Here is a clip of me hitting the thai pads and focus mitts. I boxed for about 18 months as as a teenager, and I started boxing again last year. I haven't boxed in almost 20 years! I'm 34 btw. I'm mainly go to the boxing class, but I'll do the Muay Thai class about twice a month.
I wanted to get some feeback on my striking from the more experience strikers on this forum. I know my switch kick sucks, but I'm working on it.
I'm 5'7 and walk around at 155lbs. I'm planning on fighting at the Golden Gloves (Novice Division) in Feb 2008 at 141lbs weight class or the 152 weight class. We'll see...
Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely work on dipping my shoulder with my right uppercut, and keeping hands up.
This video was shot after class (2 hour workout) when most of the people were gone (including my boxing coach). The guy holding the pads/mitts is also a student at the school (not the coach). He was just kind enough to hold the pads/mitts for me.
My boxing/muay thai coach usually throws back at me to work my slips, rolls, and pivots. He's always on my ass about turning my sholders, dropping my hands, and getting my hips into the kick (or punch). It's hard to see what he's talking about unless I see myself on video doing what he's telling me I need to work on.
It wasnt too bad, I think you would be well served (especially being shorter) if you moved you head a little when you throw a jab. You could get a little more on your punches if you rotated your feet, then hips, then shoulders. But I am sure your trainer is going to cover all this with you all the time.
The one thing I do see that you can improve almost instantly is your feet. "Fix" your feet as you punch when you come in with combinations. You are leaving them way wide and this kills the left hook and limits the range on a cross a bit. In kickboxing it will get you hammered big time. I am also sure your trainer has gone over that, and if the wide feet were due to fatigue, ignore my suggestion.
I only watched a few seconds but same as above, you drop your hands after each combo and kind of back off with them down. You should keep them up between each combo. You should always be ready to attack/defend. I got into this habbit myself early on.
..."For somebody who supposedly boxed for 18 months you dont even have the fundamentals down,dropping your hands after every combo,stance is way to wide for boxing or mauy thai,your loading up and reaching with your punchs."
That was 18 months as a teenager. From 12 year old to almost 14 years old. It's been 20 years since I've boxed. You're right about my stance though. My coach is always telling me that my stance is too wide.
Like I said...I know my kicks suck. I only go to Muay Thai class twice a month. Thanks for your feedback.
...""Fix" your feet as you punch when you come in with combinations." I'll work on my stance more.
..."if the wide feet were due to fatigue, ignore my suggestion." Yeah...I was already tired as hell when we filmed that thai pad/mitt drills. Warm-ups, shadow boxing, mitt drills, bag drills, sparring, and jump roping for 2 rounds. I was pretty fatigued. That might had a little to do with it, but I know that I need to work on my stance.
Striking isn't as natural to me as Grappling. For some reason it's taking me a lot longer to get my basics and punching technique down. Striking (speaking for myself) seems harder to learn than grappling. Believe me...I get really pissed at myself when I think I'm doing pretty good, and my coach tells me that I'm doing something wrong. I guess I just need to drill...drill...and drill some more!
You're dropping your guard after and during combinations, and I would like to see a little more head movement in between combos. Other than that, not bad. GOOD LUCK IN THE GG!
"You're dropping your guard after and during combinations, and I would like to see a little more head movement in between combos."
I agree and also seems like you have a tendancy to move to your left. That combined with the dropping of the guard and bringing the jab back low and slow, you could be very suceptable to a big right hand.
"One way to find a good boxing coach ask him to show you short rhythm,long rhythm if he does not know thses terms run."
"short rhythm, long rhythm" sounds like you're controlling contractions...
I found a link which describes it: "there's the long rhythm, which is a kind of a back and forth bouncing, in between throwing punches. The short rhythm is more of a flat-footed, side-to-side movement that involves moving the head and shoulders."
I wouldn't worry at all if your coach has never heard of this terminology. If he can't coach different kinds of movement, then there's a problem, but that's another thing altogether.
..."you have a tendancy to move to your left...you could be very suceptable to a big right hand."
Yeah...or a big kick to the head! LOL!
..."If he can't coach different kinds of movement, then there's a problem, but that's another thing altogether."
He does teach both long and short rhythms. My coach is a great coach. It' not him...it's me. It's just that striking is more difficult for me to learn than grappling. I know that I'm supposed to do it, but I kind of freeze up a bit when I'm working the Thai pads or mitts. I just need to work my basics and drill more.
Not terrible, there are things you need to clean up but you cant expect to be perfect with the limited training time you've had.
Thing that i noticed the most: the kick. Your hips werent turning over and there was little rotation on you support foot. Step out a little more, rotate on the ball of you foot and let your hips turn over. Takes time so dont stress out over it.
Def. selling your punches short. Youre not turning enough when you cross IMO and when you throw your hook there doesnt seem to be any turn on your lead leg. Youre losing all your power here and turning it into an arm punch. Drop your rear foot and rotate on your lead foot will you hook.
You do drop your hands like people have said and your jab returns to your hip just as much as it does your face, but this is easy to correct, time and shadowboxing in a mirror (plus a trainer and sparring partner who make you pay) will get you out of this quick.
The last thing Id address is your tendency to jump away after a combo. First of all if youre prepping for a Muay Thai fight ducking under to get out of the way is a bad idea by itself(knees, kicks!). If youre just doing boxing, youre going to far backwards everytime your evade. You're pulling yourself out of range and making it so you have to re-engage by stepping forward every time you bob and weave. Step more to the side, not so much backwards. Punch after moving, find where your range is and stay there.
Dude, take your advice here with a BIG grain of salt. Most of the guys
here probably don't look 1/100th as good as you did. You have some
great speed, crisp punches. You bring your right hand back a bit low and
you are a tad flat footed and you could tuck your chin more into the
shoulder when you throw, but it looks pretty good.
You have to work on minor things like we all do.. but I would say you have an good base to work from for sure. BTW, it can be hard to fully turn into your kicks the way you should when someone is holding the pads as opposed to a thai bag or human.
..."Step more to the side, not so much backwards. Punch after moving, find where your range is and stay there."
I agree. I need to work on my angles.
..."I see from your profile you had 15 am bouts, I'm sure you know what it takes. Best of luck in the Golden Gloves and beyond."
The 15 fights were from age 12 to 13 years old (one month shy of my 14th birthday). Back then I was training 5 to 6 days a week. I was fighting about every 6 weeks. My boxing coach moved to a different town so that's why I stopped boxing. That was the only boxing gym in town. I'm 34 now. I've only put on a pair of boxing gloves twice between age 13 and 33. 20 years of not striking will make ya pretty rusty! I felt like I was starting over again when I got back into it last October.
..."Golden Gloves is boxing,if your serious about being competitive I suggest training mainly in boxing till then."
I've been only training strictly boxing for the past 6 weeks, and I plan on doing that until after the Golden Gloves. I only do Muay Thai around 2 times a month. That's why my kicks are pretty weak. Once the Golden Gloves are over with then I'll get serious about Muay Thai.
..."Don't over-analyze. Relax. If you're too worried about what you're doing wrong you'll never be relaxed enough to do it right." My boxing coach has told me the same thing over and over about relaxing.
He'll ask me, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
I'm like, "Yes".
He'll say, "You need TWO girlfriends because you're too tense!"
I guess I get a little to tense and excited when I'm hitting the mitts or sparring.
..."BTW, it can be hard to fully turn into your kicks the way you should when someone is holding the pads as opposed to a thai bag or human."
I know part of my problem is technique and training kicks twice a month. The other problem is that I'm NOT flexible at all. I can't kick any higher than my chest. I've always been that way. I can't even touch my toes. I'm seriously thinking of taking a YOGA class to work on my flexibility.