Reader's Note:
Craig trained with a local team for ten years. He just got back into town feeling 'muscled up' and 'tight' from just weight-training for two years. His team is a sparring heavy club. So he asked me to work on his movement, defense and angles, before he returns to the team in November to begin training for the Gloves in February. He is a 160-pounder in his late twenties with 4 years of judo/ju-jitsu and six months of stick-fighting behind him, and has plans on beginning training for MMA competition in 2014. Since the man I was coaching boxing under at the martial arts school where Craig came to meet me has split with the school owner, our equipment is down to a heavy bag, speed bag, mitts and gloves, without even a timer.
My larger stick-fighters are providing his sparring for now, until I can bring in a boxer. I like this approach for training up his defense, since Craig has habitually relied on punching his way out of trouble, and has holes in his defense. These two guys are heavyweights that are trying to walk him down and hit him, permitting him to turn each round of sparring into a retooling session for his defense and movement. We will take him down to the 'wolf pit' in November.
Rounds are untimed until November, when you will move to the timer and full bag array. Sparring is only on Sunday.
Set 1: at warm-up pace, 7 rounds
Line drill
Shadow boxing
Focus mitts
Heavy bag power drills
Defensive shadow boxing
Speed bag
Heavy bag movement drills
Set 2: coached until peak execution, 6 rounds
Partner Shadow boxing
Jab & move drills on mitts
Heavy bag
Catch & move glove drills
Speed bag
Defensive shadow boxing
Set 3: at fight pace until burnout, 7 rounds
Pivot drill
Shadow boxing
Focus mitts
Heavy bag
Catch & move glove drills
Speed bag
Heavy bag [slap it with open unwrapped hands to get back to loose, check your pivots, and make sure you're not arm punching when fatigued]
