout Punch,” ESPN.com, updated April 21, 2004.

Herschel Walker photo by DVIDSHUB [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photos 2&3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

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One thing we do know in the year 2014, is that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is, in a word, great. In an era where the welterweight division has replaced the heavyweight division as the premiere class in boxing, Floyd has dominated the ranks up and down. Perhaps he’s been calculating and tactical about which fights he takes, but one thing cannot be contested – his record (46-0).

The fact is, no fighter can get lucky 46 times in a row, no matter who he or she is fighting. While Floyd is deliberate about who and when he fights, he also hasn’t fought many chumps. For a professional boxer, it takes mental fortitude, skill, and a mixture of timing and luck to excel in the ring. To win 46 fights in a row and suffer no defeats as a professional, you have to be great.

What Makes Floyd Mayweather, Jr. So Great?

While Floyd wins, he does so in an almost boring fashion. He doesn’t usually brawl, as crowds want to see, with big punches and fighters standing toe-to-toe in a slugfest. Floyd fights the way Floyd fights and doesn’t let others dictate his style. While controversy has surrounded him and his camp over the years, from money issues to family drama, there’s no doubting his skill in the ring, and here’s why:

Efficiency Matters

Beyond the win-loss record, boxing is a game of statistics. The modern boxing scoring system, Compubox, shows us why Floyd is great. Simply said, he lands lots of punches, doesn’t waste throwing them, and he’s hard to hit.

When it comes to punches connected, Floyd is the top professional boxer, landing 42% of his punches thrown. Furthermore, his plus/minus average of 24% is also tops amongst active boxers. That number represents the amount of punches he lands subtracted from the amount his opponent does. Those are hard numbers to beat.

The moral of the story when it comes to these numbers is that efficiency wins. Floyd calculates every move, both in and out of the ring. In his last fight, perhaps his toughest to date against the brawling Marcos Maidana, Floyd landed only nine more punches, but he also only threw 425 to Maidanas’s 858. Perhaps more impressively, Floyd landed 65% of his power punches in the fight – that is, he made his punches count. While the fight was close, it wasn’t that close. Floyd did what Floyd always does, he fights more efficiently and smarter than his opponents and he walks out of that ring a victor.

A fighter might get a lucky break, throw a lucky punch, or use gimmicks or fancy tactics to win occasionally. Greatness, however, can only be achieved with solid fundamentals. In boxing, it’s about two things – hitting and getting hit. Floyd excels on both accounts and the numbers don’t lie.

Style Matters

Floyd trains at the tutelage of his father – Floyd, Sr. – who was a good fighter in his own right, having fought the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard. With his dad, Floyd, Jr. has developed his own style of training when it comes to hitting the mitts, Mayweather style. It’s a complex practice of ducking and bobbing and endless punches and combinations. It almost reminds me of jazz, precise and yet improvisational.

So Floyd does lots of fancy training combinations and makes his mitt training into a sort of rhythmic dance, so what? It’s that exact point, his training and style, where the secret to boxing lies. Being perfect and yet fluid at the same time. You can’t just simply repeat the same moves in boxing. Your opponent is studying you and he’s also dynamic and ever changing. Training with complexity in mind, like the Mayweather style on the mitts, doesn’t allow for Floyd to lose focus for one second. How you train matters and Floyd shows us that practice makes perfect.

The Best Defense Is a Smart Defense

There’s an old adage in team sports that states “defense wins championships.” But when it comes to boxing you would think that what truly matters is offense. Boxing is about brawling, punching, intimidating, dominating, and knocking out. These are offensive things. It goes without saying that aggressiveness in boxing matters, but Floyd wins as a defensive specialist because he fights smarter than his opponents. He fights his game plan, not theirs. Aggressiveness and toughness matter in fighting, but not nearly as much as smarts and strategy.

Speed Reigns Supreme

My boxing coach used to say, “Speed is power.” Speed is also defense, as Ali showed us with his lightening fast footwork and Floyd shows us with his shoulder roll, head movement, and ability to elude punches.

Floyd often uses a cross-arm defense as opposed to the traditional hands-up defense where a fighter protects both sides of his head. Floyd fights with his right hand up, or “on the phone” as my coach would say, to protect from the closer-in left hook. However, his lead left arm is down across his body. This protects not only his body, but allows for him to throw his counter punches from different angles than punchers are used to.

Still, in order to use a cross-arm defense, a fighter best be fast. Really fast, like Floyd. Floyd teaches us that it’s okay to be nontraditional in a scientific modality such as boxing. However, just like Ali, Floyd also teaches us that the best way to be different when it comes to fighting is to be faster.

After Floyd’s last bout, commentator Teddy Atlas said that what makes Floyd great – his defense – is what will ultimately lead to his downfall. Instead of being the aggressor, Atlas felt Floyd takes unnecessary punishment. Indeed, in his latest fight, Floyd stood and took perhaps more punishment than needed. Then again, he won. Floyd always wins. While he might not be the boxer everyone wants to see, he is a master technician and craftsman – and it’s hard to argue the results.

Manny Pacquiao fought recently, too, and looked like the Manny of old in the process, showing flashes of his former greatness. Seeing Manny pick apart Timothy Bradley got my motor running again. Could Manny still beat Floyd? Would it even matter now since Manny is past his prime and Floyd is soon to be as well?

We’ll probably never know, but it’s fun to think about.

Photo 1 by ian mcwilliams [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 by Chamber of Fear (Flickr: Mayweather/Ortiz) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 3 by Harry (Howard) Potts (Flickr: Mayweather Press Conference – 2007) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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“One of the paradoxes of boxing is that the viewer inhabits a consciousness so very different from that of the boxer as to suggest a counter-world.” – Joyce Carol Oates

Having studied boxing and the martial arts for many years as both student and teacher, I have come to accept that to fight is to face uncertainty and paradox. Yet, at the same time, learning to fight is based in and around rules, repetition, and the pursuit of perfection. Here are four paradoxes of fighting and what we can learn from each of them:

1. Stick and Move

Perhaps the most famous quotation to ever come out of boxing came from arguably the greatest boxer that ever fought: “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” Muhammad Ali said this in 1974 before fighting George Foreman. While the Ali quotation is poetic and colorful, like most of his quips, it runs deeper than just your typical pre-fight banter. The quote speaks to the essence of boxing and fighting – paradox.

Bees can float and they can sting, but not at the same time. The same holds true with boxers. A punch while moving tends to not be a very effective one. It’s in connecting with the ground and transferring weight that power is derived. Yet, a boxer who plants his feet and transfers weight, best not stay there long. Staying stationary is a good way to get hit, a lot. Enter paradox number one in fighting – stick and move. It’s a hard balance to achieve, constantly moving your feet and yet connecting to the ground to transfer weight to deliver a hard and effective punch.

The distinction between floating and stinging comes down to footwork. In boxing, you are always moving. Always. Whether your head, your hands, or your feet, not a second ticks off the clock when you don’t move something. As for the feet, boxers must practice different rhythms and learn to transfer weight in their feet. The boxer’s essential tools here are the jump rope and shadow boxing.

2. Boxing Is a Game of Rules and a Game of Savagery

Boxing’s moniker, the sweet science, implies that boxing is a game of rules. The Marquess of Queensberry rules were established in 1867 to detail boxing’s gentlemanly and fair rules for fighting. Still, fair fighting tends to be a bit of an oxymoron. While boxing has strict rules, on the other side of the coin is its savage brutality. When Mike Tyson threatened to “eat his [Evander Holyfield’s] children,” he vividly demonstrated the mind-frame with which a boxer can enter the ring.

A boxer has to respect the rules, and at the same time have almost no regard for his safety and the safety of his opponent. A fighter knows that every time he steps between the ropes, the chance exists that he may come back out permanently hurt or, in rare cases, he might not come out at all. As a child, I remember watching the footage of a lifeless Duk Koo Kim who was killed in the boxing ring at the hands of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. That image still sticks with me today.

How can a sport where rules are meant to protect (no low blows or punches behind the head) also have as its goal to knock someone into tomorrow? While the rules of boxing are always to be respected and followed, the boxer is constantly looking for an edge and finding that spirit of the warrior. While respect and sportsmanship are universal concepts that should come with any sport, boxing is about laying the hurt on someone, literally. In order to fight and win, the boxer must learn to fight by any means necessary – intimidation in and out of the ring, outworking opponents, and constantly switching up your game. A fighter must study not just his opponent, but also his own habits and learn when to use them and when to break them.

3. The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

Wait, or is it the other way around? People tend to assume that fighters are aggressive in nature. Terms like hotheaded and brawler come to mind, but that’s a simplistic view of what it takes to fight. Yes, it takes aggression to pound your opponent into submission, and of course boxing is scored on aggressiveness. However, boxing is also scored on defense. Boxers strong on aggression and not on defense tend to get knocked out in a hurry. Perhaps the best boxer of the modern era, the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. has established himself as one of the greatest defensive tacticians and counter punchers of all time. Floyd is also tremendously smart in how he fights.

“Boxing is about being hit rather more than it is about hitting, just as it is about feeling pain, if not devastating psychological paralysis, more than it is about winning.”- Joyce Carol Oates

It takes aggressiveness to fight, and it also takes the ability to defend and accept pain. What trumps both is smarts. Fighting is ultimately a game of chess. Knowing when to apply your defensive strategy and when to switch up and attack is what makes champions.

4. Fight Tight, Yet Relaxed

Imagine an object coming quickly towards your head. It’s almost impossible to not stick your hands out to try and deflect the object. Yet in the process you are going to hurt or break your arm, hit yourself in the head with your own arms, or get hit in the head by the object. In reality, you have two options: move and not get hit or defend as tightly as possible by shielding yourself.

Creating a shield means hands tight to the body and head – exactly the opposite of what our instincts teach us to do. Our instincts also teach us to tense our muscles with fear and adrenaline. These instincts do not serve well in a fight and are hard to override. That’s what boxing teaches us to do, accept and override.

After a couple of months of boxing classes, students learn to keep their hands up. In doing so, they walk around the boxing ring with their hands wired to their jaw. While keeping your hands up is one of the first things you learn in fighting, you also learn quickly that you can’t win a fight with your hands wired to your jaw.

In boxing and fighting we come to realize that we must accept the certainty that we are going to take hits. We must learn to swim with the current in order to find a way out. Learning to fight and box is not to dissimilar to learning to sit with an uncomfortable pose in yoga. It’s in relaxing and breathing that we break through. The ultimate paradox in fighting is not to fight yourself.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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For ninety percent of us, the jab is our left hand. In an orthodox fighting stance that left hand is the closest weapon to your opponent. While the advantage of a jab as a weapon is that it’s close, it doesn’t have the power of our dominant right hand. Nor does the jab pack the punching power of bent-arm blows like hooks and uppercuts. Throwing a hook or a cross is like swinging a bat – the transfer of weight and force generated can create devastating damage such as a knockout. The jab conversely, is like snapping a whip. You aren’t going to knock someone out with a jab, but you will stun or perhaps cut him or her if you throw it properly, and as a result you can disable your opponent long enough to execute your next move.

Technically the jab is easy to throw unlike something like a left hook, which seems problematic for people to throw correctly. The jab is straightforward literally. Your elbow should be pointed straight at the floor all the way to your opponent’s head (or body). At the last moment you turn your wrist so that your hand turns over with your fist striking your opponent with your index and middle fingers. This twist can create a cut on your opponent and allow for a bigger center of mass to land.

I have found that a good way to coach the jab is to line up an orthodox fighter with their left shoulder against a wall. This forces the boxer to keep their elbow down and move it straight forward along that wall all the way towards their opponent. The wall doesn’t allow for the elbow to flare out.

There are a few problems with allowing your elbow to flare out in a ‘haymaker’ type motion with any punch, a jab included:

• Problem #1: Any time your elbow flares out to the side it is a ‘tell’ to your opponent that you are about to throw a punch.
• Problem #2: If your elbow isn’t close into your body, you are vulnerable to attacks on your body.
• Problem #3: When you throw a jab or any other punch with your elbow flaring out, it takes longer to get there. One thing you don’t have much of in a fight, sport fighting or otherwise, is time.

My boxing coach John used to have me practice a drill called the freeze jab. That is, he would set me next to the bag and demand that every muscle in my body be completely relaxed and still. I would be holding my left hand maybe six inches from my head. He would make a loud clapping noise and at that moment I was to throw my jab (only moving my hand) as quickly as I could. No momentum, no step, no tell.

The analogy of a whip is a good one because the whip’s power is its speed. Another thing John used to say over and over is “speed is power,” which is why the freeze jab drill is so effective. The idea is to practice speed from a completely still position. This takes discipline and patience.

Another important variable to speed is the getting your hand back in position to defend. We tend to think of speed in terms of going forward on offense and hitting our opponent. We hit the bag with speed and power but that bag doesn’t hit us back. When I am coaching I am often able to land my coaches mitt right on the cheek of my students because they forget to bring the left hand back with speed to the defensive position. As important as speed is as a variable to set up punches, it is equally important as a defensive measure. The whip is just as fast coming back as it is going forward.

With so much emphasis on the jab, your biggest opponent ultimately will be your own fatigue and exhaustion. Things like punching with a weight, lots of rounds on the speed bag, as well as other shoulder conditioning exercises can help you to practice keeping your hands up no matter what. When you practice you should throw jabs and you should throw lots of them – in ones twos, threes, and maybe even fours.

Furthermore, you should also think about what comes after the jab. Double jab, cross is a popular and basic combination, but odds are your opponent is prepared for that one. I watched Miguel Cotto fight a few years ago and fell in love with his jab, but he lost that bout because he didn’t have the ‘what’s next?’ figured out to his jab. You should practice that double jab with every single combination possible. One I particularly like is a double jab, fake, left hook.

The jab is the most important punch in fighting and boxing because it is the setup that all other punches follow. As I pointed out in an article on the left hook a while back, renowned trainer Freddie Roach likes to say, “Only suckers get hit with right hands.” That is, we should see it coming. However if you just got cracked with a nasty jab, it’s less likely you will see the right hand coming – at least that is the idea.

With the jab being so instrumental to your game, at least half of your striking practice should be the jab. This stinks because it isn’t as fun to throw. It just doesn’t rattle the bag the way a heavy-handed cross does. I don’t know about you but I would rather swing a bat than crack a whip. In boxing though, usually you have to use that whip first.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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By rituals and warm ups, I am not talking about dynamic warm ups. I do arm circles, crosses, and stretches to warm up my shoulder before boxing, but none of these movements help me throw a better punch. Shadow boxing does. These past many years every trip to the boxing gym and martial arts studio for me began with this ritual. I also have my students start every session and class in the same way. If I expect to do it right at full speed, I have to first do it at half or even quarter speed. This is the thought process behind the ritual of shadow boxing. Most other athletic endeavors also have a similar type of warm up ritual associated to their sport.

We all know the old adage that practice makes perfect (or even pretty good). Even those blessed with infinite amounts of natural talent practice to hone their crafts. Here in Denver, Peyton Manning, the world-class NFL quarterback, is known for almost an almost obsessive work ethic on and off the football field. I am guessing it isn’t just throwing tight spirals and studying routes that Peyton practices. Like all athletes, football players too have warm up rituals. In football, one of these rituals is the walk through. One might wonder how walking through anything might make someone a better football player, but it’s here where you see it and feel it in slow motion. Making it faster is only a matter of physics.

My parents are avid golfers and through them I have spent plenty of time around the sport. While I never got the golf bug, I have come to appreciate it more and more in recent years. Being out on the course has given me more time with my dad, and it’s also given me a different lens with which to look at sport and fitness at as a coach. On the driving range and around the clubhouse, the word that I hear and see over and over is tempo. I hear golf instructors telling it to their clients, I see it in the proper golf swing, and I also hearit in the proper golf swing.

I also know this word from boxing and the martial arts. You know when you throw the correct punch because you can hear how it lands on the mitt and the bag. It’s a matter of tempo, and tempo is developed through timing. Like a golf ball being hit perfectly, there is a crisp whack when something is struck with the correct tempo. Other ball sports such as baseball and tennis are the same way. Again, the bat and the racket are just tools, and the arms are just an extension of those tools. The energy in our body, connecting to the movement and developing speed, is what creates the power.

It’s counter-intuitive, but this speed comes from a relaxed place. It makes no sense, and that’s why we have to practice it. My coach used to talk about the punching arm being like one of those medieval weapons, a mace. Another analogy used is a whip. Whips by themselves are limp and floppy, as is the chain on a mace. These ‘relaxed’ weapons become lethal if used correctly though. It’s the same way in throwing a punch or a ball. The correct swing, punch, or throw comes from a relaxed tempo. Relaxation comes from doing it slow, over and over and over again.

Another word for tempo is rhythm. Indeed the rhythm of boxing is what hooked me on it years ago. It’s intoxicating. But you can’t do it right until you do it slow, as it is with anything. That is why golfers practice their swings at slow speeds. Batters in the on-deck circle do the same thing. Basketball players do this at the free throw line – slow practice shots without the ball.

As a boxing coach, my students are always amazed at how when I slow them down to practice something like a left hook at a slow speed, when they throw it correctly slowly it lands much harder than when they throw it quickly incorrectly. It doesn’t make sense but again, you can hear this truth. Same thing with golf – you can hear the compression when a ball is struck correctly.

When we shadow box or take our practice swings, we’re perfecting motion, rhythm, and tempo. There’s a poignant scene in the film Million Dollar Baby where the character played by Hillary Swank moves her feet while working as a waitress as if she is hitting the speed bag. In essence, she is shadow boxing. She’s ingraining the motion into her body. That’s kind of how I do it too – at work, at the gym, in the mirror, and even on the dance floor. (Yup, I’m also that guy who throws punches on the dance floor.)

My coach John would always say, “Be half asleep,” as he would watch me shadow box. “Relax!” he would bark at me in a not so relaxing manner. John’s point was that you cannot have any tension in your body to find the correct movement. This is because if we start with tension, this will only become exacerbated and compounded in the actual moment of competition. In sport and in life, when stakes are high, the body has a way of alerting us, with adrenaline, fear, and tension. These are warning signals produced in our body by messages originating in the brain. In order to override these signals it takes years of practice and, even then, sometimes fear and adrenaline win.

So what about simply hitting the bag at full speed, shooting real free throws with a ball, or hitting real golf balls at full speed? Clearly this is a vital part of practice as well. The point is, though, you have to do these things correctly at a slow pace first before you can do them proficiently in real time.

The other point is that it’s not about the ball, club, or boxing glove. The movement comes from us and from within us. It’s about our ability to connect to the ground and transfer weight. The club, the ball, and even the arm that punches are just tools. If you want to land the perfect punch, winning shot, or perfect a killer swing, you’re going to have to slow your roll and learn your own shadow box first.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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In some sports a clear winner is established whereas in others we are judged by various criteria, not all of which are easy to define. In sprinting, the first runner across the finish line wins the race pure and simple. However, there are other sports like ice-skating, where the judges pick the winner. In fighting, a fighter who knocks out his opponent is the clear winner, but some fights also go the distance and it is left up to the judges to determine who is the victor.

In boxing, there are four categories in which fighters are judged. These four categories also correlate to many ‘battles’ we fight in life outside the ring. The categories are as follows: aggressiveness, clean punching, defense, and ring generalship. Each category brings rules to live by in preparing for and winning a fight.

Aggressiveness (Heart Matters)

A general rule in fighting is that all things being equal, the more aggressive fighter wins. It’s also generally true all things being equal, the more conditioned fighter typically comes out on top. Aggressiveness and conditioning go hand in hand. Conditioning helps us to be more aggressive because we end up trusting ourselves and developing the will to win.

The same rule applies in other arenas. Mental ‘fitness’ is very much the same way – it’s achieved by repetition and vigilance. The equation is about work ethic and willpower. Those who have the will to win are conscientious workers. Still, there is a downside to aggressiveness, just as there is a difference between real pride and false pride. Someone too aggressive is a fool and a bully. Overly aggressive fighters are easy targets – they beat themselves.

Preparation here is about hard work, pure and simple. If you want to win, you have to outwork your opponent.

Ring Generalship (Tempo Is Everything)

Another general rule is the fighter who controls the tempo wins the fight. In the business world, negotiating often comes down to tempo and control. Many sports come down to tempo. Ask a golfer.

Success in fighting is about fighting your fight rather than letting your opponent do so. The dominant fighter typically tries to control the center of the ring and declare it his. In doing so he presses his opponent to the ropes and corners him. The phrase ‘on the ropes’ comes from being cornered and in trouble. It is here where fights are won and lost. In this scenario we need to defend, punch, and maneuver our way out to regain control.

Preparation here is about footwork (understanding how to maneuver) and strategy. If you want to win you have to be smarter, quicker, and wiser than your opponent.

Clean Punching (Punch Wisely)

Landing a clean shot is about timing and location. Interestingly judges tend to give this category the most weight when scoring a bout. Why and what does this tell us about fighting and life in general? What it tells us is that the amount of punches we throw doesn’t necessarily matter. Landing them and where we land our punches matters.

The goal in fighting is to take out your opponent. The way you do this is to find where they are vulnerable. As humans, we are all vulnerable on our chin and jaw as well as where our internal organs reside on the body. Snap that jaw or chin violently enough and your opponent is going down. Hit the liver precisely enough and your opponent is done. It’s like the old real estate adage ‘location is everything.’ One clean punch is much more effective than several wasted ones. Punching clean is about awareness and knowing where your opponent is vulnerable so you can assess how to land it with precision.

As in controlling the tempo, landing a clean punch is like an effective move in chess – you have to study the board. Preparation here is about knowledge, study, and repetition. Practice for precision – it’s not the amount of blows that matter, it’s the amount of blows that land that matter.

Defense (Defense Wins Championships)

I think this is the most underrated category. Most judges tend to give it the least amount of weight. Who can blame them really? People want to see offense in any sport and so it’s rewarded by judges handsomely. Someone who looks aggressive looks like the winner in the minds of most. As noted previously, though, this is not always the case. Furthermore, it is defense that unlocks the key to opening up offensive opportunity. When someone is aggressive and striking, it means they are open somewhere. You cannot have a hand (or foot) away from your body and be protecting that side of your body at the same time. A defensive tactician and effective counter puncher will make a reckless fighter pay.

Preparation for defense is about practicing fighting by fighting. The best way to prepare against getting hit is to get hit. Preparation here is also about speed. Speed wins. Ali was a great defensive fighter in that for the first half of his career he was hard to hit because he was faster than his opponents.

In truth, we need to be proficient in all four categories if we are going to win a fight. If we are going to win, it starts and ends with preparation.

In his last fight, the great Manny Pacquiao was at perhaps his most aggressive yet. He also picked an unfortunate opponent to be overly aggressive against. Juan Manuel Marquez is a classic counter puncher and Manny recklessly charged right in to a clean right hand that sent him to the canvas and out cold. A short, clean punch won the fight, using defense as a strategy. Pacquiao was the aggressor and both fighters scored a knockdown in the bout, but Marquez’s knockdown was the only one that mattered.

The four categories teach us that life is a balance. Offense is only works from good defense and vice versa. Controlling the tempo is vital if we are going to land the punches that matter. Aggressive fighters need to learn more defense, and defensive specialists sometimes need to learn to be more assertive – we are ultimately judged on both.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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