Boxing again after 17 years...

[big paulie]

Ok so i had a few bouts (5) when i was 16, by my late teens id got massivly out of shape, eyesight went so had to get glasses, started drinking nothing serious though. I stuck around boxing though helping out at the gym and become an assistant coach. Much of my twenties were spent out of shape, i'd get out of breath walking up the stairs.

Now i'm 33, married with kids. A couple of years ago i lost about 2 stone and slowly started to apply the knowledge i'd gained about nutrition, eating right, only having the odd glass of wine with a meal every couple of weeks and jogging every other night.
Im now about 150lbs which is what i was at when boxing at 16 and i could comfortably shift another 7lbs, also got eyes laser corrected.
I've relocated and started training at a local gym and got the hunger to compete back , its still early days and sparring/timing is slow but i really just wanted to know if any of you lot have any experience of competing after a long lay off or in your thirties?
Also the differences in training/timing/reflexes/recovery when you were younger v now

[chico 305]

Ok so i had a few bouts (5) when i was 16, by my late teens id got massivly out of shape, eyesight went so had to get glasses, started drinking nothing serious though. I stuck around boxing though helping out at the gym and become an assistant coach. Much of my twenties were spent out of shape, i'd get out of breath walking up the stairs.

Now i'm 33, married with kids. A couple of years ago i lost about 2 stone and slowly started to apply the knowledge i'd gained about nutrition, eating right, only having the odd glass of wine with a meal every couple of weeks and jogging every other night.
Im now about 150lbs which is what i was at when boxing at 16 and i could comfortably shift another 7lbs, also got eyes laser corrected.
I've relocated and started training at a local gym and got the hunger to compete back , its still early days and sparring/timing is slow but i really just wanted to know if any of you lot have any experience of competing after a long lay off or in your thirties?
Also the differences in training/timing/reflexes/recovery when you were younger v now

masters division, http://mastersboxingdivision.com/

[big paulie]

masters division, http://mastersboxingdivision.com/

I got 2 years left before i look at that! thanks tho good link

[chico 305]

yea man i have no knowledge for u other than if u ever want to come down to miami and get a first class flight back into retirement, holla at your boy hahahahahahah

[MaxBaer]

I can kind of relate to your story. I'm 36 years old. When I was a kid the Rocky movie series was popular and big prize fights were still aired on regular television. I was obsessed with boxing, plus we lived in Detroit at the time home of great many boxers and great boxing gyms. My father set me up with boxing camp age 6-12 at the local Powerhouse gym where some of people who had trained Sugar Ray Leonard were giving lessons. It never came to be. I never got one boxing lesson there. My mother found out about it and thought all boxers got brain damage.
Now I live in a very small rural town but I discovered a great Muay Thai and straight boxing gym 2 years ago. I decided to give it a try. At my age I figure it's too late to be pro or anything like that but I can train hard stay in shape better than most guys my age and maybe do a few amaetur fights.
I can keep up with the young dudes in my gym half my age when it comes to sparring and such. Far as things like running and circuit drills I don't come in the top of the group but I don't come in dead last either. I think it's great you have decided to come back train and fight again. I have another guy at my gym who is real inspiration to me. He is 53 years old. Still trains like an animal and still fights.
Really kudos to you for having the balls to come back and fight. I wish you the best!

[FlyPelican]

Ive been trading stocks and in an office setting for the past 9 years. Ive always been in shape and would be great at sports when I was younger but now at 27, I feel alittle slower, not as energized. But I have been sparring a few times and I can tell you its a great workout!

[big paulie]

I can kind of relate to your story. I'm 36 years old. When I was a kid the Rocky movie series was popular and big prize fights were still aired on regular television. I was obsessed with boxing, plus we lived in Detroit at the time home of great many boxers and great boxing gyms. My father set me up with boxing camp age 6-12 at the local Powerhouse gym where some of people who had trained Sugar Ray Leonard were giving lessons. It never came to be. I never got one boxing lesson there. My mother found out about it and thought all boxers got brain damage.
Now I live in a very small rural town but I discovered a great Muay Thai and straight boxing gym 2 years ago. I decided to give it a try. At my age I figure it's too late to be pro or anything like that but I can train hard stay in shape better than most guys my age and maybe do a few amaetur fights.
I can keep up with the young dudes in my gym half my age when it comes to sparring and such. Far as things like running and circuit drills I don't come in the top of the group but I don't come in dead last either. I think it's great you have decided to come back train and fight again. I have another guy at my gym who is real inspiration to me. He is 53 years old. Still trains like an animal and still fights.
Really kudos to you for having the balls to come back and fight. I wish you the best!

Thanks, i'm just trying to iron out all of the bad habits i picked up over the last 15 years, i always sparred but more in a coaching or 'opponent' capacity so i became quite good defensively/tucking up, now they're trying to get me upright and box long and that typically euro style doesn't come naturally to me.
Its going to be a long slow process, my main concern at the moment is my shoulder giving out, i had arthroscopic surgery on a shoulder impingement 18 months ago and training has really aggravated it, in fact after training last night i struggled to stir apan of porridge with it today! Cortisone shots might be a short term solution