Tuesday 27-11-07 [EBC] – Bag and Hook

Just got back from tonight’s boxing session, so here’s a write up of the sessions events.

To be honest, this wasn’t anything special.  We started as always, a warmup involving running and rope work (4 rounds, 2mins work x 1min rest).

After that it was onto the the bags.  We got into small groups (me and three others in my group).  One personwas holding the bag still behind it, while the other person was punching the bag.  The bag-holder had to put out their hands to make the puncher move – For example, putting out their right hand meant the puncher had to circle the bag counter-clockwise (i.e. going to their right).  The bag-holder could also present their hands as a target, which the puncher had to hit.  The rounds were about 2 minutes each, but it was surprisingly tiring!  We rotated each round, so the puncher became the bag-holder, and the bag-holder was able to rest until he was next punching.  You can probably get the idea by now.

When I was punching, the one holding the bag was the one who I last week referred to as a headcase.   He didn’t seem to get the idea of making me move, as he rarely stuck his hands out or moved, however much me or the coach told him.  And not once did he present me a target, even though I told him.  Oh well.  It was still fun, and tiring, and because I wanted to get the most out of it I was moving around the bag anyway (making him move!).  He wouldn’t keep his hands up either when he was the puncher, and wasn’t moving greatly – Again, it was move punch now everything else later.  Well, I don’t want to criticize him, he can learn the hard way if he so desires!

After that we spent around 10 minutes with partners doing the hook.  The parter held is hand up in front of him at a right angle, so his upper arm was parallel to the ground and his forearm parallel to the floor, with his palm facing to his right, horizontally in line with his head (I hope you can visualise this), then the other person simply hooked it.  I’ve never done the hook before, and really wasn’t great at it.  There was so much to remember though!  I could get the feet and twisting OK, but I couldn’t do that and dipping the hand before punching, leaning back, keeping my elbow at 90°, keeping my arm parallel to the floor…You get the point!  But I gave it my best shot (no pun intended), and will be practising it.  By the way, I wasn’t with the headcase (who really is a nice guy) so I could practice fairly well and my partner was giving me some advice.

Then it was the end of the session, so we ended in the normal way – A circuit of various bodyweight exercises in rapid succession.  The order was (if I remember correctly): Knee tucks, pushups, situps, burpees (no pushup version).  After the hooks my left arm had died though, but I pushed through.  Finally I did a cool-down, involving walking around and stretching.

I am going to try and get an extra workout in tomorrow as well, but if not I might not get another post until Friday at my next boxing session.

On a side issue, Ross sent me an email today saying he would ship the DVD/book today.  I’ll probably get it within a couple days.

As always, if you have any comments, any comments at all, please do post them!  I want to see everyone’s thoughts and advice.