Beginner

[darlo18]

Hey,

I joined a boxing gym about three months ago and have been loving it. I attend three classes a week, which are an hour and a half long. They seem pretty comprehensive and cover: footwork drills, shadowboxing, basic combinations/light sparring, then the last twenty mins is freestyle sparring swapping partners round the room.

A problem that's been recurring with me is holding back in sparring. There's some women in the gym, as well as some guys who are quite a bit younger than me and while they go full force on me, something is stopping me responding in kind (call it a nice guy syndrome or something). Even though they are more experienced haha!

This came to a head last night. A new guy who I later learned had kickboxed for a number of years was paired with me, the trainer thought he was a beginner. The guy told me at the start he wasnt wearing a mouthguard and not to hit too hard in the face. I was fine with it and respectful. But then he started clocking me full force with combinations. And I kinda froze - I didnt know what to do. I didnt back down, but didnt know how to respond its supposed to be light sparring and he wasnt wearing a mouthguard - seemed like one rule for him another for me......he caught me on the jaw and saw me move backward and apologised for hitting too hard....but then kept doing it. Left the gym a bit pissed off. I wasnt hurt and dont care if someones going full force, it is boxing and Im going to get hit, I just need to let go somehow and be more aggressive because I can do so much more

How can I get over this tendency to hold my punches?

[mike1010011]

Hey,

I joined a boxing gym about three months ago and have been loving it. I attend three classes a week, which are an hour and a half long. They seem pretty comprehensive and cover: footwork drills, shadowboxing, basic combinations/light sparring, then the last twenty mins is freestyle sparring swapping partners round the room.

A problem that's been recurring with me is holding back in sparring. There's some women in the gym, as well as some guys who are quite a bit younger than me and while they go full force on me, something is stopping me responding in kind (call it a nice guy syndrome or something). Even though they are more experienced haha!

This came to a head last night. A new guy who I later learned had kickboxed for a number of years was paired with me, the trainer thought he was a beginner. The guy told me at the start he wasnt wearing a mouthguard and not to hit too hard in the face. I was fine with it and respectful. But then he started clocking me full force with combinations. And I kinda froze - I didnt know what to do. I didnt back down, but didnt know how to respond its supposed to be light sparring and he wasnt wearing a mouthguard - seemed like one rule for him another for me......he caught me on the jaw and saw me move backward and apologised for hitting too hard....but then kept doing it. Left the gym a bit pissed off. I wasnt hurt and dont care if someones going full force, it is boxing and Im going to get hit, I just need to let go somehow and be more aggressive because I can do so much more

How can I get over this tendency to hold my punches?

Well,its hit or be hit. If you set down the ground rules for light sparring,and they come at you with killer intentions,return them. If they see that you're just a walking punching bag,they'll take advantage of it,and tear you apart. Check their liver,or pump a solid jab right in their face,and you'll see how suddenly,they arnt so eager to come out swinging like rocky balboa.

[nivek535]

Hey,

I joined a boxing gym about three months ago and have been loving it. I attend three classes a week, which are an hour and a half long. They seem pretty comprehensive and cover: footwork drills, shadowboxing, basic combinations/light sparring, then the last twenty mins is freestyle sparring swapping partners round the room.

A problem that's been recurring with me is holding back in sparring. There's some women in the gym, as well as some guys who are quite a bit younger than me and while they go full force on me, something is stopping me responding in kind (call it a nice guy syndrome or something). Even though they are more experienced haha!

This came to a head last night. A new guy who I later learned had kickboxed for a number of years was paired with me, the trainer thought he was a beginner. The guy told me at the start he wasnt wearing a mouthguard and not to hit too hard in the face. I was fine with it and respectful. But then he started clocking me full force with combinations. And I kinda froze - I didnt know what to do. I didnt back down, but didnt know how to respond its supposed to be light sparring and he wasnt wearing a mouthguard - seemed like one rule for him another for me......he caught me on the jaw and saw me move backward and apologised for hitting too hard....but then kept doing it. Left the gym a bit pissed off. I wasnt hurt and dont care if someones going full force, it is boxing and Im going to get hit, I just need to let go somehow and be more aggressive because I can do so much more

How can I get over this tendency to hold my punches?

just hit them.
i was in a similar situation lol.
just hit them, its boxing.

[Dagomba]

That's a weirdass class...

[Ray Corso]

sparring after 3 months? I can't imagine who's running this place.
Judst protect yourself, don't let anyone takle advantage of you. If their younger or smaller just go to the body. A straight hard right to the solar plexes is always a "lighten up or else" punch!
Find a real boxing gym if you want to learn boxing. Free for all sparing sounds like a social event! Spar sessions for green guys needs to be instuctive in ever way. Your trainer needs to be watching and teaching and not letting anyone take advantage. Sounds like the old YMCA boxing programs.
Ray.

[2ofEverything]

sparring after 3 months? I can't imagine who's running this place.
Judst protect yourself, don't let anyone takle advantage of you. If their younger or smaller just go to the body. A straight hard right to the solar plexes is always a "lighten up or else" punch!
Find a real boxing gym if you want to learn boxing. Free for all sparing sounds like a social event! Spar sessions for green guys needs to be instuctive in ever way. Your trainer needs to be watching and teaching and not letting anyone take advantage. Sounds like the old YMCA boxing programs.
Ray.

Why? A lot of guys I know with really good records started sparring that early, some at 2 months even. Sparring is really helpful when it comes to finding a fighters flaws.

Anyways, to answer your question if you agreed to do some light sparring and the guy starts killing you return with equal force. If your coaches are decent they'll know when both of you are going too hard and call you out on it, and hopefully set a pace for you. But I have to agree with Dagomba, it sounds like a weird ass class. Are you being monitored by at least one coach during sparring? And what coach lets someone spar without a mouthguard?

[darlo18]

We spar on the floor of the gym, as well as in the ring. He does try and watch, but there's quite a lot of us in there so not easy for him to closely monitor us.

This is the first time that I've had an issue in there. Every other time the other person has been cool and if more experienced has given me really useful guidance. I think this guy was trying to prove something and one of the more experienced boxers came over when he saw what was happening (after a few rounds) and asked the guy to spar him instead. It's not a recurring issue in there and generally the vibe is good and positive. Just had a really off night last night when I left.

[- Ram Raid -]

Hey,

I joined a boxing gym about three months ago and have been loving it. I attend three classes a week, which are an hour and a half long. They seem pretty comprehensive and cover: footwork drills, shadowboxing, basic combinations/light sparring, then the last twenty mins is freestyle sparring swapping partners round the room.

A problem that's been recurring with me is holding back in sparring. There's some women in the gym, as well as some guys who are quite a bit younger than me and while they go full force on me, something is stopping me responding in kind (call it a nice guy syndrome or something). Even though they are more experienced haha!

This came to a head last night. A new guy who I later learned had kickboxed for a number of years was paired with me, the trainer thought he was a beginner. The guy told me at the start he wasnt wearing a mouthguard and not to hit too hard in the face. I was fine with it and respectful. But then he started clocking me full force with combinations. And I kinda froze - I didnt know what to do. I didnt back down, but didnt know how to respond its supposed to be light sparring and he wasnt wearing a mouthguard - seemed like one rule for him another for me......he caught me on the jaw and saw me move backward and apologised for hitting too hard....but then kept doing it. Left the gym a bit pissed off. I wasnt hurt and dont care if someones going full force, it is boxing and Im going to get hit, I just need to let go somehow and be more aggressive because I can do so much more

How can I get over this tendency to hold my punches?

It could be the case that you're holding a very natural belief that it's not very nice to hit people and that doing so makes you a bad person. Not on a rational level of course but somewhere on an emotional level. After all how many times were we all scolded as children for displaying aggression!?!

It's likely that your younger self had a belief forced upon it that's since become unconscious and automatic and has never been adequately challenged. Take some time to have a word with yourself. It is wrong to hit people and hurt them that much is true, but in the context of the ring, not only is it not wrong, but it is the right thing to do . . . every time.

Once I did this I was able to clock people with a carefree abandon. I even grew to love it and I started in the same position as yourself.

It might also be useful to become acquainted with an NLP technique called 'anchoring'. A lot of NLP can be dismissed and some of its practitioners are straight up odd balls but I've found this to be pretty effective. Once you practise it you should be able to put yourself into an aggressive state on cue.

After a period of illness I'd gotten into a really negative and doubtful state of mind when attempting strenuous exercise. Once I anchored how I used to feel in the gym to a physical cue I was able to fire myself into a dominant mind state before going to the gym and I've never had a problem with doubting myself since.

You might find this link helpful:

https://soundcloud.com/tonytonyl/12-...-to-success-12

[- Ram Raid -]

sparring after 3 months? I can't imagine who's running this place.
Judst protect yourself, don't let anyone takle advantage of you. If their younger or smaller just go to the body. A straight hard right to the solar plexes is always a "lighten up or else" punch!
Find a real boxing gym if you want to learn boxing. Free for all sparing sounds like a social event! Spar sessions for green guys needs to be instuctive in ever way. Your trainer needs to be watching and teaching and not letting anyone take advantage. Sounds like the old YMCA boxing programs.
Ray.

This seems to be a recurring theme. I don't know whether my experience is isolated or whether there's a general difference between American and English gyms. I've trained at three boxing gyms and the longest I've ever been held from sparring is a week. That was at one gym. The other two I sparred on my first session. The first one I sparred three people consecutively.

[Soju]

I think there are several definitions of sparring on this forum.


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