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Workout #2, General Conditioning - Barbell

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Consult your physician before starting any exercise program. Boxing is a contact sport. The information given here is for educational instruction. Participant assumes all risks in practical application.

Drills for Prime Positioning

In the last article I discussed with you Building a Solid Foundation of Coaches and Officials using the rules as facts. If the scoring target needs to be seen by a judge to score, then we can conclude that the boxer who places their back to the most judges is in the safest and most advantageous position for scoring. This month I will discuss Drills for Prime Positioning.

Coaches blame judges for bad outcomes all the time. Looking at the facts, the rules tell us that the judges are neutral. They are as much for a boxer as there are against them. That means I, as a boxing coach, need to do everything in my power, strategically, so they score for my athlete. I encourage you as a coach to look at boxing as a team sport rather than an individual sport. Let’s imagine the ring is a basketball court and there are six members on the team, one boxer and five judges. If I am the imaginary point guard, my job is to make sure my teammate is open, or I create an opening before I pass the ball. Amateur boxing is very similar. I train my boxers where to be in the ring so the judge is “open”. If the judges are not open, the boxer gets to create openings with positioning. The more judges that are open at once, the more options the boxer has for them to view scoring shots.

I grew up near the Motor City and as a result, I teach with an assembly line approach, progressing through introductory drills that are 1-safe, controlled and FUN, 2-pattern drills that involve COMPETITION and 3-drills that emphasize WINNING. The first step is to give a lesson that encourages the team to identify, recognize and discover the basic strategy for Prime Positioning.

Prime Positioning Lesson: To summarize, Prime Positioning is when a boxer hides their scoring target from the most judges, simultaneously placing their opponent’s target in view of the most judges. In national and international tournaments there are three sides with one judge and one side with two judges. The boxer's goal is to keep their back, and their opponent’s front, to as many judges as possible. This means their back should ideally be towards the side with two judges every time they are on offense.

The following lesson is worded the way I would teach it. Know the positioning strategy (you can refresh by re-reading the article, Building a Strong Foundation of Coaches & Officials) so it comes from you in a genuine manner. Consider doing a trial run of the lesson with all the coaches in your gym so they all know and understand the strategy.

The first step is a lesson introducing the concept of Prime Positioning to your team.

-Place pylons around the ring in the judges positions (one on each of three sides and two pylons on the fourth side).

-Gather your team on the strong side, the side with two judges ten feet apart from each other (see previous article).

-Ask for two volunteers and place them into the ring. Instruct them to move around as if they are boxing but without punches, and to freeze where they are when you command “stop”.

-Ask the group on the floor to identify the scoring target on a boxer and allow them to answer. This is an easy Q & A. The purpose is to warm them up so that they participate in the lesson and not just sit by and wait for the answers to be told to them.

-Instruct the boxers to box and encourage them to move around the entire ring. After a few seconds tell them to “stop”. Ask the group, “Which boxer’s scoring target do you see?” and allow answers.

-Repeat this ‘box, stop, ask’ sequence a couple of times telling the boxers to stop in a variety of positions in the ring. Around the third or fourth time wait until one boxer has their back to the group and one is facing the group. Ask again, “whose scoring target do you see? Who’s do you not see?” and allow for answers. “If the majority of judges are sitting where you are, which boxer would you rather be? The one showing their target or the one hiding their target?”, then allow them time to discuss it.

People learn best if they come up with the idea instead of being told what the answer is. Your job as a coach is to guide the athlete into the direction and allow them to come up with the answer themselves. Ask them when they have come up with a final answer and then reinforce the right answer with praise. Now that they understand the basic concept of keeping their scoring target away from the judges you can take a more aggressive coaching role and tell them how this can be applied in a strategy.

“When you hide your scoring target from the most judges, you simultaneously place your opponent’s target in view of the most judges. There are three sides with one judge and one side with two judges. Your goal is to keep your back and opponent’s front to as many judges as possible. This means your back should ideally be towards the side with two judges every time you are on the offense. If you are ahead on points and/or want a break you can float around, but when you want to score, the best place to be is with your back to the two judges. Does anyone have any questions?”

FUN Drill (patterning with minimal competition qualities):

PURPOSE

- Score points by placing partner in position in the ring so judge sees the opponent's scoring target. Practice positioning and controlling with footwork and ringmanship.

Jabs are used as the only offense and blocking/catching are the only defense (slipping and other evasive defensive tools can be used in more advanced drills. Adding those extra elements simply complicates the drill, making it more about punching than footwork and ring control). This drill is not about the punch but controlling the ring with footwork. The jab/block relation acts as a signal for the Judge to score.

PROCEDURE

-Form groups of three. One boxer will be Offense, one Defense and one the Judge, standing outside the ring on the apron.

-The boxer on offense is limited to just using the jab, being in complete control of executing perfect range, not over crowding the punch, not striking their partner and maintaining a safe and controlled distance. The defensive boxer is only allowed to use blocking/catching and footwork as defensive tools. The offensive boxer must respect this and execute exact range approximately 6" in front of the Defensive Boxer's face.

-This drill is about positioning and ring control, not landing punches.

-Rotate every round (Judge switches to Offense, Offense switches to Defense, and Defense to Judge). The athlete in the Judge position has the most important role in this drill.

-Every time the defensive boxer faces the “judge” when the offensive boxer jabs a “point!” is declared.

-Every time the defensive boxer has their back to the judge when a jab is thrown the judge will state, “No point”. This will reinforce that both boxers want to be with their back to the judge (representing the strong side of the ring).

-The boxer acting as a judge on the outside of the ring is also coaching range and intensity. The offensive boxer must maintain perfect range and not not become too aggressive. The defensive boxer only has blocking and footwork as a defense. Not being able to use slipping or other evasive tools the offensive boxer must maintain their reach fairly and will be kept in check by the third boxer, outside the ring.

COMPETITION Drill:

PURPOSE

To practice ring positioning with an element of "trading punches" and creating a slightly competitive environment without actually awarding a winner or loser.

PROCEDURE

-Similar to the drill above except the two boxers inside the ring trade offense and defense every three jabs instead of every round.

-Every round one of the boxers will switch out and the Judge replaces them in the ring.

-The Judge still declares when a point is witnessed (you can use the optional "no point" but it is unnecessary). Because of the back and forth nature of the game, “competition” is introduced inside of a controlled environment still without a winner or loser.

Advanced: add all defenses against jab and allow striking on scoring target.

WINNING Drill (Full spar with jabs only):

PURPOSE

To practice ring control, punches and defenses simultaneously in a competitive environment where a winner is declared.

PROCEDURE

-This is a two person drill with an actual coach watching and keeping score.

-Similar to the previous drills where both boxers are throwing punches at will, with a goal of scoring the most points. It is similar to competition with jabs only. The coach on the outside will keep score and announce a winner at the end of each round. The coach can still say the points out loud, to reinforce effective positioning, but will use an Up/Down system, similar to the 20 point must scoring. For example:

Boxer Action = Coach Statement

Blue scores = "Blue up"

Blue scores = "Blue up by 2"

Red scores = "Blue up by 1"

Blue scores = "Blue up by 2"

Round ends = "Blue wins by 2"

-The coach can decide to either continue the scoring for the next round or score each round independently and declare a winner at the end of the assigned amount of rounds.

Advanced: add all punches and the coach keeps score of all landed shots from either hand.

NOTE: it is a MUST with this Winning Drill to instruct the people acting as "Judges" to only score shots they actually see land on the scoring target and not the ones they think or infer to have landed eg. head snapping back does not constitute a scoring shot unless the target was seen to be hit. This will also allow them to appreciate and respect the challenges of judging even more.

NOTE: In the following diagrams the BLUE boxer is always in the advantageous position

In theory, controlling the strong side is important, but in reality there are five judges not just two. When drawing diagrams I always place the two judge "strong side" in the south position. To maximize ring control, split the ring in half, from post to post on a diagonal line (see diagrams below). This diagonal Half Ring strategy has been used successfully by the Cubans and European Countries since the introduction of computer scoring.

Note: Give landmark references for the boxer. A boxer’s eyes are in the front of their head, not the back. When a boxer is instructed to keep their back to the two judges, it may be easier said than done. Coach your athletes to landmark from what is in front of them. For example with the orthodox vs orthodox scenario below, tell the boxer to keep the blue corner to their left. That way they know to move if they have the blue corner to their right because they are in the opposite position they want to be for scoring.

ORTHODOX vs ORTHODOX – Position in SE half of ring with back towards maximum judges and opponent’s target will be seen by most judges. Positioning is the priority with skills being secondary. It does not matter how great a punch is if it is not effectively viewed by at least three judges. You can see by the judges' lines of sight that three judges view the Red Boxer's scoring target.

SOUTH PAW vs ORTHODOX – Judges views are always equal (both contestants will show or hide scoring target simultaneously) so skills are primary and positioning is secondary concern. Skills to emphasize are long, straight counters.

SOUTH PAW vs SOUTH PAW – Reversed strategies as Ortho vs Ortho. Winning position is in the SW half of ring. Again, positioning is primary and skills are secondary.

Coaching from the Judge’s Perspective

This may have been a huge factor in the 2008 Olympics. In AIBA ring set up, the two judges are positioned to the right of the blue corner. When a coach sits in the Red Corner their view is opposite of the two judges. Often there will be shots witnessed by the Red Coach but are blocked from the two judges views. This means the Red Coach needs to give instruction from the “strong side” even if they’re sitting opposite the strong side.

This will be a learned skill. Initially practice scoring points with the boxing (FUN, COMPETITION, WINNING) drills above, standing on the strong side. When you feel comfortable with your observation skills and have mastered “scoring” from the strong side, begin to stand in other corners and verbally score out loud as if you were standing on the strong side, even though you are not.

Advanced: switch the cones up. Once your boxers are performing the Prime Positioning strategies, switch the positions of the cones. This will create new landmark coaching opportunities.

The strategies discussed here are not secret weapons that guarantee wins. It’s kind of like the jab. Everyone who walks into the ring knows how to throw a jab but the boxer who knows when to throw it and how to execute it inside a variety of strategies will win. Every one of our American boxers who compete in domestic or international tournaments should understand these positioning strategies. The boxer that knows how to use the skills necessary to perform these strategies best will win. Practice, practice, practice.

"Fun, compete, win" references a lesson from the Canadian National Coaching Certification Program

Workout #2 – General Conditioning - Barbell

Purpose

To strengthen muscles, tendons, ligament of whole body-preparing for future phases of maximum strength and power development.

This month’s workout is a General Conditioning Barbell Workout, designed for a boxer who has been in the gym for 4-6 weeks and it is time for something new. We are still strengthening the muscles of the entire body and not just the ones specific to boxing. There is a misconception in boxing that barbells will slow an athlete down and bulk them up. There is absolutely no difference between doing a barbell bench press or a push up other than the weight for the barbell can be adjusted as the pushup weight is constant. A new athlete that is not able to do five push ups is very able to execute a bench press exercise at 25 repetitions when the weight is adjusted. Hypertrophy (muscle growth) usually happens with exercises performed 6-12 repetitions. Within 30 seconds an exercise can be executed 15-25 times, enhancing muscle endurance, perfect for the sport of boxing.

Procedure

Use this workout in a circuit style performing each exercise of Stage 1 for 30 seconds, for a total time of 3 minutes. Rest for 30 seconds and back to it. Repeat stage 1 two more times for a total of three rounds with 30 seconds rest between rounds. Take a minute off and begin Stage 2 for 30 seconds each for a total of 3 minutes. Repeat stage 2, two more times for a total of three rounds.

Total time is less than 25 minutes and can be done three days a week at the end of class.

Stage 1

Bent row

Deadlift

Upright row

Shoulder press

Squat

Bench press

Stage 2

Overhead Triceps extension

Bicep curl

Calf raises