The Glowing Edge

Tag: stairs

  • Two Schools of Padwork in Boxing

    Two Schools of Padwork in Boxing

    I’m a “train for what you are going to do” kind of person.

    Yes, I put in road and trail work, stadium stairs, jump rope, and so on, and none of those things are what I actually do when I roll into the boxing ring. They do give my muscles the kind of balance that only comes from cross-training, as well as a foundation of good cardio conditioning.

    However.

    And this is a big however…

    I do most of my non-boxing-specific training in boxing rounds.

    For example, here’s one of my current favorite workouts. All the work (except for the mile) is done in three minute rounds with 30 second recovery periods. And even that I sometimes do in three minute bursts, like a fartlek run, with 30 second recoveries.

    1. Three rounds stairs
    2. Three rounds hurdles (The hurdles are so intense I actually don’t make it continually through 3 minutes yet)
    3. Three rounds jump rope
    4. One mile to finish (are you happy I didn’t say “to recover” like your coach does? Heh.)

    The point is to work hard for 3 minute segments and recover in 30 seconds, and then do it again — because that’s what you do in the boxing ring.

    So I see these guys doing incredibly lengthy memorized padwork routines and I think, this doesn’t help me. It looks super-shonuff cool, it does! But it doesn’t look like what I end up doing in the ring.

    I hear the arguments that it develops fast hands and punches in bunches, but the situation seems so forced. You memorize a sequence and move through it (like a kata in martial arts). But in boxing you aren’t throwing 32 punches in a single offensive. You have to think, watch your opponent, strategize on the fly.

    Maybe I’m just jealous. I don’t have those long combos memorized, and they do seem to carry some cool cred in gyms. I wanna be cool, just like other people.

    But I’m gonna stick with training that looks and feels like actual boxing. Check out the video below. THIS is what I think padwork should look like.

    One of the things I like about this padwork training session is that the trainer is not smacking down the punches; he lets the punches come to him. The two of them move, stay loose, and circle just like you would in a fight. It’s the real thing, not a show.

    Well, okay, it IS a show, it’s part of a press conference, obviously, but you get the feeling that they actually train like this on a regular basis. You know, minus all the reporters crowding the ring.

    Padwork is one of the things I love best in boxing.

    You get one-on-one time with a trainer or peer who is working on your game, your form, your boxing. You don’t have to share a coach with dozens of other fighters when you’re doing padwork, and you don’t have to factor in a sparring opponent. It’s aaaaalll you, baby. Whipped cream with a cherry on top.

    I don’t get much padwork, but when I do, I’m intensely grateful for it, particularly when I feel like it’s going to really move my game forward.

    Image by icantu on Flickr

  • Training Hell, Training Heaven

    Training Hell, Training Heaven

    Last night our trainer rolled out a new circuit for the boxing team, one which we all relished and despised. It was one of those kinds of nights where you are working so hard that the sweat is rolling off you, you can barely breathe, and you wonder periodically how bad you are going to hurt the next day because you sure hurt now. It was awesome and we ate it up. There’s something wrong with us.

    I know where the coach got these ideas. I went over to her Facebook page and found this video of MMA champion Cris Cyborg Santos training, and I watched it about ten times. It’s incredibly compelling and damned if our trainer didn’t have us running some of the exact same drills.

    Here were our stations, all out on the loading dock behind the gym in the August heat:

    1. Sledgehammer: We had our choice of the “light” or “heavy” sledgehammer. Hah. We whaled the crap out of our giant tractor tire. But it’s still there, gloating and undefeated.
    2. Incline push-ups: Off the splintery edge of the loading dock. We considered this the “restful” station.
    3. Stairs: The cement set leading up the loading dock. The second most “restful” station.
    4. Slam Ball: A ball of solid, heavy rubber attached to a thick rope. You stand with your back to the wall and slam it up against the cinderblocks on one side, then the other. Looks like this:


    MMA Conditioning for KO Power Doing Rope Ball Exercises

    5. Rings. These are two independent rings hung from a metal bar to a height just a foot or so off the ground. You balance yourself in a push-up position and hold. And hold. You try to get your breath back from the slam ball. Your muscles shake, but you hold.
    6. Harness: This one is yet to come. You can see Cyborg doing it in the video, and our trainer said she has one on order, lucky us!

    We did each station hard for 30 seconds, and on the whistle hustled to the next station and began again. I lost track of the number of circuits we did, but since they were interspersed with wind sprints (I HATE wind sprints) inside the gym I had my choice of throwing up outdoors or in a nice clean restroom. Thankfully I had not eaten anything prior to team training.

    The best moment of the evening was after our SOLID HOUR of circuits (okay, a little bit of that was a warm-up) was finished, we gloved up for four all-out rounds on the heavy bags.

    Thought.  I.  Would.  Die.

    But I didn’t. I did it all and said “Thanks, Coach,” because it was the best, worst, kickin’-est training I could possibly have received, and besides I WANT biceps (triceps, lats, etc.) like Cyborg’s.

    Hell, yeah.

    Image credit: WilsonB on Flickr.