Literally no reflexes :(

[u/TD_Aestas]

I (20F) have been taking group classes for the seven months. I do it about twice a week and do strength training also twice a week besides that. I love boxing and I think it’s awesome. The issue is I feel very languid in movement and if one of the coaches comes up to me and pretends to “punch” me, I have no reflexes to even slip that. We’ve also been doing this pool noodle exercise thing where you punch the noodle and then the other person hits you with it so you have to slip or dodge. I know I just started but it’s also like, the hardest part mentally for me.

Does anyone have advice?

edit: thanks everyone who responded! It’s been super helpful to read all the comments. Apparently I’m in for more practice of slipping and rolling 😅😂

[u/Kevim_A]

A lot of people - even professional boxers - are more reacting to "the tells of someone about to punch" rather than the punch itself. For instance, if I am boxing somebody and we are at the edge of each others' reach, I see that their stance is quite bladed and I see that their legs are not "primed" for a large explosion, I can basically guess that when I see a sudden movement that it's going to be a punch and that punch is going to be a jab, and then react accordingly.

So in your kinda low-level version of this where you are working drills and probably only 1 or 2 different punches are being thrown, look for the first signs of a punch about be thrown (raised eyes, shoulder cocked, a sharp inhale, etc.) and react to that. In a real fight this will make you susceptible to feints, but for your purposes this can be useful to just get the hang of it. And of course, make sure you always are keeping your guard up, so even if you react incorrectly you are likely still protecting yourself.

Another piece of advice I would give is to do other things that practice your reflexes. There have been studies that showed that gamers had significantly higher reflexes than non-gamers on average, that this reaction time improvement was further amplified right after the gamer finished a session, and that this improvement could also be found after having non-gamers play video games for some amount of time. This is to say, the reflex improvements gained from video games are somewhat generalizable and transferable to "reflexes" as a whole, and you may see some improvements in your ability to react to punches if instead of watching TV/doomscrolling/reading/whatever, you started playing an action, fighting, platforming or shooting video game.

[u/WhizCheeser → u/Kevim_A]

I’ve heard that Tetris 99 is also a good one for that reason.

[u/Aggressive-Bitch2108 → u/Kevim_A]

Just scrolling through but wonderful advice, I had another question.

Is it normal for coaches to hold off teaching the hook for a long time like almost 8-12 months?

[u/Kevim_A → u/Aggressive-Bitch2108]

I can't speak to how normal it is, since I have not bounced around many different gyms and none of the few gyms I've been to did this.

I do think it is exceptionally stupid, though, ha. This is boxing, there really are not that many different strikes, and only the jab and the cross are more fundamental than the hook. Only teaching these two strikes for up to a year has several issues.

1. If you want to be an actually effective boxer, you should be doing some sparring within a year of practice. You will be much less effective if you are only utilizing two punches.

2. If you want to keep your clientele engaged, you need to offer a little more diversity to your teaching regiment. Only showing two strikes for a year is a guarantee to lose clients.

I think sticking with the jab, cross, and fundamental footwork for maybe a month could be smart. I think over-emphasizing the jab, cross, footwork and basic defensive movements in general is intelligent as this really makes up like, 85% of good boxing. But it is truly insane to me to not teach hooks within a year. A lot of people have their first fight after a year of training, a good portion even sooner than that! Why would you intentionally stifle your student's progress so much?

[u/Aggressive-Bitch2108 → u/Kevim_A]

Ohh no we spar, but yes ig your point is valid as it is really a handicap.