Tag Archives: boxing training

Saturday gym time

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Saturday gym time
I had a great workout today though I have to admit I am tired, tired, tired, with deltoids that are craving a warm bath and a swim in the waters off Maui.  Oh well … back to reality in Brooklyn.  Gleason’s was really hopping which helped to up my energy whenever I felt as if I was flagging.

The best part was running into Keisher “Fire” Mcleod-Wells who is getting ready for her fight on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 @ B. B. Kings promoted by DiBella Entertainment.  This is what she had to say:

Fire’s got five (5) tickets left — and will love your support.  For more information call Gleason’s Gym @ 718-797-2872.  Tickets can also be purchased at the door on fight night.

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.

A little jab time

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A little jab time

Holly Holm v. Tricia Turton

Girlboxing is having one of those busy days!  Too much work, too many obligations, not enough time!  To pep it all up and to remind us all that Spring *will* come — here are some secrets on how to perfect your Jab from across the pond!

 

 

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!

The world keeps on spinning

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The world keeps on spinning

As pressed for time as my life is it’s nice to take some moments to do nothing but drift.  By drift I do not necessarily mean gorking-out in front of the TV or getting memorized by online catalog sales.  No, drift time are those moments when the imagination can soar — such as going for a walk where you let your “feet do the walking” instead of taking yourself on a straight line from A to B.

It’s those opportunities for shaking up your tree that lets you take-in things you might not ordinarily see.  Say walking along and only observing the second floors of buildings.  There are some wonderous things to see!  Oddly carved gargoyles, balconies to no where, hand painted signs, and an assortment of drapes and window dressings that ranges from austere Modernism to Rococo to the merely ordinary.

So too with exercising.  You can have solid morning calisthenics, classes you take, routes for your daily run, sacrosanct Yoga DVD’s, and for boxers the set-list of rounds for each type of boxing training plus the time you spend with your trainer.  What’s nice is to spin yourself around by trying something a little bit different.  This sort of drift time let’s your body find its way to where you want to be.  That can mean an entirely new route for your run, yoga poses you never thought you could achieve, or in the boxing gym, a rhythm to your heavy bag or speed-bag work you didn’t know you had.

I guess the point is that we all need to step out of the ordinary so that we can find new ways of doing things.  Whether its writing a story backwards, taking a stab at creating an oddly shaped pot on the potter’s wheel or spinning a globe with your kids and inventing stories about what life would be like if you all lived in those places.  Believe me, nothing earth shattering will happen if you let things unfold without having structured it.  What you might find is a feeling of relaxation and calm that otherwise alludes you as your go about your overly busy day — at least that’s what I’ve found when I remember to give myself the time.

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.

Boxing day

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Boxing day

Now that I’ve gone to a once a week training schedule for boxing, I find myself getting really excited by the time Friday comes along.  The daily fitness routine I’ve found that can work with my schedule these days is based around early morning yoga, but it’s the thought of boxing that gets me pumped up and ready to go.

My Saturday morning boxing routine begins with dropping my daughter off for her Aikido practice, after which I take a nice long walk over to  Gleason’s Gym. By the time I get there I’ve logged 2-1/2 miles at a pretty fast pace so I am nice and loose.  About a 1/2 mile out, I start pumping my arms a bit so that by the time I hit the gym I feel ready for one of my two favorites:  three rounds on the double-ended bag or three rounds of shadow boxing using the slip-rope.

For those who don’t usually practice, the slip-rope is real old-school consisting of something as simple as a clothes line tied between two poles or across the ring around 15 feet apart at about chest height. The object is to move forwards and backwards along the line and “slip” under as practice for slipping a punch. The slip-rope is also great for practicing upper cuts under the line — or for simulating jabs to the body and jabs to the head.  By around the third round, I feel loose enough to dance around the slip-rope going forwards, backwards, and circling.  Having the rope at chest height not only helps to “remind” me to slip, but also gives me an approximation of where to place body versus head punches.

Alternatively, I’ll use the double-ended bag for warm-ups starting with a round of lefts and finishing the second two rounds with combinations and a lot of hooks or upper cuts off the jab.

If I can train with Lennox Blackmore, we’ll do three rounds of pad work — with an aim of getting to four rounds by the end of January, five rounds by the end of February and six rounds by the end of March!  Once we’re done with the pads, it’s back to the double-ended bag for three rounds to work on punches and combinations that Lennox and I focused on during the training session on the pads. This helps to solidify moves, especially slipping punches to counter — a Lennox special. After that, it’s on to the speed bag for three rounds and then a whole lotta’ abs!  I’ll add that if Len isn’t around, I might work-out for three rounds on the heavy bag in lieu of pad work, or add in an extra three on the double-ended bag.

By the end I’m exhausted, but happy — and ready for the quick walk back over to pick-up my daughter.  I hope to keep this going for about three months so that by April I’ll be fit enough to get back into the ring for some light sparring.  We’ll see!

Women’s boxing everywhere

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Women’s boxing everywhere

Young Afghani Women Boxing, Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

MSNBC is carrying a fabulous photo essay of young Afghani women boxing.  The joy in their faces says it all.  The link is here.  The photographs were shot by photojournalist Shah Marai for AFP.

 

Alicia "Slick" Ashley, readies for her Main Event fight on January 19, 2011.

The Brooklyn Explosion boxing card @ Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple will feature Alicia “Slick” Ashley in main event bout against Crystal Hoy tomorrow night.  Promoted by New York’s own “Million Dollar Baby,” Maureen Shea, the evening is historic as the first promoting a woman’s title bout as a main event.

 

LaTarisha Fountain, Photo credit: Savulich/News

The New York Daily News in its continuing series on up-and-coming Golden Gloves contenders had a terrific piece on Olympic hopeful LaTarisha Fountain.  The former point guard for Pace University won her first Golden Gloves last year at 152 lbs. and hopes to repeat it again in her quest for a spot on next year’s US Olympic Women’s Boxing team.  The link to the article is here.

 

84th Daily News Golden Gloves

As a reminder, this year’s Daily News Golden Gloves gets underway on Thursday, January 20th at B. B. Kings Club.

 

The Fighter wins big at the Golden Globes

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The Fighter wins big at the Golden Globes

Congratulations to Melissa Leo and Christian Bale for winning Golden Globes awards for their supporting roles in the Micky Ward biopic, The Fighter.

Melissa Leo brought a gritty realism to her role as Alice Ward.   As for Christian Bale, his role as Dicky Eklund was as honest as they come.

This project was obviously a labor of love by Mark Wahlberg and his team and deserves thanks from the boxing community for all their efforts in bringing this film to the screen.

Girlboxing also extends our best wishes to Alice Ward for a speedy recovery.  She was hospitalized on January 12th for a cardiac arrest and is reportedly fighting her way back in the true spirit of her boxer sons.

Your all the way for right now

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Your all the way for right now

These days I can get to the boxing gym on Saturday mornings.  That’s a step up from the fall when I rarely put in an appearance and definitely better than the summer when I didn’t go at all.  At the time, I was agonizing over missed opportunities. Say during the weeks that my daughter was at summer camp! What I couldn’t get to, however, was a way of not thinking that gym time could only mean a three-day a week minimum.  Anything less didn’t feel like “training” and so I ended up blowing off the whole thing!

I’ve come to a an easier agreement with myself.  I’m going the distance with what I’m doing — on the best terms that I can set for now.  For my gym time that means, I can go on Saturdays for upwards of one and a half to two hours.  And if I show up on a Sunday or some evening during the week, so much the better, but the deal I’ve made with myself is for Saturday.

In practical terms it means that I’m a lot less stressed about it — and can actually gain the benefits of my gym time without that agonizing inner dialogue about not doing enough.   The truth is, I’d like nothing better than to put in a two-hour boxing workout every day, but that is just not possible.  What is possible are the things I can commit to on real terms — and attempting anything else is just plain silly because it won’t get done.

I call it the six-pack abs thing!  Sure, they’re there — but like digging for gold, they’re underneath the surface!

My body will never, ever, ever have a visible six-pack, but …. what I can have is a body that is strong, fit and healthy with enough stamina to get through a Saturday workout without panting.

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.

Odds and ends about training

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Odd and ends about training

Belinda Laracuente


I trained at Gleason’s yesterday.  Due to some time constraints I only had about an hour — but what an hour it was.

First off, thanks to my daily dose of Yoga, my stamina was light-years beyond the week before to the point where Lennox was asking what I’d put in my Wheaties.   Not that I’d ever been one to proselytize (?!?) — but I’ve got to say that Yoga practice, even the Yoga 101 that I do really can make a difference in one’s stamina, core strength and flexibility.

Sonya Lamonakis

The second great thing about yesterday morning was watching the likes of pro-heavyweight fighter Sonya Lamonakis  train.  Sonya, ranked number three in her weight class sparred several hard rounds with Belinda Laracuente another sensational fighter who also works as a trainer at Gleason’s.  As well, I caught sight of Alicia Ashley readying for her upcoming main event bout on January 13th at Brooklyn’s Masonic Hall.

The mention also goes out to all the women I trained with young and old, novice and pro who were working their butts off.

What a great day!

 

Get up offa’ that thing

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Get up offa’ that thing

James Brown!

 

Yep, it’s that kind of day.  Getting up offa’ that thing!

As JB says:  “Feel good?  Feel good?”

Sometimes it’s the only answer!  Enjoy!

 

Relaxing at will

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Relaxing at will

I’ve been doing Yoga on and off for more years than I care to remember considering that I’m still a rank beginner!

Oh well, not that I’m counting, but it is kind of funny to be struggling with the same poses twenty years after learning them.   What I have found is that when I begin to practice with some regularity my rank amateur status seems to fall away pretty quickly.  In a matter of days, my body is limber again and I’m amazed at my renewed strength and the tautness of my muscles — and this from the “easy” Vinyasa Yoga (where you work on smooth breathing and the flow of movement), not to mention the “power” varieties that have you posing on the tip toes of one foot with your arms in the air or something like that.

Given that I’m no Guru, I do find that incorporating some Yoga practice into the day provides a chance to stretch safely in poses that help to slow down the breath — and therefore create a space for relaxation, the side benefit being some additional fitness.

My renewed flexibility also helps my boxing – a lot.  I find that my stamina increases and as my overall “tone” is improved, it adds a little something extra to my boxing training.

Yoga classes certainly abound for every level of fitness and stamina — YouTube, Netflix and Hulu have tons of online options.  If you are new to Yoga or haven’t done it in a while, you’ll want to look for beginning classes or find the sun salutation sequences which are a terrific way to wake-up your body in the morning. You may not be able to relax at will after your first class, but after a few days you’ll sure feel better and it is a nice option for your daily something.

 

Alarm clocks and the bell

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Alarm clocks and the bell

I’ve been hit by the iPhone alarm clock bug.  Yep, my trusty morning wake-up call pooped-out of me this morning — and so my morning is already 45 minutes late.

As someone who loves boxing, I am otherwise bound by life in three-minute intervals: the boxing clock.  The typical timer has three flavors.  Green, yellow and red.  Green is lit-up for two and a half minutes before it dings and turns yellow for a further thirty-seconds.  The next bell is usually a fairly loud racket that signifies the turn to red and a sixty-second rest period.

At the gym yesterday, I used the “yellow” period to quicken up my pace as I trained.  My training consisted of nine rounds on the double-ended bag and a further three rounds on the speed bag before starting the abs torture.  This is not a typical training session, but that’s the beauty of a Sunday, it gives me a chance to challenge myself on different aspects of boxing.

Yesterday was all about lefts and upper-cuts as three-minute exercises.  First lefts, then left-left-right combinations, followed by left-left upper cut combinations and finally, right-left, right-left, right-left uppercuts finishing with the left jab off the left uppercut.

When I train throwing nothing but lefts for some part of the boxing clock or the entire three minutes, I hear trainers in my head talking about how such and such a fighter won a 12-round fight with nothing but lefts.  Hyperbole aside (although I swear someone did do that), challenging oneself to the equivalent of nothing but lefts as a timed exercise has a lot of benefits.  I used to do it as a writing exercise, setting an egg-timer for five minutes and writing down whatever entered my head without letting the pen off the page.

Yesterday’s workout was a variation on that.  Working on speed, agility and most importantly stamina.  By my last three speed-bag rounds I was pretty much “done,” however, I did try to use the last thirty seconds of each round to pound away without stopping on my alternating left hand and right hand 8-count, 4-count, 2-count, 1-1-1-1, speed-bag rhythm.   I was mostly successful and did feel that I earned the latte treat from Starbucks afterwards.

I’ll never get back the 45 minutes I lost this morning — that’s 15 rounds of boxing or nine timed writing sessions.  Oh well.  There’s always tomorrow.