Tag Archives: boxing trainers

Must see TV: Frederick Wiseman’s “Boxing Gym” on PBS!

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Must see TV:  Frederick Wiseman’s “Boxing Gym” on PBS!

The American documentary filmmaker, Frederick Wiseman’s latest film is called “Boxing Gym.”  Released in 2010, the film presents an unfettered look at Lord’s Gym in Austin, Texas.

The gym is owned and operated by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer who opened the gym over 16 years ago. It accommodates a cross-section of boxers: young and old, men and women, plus an array of kids, all of whom come to the gym for reasons running from fitness on through training for amateur and professional fights!

The film is a loving portrayal of what many of us think of as our home away from home where camaraderie, focus and hard work are our daily diet, not to mention a dream or two.

PBS will be airing the film in its entirety @ 9:00 PM on Thursday, June 16th (Eastern Standard Time). Check local listings for an exact time if you are out of the New York City Area.

For further information on Lord’s Gym click the link here.

For a link to a nice piece on the film click here.

Freddie Roach volunteers to help coach Team USA Men’s and Women’s Boxing Olympians!

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Freddie Roach volunteers to help coach Team USA Men’s and Women’s Boxing Olympians!


USA Boxing’s Men’s and Women’s Olympic hopefuls will be joined by volunteer coach, Freddie Roach who has opened up his heart and his gym, Wild Card Boxing Club, to the elite athletes who will comprise Team USA’s 2012 Boxing Olympians.

In a press release issued by USA Boxing, Freddie Roach is quoted as saying, “An Olympic medal is one of the greatest accomplishments in all of sport, and I promise to do all I can to ensure that these young men and women are fully prepared to go to London to proudly represent our country,” said Roach.

The 2012 Olympics will mark the first time women’s boxing will be recognized as an Olympic sport — so what better gift than Freddie Roach’s remarkable skills as a trainer for the women who will represent Team USA!

As United States Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun put it, “I’d like to thank Freddie and his team for their willingness to help our boxers achieve their highest potential.”  Blackmun further stated that he is “thrilled that we were able to make this happen and can’t wait to see the results.”

USA Boxing also noted that “the program … is designed to act as a resource for up to ten medal-potential athletes to attend multi-day training sessions at the Wild Card Gym with their personal coaches and USA Boxing’s National Coach Joe Zanders. These sessions will be established under the leadership of Freddie Roach and his staff and will be used to help provide feedback and strategy on the athletes’ preparation for the Olympic Games. The USOC will support this program as an add-on to the 2011-12 approved high performance plan with the intent of providing a unique and valuable resource for the designated athletes as a supplement to the existing coaching structure.”

Freddie Roach and his team will begin their participation with USA Boxing at an upcoming high performance retreat at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co.

Girlboxing would like to send a shout out to Freddie for offering this great opportunity!

For further information click here and here.

Boxing by myself …

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Boxing by myself …

There are times when I find myself training without a trainer.  Today was one of those days and I have to admit I missed Lennox who is up @ Foxwoods to work Sonya Lamonakis’ corner tonight for her 6-round heavyweight bout on the Berto-Ortiz undercard.

Still, as I approached my sweet 16 — I found myself luxuriating in the time I had to focus on stuff at my own pace and in my own sequence.

Lately, I’ve been pretty orthodox with my four-round sets — but today, I thought it would be fun to indulge in the things I like so, I did a total of 8 rounds on the double-ended bag, 4 rounds on the heavy bag, and finished up with 4 rounds on the speed bag before I did my first plus 4 on the sit-up chair.

As I write this I have to admit that my upper arms are leaden not to mention a right knee that is feeling pretty inflamed, but … and this is a big one, as an antidote to a pretty tough work week and the specter of yet another paper to write, I am that sort of wasted “noodlish-body” kind of happy that will even see me through the cart-load of laundry staring at me from across the living room.

I’ve also gotten over that momentary by-myself panic I experience in the gym sometimes when I start to feel a bit lost all on my own.

Today though, I fist-bumped my gloved hands in a boxing salute to myself for a job well done.

Gleason’s Gym – All Female Boxing Clinic

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Gleason’s Gym – All Female Boxing Clinic on April 28, 29 & 30, 2011!

Gleason’s Gym will host its first All Female Boxing Clinic on April 28, 29 and 30, 2011 at its headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.

The three-day event will include two-days of boxing training and will culminate in Gleason’s first USA Boxing Metro amateur-sanctioned All Female Boxing Show to be broadcast live on www.gofightlive.tv.

The two-day clinic will focus on a range of boxing skills for beginners and will feature the Gleason’s World Champion talents of Alicia Ashley, Jill Emory, Melissa Hernandez and Belinda Laracuente as well as boxing trainers Mark Breland, Juan LaPorte and Hector Roca.

The clinic is open to anyone with a desire to learn the fundamentals of the sport — and for those who have more skills, opportunities will be offered to perfect your talents.

Having first walked into the door at Gleason’s in 1997, I can personally attest to the genuinely supportive atmosphere of the gym, which has always been particularly inviting to women. It’s also meant that I’ve had the chance to observe first hand the explosion in Women’s Boxing  — as well as the chance to applaud the prowess of Gleason’s many boxing alumni!

Girlboxing recently had the chance to sit down and talk with Gleason’s Gym’s owner Bruce Silverglade about Women’s Boxing (see video below).  As an early proponent of the sport, Bruce has been a champion in his own right through his strong advocacy for Women’s Boxing and continues to provide opportunities for women in the sport from Saturday boxers on through dedicated pros.

Spaces are still available for the chance to perfect your boxing prowess or take the plunge into your first foray into the ring. If you are interested contact Bruce Silverglade at Gleason’s Gym.  The telephone number is: 718-797-2872 and the email address is: info@gleasonsgym.net.  The cost of the clinic is $299.00.  You can also sign-up to participate in the All Female Boxing Show by contacting Angela Querol @ 718-797-2872.

Roadwork

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Roadwork!

My notion of roadwork came from watching the movie Rocky.  There was Sly Stallone huffing and puffing his way through Philly, until finally, the meat hanging in the processing plant conquered, he was able to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in triumph.  From his old-school converse sneakers to his gray sweats, Rocky was an everyman (everywoman) kind of hero that sought to over come adversity to get back into the ring.

The image of Rocky running up the steps remains iconic and in many ways continues to inform boxing’s notion of roadwork: rising well before dawn to don sweats, boxers the world-over will run 5 – 6 miles through the streets before hitting the gym. A lot of boxing gyms also have running machines and boxers will do their roadwork in the gym adding a component of interval training by alternatively running fast and slow along with changing inclines.  In a gym environment, the running will often occur after regular training is completed, though this varies widely, as do the beliefs on the relative benefits of running in the wee hours of the morning on through evening runs.

The bottom-line is that running is used as an important training component to build stamina and conditioning — and knees aside, the idea is to increase muscle efficiency and aerobic fitness to improve performance during the short burst intervals of the ring.

On the Saturday boxing side of training – a brief jog/run can also be a helpful way of loosening up before stretching and commencing training.

Given the state of my knees, hard-on running is kind of beyond me, but having run for distance earlier in my life, I can attest to the physical conditioning that comes with a regular program of running — as well as its merits as a training tool.  Still, old school running for boxing is not without controversy as some trainers have switched from straight-on roadwork to other forms of interval training or using the controlled environment of the gym for running in place, running sprints, jump-rope intervals and other forms of conditioning.

For an excellent article on the science of running for boxing on Rossboxing.com click here.

 

Women’s Boxing Results plus a Daily News Golden Gloves Week Four reminder

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Women’s boxing results plus a Daily News Golden Gloves week four reminder.

“Lethal” Lindsay Garbatt vs. Jelena Mrdjenovich

Philboxing.com is reporting that this weekend’s title rematch between Lindsay “Lethal” Garbatt (6-3-1) and challenger Jelena Mrdjenovich (26-6-1)  for the WIBA Super Featherweight championship took the fight of the night status and is the kind of match that *should* be on a PPV undercard.  Garbatt won the fight with a unanimous decision (95-95, 96-95 and 96-94).

Through ten rounds of hard boxing at the WCP Superbrawl held in Barrie, ON, Canada, both women reportedly boxed their hearts out.  Writer Rob Cruz compared the fight to the “female version of the Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez war in the ring.” Click here for the full story.

WBAN has an article and terrific photos of the fight here.

 

84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Week Four bout reminder!

2/7/2011 – Mount Vernon High School, 100 California Road, Mt. Vernon, NY 10552 (New date & time due to last week’s winter weather cancellation)

2/8/2011- Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 275 North 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

2/9/2011 – WorldWide Boxing Club, 3134 Jerome Avenue, Bronx, NY 10468

2/10/2011 – Manhattanville Community Center, 530 West 133rd Street, New York, NY 10027

2/11/2011 – Tottenville High School, 100 Luten Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10312 (8:00 PM Start Time)

For more information and to check on any changes due to weather, please click here.

Women’s boxing: getting it real

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Women’s boxing: getting it real

Ukrainian Women Warriors, photo by Guillaume Herbaut

It seems that there’s some press around lately on the theme of  “getting real” when it comes to fitness.  For our friends in Chicago,  Chicago Now has a piece about the Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness gym and its affiliated Knockout Boxing Club in Downer’s Grove, Il..  As the author put it:

“What I was looking for: – I didn’t want to join a large gym and do a cardio boxing class. I wanted the real deal, the same workouts fighters do.  – I refuse to wear makeup or dress up for the gym. – I don’t want to be treated like a girl.”

What she found was an environment of hard work, sweat, and the inspiration of watching a group of highly  skilled, ranked women fighters across a spectrum of disciplines from Boxing to MMA to Kickboxing.  Article link here.
New York City has also seen press lately about the idea of the urban warrior.  In a recent article in the local Chelsea Now paper, women’s boxing is touted as one of a select group of “alternate activities to stretch your mind and body in more dynamic ways,” the others being target shooting and rock climbing.  Article link here.  I know from my own experience I didn’t walk into a boxing gym so much for fitness as to engage in a physically demanding full-contact sport.
When I search around for women’s boxing news, I inevitably find some press related to new boxing or MMA classes and programs for women every few days.  That coupled with the upcoming debut of women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympics the sport is building a lot of momentum not only in the United States, but globally.

Andrecia Wasson

What’s cool is while I didn’t walk into a boxing gym until my early 40’s, girls like my daughter know the camaraderie and hard work of the gym starting as young as 8.   Detroit fighter, Andrecia Wasson is a case in point.  She first walked into the Warriors Boxing Club at the age of 12 and now as an 18-year-old Women’s Middleweight World Champion is starting her quest for Olympic gold.

The thing of it is, go to Gleason’s Gym on any Saturday morning and what you’ll find is a group of dedicated women boxers of all skill levels and ages plying their craft with heart and a lot of positive attitude — and then realize that those kinds of scenes are repeated all over the United States.  Then consider that it’s also repeated in places like India, China, Jordan, Zambia and Afghanistan.  That’s pretty heady stuff and something to feel very proud to be a part of.

Protecting yourself at all times

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Protecting yourself at all times

One of the great mantras of boxing is to protect yourself at all times.  That construct proved pivotal to Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” and as every trainer will tell you, never turn your back on a fighter.

The art of the handwrap — while not as dramatic an idea as getting cold-cocked by Lucia Rijker does give a boxer the protection required to keep their hands reasonably safe from chaffing, cuts and broken bones.

My first trainer, Johnny Grinage used to wrap each of my hands with two handwraps, placing a foam rubber pad over my knuckles with the second wrap.  This was just short of a “professional wrap” with batting and adhesive tape — which he did for me once or twice and I have to admit it felt great.

In those days, he had me training in 18 oz. gloves on heavy, heavy bags.  As Johnny was famous for shouting “I don’t want to see no pitty pat,” this meant that my hands took a lot of punishment – so my protection was to have “mummy wraps” and even then I had a lot of red knuckles at the end of a training session.

When I train now, I use the “Mexican” wraps, extra-long with a little bit of spandex in them.  I wrap them fairly snug, but not too tight — and as I train with 10 oz or 12 oz gloves I only need one on each hand.  When Lennox Blackmore wraps them, he uses a technique that adds a little extra padding to the knuckles, but I find that I am okay without them.    I’ll add that when I do a lot of heavy bag work, I will add a bit of foam to keep the knuckles safe.

There are also handwrap “gloves” on the market filled with foam or gel.  I personally find them to be uncomfortable inside a pair of boxing gloves, but will use them for speed bag work or the double-ended bag.  These types of gloves resemble MMA grappling gloves and are generally filled with some type of gel solution or foam.  The ones I use are made of leather and have thick foam over the knuckles.

Still, nothing beats a professional tape job by a master boxing trainer!

At the gym

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At the gym

When I hear the word gym, I always think of my old public school gym.  Built in the late 1950’s, it had painted cinderblock walls the most putrid green color one could possibly think of, enormous caged light fixtures and big windows that lined the top of the walls where they met the ceiling because the gym was located in the basement.

Considering just how big the gyms were, NYC public schools did not do much by way of sports when I went to school in the 1960’s.  In the winter months, we played newcomb and a variation of punch ball using a giant red rubber ball.  Or we’d just play catch with it.  We’d also play a variation of dodgeball where our entire class of 35+ kids would stand in a giant circle and throw the ball at each other *without* trying to knock each other down.   I can assure you that it didn’t work very well and someone inevitably got hit in the face.

Gyms also make me think of the Y, PAL, Boys and Girls clubs, and different Settlement Houses around the city where kids could go to play sports.  There was something very friendly about those places.  Everyone one wore gray or navy blue sweats and instead of running shoes, tennis shoes or basketball shoes, kids wore sneakers.

Later when the health club craze hit, the character of gyms seemed to change.  The large cavernous spaces became smaller and tighter and at the same time less about camaraderie and sports and more about individual achievement and beauty.  I know that I am over simplifying here, but the truth is, I always feel like an outsider walking into a health club.  The spaces always seem overly crowded with equipment and people not to mention music pounding so loud my ears hurt.  Perhaps too, my conception of sports comes into play — the idea being that it is hard for me push and pull machines or run to nowhere watching CNN or the Real Housewives of New Jersey without some other purpose that revolves around sports.

When I finally found my way into a boxing gym — I got some of that old feeling back of when I was a kid.  A space where people were engaged in an activity, but with a real sense that every aspect of the training is for some purpose — and importantly, that everyone is rooting for you no matter what your skill level.  Goodness knows that some boxing gyms are as funky as they come while others have borrowed a bit from the health club concept and have clean spaces and new equipment.  Still the feeling is welcoming and fun:  a place more about the work than anything else and that can be a pretty inspiring thing.

100th post today!

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100th post today!

The number 100 seems to have a lot of significance.

In boxing as with many other sports we talk about giving 100% of ourselves to our efforts.  It is also a marker for progress.  We speak of a president’s first 100 days in office as a measurement of success or failure.  We use the 100 degree measurement to signify the boiling point of water in Celsius.  We also often speak of the top 100 — say boxers of all time and consider a centenary birthday as a remarkable achievement as a much a testament to the human spirit to endure as to genetic make-up.

Thus, Girlboxing is proud, if humbled to mark its 100th post today.  Not to say that Girlboxing is even remotely in the league of the aforementioned achievements, rather, the number 100 is a marker for an ongoing personal commitment to a daily something.  To writing it down for personal growth as well as the chance to put out thoughts and ideas to the larger community.

Knowing that these thoughts and ideas have been listened to has been, well, humbling, exhilarating and a bit daunting!

Thank you to all Girlboxing readers and friends who have been so supportive of this blog — and of my efforts.  I am astounded that the blog has gotten this far and again have everyone to thank for encouraging me to keep on going.

I found the following on YouTube — pretty inspiring stuff, it represents the first 8 days of a 100 day fitness challenge!

(Note:  Will only play on YouTube)

PS – Big fights coming up in NYC!  Alicia “Slick” Ashley on January 13th @ Brooklyn’s Masonic Hall. Keisher Mcleod-Wells at B.B. Kings on February 9th.  Tickets available at Gleason’s Gym — link for information here.

Making it count

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Making it count

 

Brown Belt

 

Having achieved her brown belt, my daughter’s Aikido Sensei gave her about half a minute to rest on her laurels before starting the push towards her next goal.

She is ranked at 2.5 and must reach a 0.5 level before she will be invited to test for her Shidon or first rank Black Belt under the rules of the the Aikido World Alliance, the parent organization for her Dojo.  That will take three to four years, and given her age she will then wait at her 0.5 rank for some time before the AWA confers their invitation.

Her Sensei figures that as she is on her road towards a Black Belt — she is now not only an apprentice trainee with respect to all of the techniques that she must master, but more importantly she must also begin to learn the responsibilities of achieving the rank.  That is all pretty heady stuff for an 11-year-old, and yet, having been thrown to the front of her class to lead the warm-up, she has become cognizant of how difficult it is to command the attention and respect of a group of people long enough to actually get something done.

What she’s also learning is that small things matter.

In Aikido, stance is everything — much as in boxing — and finding the balance means a lot not only to her practice, but in her role as a novice teacher, to those of her students.  Thus she now sees when something is wrong and has begun to correct the tiniest of movements.  This process of breaking it down is helping her to ascertain the faults in her own practice — at least that’s her Sensei’s ingenious plan, though this last is perhaps the hardest to achieve.

Sometimes it is not really possible to articulate what happens beyond the realm of the pure mechanics of a particular set of movements.  In Aikido, that might mean the execution of a series of moves with a partner — pretty difficult stuff in that both partners must also act in a kind of harmony with each other even as the one may be attempting to toss the other to the ground.

Boxing offers something similar — a remarkable improvised dance executed by two well-skilled fighters balanced for ability and for that little something extra that comes from the heart.

Words to live by

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Words to live by

I came across this wonderful and inspiring talk with George Foreman.  It reflects the true spirit of the day.

 

Three days until

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Three days until

Okay, I admit it.  I’m an excited little kid when it comes to Christmas.  Given that it’s December 22, that means three whole days until — as well as that “eee-gads” feeling ’cause my Christmas shopping isn’t done.

If you’re in a similar boat, and if you haven’t yet gotten gifts for the boxer in your life (or that special something for yourself for that matter), you just may make it if you put in a super rush order with one of the boxing catalogs — though it’s a long shot. (Check out the Boxing Gear Page for a list of online websites and gift ideas.)

The alternative is to run over to a specialty store — if there is one near you (folks in the NYC can always go to G&S in downtown Manhattan) or you can  head over to a boxing gym for gear & t-shirts, and for NYC area dwellers there is always “Mo’s” for something like handwraps.

If that doesn’t work boxers can always use workout T’s, sweats, water bottles, hoodies, winter running apparel (hats, silk gloves, wicking socks, thick tights) and bags to lug all that boxing stuff in.  One- or two-pound hand weights are also great to shadow box with and boxers can always use a nice mat for sit-ups ’cause lets face it, the ones in a boxing gym can get pretty “funky.”  Those kinds of items are pretty readily available — and you can always head to a Yoga store for nice colors and an island of calm in an otherwise crowded mall.

A free lesson or two with a trainer or paying a yearly locker fee are also amazing gestures that would be very appreciated — and of course, you can always donate to a boxing charity in the name of a loved one (check out the Boxing Holiday Giving post for a few ideas).

Whatever you decide, enjoy your three days of shopping!

 

 

My locker

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My locker

I’ve had my locker at Gleason’s Gym for several years.  I used to schlep my stuff to the gym on a daily basis and then hope that one of the loaner “day” lockers was free.   In those instances even if I found a locker, more times than not, I’d forget to bring a lock or forget something at home, say my shoes or gloves or handwraps.  The solution of course, was to make the commitment to get a locker.

At Gleason’s as at other gyms, locker space is pretty dear.  Once I’d signed up to get one, it took several months before I actually got the call to telling me that I’d been assigned one.  Those months were a time of anticipation and frankly, outright jealousy as I’d ogle the lockers of my gym mates overflowing with gear, towels and deodorant.   When I finally did get the call, I was elated — and well, anxious.

What would I put in my locker?  Would it be big enough?  Should I purchase an extra shelf as I’d seen in other lockers?  Would I have enough places to hang things?  Oh, and the lock?  What type?  Would I remember the combination?

Coming into the gym my first day after getting “the call” I felt triumphant.  I had a locker with my last name prominently pasted to the outside of the locker door.  Opening it up, I felt a rush of excitement, never mind that it was exactly like the loaner lockers I’d been using all along, it was my locker, for my stuff; a little part of the world with my name on it that stored my special things.

After several visits to the gym, my locker began to take on the character of all the others I’d seen — overflowing with gear, and hard to close on cold days what with my winter boots and huge down coat.  Still it was mine, and if missed going to the gym for long stretches of time, my gear remained safely tucked in and at the ready for me.

This weekend I cleaned out my locker in anticipation of the area being bombed to kill goodness knows what kind of insects.  One of the last to get to the gym on Saturday afternoon, I felt wistful seeing the locker room so empty.  The treat was being reunited with stuff I’d long since tucked away inside bags or other crevices.  Who knew that I had my own speed bag??  This after just having put one on my Christmas list!  I was also reunited with my favorite pair of socks which I’d assumed had long since gone to sock heaven, not to mention mouth pieces, head gear, my daughter’s gear from when she was 8 years old and used to train a lot, and even my yoga mat.

Hauling my big laundry bag of stuff home, I of course resolved to keep my locker neater as I worked out where to purchase a large mesh bag to store gear so I’d actually *know* what was in there.  Mostly though, I was able to think through individual moments at the gym and came up the big hill on Washington Street with a smile.

Women who box

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Women who box

Nechama Brodie ready for a 'white collar' bout at the Armoury Boxing Club in Cape Town taking it like a woman on Fight Night. (David Harrison, M&G)

Women’s boxing has taken on a global character.  What’s interesting is many of the drivers for women’s participation in the sport seem universal:  empowerment, fitness and a way to get themselves where they want to go.

An article in a South African paper caught my eye this morning.  The article is written by Nechama Brodie.  She has entered the ring as a “white collar” boxer in two fights out of Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa.

As she writes, even sparring is not for the faint of heart. “‘Get used to it. It’s a man’s sport,’  [trainer] Shayvonne Pattison said to me, when I asked her to stop hitting me quite so hard in the head.”

The allusion to it’s being a “man’s sport,” however, has more to do with the seriousness of the intent during training, something many women who train will attest — so much so, that in my opinion boxing is certainly a “woman’s sport” with all the heart and fortitude that it implies.  As well, with the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, women’s boxing is beginning to engender the respect it’s deserved all along.

Her article is a well-written piece published in this South Africa’s Mail & Guardian Online edition and can be found here.