Re Learning How to Fight

[Ilk]

@j123 this is mainly for you, my friend.

I know I need to finish of my combos.
I know I need to start countering after their first punch.
I know I need to push forward.

However this is what happens.
I start with the jab. I am comfortable jabbing and double jabbing. But if the opponent moves or signals he is going to attack I do not trow the right hand. I just stop there freezing and back out.

They come firing at me, and I see the many opportunities to counter, but I do not. I have no idea why. I tried today to counter a lot on the jab - passive countering. Catch the jab, trow my own. However I did this only once. I completely forgot to add some check hooks. Not to mention countering with 2-3 hits. I can barely manage to put 1 shot.

I am being pushed backwards all the time. Even from lighter guys. I know how to close and corner guys, I am actually pretty good at it, but I am getting pushed on my heels.

So how do I manage to get out of this weak mind set from running scared? What do I need to do, practice and etc?

 

[Silver tongue samurai]

@j123 this is mainly for you, my friend.

I know I need to finish of my combos.
I know I need to start countering after their first punch.
I know I need to push forward.

However this is what happens.
I start with the jab. I am comfortable jabbing and double jabbing. But if the opponent moves or signals he is going to attack I do not trow the right hand. I just stop there freezing and back out.

They come firing at me, and I see the many opportunities to counter, but I do not. I have no idea why. I tried today to counter a lot on the jab - passive countering. Catch the jab, trow my own. However I did this only once. I completely forgot to add some check hooks. Not to mention countering with 2-3 hits. I can barely manage to put 1 shot.

I am being pushed backwards all the time. Even from lighter guys. I know how to close and corner guys, I am actually pretty good at it, but I am getting pushed on my heels.

So how do I manage to get out of this weak mind set from running scared? What do I need to do, practice and etc?

I feel like he may say somthing along the lines of "just bang"

 

[listrahtes]

Aren't you relative new to fighting? If yes why not just give you more time and not build pressure onto yourself.

Or so you have a specific time goal until when you want to be ready?

 

[j123]

@j123 this is mainly for you, my friend.

I know I need to finish of my combos.
I know I need to start countering after their first punch.
I know I need to push forward.

However this is what happens.
I start with the jab. I am comfortable jabbing and double jabbing. But if the opponent moves or signals he is going to attack I do not trow the right hand. I just stop there freezing and back out.

They come firing at me, and I see the many opportunities to counter, but I do not. I have no idea why. I tried today to counter a lot on the jab - passive countering. Catch the jab, trow my own. However I did this only once. I completely forgot to add some check hooks. Not to mention countering with 2-3 hits. I can barely manage to put 1 shot.

I am being pushed backwards all the time. Even from lighter guys. I know how to close and corner guys, I am actually pretty good at it, but I am getting pushed on my heels.

So how do I manage to get out of this weak mind set from running scared? What do I need to do, practice and etc?

Right now you are too concerned about what your opponent is throwing rather what you should be throwing.

Go to the grocery store, you should be thinking, "I have to pick up Froot Loops at Aisle 5", instead of "other customers are going to take the Froot Loops!!!"

Its kinda a funny thing in life, the more you think and care about something, the more nervous you get about it, and it screws up. Like a job interview, when you have a don't give a crap attitude and are willing to walk away mid-interview, it becomes much easier and better than "oh shit, I'm 15min early, but I have a wrinkle on the collar of my shirt", I've committed career suicide!".

When this happened to me, I made an internal "checklist" of a minimum I had to make each round. eg.

• 5 combinations - eg. 1,2,3,kick
• Initiate 3 clinch entries
• 3+ retaliation combinations (interupting combos with combos and not single strikes)
• 1 Headkick

If I failed to hit the min. number, then I messed up. It works very well on short intense rounds. If its a long carefree 5min, it doesn't go so well because thats a very long time, and you can accomplish all this in 2 min


If all fails

Spoiler

 

[Ilk]

Aren't you relative new to fighting? If yes why not just give you more time and not build pressure onto yourself.

Or so you have a specific time goal until when you want to be ready?

I am in general new and not so new. I just train about 4 months per year at max and.then I go to work. Last time I just started learning how to fight and I had to stop. So I kind of know how to do it but the habits are not there.

 

[Silver tongue samurai]

“When you get hit that’s when you’ve got to be calm. A professional fighter has to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting."

"A man who's thinking or worried about getting hit is not gonna have a good sense of anticipation. He will in fact get hit."

some Cus gems

 

[spacetime]

“When you get hit that’s when you’ve got to be calm. A professional fighter has to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting."

"A man who's thinking or worried about getting hit is not gonna have a good sense of anticipation. He will in fact get hit."

some Cus gems

Truer words have not been spoken. Best way is to have the experience.

 

[j123]

“When you get hit that’s when you’ve got to be calm. A professional fighter has to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting."

"A man who's thinking or worried about getting hit is not gonna have a good sense of anticipation. He will in fact get hit."

some Cus gems

Let me bang bro
-Cus d'amato

 

[dudeguyman]

@j123 this is mainly for you, my friend.

I know I need to finish of my combos.
I know I need to start countering after their first punch.
I know I need to push forward.

However this is what happens.
I start with the jab. I am comfortable jabbing and double jabbing. But if the opponent moves or signals he is going to attack I do not trow the right hand. I just stop there freezing and back out.

They come firing at me, and I see the many opportunities to counter, but I do not. I have no idea why. I tried today to counter a lot on the jab - passive countering. Catch the jab, trow my own. However I did this only once. I completely forgot to add some check hooks. Not to mention countering with 2-3 hits. I can barely manage to put 1 shot.

I am being pushed backwards all the time. Even from lighter guys. I know how to close and corner guys, I am actually pretty good at it, but I am getting pushed on my heels.

So how do I manage to get out of this weak mind set from running scared? What do I need to do, practice and etc?

I've found that once i accepted i was gonna get hit, i got hit less. At first you'll get hit alot, but once you get punched in the head enough times you start to react a bit sooner. are you moving, or are you just standing and throwin? try to circle around to the outside whilst parrying to get a better angle. lateral movement is key.

i am still relatively green, with only a bit less then 2 years under my belt. so do take my advice with a grain of salt. if someone with more experience disagrees with any of my advice please do call me out and tag both me an OP. we both could stand to learn something.

 

[Silver tongue samurai]

I've found that once i accepted i was gonna get hit, i got hit less. At first you'll get hit alot, but once you get punched in the head enough times you start to react a bit sooner. are you moving, or are you just standing and throwin? try to circle around to the outside whilst parrying to get a better angle. lateral movement is key.

“When you get hit that’s when you’ve got to be calm. A professional fighter has to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting."

"A man who's thinking or worried about getting hit is not gonna have a good sense of anticipation. He will in fact get hit."

Like I said thise are gems. Even though you said you were green you came to the same conclusion because there are just certain truths. If youre worried about getting hit you wont be able to react properly be it stress and cortisol or just being tight in general. You will in fact get hit and when you do thats when you gotta be the most calm.

Also moving after you punch is important to drill. Shadow box and making sure to move after each combo

 

[Hotora86]

@j123 this is mainly for you, my friend.

I know I need to finish of my combos.
I know I need to start countering after their first punch.
I know I need to push forward.

However this is what happens.
I start with the jab. I am comfortable jabbing and double jabbing. But if the opponent moves or signals he is going to attack I do not trow the right hand. I just stop there freezing and back out.

They come firing at me, and I see the many opportunities to counter, but I do not. I have no idea why. I tried today to counter a lot on the jab - passive countering. Catch the jab, trow my own. However I did this only once. I completely forgot to add some check hooks. Not to mention countering with 2-3 hits. I can barely manage to put 1 shot.

I am being pushed backwards all the time. Even from lighter guys. I know how to close and corner guys, I am actually pretty good at it, but I am getting pushed on my heels.

So how do I manage to get out of this weak mind set from running scared? What do I need to do, practice and etc?

Fighting is like hitting on a hot chick.© If you try to memorize cool pickup lines and icebreakers and shit you'll just sound stiff and fail miserably forever. You gotta relax and be yourself, improvise, react but also do your own thing, not imitate someone cool. You will fail at first but the more you do it the less stressed you will become. This will eventually give you confidence and confidence is the greatest chick magnet. Working out doesn't hurt either.

I'm a lover, not a fighter but trust me, this advice works for both.

 

[j123]

Fighting is like hitting on a hot chick.© If you try to memorize cool pickup lines and icebreakers and shit you'll just sound stiff and fail miserably forever. You gotta relax and be yourself, improvise, react but also do your own thing, not imitate someone cool. You will fail at first but the more you do it the less stressed you will become. This will eventually give you confidence and confidence is the greatest chick magnet. Working out doesn't hurt either.

I'm a lover, not a fighter but trust me, this advice works for both.

Exactly, no need for lines. Just bang!

 

[Hotora86]

Exactly, no need for lines. Just bang!

OK, I thought my analogy was clever but you just took it to another level!

 

[Ilk]

I've found that once i accepted i was gonna get hit, i got hit less. At first you'll get hit alot, but once you get punched in the head enough times you start to react a bit sooner. are you moving, or are you just standing and throwin? try to circle around to the outside whilst parrying to get a better angle. lateral movement is key.

i am still relatively green, with only a bit less then 2 years under my belt. so do take my advice with a grain of salt. if someone with more experience disagrees with any of my advice please do call me out and tag both me an OP. we both could stand to learn something.

Ye. I noticed I back peddle a lot and tried to add some pivots and check hooks and need to learn to go back diagonally. I am going to spend some time on footwork definitely.

I finally did something I liked today. In one instance my partner came countering me and I was kind of expect that he will jab or hook after my jab so I did a body cross with a nice duck and just rolled under his hook.
In a second instance I was again hoping for a counter and I did jab, duck, jab and the second jab landed as my southpaw partner just trew his cross over my duck and was getting his hand back.

But again I have been to passive when getting attacked, especially against the more experienced partner, but the guy is kind of really fast especially on his first hit so I can barely block his shots. The other one I tried to push forward and attack and I did okay, but still much more was needed. I outweight him with 15 or more kg I should be over powering him easily

 

[Ilk]

Fighting is like hitting on a hot chick.© If you try to memorize cool pickup lines and icebreakers and shit you'll just sound stiff and fail miserably forever. You gotta relax and be yourself, improvise, react but also do your own thing, not imitate someone cool. You will fail at first but the more you do it the less stressed you will become. This will eventually give you confidence and confidence is the greatest chick magnet. Working out doesn't hurt either.

I'm a lover, not a fighter but trust me, this advice works for both.

Ehh I am too far away from trying my own stuff still. I have a lot of techniques to learn and do them properly. My main tools are still the jab and the cross and I suck in mid and close range. I am fine with the chicks to be honest It is easier with them than to learn to box.

 

[Hotora86]

Ehh I am too far away from trying my own stuff still. I have a lot of techniques to learn and do them properly. My main tools are still the jab and the cross and I suck in mid and close range. I am fine with the chicks to be honest It is easier with them than to learn to box.

It's even easier if you box them.
<{monica}>
Cool that you're humble and know your own weaknesses. Keep practicing, improvement takes time but it will come eventually. Best of luck.

 

[j123]

Ye. I noticed I back peddle a lot and tried to add some pivots and check hooks and need to learn to go back diagonally. I am going to spend some time on footwork definitely.

I finally did something I liked today. In one instance my partner came countering me and I was kind of expect that he will jab or hook after my jab so I did a body cross with a nice duck and just rolled under his hook.
In a second instance I was again hoping for a counter and I did jab, duck, jab and the second jab landed as my southpaw partner just trew his cross over my duck and was getting his hand back.

But again I have been to passive when getting attacked, especially against the more experienced partner, but the guy is kind of really fast especially on his first hit so I can barely block his shots. The other one I tried to push forward and attack and I did okay, but still much more was needed. I outweight him with 15 or more kg I should be over powering him easily

Just bang harder

 

[dudeguyman]

Ye. I noticed I back peddle a lot and tried to add some pivots and check hooks and need to learn to go back diagonally. I am going to spend some time on footwork definitely.

I finally did something I liked today. In one instance my partner came countering me and I was kind of expect that he will jab or hook after my jab so I did a body cross with a nice duck and just rolled under his hook.
In a second instance I was again hoping for a counter and I did jab, duck, jab and the second jab landed as my southpaw partner just trew his cross over my duck and was getting his hand back.

But again I have been to passive when getting attacked, especially against the more experienced partner, but the guy is kind of really fast especially on his first hit so I can barely block his shots. The other one I tried to push forward and attack and I did okay, but still much more was needed. I outweight him with 15 or more kg I should be over powering him easily

Oh. If you are only sparring against people far more skilled then you that really slows progress. They're usually either to gentle or to rough to learn much. Try to spar mostly with people at your skill level and you can try lots of new things you aren't as good at. Then once you find something that just clicks try it on someone way better then you and you will see where you are sloppy and can clean it up.

 

[fluffball]

Only using the jab is undoubtedly the most common problem beginners have.

It may help you to do some limited sparring where for example, your partner only throws jabs and body hooks and you only throw high and low straights or whatever. The cross is literally by definition a counter to the jab, so if you get used to throwing that every time someone advances on you... well problem solved.

 

[Ilk]

Oh. If you are only sparring against people far more skilled then you that really slows progress. They're usually either to gentle or to rough to learn much. Try to spar mostly with people at your skill level and you can try lots of new things you aren't as good at. Then once you find something that just clicks try it on someone way better then you and you will see where you are sloppy and can clean it up.

Well I dont really have a choice. I go private lessons with 2-3 more friends and all of them are more advanced than me One of them is a beast. but he lets me work a lot, but the guy is so fast even in slow mo. The other one we have about the same experience, but he has been very consistent the past 2 years, while I have not, the last one comes fairly rare is lighter than all of us but has some good footwork and hooks I d rate him more advanced than me, due to his technique and footwork, but if we go bang I d probably win due to huge weight advantage. Most of them let me work and are giving me good feedback. I am happy with their contribution.

I am trying to mix it up though. Not just win or do better. I wanted to ask you. If you do boxing, what is a common way you finish your combos with? I was thinking to do some shadow boxing where I do a simple combo (1-2, or 1-1-2) and finishing with a pivot/check hook and even add another cross after that. Or if I finish with a cross to duck under it, step right/slip outside and add another right hand - cross, hook, uppercut depends on the range; or some side steps. Basically I have been watching a lot of Frank Sands youtube channel and he says that you need to do your stuff and hope your punches land and is talking a lot about proactive defending - expecting hits and counters to come and having a plan in mind, however he shows mostly entry engagements and how to do it in the begining with fakes and etc, not in the middle or in the end of an engagement.

Only using the jab is undoubtedly the most common problem beginners have.

It may help you to do some limited sparring where for example, your partner only throws jabs and body hooks and you only throw high and low straights or whatever. The cross is literally by definition a counter to the jab, so if you get used to throwing that every time someone advances on you... well problem solved.

I see. I am trying to add crosses every time I can. I am trying to mix it up as much as I can. Finishing simple combos, add a slip and an uppercut for example. I need to focus more and adding pivots and check hooks, and countering with a cross or even cross-jab-cross.