P
Pugilistic
Guest
I’ve already discussed a similar topic in my thread about why I think Floyd Mayweather is greater than Pacquiao and Ali, but I think it’s an important topic so I’m going discuss it again in different light.
I’ve been training boxing close to a decade now and I have always had problems with the jab. To me it was the hardest punch to “get” especially in terms of using it with a purpose, rather than just throwing it mindlessly. It was frustrating to think that I was boxer and I didn’t quite get how to use a freaking jab. I never threw it a lot and when I did, it was to merely precede a right hand out of habit. That is, until now. I am finally coming to a point where I can control my sparring partners with the jab and set up different things with it, and play the long game where I lure them into something a round or two later. I set up a jab to the body with a jab to the head, set up a jab to the head with a jab to the body, set up a left hook with a jab, set up a jab with a left hook, etc. Sparring matches that used to be firefights now can be dictated into boxing matches.
This change happened actually pretty recently in the past two months. What changed is that I have been practicing the jab with repeated purpose. I threw jabs, both to the body and head, repeatedly on the bag. Over and over again. After a while something clicked. Same thing happened with me for the lead left hook and right uppercut. I would use some rounds to throw nothing but the left hook over and over again on the bag. At different distances and angles and timing. Sometimes I would stand in place and throw it repeatedly while thinking of wrist alignment and placement. Several weeks later, something clicked, and the next time I sparred, I found myself finding the timing for my left hook vastly improved. Perhaps it’s because the punch has become so ingrained in my nervous system that my body wants to automatically throw as soon as it sees an opening. Whatever the reason, what’s already been my best punch has become even better. Now the same is happening for the jab. All I needed was lots and lots and lots of practice.
Of course this is all an obvious lesson. We all intrinsically know that practice makes perfect. But I didn’t really think about this consciously, much less put it into practice. I think a lot of people know practice makes you better at something, but underestimate how much practice is needed, and get discouraged when they don’t get the gratification as soon as they’d like. I’m certainly no different.
None of the punches I’ve mentioned were new to me obviously since I’ve first set foot in my boxing gym close to ten years ago and been in several matches since then. But I’ve recently practiced these punches with a new purpose and awareness with repetitive intent and intentional repetition. It feels like I’ve gotten better at throwing my jab and left hook in the past couple months than in the past couple years.
This all coincides with my finally reading a book called the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you don’t know who Pressfield is, he is the author of an amazing novel the Gates of Fire, which revolves around the Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. War of Art is also an amazing book about finding your muse that I knew about but didn’t get around to reading it until now. It’s basically saying if you have a passion, a goal, a craft, you have to buckle down and get to work, every day. Even if your work sucks, put in the time and put in the work. Even if there are days you don’t feel like it or have doubts, just do it anyway. Pressfield calls this the Resistance, and fighting against it is the biggest challenge.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from boxing that was affirmed in this book and with my experiences with trying to pick up women as well as writing, was that fighting against the urge to give into your laziness/fears/doubts and keeping at what you’re trying to do, is the biggest victory. I was for a short stint into pickup, and I approached chicks on the street, at bars and bookstores to get over social anxiety and my lack of confidence when it comes to women. And of course, get laid in the process. I wasn’t into it as much as some guys who take bootcamps and buy instructional videos; I just saw videos on youtube and that inspired me to chat up random women. In the beginning it was jarring as I had no idea what to say or do. I would just say fuck it and say hi and just look at the girl while trying to figure out what to say next. I was fucking terrible at it and I kept at it, talking to maybe 5 or 6 women a week, which isn’t a lot by pick up standards. The biggest triumphs and surprisingly some of the best interactions with women have been when I felt the most nervous and most like not approaching but did it anyway. At one point, after numerous rejections, something clicked, and I gained a shit ton of confidence and with it, numbers and dates. Similar with writing. When I began writing stories and poems, the first few ones I wrote wore absolute shit. I kept it, and sometimes I just wrote knowing it will be shit, and sometimes I read what I wrote and I’m impressed with myself. With both pickup and writing, I didn’t have instruction other than youtube videos and books respectively.
So when you feel like shit, feel lazy, or whatever, go to the gym and put in some work even it’s for a couple rounds. Fight the resistance. There have been extremely few instances where I felt tired and went anyway and felt like I should’ve rested after all. Almost always, I feel more invigorated and end up training more than I initially planned and I go home feeling so fucking glad that I did train. I’m not saying that one can’t ask inquire into theory to improve, but sometimes the answer to improvement is the simplest one: practice. se a freaking jab. I never threw it a lot and when I did, it was to merely precede a right hand out of habit. That is, until now. I am finally coming to a point where I can control my sparring partners with the jab and set up different things with it, and play the long game where I lure them into something a round or two later. I set up a jab to the body with a jab to the head, set up a jab to the head with a jab to the body, set up a left hook with a jab, set up a jab with a left hook, etc. Sparring matches that used to be firefights now can be dictated into boxing matches.
This change happened actually pretty recently in the past two months. What changed is that I have been practicing the jab with repeated purpose. I threw jabs, both to the body and head, repeatedly on the bag. Over and over again. After a while something clicked. Same thing happened with me for the lead left hook and right uppercut. I would use some rounds to throw nothing but the left hook over and over again on bag. At different distances and angles and timing. Sometimes I would stand in place and throw it repeatedly while thinking of wrist alignment and placement. Several weeks later, something clicked, and the next time I sparred, I found myself finding the timing for my left hook vastly improved. Perhaps it’s because the punch has become so ingrained in my nervous system that my body wants to automatically throw as soon as it sees an opening. Whatever the reason, what’s already been my best punch has become even better. Now the same is happening for the jab. All I needed was lots and lots and lots of practice.
Of course this is all an obvious lesson. We all intrinsically know that practice makes perfect. But I didn’t really think about this consciously, much less put it into practice. I think a lot of people know practice makes you better at something, but underestimate how much practice is needed, and get discouraged when they don’t get the gratification as soon as they’d like. I’m certainly no different.
None of the punches I’ve mentioned were new to me obviously since I’ve first set foot in my boxing gym close to ten years ago and been in several matches since then. But I’ve recently practiced these punches with a new purpose and awareness with repetitive intent and intentional repetition. It feels like I’ve gotten better at throwing my jab and left hook in the past couple months than in the past couple years.
This all coincides with my finally reading a book called the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you don’t know who Pressfield is, he is the author of an amazing novel the Gates of Fire, which revolves around the Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. War of Art is also an amazing book about finding your muse that I knew about but didn’t get around to reading it until now. It’s basically saying if you have a passion, a goal, a craft, you have to buckle down and get to work, every day. Even if your work sucks, put in the time and put in the work. Even if there are days you don’t feel like it or have doubts, just do it anyway. Pressfield calls this the Resistance, and fighting against it is the biggest challenge.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from boxing that was affirmed in this book and with my experiences with trying to pick up women as well as writing, was that fighting against the urge to give into your laziness/fears/doubts and keeping at when you’re trying to do, is the biggest victory. I was for a short stint into pickup, and I approached chicks on the street, at bars and bookstores to get over social anxiety and my lack of confidence when it comes to women. And of course, get laid in the process. I wasn’t into it as much as some guys who take bootcamps and buy instructional videos; I just saw videos on youtube and that inspired me to chat up random women. In the beginning it was jarring as I had no idea what to say or do. I would just say fuck it and say hi and just look at the girl while trying to figure out what to say next. I was fucking terrible at it and I kept at it, talking to maybe 5 or 6 women a week, which isn’t a lot by pick up standards. The biggest triumphs and surprisingly some of the best interactions with women have been when I felt the most nervous and most like not approaching but did it anyway. At one point, after numerous rejections, something clicked, and I gained a shit ton of confidence and with it, numbers and dates. Similar with writing. When I began writing stories and poems, the first few ones I wrote wore absolute shit. I kept it, and sometimes I just wrote knowing it will be shit, and sometimes I read what I wrote and I’m impressed with myself. With both pickup and writing, I didn’t have instruction other than youtube videos and books respectively.
So when you feel like shit, feel lazy, or whatever, go to the gym and put in some work even it’s for a couple rounds. Fight the resistance. There have been extremely few instances where I felt tired and went anyway and felt like I should’ve rested after all. Almost always, I feel more invigorated and end up training more than I initially planned and I go home feeling so fucking glad that I did train. I’m not saying that one can’t ask inquire into theory to improve, but sometimes the answer to improvement is the simplest one: practice.
I’ve been training boxing close to a decade now and I have always had problems with the jab. To me it was the hardest punch to “get” especially in terms of using it with a purpose, rather than just throwing it mindlessly. It was frustrating to think that I was boxer and I didn’t quite get how to use a freaking jab. I never threw it a lot and when I did, it was to merely precede a right hand out of habit. That is, until now. I am finally coming to a point where I can control my sparring partners with the jab and set up different things with it, and play the long game where I lure them into something a round or two later. I set up a jab to the body with a jab to the head, set up a jab to the head with a jab to the body, set up a left hook with a jab, set up a jab with a left hook, etc. Sparring matches that used to be firefights now can be dictated into boxing matches.
This change happened actually pretty recently in the past two months. What changed is that I have been practicing the jab with repeated purpose. I threw jabs, both to the body and head, repeatedly on the bag. Over and over again. After a while something clicked. Same thing happened with me for the lead left hook and right uppercut. I would use some rounds to throw nothing but the left hook over and over again on the bag. At different distances and angles and timing. Sometimes I would stand in place and throw it repeatedly while thinking of wrist alignment and placement. Several weeks later, something clicked, and the next time I sparred, I found myself finding the timing for my left hook vastly improved. Perhaps it’s because the punch has become so ingrained in my nervous system that my body wants to automatically throw as soon as it sees an opening. Whatever the reason, what’s already been my best punch has become even better. Now the same is happening for the jab. All I needed was lots and lots and lots of practice.
Of course this is all an obvious lesson. We all intrinsically know that practice makes perfect. But I didn’t really think about this consciously, much less put it into practice. I think a lot of people know practice makes you better at something, but underestimate how much practice is needed, and get discouraged when they don’t get the gratification as soon as they’d like. I’m certainly no different.
None of the punches I’ve mentioned were new to me obviously since I’ve first set foot in my boxing gym close to ten years ago and been in several matches since then. But I’ve recently practiced these punches with a new purpose and awareness with repetitive intent and intentional repetition. It feels like I’ve gotten better at throwing my jab and left hook in the past couple months than in the past couple years.
This all coincides with my finally reading a book called the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you don’t know who Pressfield is, he is the author of an amazing novel the Gates of Fire, which revolves around the Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. War of Art is also an amazing book about finding your muse that I knew about but didn’t get around to reading it until now. It’s basically saying if you have a passion, a goal, a craft, you have to buckle down and get to work, every day. Even if your work sucks, put in the time and put in the work. Even if there are days you don’t feel like it or have doubts, just do it anyway. Pressfield calls this the Resistance, and fighting against it is the biggest challenge.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from boxing that was affirmed in this book and with my experiences with trying to pick up women as well as writing, was that fighting against the urge to give into your laziness/fears/doubts and keeping at what you’re trying to do, is the biggest victory. I was for a short stint into pickup, and I approached chicks on the street, at bars and bookstores to get over social anxiety and my lack of confidence when it comes to women. And of course, get laid in the process. I wasn’t into it as much as some guys who take bootcamps and buy instructional videos; I just saw videos on youtube and that inspired me to chat up random women. In the beginning it was jarring as I had no idea what to say or do. I would just say fuck it and say hi and just look at the girl while trying to figure out what to say next. I was fucking terrible at it and I kept at it, talking to maybe 5 or 6 women a week, which isn’t a lot by pick up standards. The biggest triumphs and surprisingly some of the best interactions with women have been when I felt the most nervous and most like not approaching but did it anyway. At one point, after numerous rejections, something clicked, and I gained a shit ton of confidence and with it, numbers and dates. Similar with writing. When I began writing stories and poems, the first few ones I wrote wore absolute shit. I kept it, and sometimes I just wrote knowing it will be shit, and sometimes I read what I wrote and I’m impressed with myself. With both pickup and writing, I didn’t have instruction other than youtube videos and books respectively.
So when you feel like shit, feel lazy, or whatever, go to the gym and put in some work even it’s for a couple rounds. Fight the resistance. There have been extremely few instances where I felt tired and went anyway and felt like I should’ve rested after all. Almost always, I feel more invigorated and end up training more than I initially planned and I go home feeling so fucking glad that I did train. I’m not saying that one can’t ask inquire into theory to improve, but sometimes the answer to improvement is the simplest one: practice. se a freaking jab. I never threw it a lot and when I did, it was to merely precede a right hand out of habit. That is, until now. I am finally coming to a point where I can control my sparring partners with the jab and set up different things with it, and play the long game where I lure them into something a round or two later. I set up a jab to the body with a jab to the head, set up a jab to the head with a jab to the body, set up a left hook with a jab, set up a jab with a left hook, etc. Sparring matches that used to be firefights now can be dictated into boxing matches.
This change happened actually pretty recently in the past two months. What changed is that I have been practicing the jab with repeated purpose. I threw jabs, both to the body and head, repeatedly on the bag. Over and over again. After a while something clicked. Same thing happened with me for the lead left hook and right uppercut. I would use some rounds to throw nothing but the left hook over and over again on bag. At different distances and angles and timing. Sometimes I would stand in place and throw it repeatedly while thinking of wrist alignment and placement. Several weeks later, something clicked, and the next time I sparred, I found myself finding the timing for my left hook vastly improved. Perhaps it’s because the punch has become so ingrained in my nervous system that my body wants to automatically throw as soon as it sees an opening. Whatever the reason, what’s already been my best punch has become even better. Now the same is happening for the jab. All I needed was lots and lots and lots of practice.
Of course this is all an obvious lesson. We all intrinsically know that practice makes perfect. But I didn’t really think about this consciously, much less put it into practice. I think a lot of people know practice makes you better at something, but underestimate how much practice is needed, and get discouraged when they don’t get the gratification as soon as they’d like. I’m certainly no different.
None of the punches I’ve mentioned were new to me obviously since I’ve first set foot in my boxing gym close to ten years ago and been in several matches since then. But I’ve recently practiced these punches with a new purpose and awareness with repetitive intent and intentional repetition. It feels like I’ve gotten better at throwing my jab and left hook in the past couple months than in the past couple years.
This all coincides with my finally reading a book called the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you don’t know who Pressfield is, he is the author of an amazing novel the Gates of Fire, which revolves around the Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. War of Art is also an amazing book about finding your muse that I knew about but didn’t get around to reading it until now. It’s basically saying if you have a passion, a goal, a craft, you have to buckle down and get to work, every day. Even if your work sucks, put in the time and put in the work. Even if there are days you don’t feel like it or have doubts, just do it anyway. Pressfield calls this the Resistance, and fighting against it is the biggest challenge.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from boxing that was affirmed in this book and with my experiences with trying to pick up women as well as writing, was that fighting against the urge to give into your laziness/fears/doubts and keeping at when you’re trying to do, is the biggest victory. I was for a short stint into pickup, and I approached chicks on the street, at bars and bookstores to get over social anxiety and my lack of confidence when it comes to women. And of course, get laid in the process. I wasn’t into it as much as some guys who take bootcamps and buy instructional videos; I just saw videos on youtube and that inspired me to chat up random women. In the beginning it was jarring as I had no idea what to say or do. I would just say fuck it and say hi and just look at the girl while trying to figure out what to say next. I was fucking terrible at it and I kept at it, talking to maybe 5 or 6 women a week, which isn’t a lot by pick up standards. The biggest triumphs and surprisingly some of the best interactions with women have been when I felt the most nervous and most like not approaching but did it anyway. At one point, after numerous rejections, something clicked, and I gained a shit ton of confidence and with it, numbers and dates. Similar with writing. When I began writing stories and poems, the first few ones I wrote wore absolute shit. I kept it, and sometimes I just wrote knowing it will be shit, and sometimes I read what I wrote and I’m impressed with myself. With both pickup and writing, I didn’t have instruction other than youtube videos and books respectively.
So when you feel like shit, feel lazy, or whatever, go to the gym and put in some work even it’s for a couple rounds. Fight the resistance. There have been extremely few instances where I felt tired and went anyway and felt like I should’ve rested after all. Almost always, I feel more invigorated and end up training more than I initially planned and I go home feeling so fucking glad that I did train. I’m not saying that one can’t ask inquire into theory to improve, but sometimes the answer to improvement is the simplest one: practice.
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