Hi there I'm Mike Gales for Everlast Nutrition. In this video we're going
to go over basic blocking techniques for boxing. My friend who's going to help
me out in this video has just started boxing a couple weeks ago. He wants
to try some sparring to burn some extra calories. First he's going to
need to learn, the mantra that every boxer knows,and that's how to protect
yourself at all times. If you're already an advanced fighter then maybe
this video isn't for you. In which case I thank you for checking out this video
anyway. You probably already know all the things I'm about to show you. But, if
you're anything like my friend here, then this is what you need to know.
You're going to want to make yourself a smaller target by assuming a proper boxing stance.
I'll put a link about how to do that in the description below.
Basically you're going to have your lead shoulder angled towards the center of
your opponent. Have your weight evenly distributed between both legs. Keep both
your hands and your shoulders up high protect your face from any punches that
you might not see coming. Don't flare out your elbows too much. Try to keep
them in towards your body as much as you can. Now that you know how to stand and
before you even block a single punch, your first question should be where is
exactly that you should be looking. I know what you're thinking duh you stupid
dummy obviously I should be looking directly at his hands. But you are what I
like to call wrong! I like to use this little analogy of looking straight down
to the lines on the road while you're driving. Do that and the lines seem to be
moving awfully quick. Look up ahead and use your peripheral visions to look
at the lines and they now seem to be moving quite slow. Even though you're moving at
the exact same speed. The same thing goes here. If you look directly at the
punches, you're going to get punched in the face. so I suggest that you look at
your opponent's upper chest. You're going to see everything by using your
peripheral vision to pick up the punches. I know you heard Mr. Miyagi say
always look at the eyes. But in close quarters you're never going to see your
opponent's eyes. That is unless you look up which is going to expose your face.
Trust me on this keep your eyes fixed on your opponent's upper chest and you're
going to see everything. You'll even find it over a period of time that your
brain is going to recognize certain movements of his upper chest as being
specific punches. Let's block a jab and for the purposes of this
video, I'm going to pretend that your opponent is not a southpaw. Your opponent
is going to throw his jab towards your face.
To block it, you're going to put your rear and let me emphasize rear hand open
and in front of your face. I turn my hand open, so that it takes up more space.
I do not block my vision. I also make sure that I keep my lead hand up high
just in case there's a right hook or a cross following that jab.
Also make sure that your rear hand is stiff when it comes out to meet the jab.
Or else he's going to punch right through it. I also put my hand only a
couple inches in front of my face. That's an important point. You want to
let the punches come to you. If you don't and you try to catch the
punches out in front of you, you're going to decrease your reaction
time. Also some of those punches might get through your outstretched hands and
hit your face. As the jab comes in you put your hand in front of your face
to kill it. Nothing fancy, just have your rear hand firm, palm open and right in
front of your face to kill the jab. Next up, let's block a straight right hand.
You may see some other tutorials that block straight right by using the
lead hand like so. You can do that but I find your opponent then has good
leverage to throw a left hook right through the middle of your guard. In a
perfect world, I block a straight right hand the same way as I blocked the
jab. I use my rear hand as I take a small step to the outside, to cut off the angle
and a leverage of a follow up shot. I also then have my lead hand to fire my own
jabs or a counter hook back. The world is not always perfect and
sometimes the straight comes in too fast. Or behind a jab, double jab or from an
awkward angle. Then I'm left with this second option. I placed my lead
hand against my head and I used it as a shock absorber. I rotate my shoulder to
cut off the angle directly to my face. This will happen often when a straight
follows a jab, a double jab or a left hook. If I tried to catch the punches
like they do in the matrix, I guarantee you that I'm going to get punched in the
face. I catch the jab or a double jab with my rear hand and then I place
my lead hand up against my head as a shock absorber. I then cut the angle to
block the shot. Let's move on to blocking a left hook to the head.
Once again we've all seen those old karate movies where people block the
hooks like so. Don't get me wrong, I those old movies. Realistically by
putting my arm all the way out there I'm giving my opponent openings.
He will find a way around my outstretched guard. What you want to
do is, as your opponent throws a left hook to the head, raise your rear hand
and shoulder up, to limit the amount of soft target exposure. That basically
means that a punch landing on my gloves forearm or shoulder is a much better
option than having the punch land on my face or my head. I'm going to keep my
hand up against my head and it's going to act as a shock absorber. I let the
punches come to me. I do not go out to meet them. My arm just slides up against
my head. I shrug up my shoulder. I keep my elbows in as close as possible. Most
of all, I don't block my vision. I keep my eyes on that upper chest of my of my partner.
How about a left hook to the body?
Many beginners have a habit of covering up their body like this.
This will definitely block a shot to the body no doubt. What's going to happen if
there's a quick follow up to the head? Or if you predicted that it was going to be
a body shot but it happened to come a little bit higher than expected?
Maybe in your case you have some super quick reflexes and for you it won't
matter. For most of us, it's going to be a better option keep our hands up as
high as possible just in case. What you might want to do keep your hands
high and shift your torso towards the incoming shot to cut off the angle.
The punch land on your arms rather than hitting the soft target of your body.
Once again do not go on to meet the punch. You need to let it come to you.
Angle your torso to cut off the shot to the body and catch the
punches on your arm. Blocking a right hook to the head. The principle will be
pretty much the same as blocking the left hook to the head.
Let the punch come to you as you raise your lead arm up. Keep it tight against
your head. Shrug your shoulders up. Try to cover up as much area as possible.
You want your arms and shoulders to act as shock absorbers to kill the punch.
Remember to keep your eyes on your opponent. Use your peripheral vision
to pick up the shots. Blocking a right hook to the body? Remember unless you got
spider reflexes, then don't block body shots like this.
Angle your torso towards that incoming shot to cut off the angle.
That way the shot lands on your arms and not your ribs. You can keep
your hands up high enough to block combinations if you need to.
Keep your hands up as high as possible. There is no doubt that they're going to come down a
little bit once you block the punch to the body. But they should still be up
high enough to make blocking combinations to the head much much
easier. Blocking uppercuts uppercuts a tricky little shots. You
may see a lot of people trying to block the uppercuts with their palms facing
downward and their arms outstretched. That may work from a distance.
The problem is that uppercuts are usually very short-range shots.
If you out stretch your arms, there is a higher the chance that the punch is
going to pass your guard and hit you in the face. From a distance you could
try and block the punch with your rear hand have your palm facing down.
Only slightly in front your face. I always prefer to simultaneously shift my
torso in a similar manner that you block the body shot. Then also rotate at
the same time so that I cut the angle of any uppercuts splitting my guard.
Keep both hands up high and tight. Then angle your torso but also rotate.
That will have uppercuts landing on your elbows and your forearms. Not your face.
You have now cut off the angle of the uppercuts being able to come from
underneath and split your guard.
Blocking combinations. To block combos, you can use all the individual blocks in
this video and string them together. Don't worry with some practice and some
repetition your brain is going to begin to recognize certain patterns of
movements. That's really going to help you to predict which punch is
actually being thrown at you. The most important principle is to relax and stay
calm and to keep your eyes on your opponent.
Remember to use your peripheral vision so you can actually see which
plunges are coming. Even the best in the world can't predict all the punches
being thrown in a quick combination. So sometimes you're going to have to
shell up and cover up, to protect as much area as possible. I know this
video is getting a little long. I'm sorry about that. Let's take a quick
look at your defensive shell. This is when you use your arms and your
shoulders to cover up as much area as possible.
Think of yourself as being a turtle. Where you raise up your hands and you keep
your gloves tight against your head. Your elbows staying close to your body.
You shrug up your shoulders. You want to keep your eyes on your opponent.
If he is about to start blasting you, Then just sit there. Move your head
or your feet to get out of the way. Try and get to a safe distance so that
you can reset. We are not all Ali who can pull off a "Rope a Dope"
Again don't just sit there and let someone blast on you. One last little
thought. Why not to shell up or block your punches while you back up in a straight line?
Your opponent can generate more force going forward. He can also move
forward faster than you can go backwards. For that reason it's not wise to
block punches or shell up going backwards in a straight line. Instead
of going straight back, it's preferable to pivot off to an angle.
Contrary to what your brain may be telling you, if your opponent is about to start blasting
you with shots, that you're not going to see, it is actually going to be safer to
shell or block the punches moving towards your opponent. That way you can
smother his shots.
this has been Mike Gales for Everlast Nutrition. Please click below to like
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