Mindful Movement

Intimidation has been a skill boxing has taught me well. From learning how to talk the talk despite lack of of real knowledge, and learning how to walk the walk despite having the crawl of a baby. Muhammad Ali became the first master of this mental mind game in boxing, getting into his opponent’s head, constantly assuring reporters and the public that he is the greatest, and yelling his royalty in boxing from the mountain tops. Many biographies note how he wasn’t sure how he much he believed what he said himself, and many comment that once he fulfilled his own prophesies he truly became a believer in himself. I don’t ascribe to the same intimidation tactics that many boxers still take today, but intimidation comes in many forms. I don’t feel that I have to look the strongest, the meanest, or the biggest. I just need to be comfortable and happy with who I am and what I have to offer. Believing my skill will carry me to the end, and if it doesn’t, then I gained valuable knowledge of how ...

What motivates a boxer? What drives a person to get into the ring and knowingly get hit by another person? Why spend so much time training, restricting your diet, limiting your social life, not drinking? Everyone has different motivations, and competing in boxing is a great way to accomplish personal goals, such as weight loss, getting in shape, overcoming fear, doing at least one boxing match to check off the bucket list.  Boxing reminds me a lot of religion. The discipline, the commitment, the asceticism. You cannot truly compete in boxing without a complete giving of your entire self to the sport, not just your body, but your mind and arguably your soul. I converted to Judaism later in life, and I completed an adult b’nei mitzvah (it’s the bat mitzvah teenagers do as a coming of age, adults who never did one when younger do an adult version). I had to give a speech about that week’s Torah portion. The portion talked about how the priests had to purify themselves before going int...

I designed a lesson to practice ignoring distractions, or punches, while still focusing on the task at hand, trying to not get annoyed or frustrated. I had athletes lift weights or punch, while softly hitting them, having them try to ignore it and continue their actions. The reactions I received were interesting. Not surprisingly, different people responded differently. One boxer was annoyed, but managed to tune much of it out. She claims her new puppy gave her a lot of practice. Another gave me looks like she wanted to murder me, or responded with nervous laughter. Another was not irritated, but felt he got tired with so much going on.  After establishing trying to ignore soft taps while trying to punch, we worked on getting the head offline or moving the head while punching, reacting to the hits. But I made sure the amount of hits was overwhelming, so it would be impossible to miss all of the hits. My goal was to get them to continue punching and reacting despite getting hit here...

I recently had a boxer express the goal of working on trying to not only remember to move her head but also throw punches at the same time. While an obvious aspect of boxing, it is a lot easier said than done. I find many athletes either focus on punching, or on defense ie just moving their head, and forget to puzzle piece them together. In addition to this crucial aspect, I have also noticed that as boxers first start sparring they get easily thrown of or distracted by getting hit. This leads to pausing or freezing, forgetting the move they were setting up, or frustration which can distort the amount of times they are actually getting hit. It reminds me of a sibling constantly poking your arm, or sticking a finger in the face without touching and saying “not touching not touching!” The mental fight of not getting aggravated by getting hit is very interesting, and a challenge to coach out of people. To tell someone to not get bothered by punches is like telling someone to ignore an itc...

  When I used to fence, we constantly practiced and talked about distance. Distance had to due with feeling the space from your shoulder to hand which held the blade, the length of the sword, and the space between the end of the sword to the target area of the other person. We practiced footwork more than hitting, as your feet are the vehicle to master the right distance to hit the other person before they hit you and also generate the necessary power to execute a touch. In boxing distance is just as important. When I work with new boxers a common complaint is that they cannot figure out how to land a punch. Not meaning that I am so slick they cannot hit me, but rather that I am not letting them close enough to do so. They constantly miss and hit air, get frustrated, therefore resort to not throwing punches at all. My response is usually that they need to get close enough to hit me, which they in turn respond with the question how do they get close enough, and I cheekily respond to...

 While reading a biography about Muhammad Ali, I ran across an interesting quote from his trainer Angelo Dundee. Dundee realized he could not simply tell Ali what to do, that he would interpret instruction as trying to change his style. So instead, Dundee said, “ ‘I tried to make Muhammad feel like he innovated everything. For instance, he’d be in there sparring and when he came out I’d say, “Gee, your jab is really coming along. You’re getting your left knee into it and really stopping him in his tracks.” He may not have been getting his knee into it at all. The next time out he’d be concentrating on it. But mainly, it was all him.’ ” ( Remnick, David, and Salman Rushdie. “Twentieth-Century Exuberance.”   King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero , Vintage Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, 2016, pp. 117–117.  )  This reminds me of suggestions from numerous books or articles that in order to get someone who doesn’t like t...

 As a trainer, I am always looking for new ways to conduct lessons. The variety of workouts keep my wonderful clients engaged and prevents boredom. Not only do I get inspired by ways of modifying exercises to fit individual needs due to ability or injury, I look for ways to connect mind to body. Many athletes treat their mind and bodies as separate entities, but they are a unit. Many people see the mind as the control center, but the mind reacts to the body just as much as the body reacts to the mind.  One of my favorite drills is shadow boxing with the eyes closed. When we have our eyes open, we are either looking at ourselves in a mirror or at our surroundings. Our attention is not necessarily on how movement feels but on how it looks. By taking away our visual senses, we can easier connect to how movements feel, teaching and coaching ourselves on correct movement. I constantly tell my boxers that they need to feel what they are doing right and wrong. Despite me yelling inst...

 I have always warned by boxers about telegraphing, or showing the move they are about to do. This includes winding up punches, stopping or starting certain movements before throwing, body language, etc. I have noticed that telegraphs can appear during mitt work when a boxer knows the next move, and instead of finishing their current move, their body prepares for the next step or next punch. This interrupts their current action and telegraphs their next move.  Thinking about being present in the moment, not letting your thoughts and state of being remain mired in the past or future can easily relate to this philosophy in boxing. Many boxers have their thoughts in the future: anticipating what their opponent may throw or do, which in turn may give their action away as their mind and therefore body have already started an action in response to something that hasn’t occurred yet. Telling my boxers to be in the present, observe what is happening right now and react appropriately s...

 I train a client who is extremely afraid of getting punched. This fear, according to her, does not stem from a past trauma, it’s just something that is there. She is determined to overcome her fear of being in the ring. Most new boxers are intimidated about getting into the ring with another person, especially if they know they will get hit. Over time, the athlete slowly adapts and learns to take a punch so to say. Her fear can be paralyzing, freezing her action and reactions. Thinking about coaching others to not anticipate what is coming so that they do not telegraph their moves, I was thinking about this particular client and fear. Fear is a reflection of the body’s anticipation of the future. Her fear is her mind remaining in the future of what might happen. In our last training session, I told her to work on being in present. What action is happening at that very moment, what am I doing, what is she doing. Our sparring session went significantly smoother. It was obvious when ...