Learning how to Box

[Rockin']

you can practice all that you want, watch thousands of hours of how to videos, drop some weight while you're doing it but that is about it. If you want to learn how to fight you will need atleast one sparring partner who actually knows how to fight. Otherwise you are just stroking yourself about learning how to fight, in the trenches you will be clueless as to what to do...........Rockin'

[4CornerMessiah]

you can practice all that you want, watch thousands of hours of how to videos, drop some weight while you're doing it but that is about it. If you want to learn how to fight you will need atleast one sparring partner who actually knows how to fight. Otherwise you are just stroking yourself about learning how to fight, in the trenches you will be clueless as to what to do...........Rockin'

guess i gotta travel. im in the dessert. lol. gotta geterdun

[NearHypnos]

you can practice all that you want, watch thousands of hours of how to videos, drop some weight while you're doing it but that is about it. If you want to learn how to fight you will need atleast one sparring partner who actually knows how to fight. Otherwise you are just stroking yourself about learning how to fight, in the trenches you will be clueless as to what to do...........Rockin'

This.

Ultimately...you have to learn to fight by fighting..or at least PRACTICE fighting.

Although a few people here gave great advice and it's worth following.

Put some body sized mirrors in your "workout" area (that's what it's going to be, really..) and watch yourself punch, watch your legs, stance, etc. You can find body length mirrors at most stores like wal-mart etc for like 10 bucks. Read material, watch fighters, go on youtube, take advice, etc etc and be hard on yourself. You'll have to be your own worst critic. If you're able, upload so some of us can see what you're doing. Some of us have boxing experience (as current boxers or used to do amateurs) and I myself don't claim to know everything about boxing, but I think I can help with some basic information if I catch a post here and there asking for it. Some of the guys here are really knowledgeable and have much more boxing experience than I and even when some troll and mess around, most are good dudes and will try to help you out if you're honest. I mean, if your gym is far..maybe you can at least try to visit it a few times a week to at least get sparring and lessons in. As long as you have the drive and are willing to put the time in, everything else should fall into place if it's important to you. Far or not.

[#1Assassin]

The advice so far is about as dumb as it gets. The kid just said there were no gyms in his area.

Get your heavy bag and DVD's and do the best you can until you're able to put yourself in a situation where you'll be able to get yourself to a gym. Read as much as you can about basic boxing techniques and practice them to the best of your ability. Work on getting your stamina up by jogging, and get your muscles in shape with calisthenics.

Maybe post some videos of yourself training and see if guys can give you some advice on things you might be doing right or wrong.

Good luck man. Don't let there not being any accessible gyms keep you from getting into boxing.

no they are right.

you need a trainer showing you how to do things properly, anything else will be a step in the wrong direction. trying to train yourself will build more bad habits than it will acctual ability, these bad habits can then take years to get rid of.

its harder and takes more time to re-learn things once you are used to doing them a certain way than it does to learn for the first time. trainers hate nothing more than some guy whos been trying to train on his own and developed all sorts of bad habits that might take years to correct before they can start on the basics. they would much rather have a blank slate.

if you just want to punch something for fun or to get in shape go ahead and hit the heavybag at home. but if you want to develop real skills and compete at some point nothing good can come from boxing at home without a trainer. reading and watching DVDs wont make a diffrence. DO NOT try to box at home!

what you should do is simply get in shape, run and do groundwork. above everything else study lots of fight tapes. no training DVDs, acctual fights. learn the sport inside out, how to fight on inside, how to fight on the outside, effective combinations, effective counterpunches, how to use angles, how to set traps, how to adapt to diffrent styles etc. finding a kid who understands boxing yet is a blank slate in terms of training is a trainers dream.

how far away are these gyms you speak of? for my 5 first years in boxing i took two busses to the gym, an hour there and over an hour back. i combined that with school work and later a job. before then i spent 2-3 years watching fight tapes, on my first day i had more boxing knowledge than guys who were regional champions. the little training i did on my own had done nothing but harm my learning curve despite all the knowledge i had.

i knew i shouldnt drop my hand when i threw the jab, but nobody was there watching me so i didnt even realize i did it. just like i didnt realize i was keeping my feet too far apart, was squaring up my shoulders etc.. i knew all these thing were wrong but i didnt know i was doing it, it took a very long time to correct and im an extremely gifted athlete.

this isnt just my opinion either, everyone i spoke to about it who know their way around a boxing gym and how to build a fighter agrees.

[greynotsoold]

If you can find the right materials to study from (I would recommend a book by Edwin L. Haislet, written in 1940 it is the best 'how to...' boxing book I am aware of.) and pay attention to the small details, you can educate yourself pretty effectively. Of course, the first time you do spar another boxer alot of that will go out the window because it is different when punches come back at you, but if you trained your mind as well as your body it will start to make sense and come together with practice.
I have spent a lot of hours in gyms over the last 37 years and from that experience I have come to two conclusions. The first is that a quality teacher is invaluable if you want to learn to do things the right way. The second is that you aren't especially likely to find one. Just because a guy is in a gym doesn't mean he can teach boxing; it doesn't even mean he knows much about boxing. I see so many fighters that are riddled with bad habits that I wonder who could possibly have taught them such things.
Work with what you've got and educate yourself. If you eventually get to a place where you can find a teacher you'll be more able to recognize if he's worthwhile or not. If he is, adapting to new methods will be easy because they'll feel right/better. The worst thing that can happen to you is a coach that you believe in that is all wrong in his methods; that will stick with you and be impossible to shake.

[Scalpel!]

Agreed with the guys who said you need a trainer.

There's got to be somebody in your town who's had some experience? It would even help to have someone who's just a huge fan of the sport and knows how it looks to help you out.

[Randoh]

I'm in more or less the same situation that you are. I live in rural Georgia, and the nearest gym is about an hour and thirty minutes away. I'm still in high school, and I work whenever I'm not in school, so I don't have the kind of time to do that. I did exactly what you did, bought training gloves and a heavy bag and learned all I could. Once I found this forum though, I more or less learned that the way I was going about it was mostly wrong.

So, what I did since I still couldn't get to the gym is found guys in my school that may not have known how to box, but knew how to fight, and convinced them to spar with me (Usually in return, I would do a match of MMA with them and they would kick my ass, but the experience was worth it). I've gotten decent over the last year since I started getting interested in it, and if nothing else, it's done wonders for my work ethic and health. I weighed in at a whopping 130 pounds at 6 foot, and now I weigh anywhere from 148-154 depending on if I'm lifting or not, which is still underweight, but a lot better than what I was at.

So I say do what you can, even if you can't get to a gym, you can still have a lot of fun with boxing, and if you start liking it more and more, by the time you get your license maybe you'll be able to make it to a gym if you don't have to work all the time like I do. Good luck!

[Ray Corso]

If the gym is a distance away then find out if the trainer is avalible on a Sat morning. Any trainer will be impressed with a young man who has to travel to learn. From week to week you can practice the lesson taught and begin conditioning your body. You need to put alot of time into your body so thats the first and most important trial on your menu for now. You'll need a full length mirror to correct your stance and positioning of your hands, elbows, feet and upper body. A heavy bag is great but ask your trainer about the correct way to approach its use. You need to learn to wrap your hands with hand wraps and bag gloves. Theres so much to learn just to start correctly that you need a mentor to begin right.
Search for the closest gyms, call to see if the Plice dept had an ex boxer or possibly a Golden Gloves and P.A.L qualifying gym near by. The next thing is to call whatever federation is in charge with the National Boxing Program (used to be the USA/ABF) and they have listings of all gyms that are members. You can call your states licensing dept. for events help in arenas like pro wrestling! They will almost always know of a retired boxer(s) in your area that might be able to start you off. Its real important to learn to wrap with wraps or you could destroy your hands quickly! You have some leg work to do so try hard to get help, sorry I couldn't help you more. Where are you? Ray