The Glowing Edge

Tag: gloves

  • How to Pack Your Coach Bag for Amateur Boxing Events

    How to Pack Your Coach Bag for Amateur Boxing Events

    Since I’m usually officiating, I’m not the one who packs the gym bag to take our competitive boxing team to their events, but sometimes I pitch in to help the other coaches remember everything we need.

    And finally I wrote it all down, since that’s infinitely preferable to madly scrambling around at the last minute, trying to remember what all our boxing team will need once they get to the competitive arena.

    Btw, I searched the internet and didn’t find ANYTHING to help you pack your competition bag, so if you happen so see something, please link it in the comments. Just the fact that I couldn’t find anything made me wonder if I was missing something…

    Of course, this will be the ONLY post on the subject to include toilet paper, sparkly elves, chainsaws, and Nicki Minaj. Read on. (more…)

  • What You Should Know Before You Spar

    What You Should Know Before You Spar

    I have written about what you can expect the first time you spar, but my friend Amy Scheer — also a boxer — recently asked me what I thought a new boxer should know before getting in the ring for the first time.

    She also framed the question this way: Which Comes First, the Learning or the Doing? You should definitely click through and read about her experience. The post below is my response.

    There are two schools of thought in boxing.

    The first — and the one through which I came into boxing — says that you have to earn the right to get in the boxing ring.

    The second says throw ’em in, knock ’em around, wait to see if they are “man” enough to come back for more.

    I’m sitting here trying to think of a justification for the hard knocks school, and I can’t. I think it’s bullshit, to be honest. I think it’s usually a way for the guys who are already “in” to keep all the others out. It’s all about who’s king of the hill. A boy’s game, not even a man’s.

    But the way I came in isn’t easy either. Anyone who has ever rolled under the ropes knows just how frightening it can be. You don’t know what will happen, how you will hold up; you may not even know who you’ll be in with and whether or not you can trust them. That’s why I say again and again that the single most important thing you can have going for you in boxing is an outstanding, trustworthy trainer.

    A good trainer trumps everything else

    From the outside, boxing looks like an individual sport, but that isn’t actually the case. Not only do you need a great trainer, you also need a crew of boxers around you to encourage, support, challenge, and work with you. But even if you don’t have a team, you must have that trainer.

    My trainer made sure I had several things before I got in the ring for the first time. And since I had such an outstanding trainer and such a great experience coming in to the sport, I’ve naturally copied her in pretty much all of my basic approaches to boxing. (Any mistakes I make, however, are my own!)

    A rant, before I move on

    I need to get this out there. Putting two inexperienced boxers in the ring for the first time together is minimally useful at best (what can they possibly learn?), and dangerous at worst.

    Would you ask someone who doesn’t know how to swim to get in the pool and help your child learn to swim? Of course not. That’s ridiculous.

    Sure, they can both splash around in the shallow end and maybe they’ll be fine, but did they learn to swim? Did they gain skills? Have they moved forward?

    About the only good thing you can say about that situation is that they both got to get in the water. How much better it would be if they both got to get in the water with someone who can teach them something and also keep them safe?

    Okay. I feel a little better. Onward.

    Have some basic conditioning

    Before I began sparring, my trainer ensured I had a basic level of conditioning. I had come to her gym with what I thought was decent cardio (I’d been running regularly), but I didn’t realize that boxing is more like a series of hard, three-minute sprints rather than a lovely string of 10 minute miles.

    She got my cardio up enough to make it through a single round my first time. Ever try to sprint for 3 minutes without stopping? Yep, that’s pretty much what it felt like.

    She wanted to instill in me from the beginning a principle of boxing that sounds easy but is actually incredibly difficult: you fight until the bell rings. You don’t quit partway through. You come out working and you finish the round. Period.

    Bonnie made sure I could go a round before she put me in for one.

    Use your jab

    Before I got in the ring for the first time I had a crappy but dogged jab.

    I knew from repeated drills that a jab was the foundation for all of the punches in boxing. I didn’t yet know how to advance on the jab, but at least I had something to get out there in front of me so that I could force my opponent to stop an advance.

    I know a jab can also be offensive, but most new boxers need some basic defense before they worry about offense; chances are that they’ll be in the ring for their first sparring experience with someone who is — hopefully — much better at boxing than they are. A solid jab will help protect you in this situation.

    Keep your gloves up

    It was the one piece of advice Amy got before she rolled into the ring for the first time, and it’s good advice. “Cover up,” her trainer said. “Protect yourself.”

    This goes with a defensive jab; you need to bring that glove right back to your chin and keep it there, parallel to the other glove. It’s like having two big pillows in front of your face; they will deflect and dilute the power of a punch to your face.

    It’s also good to keep your elbows in and your chin down, but that’s more advanced. Still, a tight guard is what you need for protection, because slips, ducks, and other evasive moves won’t come until later.

    Never mind about footwork

    I’d love to say that a first-time sparring student should have footwork, but it isn’t likely that they will. You might have practiced some footwork, and you should certainly understand the basics of stance, balance, and how to move without crossing your feet, but chances are that once you get in the ring for the first time all that will fly out the door and you will mostly forget about your feet because you just have too many other things screaming for your attention.

    The four biggies, and knowing what’s coming

    So there are basically four things I think a boxer should have before getting in the ring: a good, trustworthy trainer, some basic conditioning, a jab, and a tight guard (gloves up, chin down, elbows in).

    The thing for a new boxer to know is that they are going to hit and be hit.

    That is a crazy thing to get your head around for someone brand new to the sport; especially if they’ve never hit anyone in their entire lives up to that point.

    Bonnie didn’t actually throw any punches at me the first time I was in the ring. She just let me throw them and feel what it was like to be in, moving hard, working my jab. The second time she threw easy punches, let me feel about half of her power. It was terrifying at first, but once I realized I could take it — and give it! — I was amazed. It was invigorating. I loved it!

    Sticking with it

    It got harder, of course, and I nearly always dreaded sparring nights, but I went.

    Because I knew what every boxer knows after a while: you can work the drills and train for cardio all you want, but the real learning happens in the ring.

     Image by Steve Tolcher

  • How to Choose the Right Pair of Boxing Gloves

    How to Choose the Right Pair of Boxing Gloves

    Even if you are only boxing for fitness, you will need a decent pair of boxing gloves. But before you buy the first pair you find in the local sporting goods store, here are a few things you should consider.

    Communal gym gloves reek. And they’re worn out.

    There are plenty of people who use the communal gym gloves all the time and have for years, but I had trouble with the stink factor. I know that sounds terribly rich kid, and it is. But this is the kind of stink that simply does not wash off easily. I would wash my hands several times and still be able to smell that stink on me all day long. So I spent $30 on my first pair of gloves (see below).

    There’s also a padding issue, which may not matter to you if you are under 30 years old, but the older you get, the more of an issue good protection for your hands becomes. This is especially true if you are a heavyweight, throwing bomb shots.

    If you plan to box for long, good gloves are definitely worth the investment.

    $30 Gloves will get you through for a while.

    Everlast Boxing GlovesThe issue with the cheap gloves — in my case they were Everlast Pro Style Training Gloves (the exact pair in the picture on the left) — is that they don’t hold up very long. They are fine for starter gloves, but you can’t expect them to last.

    If you go to the gym several times a week and use these gloves for a year they will begin to fail you. The padding will crush down, you’ll feel more pain, and you’ll start to see a difference in your performance because you’ll be holding back on your shots.

    You will need to pay about $70 – $100 for good boxing gloves.

    When my Everlasts wore out, I bought a pair of 14 ounce (many gyms will require 16 ounce) Pro Main Event gloves by FightGear (that’s what I’m wearing in the photo at the top of the post). They were $70 when I bought them, now they run about $85. These have held up much better than the Everlasts. You can order them online (although the LA Boxing website is not all that user-friendly) but I just purchased mine at an actual LA Boxing gym.

    The gloves I really want are the Ringside Gel Shock Safety Sparring Gloves ($70), but last time I tried to order they were backordered so far that I never received them after waiting for months. Which is why I eventually bought the Main Events instead. But I’m pretty sure The Gel Shocks will be my next pair.

    Here’s what the weight differences mean.

    Most boxing gloves come in 12 ounce, 14 ounce, and 16 ounce weights. There are other sizes as well, but these are the three you’re likely to see most often.

    The larger sizes offer more protection for your hands (as you land punches) and your face (as you defend against punches). To get used to working hard and fast with a pound of extra weight on each hand, you can purchase weighted gloves to wear when you aren’t sparring or on the bags. The sand-weighted gloves will not stand up to hard use, so use them for shadowboxing or other fitness exercises only.

    If you compete in the amateurs you’ll usually wear 16 ounce gloves, which will often be provided by the promoter of the event. If you are competing professionally, you might wear lighter gloves. In both pro and amateur bouts, your wraps and gloves will be overseen and signed by an official.

    Watch out for this sneaky tactic!

    Sometimes boxers will try to use their lighter-weight, worn-out gloves when they spar so that they can inflict more damage on their opponent.

    If you are about to get in the ring with someone who has to stop and change gloves into some ancient, tiny boxing gloves, you know what’s coming. I’ve been in the ring with a pro boxer who used 8 ounce gloves and every shot felt like a brick. I barely made it through 4 rounds, and I needed a week to recover.

    If you are used to MMA fighting, you may be fine with this, but you should definitely be aware of it.

    Laces or velcro?

    Velcro, definitely, although lots of pro boxers will swear by lace-ups, which are much more classic and old school. But if you are boxing in the amateurs, or just training hard, you don’t want to have to ask someone else to make all your glove adjustments for you. Velcro enables you to put on, secure, adjust, and remove your own gloves.

    The drawback to velcro is that the strips will often scratch your opponent’s face or arms as you spar. You’ll be scratched up from their gloves, too. But the solution to that is to get a pair of boxing glove cuff sleeves, which are simple elastic covers for the velcro. They run about $10.

    Also, velcro does wear out eventually, and after a few years you may find that you are having to tape your straps down, which defeats the whole do-it-yourself thing. But by then it will probably be time for new gloves anyway.

    The drawback to lace-ups, other than the fact that you can’t manage them on your own, is that if you have a loose lace, it can fly out and pop someone in the eye pretty good. The solution for that is usually to tape down the laces (although you can also use cuff sleves), which just means one more layer of stuff you can’t handle on your own.

    Don’t forget your hand wraps.

    You wrap your hands for basic protection in boxing. There are 27 little bones in your hands and they all need support. Boxers do break bones in their hands, although you’re more likely to suffer a sprain or general soreness.

    Traditional boxing hand wraps are 15 feet or 180 inches long (don’t get the short wraps!) and slightly elastic. They usually close with velcro, and run about $6 per pair.

    Hook the loop over your thumb and wrap your wrist and hand up to your knuckles. I go between my fingers and around the base of my thumb, too. It needs to be fairly tight because they will loosen slightly as you train. I’ve embedded a How to Wrap Your Hands video below, but everyone does it differently. Watch other boxers, try different styles. You’ll find your method.

    Evergel hand wrapsFor a competition, you’ll need gauze wraps. Your trainer will wrap your hands for you using multiple rolls of lightweight boxing gauze, and an official will sign them. This is to prevent any tampering or weighting of your hands inside the gloves.

    As a woman boxing over the age of 40, I go to special lengths to protect my hands. I used to cut a foam beer cozy into strips and tape the strips over my knuckles before wrapping. Now I use these fabulous  Everlast Evergel Classic Handwraps ($14) instead of traditional hand wraps inside my boxing gloves. You can see them in the photo to the right.

    I love my Evergels, and they even go through the wash just fine.

    Did I mention you should wash your wraps? Sigh. There are people who don’t. However, you can easily wash them in a lingerie bag. You need the bag because otherwise the velcro will stick to and potentially tear up other laundry, not to mention becoming wet, knotted hell unless they are contained.

    One last secret.

    Boxing gloves can work up a stink after years of hard use. One way to keep them dry and less of a breeding ground for bacteria is to fill a couple of long socks with cedar chips and stuff the socks into your gloves after you box.

    They sell boxing glove dryers ($100!) but I’ve never invested in one. If you have the money, feel free, but the sock method works, too.

    Although I have had people say my gloves smell like a gerbil cage. A fresh, clean gerbil cage, that is.

    Image: Me at Decatur Boxing Gym in Atlanta, with my friend and sparring partner Justine.

  • What to Expect the First Time You Spar in Boxing

    What to Expect the First Time You Spar in Boxing

    Whether you started boxing for fitness or because you want to compete, one of the most scary and exciting things you’ll ever do is step into the ring for your very first sparring session.

    Depending on how long you’ve been training, who you’re stepping into the ring with, and how trustworthy your trainer is, your first experience in sparring may be vastly different than someone else’s, but there are several common factors that you are likely to encounter.

    First of all, your conditioning sucks.

    I have had to say this about myself at many stages of boxing, not just when I started sparring. It seems like every time I take things up a notch (going a lot of rounds in a row for the first time, sparring with a pro boxer, having my first real fight, shifting to a more competitive gym) I quickly find myself panting and heaving, wondering why on earth my conditioning is so bad when I thought it was so good.

    But nearly everyone who gets into the ring for their first time sparring finds — very quickly — that they simply aren’t in the kind of anaerobic sprint condition that a short little 3 minute round of boxing calls for. I promise this gets better as you spar more, and as you begin to do more sprints and intervals in your training.

    The urge for “flight” is really, really strong.

    The whole “fight or flight” system in your body is pretty serious, and when someone is throwing punches at you this will become very apparent in short order. Some of your biggest mistakes, which will be overcome with practice, will be that you tend to look away or shut your eyes when a shot comes straight for your face, you have an overwhelming tendency to flinch, and you may even turn your back on your sparring partner in the ring (that last one is a massive no-no, by the way; your trainer should stop the sparring session to tell you this if she or he sees you doing it).

    Your shots will be wild, and you may hurt someone.

    Brand new boxers are the absolute worst at controlling themselves in the ring. Typically a trainer will put very experienced boxers in with a newbie, because there’s a pretty good chance that the new person is scared, hasn’t had a chance to learn how to manage the adrenaline pumping through their body, and simply can’t know the difference yet between getting and giving good boxing practice versus surviving in the ring.

    All the nice footwork, pretty shots, and well-practiced combinations that you were able to do while working on the heavy bag just fly out the door when you step into the ring, leaving you swinging wildly and without much thought. Learning to think and plan under this kind of pressure takes time. It’ll come.

    Ideally, you want to get in the ring for the first time with your trainer, or another very good boxer who can evade your wild shots and help you find some calm in the storm as you learn.

    You’ll start thinking seriously about your gear.

    You never really need to put a lot of thought into your boxing gear until you start sparring. But this is where it becomes important. With a little preparation, you can avoid some of the newbie problems.

    Gloves: Any old gloves from the gym’s common supply will do for a beginner’s work on the heavy bag, but in the ring you should be wearing big, puffy 16oz gloves so that no one gets hurt. That’s what you’ll use in amateur competition, anyway. I used the gym gloves only once or twice before buying my own. I started with cheap gloves and moved up after those wore out about a year later.

    Wraps: You’ve probably figured out what works by the time you start sparring, but if you are over the age of 30, you may want extra protection, because your hands ache after boxing. I used to cut up a beer cozy and tape the foam strips across my knuckles under my wraps. Now I just wear gel gloves (like the MMA fighters use) rather than wraps. Wraps and gels can both be washed, too.

    Mouth guard: Fortunately, my trainer had been having our team train with mouth guards in for weeks prior to my first time in the ring, which meant I got over my gag reflex and also learned how to breathe comfortably with one in.

    Mouth guards are made for men, so unless you’re a guy your first mouth guard may not fit well. If the regular size is too big, try a youth size. I’ve bought and tossed several, and always go back to the Shock Doctor gel guards. I don’t like the double (upper and lower) guards, but I find the regular guard that covers just your top teeth is perfectly adequate.

    Get it in advance because it has to be boiled and formed to your teeth before sparring.

    Sparring HeadgearHeadgear: Common headgear problems have to do with fit: either it obscures your vision or slips around under fire. My first headgear was common gear from the gym’s pit, and it had a metal or plastic bar through the chin pad which gave me a monster bruise the first (and last) time I wore it. I bought a cheap $29 headgear from Dick’s Sporting Goods after that, and it served for a while even though it was very thin definitely not competition grade.

    If you can, buy only USA Boxing approved headgear. Be willing to send it back over and over again until you have a perfect fit. It should be tight when you’re cold, because once you start to sweat it has to stay in place.

    I’ve found the best kind of headgear has an adjustable lace top, velcro or lace-up back, and NO “Master’s” padding on the cheekbones.

    Shoes: I boxed for a year or so before investing in shoes. I bought wrestling shoes since they’re pretty much the same as boxing shoes. The advantage that boxing or wrestling shoes gives you is that they fit tighter and don’t cling to the canvas like running shoes. They help you make tiny, quick footwork moves. You can feel the canvas, pivot easily, and bounce lightly on your toes.

    Boxing or wrestling shoes have almost no padding or arch support, no matter what they advertise. They can’t be loaded down with it and still be light and flexible. So don’t wear them all the time, just for working in the ring.

    You may be ridiculously self-conscious.

    I was terribly nervous about my first time, and really wished I could suck in private, rather than embarrassing myself publicly for all the world to see. I didn’t blog about it, I didn’t allow photos of it, I tried not to let people know exactly when I was going to do it. But the day came and I had to get in and be every bit as terrible a boxer as I expected.

    Listen. Everybody starts here. And yes, people are going to watch and see and think what they think. The truth is that everyone who has boxed before will understand, and everyone who hasn’t boxed before will be so glad it’s you and not them, hah.

    You’ll come out feeling like a superhero.

    If you have the right kind of trainer and gym (and not one of those crappy places where they beat you up in order to feel like they are bad ass and way cooler than you’ll ever be), you will be so grateful to have survived without weeping, puking, or dying! Your brain will be firing all kinds of crazy messages like

    • “Did I really just do that??”
    • “Damn, I rock!”
    • “Wow, my conditioning sucks.”
    • “Damn, I rock!”
    • “I am so glad I didn’t puke!”
    • “I really did do it, didn’t I??”

    In fact it was a post by a friend of mine (and regular TGE commentor) Amy, who got me thinking about this again. You definitely need to read her thoughts on her first time sparring.

    The next day, say hello to your sparring hangover!

    It’s not unusual to be pretty worn out and have a headache the day after you spar. I typically don’t do serious sparring more than once a week because it’s fairly hard on the body, especially if you are working 8 or 10 hard rounds (which you can work up to, but shouldn’t be doing right off the bat). Ibuprofen should take care of most of your head and body aches.

    You may have other, more specific pains. The first time I sparred I threw a slew of hard rights that didn’t land, hyper-extending my right elbow pretty painfully. For that I needed a big, flexible icepack, which for me was a bag of frozen peas. I later invested in two good icepacks, so I could use one while the other re-froze.

    In my opinion, regular hard training hurts more than sparring.

    You rock. You really do rock! Now go do it again.

    You’ve done something most people would never dare try. Once you’ve cleared that first monster hurdle, you need to do it again. It was terrifying, but you didn’t let that stop you. Now don’t let the long road to getting good in the boxing ring intimidate you. Most new boxers bail out of sparring sessions now and then, especially after a particularly bad sparring session; the fear factor is pretty high for quite a while, and maybe it never goes away entirely. I’ve been boxing for several years and I still get serious jitters.

    Don’t let that stop you. You have accomplished a pretty incredible thing. Keep building on your success!

    Superhero image by Gomez-C on Flickr; the rest are (of me on a sparring night) by Ken Hall Photography

  • Cat Fight

    And this, my friends, is why boxers wear gloves. That one dude’s arm is soooo gonna be sore. I also don’t recommend fighting on the stairs.

    (Special thanks to @brauhze for finding this and thinking of me.)