Learning The Finer Points

I have been doing boxing for around eight years on and off now. I'm lucky in the fact that leading up to now I have had really great instructors and teachers who have drilled technique into me and I have had a lot of time to work on it.

Over this weekend I completed my Level 1 and Advanced Level Boxing Instructors Course through Thump Boxing. If anyone is looking to do any sort of course in Boxing, I highly recommend these guys.

So I, along with a fellow exercise fanatic and Shirts Off Saturday member I had roped in to come along with me spent a combined total of 14 hours in boxing gloves and pads over the weekend. She had also been trained by the same instructors so was at a very similar level of experience to me. Going into the course, we were probably two of the more experienced boxers in the group.

This meant that while some people were learning the normal boxing stance and the difference between the jab and the cross, we spent more time looking at the finer details such as holding our elbows in to catch, how to flick the wrist to 'pop' off the boxers glove and spent a hell of a lot of time trying to get the crisp sound that come with perfect glove to pad contact, rather then thud that comes when you miss the angle by something as littler as two degrees off your wrist angle.

So while we probably spent a good hour on jabs alone, followed by an hour on crosses, the time flew by because we were so fixated on getting it right! This continued for the whole weekend. We both already understood the concept of the upper cuts, hooks, elbows, knees and kicks thanks to the great coaching we have had in the past few years. But it was the finer details we were picking up now that would mean we got a strong and powerful punch, with a really great sound on every single hit.

It was a long and tiring weekend but 100% worth it and I can't wait to take what I have learnt and teach it to my own boxing class now. There is always more that can be learnt.