Is this a good boxing gym?

[freakyfarley]

Hello people. I hope this is the right forum for my question, if not I apologize right now.

I have trained at a new boxing club a couple of times and while the trainer is friendly and has good credentials, there is stuff going on during training which didn't feel okay to me.

First of, nobody is wearing headgear. I know there is no consensus on whether or not they are necesary, but isn't that a sign of an iffy gym?

Also, I sparred right away, first practice, without gum (stupid, yeah) and none of the other starters were wearing it either.

One of the experienced guys also went pretty hard on me even though I never had proper boxing training and I wasn't wearing protection.

The other noobs were also swinging with the obvious intention of hurting one another. Again, no intervention.

What do you think? Are these proper boxing practices, especially for beginners?

Thanks.

Edit: It's my fourth time and no talk about insurance yet.

 

[Sunfish]

I'm no expert, hit sinister with a pm he is legit and will tell you what you need to know. And good luck!

 

[freakyfarley]

I'm no expert, hit sinister with a pm he is legit and will tell you what you need to know. And good luck!

Thanks!

 

[Jonny Ninja]

Hello people. I hope this is the right forum for my question, if not I apologize right now.

I have trained at a new boxing club a couple of times and while the trainer is friendly and has good credentials, there is stuff going on during training which didn't feel okay to me.

First of, nobody is wearing headgear. I know there is no consensus on whether or not they are necesary, but isn't that a sign of an iffy gym?

Also, I sparred right away, first practice, without gum (stupid, yeah) and none of the other starters were wearing it either.

One of the experienced guys also went pretty hard on me even though I never had proper boxing training and I wasn't wearing protection.

The other noobs were also swinging with the obvious intention of hurting one another. Again, no intervention.

What do you think? Are these proper boxing practices, especially for beginners?

Thanks.

Edit: It's my fourth time and no talk about insurance yet.

There is no issue not wearing headgear; it's a hindrance, most gyms ive trained at don't make you wear them.
you shouldn't be sparring straight away? And when you are ready it should be with 16s on and taking it easy. Putting you in with an experience boxer when you have no experience is the best way to stop that person from coming back to the gym. And I've never heard of sparring without gumshields unless the drills are just to the body. You can break your teeth no matter how soft you go

It sounds like a 2 bob fckin gym mate. You shouldn't be getting in the ring and taking any punishment until you at least have the basics. No disrespect but that will take more than 4 sessions. Most gyms don't operate that way oand if you are serious about taking up the sport, try another gym dude

 

[kimocomplex]

we only wear headgear when guys have fights coming up, to get used to having them on. wouldn't let you go 1st day unless you had experience, and its very rare for someone to spar without mouthpiece at my place. most days we do not spar hard though

 

[freakyfarley]

There is no issue not wearing headgear; it's a hindrance, most gyms ive trained at don't make you wear them.
you shouldn't be sparring straight away? And when you are ready it should be with 16s on and taking it easy. Putting you in with an experience boxer when you have no experience is the best way to stop that person from coming back to the gym. And I've never heard of sparring without gumshields unless the drills are just to the body. You can break your teeth no matter how soft you go

It sounds like a 2 bob fckin gym mate. You shouldn't be getting in the ring and taking any punishment until you at least have the basics. No disrespect but that will take more than 4 sessions. Most gyms don't operate that way oand if you are serious about taking up the sport, try another gym dude

Thanks for replying. I feel like I could've gotten my nose popped easily. I had bruises on my chin after sparring with one of the more experienced guys. It was my second time training there. Not sure why he went so hard!

No disrespect taken, I didn't go in the gym thinking I'd be Roy Jones after three sessions! I don't want to fight in competions, just train. I know sparring is part of it, but I didn't wanna get beat up first lesson lol.

 

[freakyfarley]

we only wear headgear when guys have fights coming up, to get used to having them on. wouldn't let you go 1st day unless you had experience, and its very rare for someone to spar without mouthpiece at my place. most days we do not spar hard though

Thanks, in my opinion they shouldn't have been sparring but working on throwing properly first.

 

[RR]

Not a good gym and that is being nice

 

[Cracky]

Hello people. I hope this is the right forum for my question, if not I apologize right now.

I have trained at a new boxing club a couple of times and while the trainer is friendly and has good credentials, there is stuff going on during training which didn't feel okay to me.

First of, nobody is wearing headgear. I know there is no consensus on whether or not they are necesary, but isn't that a sign of an iffy gym?

Also, I sparred right away, first practice, without gum (stupid, yeah) and none of the other starters were wearing it either.

One of the experienced guys also went pretty hard on me even though I never had proper boxing training and I wasn't wearing protection.

The other noobs were also swinging with the obvious intention of hurting one another. Again, no intervention.

What do you think? Are these proper boxing practices, especially for beginners?

Thanks.

Edit: It's my fourth time and no talk about insurance yet.

Well, there's some good an bad here.. I , personally, despise the waiting period to spar... That said, a pre-req should be protective equipment.. Otherwise, I think that sparring should be treated like a bike.. let people get in there early with limitations and good eyes on em...let them put some of what they are practicing to use so that they understand how it will actually work when you have a live opponent...

That said, this gym has went way past my comfort zone with their sparring practices... Sounds kind of like the inmates run the assylum... I remember one gym I was at we had a really good fighter that had went to the olympics and he got to do whatever he wanted..he was walking around the gym butt ass naked one day and nobody said shit to him..like the gym was his locker room... this can happen some gyms because coaches pin their hopes to certain people and don't want to run them off. I figure that this gym has some of that going on...


What would I do? The pros still outweigh the cons imo... I would rather fight in a gym like that than a boxercise gym that makes you wait 3 months to spar... Protect yourself.. get your own headgear and wear it..if the opponents don't, that's their problem.. get your own mouthpiece and jock and wear em..if the opponents don't, that's their problem... and be vocal about what you're comfortable with.. when they asked you to spar without a piece, you should have said "Im not comfortable with that"... I have sparred kids without a mouthpiece in, but I would never spar a hitter without a mouthpiece because I promise you that the guy running the gym isnt going to fix your teeth if shit goes bad...

anyways, good luck

 

[jm0b]

Sounds pretty dogshit to me.

There's no arbitrary time yo start sparring, but it's definitely not within the first 4 sessions.

 

[Jesus Freak]

There is no issue not wearing headgear; it's a hindrance, most gyms ive trained at don't make you wear them.

Are you talking wearing headgear throughout class, or while sparring?

You DEFINITELY need headgear when sparring. You take enough shots, especially a few with some power, and you'll experience minor brain swelling.

Immediately take an aspirin to reduce the swelling.

If you find your speech slurring a bit the following day, you're clearly experiencing some degree of trauma.

 

[Cracky]

Sounds pretty dogshit to me.

There's no arbitrary time yo start sparring, but it's definitely not within the first 4 sessions.

disagree... I think light-moderate sparring from very early is important.. especially in a neighborhood with a lot of "tough guys"... they need to understand why they should respect the craft over their previous notion of what tough was.... and the only way to gain that understanding is to experience it first hand..

same thing with jiu jitsu.. I did some jiu jitsu and I looked around the room at all these little guys and thought.. "I can throw these guys all over the room"... well, I got a chance to try.. and it didn't work out that way, and I was hooked into the sport after that because I had to know what allowed a little guy to so easily control a bigger guy.. The asswhippin was a crucial part to what got me interested and involved in the sport...

Now with boxing, it's the same.. only there are 2 types of people that come to the gym...1) people that can handle not being the toughest guy in the room and want to work towards that.. 2) people that can't and never come back... who needs the second group?

 

[freakyfarley]

disagree... I think light-moderate sparring from very early is important.. especially in a neighborhood with a lot of "tough guys"... they need to understand why they should respect the craft over their previous notion of what tough was.... and the only way to gain that understanding is to experience it first hand..

same thing with jiu jitsu.. I did some jiu jitsu and I looked around the room at all these little guys and thought.. "I can throw these guys all over the room"... well, I got a chance to try.. and it didn't work out that way, and I was hooked into the sport after that because I had to know what allowed a little guy to so easily control a bigger guy.. The asswhippin was a crucial part to what got me interested and involved in the sport...

Now with boxing, it's the same.. only there are 2 types of people that come to the gym...1) people that can handle not being the toughest guy in the room and want to work towards that.. 2) people that can't and never come back... who needs the second group?

I can understand that. Not sure if this was an indirect reference to my case, but I'm not a tough guy and the real danger imo came from the beginners.

 

[freakyfarley]

Sounds pretty dogshit to me.

There's no arbitrary time yo start sparring, but it's definitely not within the first 4 sessions.

I would understand body shots, but swinging at eachother's head seems like accidents waiting to happen no?

 

[Shoemaker]

disagree... I think light-moderate sparring from very early is important.. especially in a neighborhood with a lot of "tough guys"... they need to understand why they should respect the craft over their previous notion of what tough was.... and the only way to gain that understanding is to experience it first hand..

same thing with jiu jitsu.. I did some jiu jitsu and I looked around the room at all these little guys and thought.. "I can throw these guys all over the room"... well, I got a chance to try.. and it didn't work out that way, and I was hooked into the sport after that because I had to know what allowed a little guy to so easily control a bigger guy.. The asswhippin was a crucial part to what got me interested and involved in the sport...

Now with boxing, it's the same.. only there are 2 types of people that come to the gym...1) people that can handle not being the toughest guy in the room and want to work towards that.. 2) people that can't and never come back... who needs the second group?

Honestly it just sounds like you learn things the hard way, and go into gyms with a bad attitude. "Tough guys" are a thing and need the attitude smacked out of them, sure. But that's not a majority of people.

 

[jm0b]

disagree... I think light-moderate sparring from very early is important.. especially in a neighborhood with a lot of "tough guys"... they need to understand why they should respect the craft over their previous notion of what tough was.... and the only way to gain that understanding is to experience it first hand..

same thing with jiu jitsu.. I did some jiu jitsu and I looked around the room at all these little guys and thought.. "I can throw these guys all over the room"... well, I got a chance to try.. and it didn't work out that way, and I was hooked into the sport after that because I had to know what allowed a little guy to so easily control a bigger guy.. The asswhippin was a crucial part to what got me interested and involved in the sport...

Now with boxing, it's the same.. only there are 2 types of people that come to the gym...1) people that can handle not being the toughest guy in the room and want to work towards that.. 2) people that can't and never come back... who needs the second group?

I see what you mean. Personally I think sparring is a privilege and the gym should be shown respect before you're allowed within the the ropes.

Saying that... I learnt in Belfast, we had some great days out of guys coming in demanding to spar then never coming back.

Or coming in the next day to broken windows, petrol bomb attacks etc

 

[freakyfarley]

I see what you mean. Personally I think sparring is a privilege and the gym should be shown respect before you're allowed within the the ropes.

Saying that... I learnt in Belfast, we had some great days out of guys coming in demanding to spar then never coming back.

Or coming in the next day to broken windows, petrol bomb attacks etc

That's crazy...

 

[jm0b]

That's crazy...

Kind of. In reality, it's an extremely small place with an extremely small and divided population so our way of life is completely different to bigger societies in general.

 

[Cracky]

Honestly it just sounds like you learn things the hard way, and go into gyms with a bad attitude. "Tough guys" are a thing and need the attitude smacked out of them, sure. But that's not a majority of people.

I disagree.. I think the majority of people that step into a boxing gym do so because they believe they got what it takes... you won't really know if you do or not though until you take a lap in the pool.. you can theorize.."well I whooped so and so's ass.. that power should translate.." etc... but I think it's a rude awakening that nearly everyone experiences when they realize that boxing isn't about how hard you can hit.. it's about what you do when you feel like stopping because you're tire, hurt, or discouraged because all that power you thought you had makes your opponent smile...

I think it's like anything else.. there's a breaking down period where you begin to understand that you aint as bad as you thought you were... and if you make it through that there's a building up process where you start to hold your own...

 

[Cracky]

I can understand that. Not sure if this was an indirect reference to my case, but I'm not a tough guy and the real danger imo came from the beginners.

no.. I was just pointing out why I think early sparring is acceptable... it gets the "tough guys" on their way, and leaves the people that want to work behind...