To get good at something you have to do it often. This applies to everything in life. Those that are best at what they do are the best because of all the time and effort that they have spent doing what they are the best at. There are no exceptions to this. What most see as an “overnight success” or “blessed with talent/luck” is actually the product of outworking everyone around them and extreme dedication, heck even sometimes obsession. To be the best you have to put in the work there is no getting around this.
Being able to fight and defend yourself is no different. Going to a class a couple of times a week for a couple of months isn’t going to turn you into a proficient fighter. Some places you could go to for years without becoming a proficient fighter. This is one of the reasons that I recommend taking things into your own hands. Here I’m going to lay out a boxing routine that I do just about daily. It keeps me sharp and it keeps me confident in my skills. I don’t compete professionally or anything like that but it is enough to get the job done.
It’s enough so you won’t have to worry about handling yourself and won’t get intimidated. Combine this with things like situational awareness and intelligence and you will have few if any self-defense problems. What I don’t cover here is conditioning, defense, or sparring. I’d recommend that you find a partner that you can drill defense and spar with as they are both very important, sparring in particular. Also I do barbell complexes and such for my conditioning as it’s superior to road work or other forms of conditioning.
The Routine
Alright so it’s up to you how you want to structure the time or “reps” of each punch or technique. You can do it through time limits like in traditional boxing or you can do it through going through something so many times. It’s up to you and honestly I’m too the point now where I just know when I can move on to the next thing. Maybe start with “reps” to make sure you’re getting everything right and then move on to time and then finally just through your body and mind telling you when to move on. Alright now for the routine.
I start with a general light warm up. Generally some pushups, pull ups, ab wheel roll outs, and maybe some kettle bell swings or something else. Honestly as long as you get your blood flowing and heart rate up a little bit then you’ll be just fine. Remember it’s just a warm up. This focuses on heavy bag work as a heavy bag is what I have set up right now.
I start with what are “illegal hits” (in boxing) here at the ones I do and they’re good for getting everything firing correctly. Hammer fists generally aimed to the top of the bag where a man’s clavicle would be, open palm strikes to high (nose/chin) and solar plexus area, close elbows to the chin, then flying elbows to the solar plexus, then I do back fists to the chin, and finish with headbutts to the nose/chin area (make sure to use the top of your head).
Then I move on to traditional boxing techniques. First thing I do is practice my falling step. This is without punching my hands stay by my sides so that I can focus fully on doing a proper falling step. Then I move on to bag work. Something to keep in mind is to always keep whatever hand you are not punching with in the guard position. Alright now for the list that I go through. Also both hands are used, first my left then my right.
I start with jolts to the chin then jolts to the solar plexus. Then what I’ll do is be about ten feet away from the bag and shuffle in and do a jolt. Then I’ll take an even stance (feet even) and do regular punches to the chin and solar plexus respectively. Then I’ll do regular punches to the chin and solar plexus from my fighting stance. Repetitions depend on how much time I have. Here I’m really focusing on technique and power generation. Getting it inscribed in my mind.
I then do shovel hooks to the head and body. First from an even stance and then from my fighting stance. Then I start with combos. I first practice a jolt/shovel combo. So I throw a jolt first and then follow it up with a shovel hook. Generally a jolt to the chin followed by a shovel hook to the body. After that I move on to hooks. First from an even stance and then from a fighting stance. Then I’ll practice uppercuts to both the solar plexus and body again starting first with an even stance and then with my fighting stance. Focusing on technique and power.
Then I’ll do combinations. Starting with 1-2 combinations. Then 1-2-3. Then 1-2-3-4. And finishing with 1-2-3-4-5. I try to do these crisp, generate a lot of power, and keep from getting sloppy. Each hit should do great damage. If it’s to the chin it should be a knockout and if to the solar plexus should make the opponent double over. That’s the mentality that you want to have. After the combinations I’ll do the berseker drill. After that I’m usually beat and finish up for the day. Unless I have someone to box with in which case we’ll drill defense and then do some ring work wherever we can.
Summary
This routine covers all of the basics and will turn you into a pretty proficient puncher. To be able to punch well in a fight whether it’s in an altercation or in the ring it has to be a reaction from you. It has to be drilled down into your subconscious so that it just happens. You won’t be able to think in a fight so your reactions comes from training. Which is why drilling these basic yet powerful and effective punches is so key. Do it over and over and over again until you don’t even think about it and could deliver knockout gut bending punches in your sleep. This routine done for long enough time will do just that.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
