Toughen Up Self-Defense Training Tips

The combative training advice offered by “Toughen Up” is NOT your average, run-of-the-mill approach to working out.

You will not see photo’s of someone doing “bodybuilding exercises” in a karate uniform or kickboxing shorts.  I wouldn’t insult your intelligence.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a hardcore, fight-for-a-living mixed martial arts marathon training program, then perhaps you need to keep looking.  If you have aspirations of making a living as a prizefighter, there are people much more qualified than I to show you the way.

I’m assuming that you are a lot like me:  A mere mortal, about average, maybe even a-bit-lazy guy or gal who wants the best results possible in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of wasted energy.

I’m almost 50 years old.  I like beer, my big screen TV and cruising around on my motorcycle. I’ve got better things to do with my time than sweat and toil for hours a day for low-return results.

My days of rock’m sock’m, 6-hour-a-day, push-til-you-puke self-defense training sessions are behind me. Been there, done that.

If only I knew then what I know know.  I would have avoided a lot of wasted time, unnecessary sweat and painful/nagging injuries.  I would have gotten a lot better, a lot fitter, a lot faster.

The bottom line… I’m sure you don’t want to spend hours and hours grinding away at inefficient activities only to NOT achieve the results that you’re after.   I’m with ya on that one.

I’ve spent a lot of money, logged a lot of training hours and done ton of research looking for the shortest path from where I am to where I want to be.

Three things that I want to achieve with my workouts:

Number 1:   Get in great shape quickly and stay healthy as long as possible.

Number 2:   Design workouts that improve health,  avoid injuries and enhance every-day-performance (a.k.a. functional fitness)

Number 3:   Develop the legitimate ability to fight my way out of bad situation should one ever come my way.

Self-defense is 80% mental and 20% physical.

Your ability to stay safe is very much a matter of preventing, avoiding and defusing a volatile situation BEFORE you find yourself so deep in the middle of it that the only solution is to fight your way out.

However, in that 20%… when the threshold of violence is crossed, your fitness and skill will determine the outcome 100% of the time.  As I have written many times… A fight is an athletic event.

The WRONG kind of workout program can be useless and even counter-productive to real-world performance. You could waste hours and hours doing shit that won’t do you a bit of good in a street fight and STILL get your ass kicked!

I don’t want that to happen to me and I think’n you don’t want it either.  So let’s both make sure our training addresses the…

Four Pillars Of Combative Conditioning.

1. Strength/Endurance

Strength OR Endurance doesn’t mean squat in a street fight. One without the other will leave you over-powered OR gasping for air.   In the self-defense biz we have a term for that.  We call it “NOT GOOD!”  A combative athlete must be able to exert high-intensity effort for as long as it takes to end an encounter.  There are no “rounds” or rest periods in a street fight.

By the same token, he or she must be strong enough to scuffle, push, pull and produce exploisve, bone-crushing power to end the encounter fast when an opportunity presents itself.

Combative conditioning must integrate a balance of strength and endurance with low rep strength training and high-rep conditioning.

2. Mental Toughness/Body Hardening

Mental toughness in a street fight is the ability persevere and keep fighting through fear, pain, injury and exhaustion.  The vast majority of “victims” who are seriously injured in a violent encounter, are injured after they give up and go defensive.  A “never-give-up” attitude can be developed through proper training and will save your life in a self-defense situation.

Body hardening is the physical equivalent to mental toughness.  It’s the ability to take a hit, deliver hit, and withstand a collision with the ground or another person without incapacitation or injury. This too can be developed.  If you don’t believe me, go clunk shinbones with a trained kick boxer!

3. Martial Specificity

Training to be a fighter can get you into phenomenal shape, but being in great shape doesn’t make you a fighter. 

Conditioning is specific to the activity that is trained.  Swimming won’t improve your running.  Running won’t improve your lifting.  You could be a phenomenal hockey player but brutal on the tennis court.  Your training must mimic the activity that you want to excel at.

The philosophy of Toughen Up (which you’re probably getting sick reading about) is to use combative training AND combat-compatible exercise to improve your health and your ability to fight.

There’s no sense building a healthy, beautiful body if some drunken piece of doo-doo can pound you out, steal your wallet, sexually defile you AND put your in the emergency room.  With all due respect, bodybuilding, jogging and aerobic dance won’t help you in a street fight.

Training must compliment and enhance your functional fitness and in particular your ability to physically defend yourself. 

4. Skill Aquisition

The foundation of a combative workout is the flawless exectuion of the techniques needed to generate destructive energy and transfer as much of it as possible into the intended target. 

Unless, you master the basic body mechanics of punching for example, don’t be wasting your time pounding on a heavy bag.  You’ll do nothing more than waste your time and injure yourself.  That’s why the “Power Punching Guide“ is the prerequisite of the heavy bag and focus pad workouts.

Technical Skill involves performing your combative technqiues… the strikes, kicks, throws, submissions etc. effectively.  It is getting the job done with the least amount of wasted effort possible.

Watch a high-level athlete and how he or she is able to perform amazing feats with apparent ease. No straining, no wasted action, no trying-too-hard.

You have to know when to conserve your energy and when to EXPLODE. I have seen extremely “fit” people try too hard and do very poorly in a combative situation.

Much of what you learn in your combative workouts teaches you how to optimize your movements, conserve energy and avoid excessive effort that will quickly deplete your resources and lead to bad habits and training injuries.

The training advice from Toughen Up is built around those 4 pillars. I get into the specifics of how to achieve them in my Training Manuals and subsequent posts.

Enuff said.

All self-defense techniques are NOT created equal!

Being a “skillful martial artist” does not necessary translate to effective performance in a street fight or self-defense encounter.  I get A LOT of email, even from experienced “fighters,” about the “fear of fear.”  They are concerned that despite their fitness or technical skill that the terror and chaos of a “real knock down drag out street fight” will cause them to “freeze up” or perform poorly.

They question whether their self-defense skills will stand up to the test of the full-blown chaos and confusion of a life or death street fight.

This is an important enough issue to take a serious look at so why don’t we?

How the heck do you “turn fear into strength?”

You’ve heard it before:  “make fear your friend,” “turn fear into power…” “FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real” and my favorite, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Whats up with that?  Talk about skirting an issue!  Am I to believe that I can learn how to eliminate fear from combative or volatile situations?

Sounds like a bunch of new age bullshit don’t it? How can you “pretend” not to be afraid when you are?  How can you possibly benefit from being afraid of something? 

Well, for once there is some science behind the hype.

I’m going to tell you why fear and stress can actually make you stronger, faster and tougher if and only if you understand it, expect it, accept it and build it into your self-defense response system.

Fear creates anxiety which creates stress. Stress is a given in violent or volatile situatons.  And like it or not, it’s going to impact your performance.  It’s the way we’re wired.

That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how smart you were when selecting techniques to work on for self-defense.

Fight, Flight or Freeze?

When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, referred to as the “Fight or Flight Response,” a wide range of physical and biochemical changes take place.

If properly managed, your stress response is a powerful survival mechanism that will help you withstand, fight off or escape a violent situation.

Among many other things it will help you:

• React faster,
• Become stronger
• Be more resilient to pain
• Bleed slower
• Run fast 

However, it will also:

• limit or distort your perceptions,
• make you less coordinated and
• make you “dumber” (less capable of logical or creative thinking)

If you ignore, deny or misunderstand the reality of stress performance when designing a self-defense response system and your training methods, you’re in for a whole lot of trouble in a street fight.

What Is “Self-Defense Stress?”

The fear of interpersonal violence is a “Universal Human Phobia.”  Unless you are ultra-ultra-confident (or have a screw loose), the thought of being victimized is frightening.  We NEED to feel safe and secure in the world before we can enjoy other aspects of our life.

Fear and stress are normal when we perceive a discrepancy between a threat and our ability to control it.  This is especially true under conditions where the outcome has the potential for death, injury, degradation, victimization, embarrassment etc.

Expect that you’ll be “shitting your pants” in a violent encounter because, like it or not, it’s going to happen.  Accept it, prepare for it and turn it to your advantage.

The Symptoms Of Stress

Stress causes a variety of psychological and physiological changes. Without getting into the specifics of those changes, the affects of intense stress on performance fall into three categories:

Perceptual Distortion - loss of peripheral vision and depth perception, hearing may be blocked or impaired, changes in pain sensitivity, etc.

Cognitive Impairment- the emotional centers in the brain become dominant and creative or logical thinking are impaired.   You may halucinate, experience time distortion (slow motion or fast motion), you may even forget what you did or “remember” something that didn’t happen.

Motor Skill Deterioration - the ability to perform certain physical actions is impaired by stress. Actions requiring eye-hand coordination, precision or coordination are likely to fail.  However, other actions will actually be enhanced by stress.

Each of these categories could form an article (or book) of their own.  However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll confine myself the selection and performance of physical skills.

The techniques built into the Toughen Up Combative Training programs are “gross motor skills.” Simple, large-muscle actions that will be stronger and more powerful in stressful, adrenaline-charged situations.

If you want to be effective in the stress and chaos of a street fight, here are some things to keep in mind. 

The KYSS Principle (Keep Your System Simple!)

Why is it that so many martial artists get beat up in street fights? I’m sorry to burst your bubble if you thought otherwise but the fact is that many people, even after years of training, have been thumped by “unskilled,” intoxicated adversaries. How can that be?

If you confuse sparring with fighting you’re in for a rude awakening.  If you train with a distorted mental map of what you can and can’t do in a real-life, knockdown, drag-out, anything-goes street fight you might be in for a surprise when the shit hits the fan.

The more clearly you understand the realities of a “fight” and the effects of being in one, the better you can prepare yourself for the demands and chaos of personal combat.

Motor Skills Classification

A “motor skill” is a fancy name for physical actions, tactics or techniques. They can be divided into three categories:

Fine Motor Skills - are actions involving small muscles, dexterity and eye-hand coordination. The ability to perform fine motor skills deteriorates at low to moderate levels of stress.

Complex Motor Skills - are actions that combine three or more steps or actions in a sequence requiring timing and coordination. At high levels of stress, the ability to perform these skills is also impaired. Many martial arts techniques are complex motor skills. This explains why techniques that may work fine in low-stress training sessions fail in a high-stress street-fight.

Gross motor skills- are simple, large-muscle group actions like squats, push-ups and push/pull-type movements.  Unlike fine and complex motor skills, gross motor skills DO NOT deteriorate under stress.  In fact, they are enhanced by the affects of fear and stress.

The strikes and kicks I’ve written about in the Toughen Up Training Guidesand this blog are gross motorskills.  They’ve been intentionally selected on that basis.

It makes total sense to rely predominantly on gross motor skills when designing a self-defense response system that you know will be applied in stressful circumstances.

So before you fill your “tool box” with a pile of fancy-schmancy-bullshit-fighting-techniques, think long and hard about what will stand up to the stress of a street fight.  Then use them as a foundation for your training and self-defense game plan.

Enuff said… (for now)

Take care, train smart and toughen up…

Randy

The Path To Self-Defense Mastery IS the ongoing training process. 

“Functional Fitness That You Can Bet Your Life On.” … That’s the tagline I use for my “Toughen Up Training Guides,” and the essence of my philosophy about self-defense training.  Its also why I consider combative training to be the best health and fitness investment you could possibly make.

As I lay out the structure of my “Seven Components of Self-Defense” curriculum, we come back time and time again to the fact that the “training process” is the foundation of achieving the powerful, life-protecting, life-enhancing benefits of self-defense.

Training is the “Path” to Self-Defense

If you’ve read much about the martial arts, you’ll see reference being made again and again about “the path” or “the way” of the martial arts.  Many people interpret this to mean something secret, elusive or mystical.  Thats not the case.

In his book “Mastery,” George Leonard wrote,

“What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice? Mastery is staying on the path.”

What he is referring to is the “training process” as being the key to unlocking the powerful, life-enhancing benefits of self-defense and the martial arts.

To sit passively and read an article or two about self-defense or perhaps take a weekend seminar on the subject is a step in the right direction. It’s better than nothing I guess.

However, it’s a far cry from making a legitimate impact on your ability to stay safe and protect yourself in the harsh and chaotic reality of the street.

Its true that a big part of your ability to stay safe involves the “mental skills” of avoiding, detecting and defusing volatile situations BEFORE they turn violent.

However, when the shit hits the fan and violence does occur, there’s no way around the reality that a “street fight is an athletic event.”

Whether you stand and fight or run like a rabbit, the biggest factor in avoiding a severe “shit kick’n” is your legitimate fighting skill and functional fitness.

What is Functional Fitness?

Functional fitness is exercise that conditions your body while developing useful, athletic qualities with a real-world application. Functional fitness, unlike cosmetic fitness (body building), will improve your performance in a fight for your life, a weekend tennis game or carrying your groceries up a flight of stairs.

Many popular forms of exercise DO NOT contribute to your real-world performance or your ability to protect yourself. You don’t “jog” away from a mugger.  You don’t “bench press or curl” a violent attacker.

Workouts built around bodybuilding concepts provide questionable benefits in a street fight. I’ve seen many people who have “pumped iron” for years and don’t have a coordinated bone in their body.

Many people I’ve trained can bench press 300 pounds but can’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag! (not until after I’m finished with them that is

What is Combat Conditioning?

Combat conditioning uses “fighting techniques” as the primary “exercise building blocks” to improve health, condition your body AND develop legitimate self-defense fighting skills.

Supplementary exercises that are designed to enhance your combative performance are also incorporated to provide a full-body workout system with real-world performance benefits.

Exercise is EVENT SPECIFIC.  If you want to get good at something, in our case street fighting and self-defense, then your workout program should “mimic” as closely as possible the activity you want to improve.

The best conditioning for an activity is achieved by doing the activity.  If you can get into great shape by doing the actual activity you are trying to improve, then do that activity.  Supplementary exercises should support and enhance the qualities not replace them.

The best way to improve your punching is by punching, not by lifting weights or jogging.  That being said, “the right kind” of supplementary exercise can enhance but not replace your punching practice.

A Combative Training Recipe

Here is a shopping list of what you need to know to design your own safe and productive combative workouts:

Master the Basics: Learn the fundamentals and exact body mechanics of the skills and techniques you will build your workouts around. Punches, strikes, kicks, shifting and movement etc.  That is exactly why I made my “Power Punching Guide,” the foundation of my Toughen Up Training Series.  If your body mechanics are not solid, proper and well-established combative training efforts become dangerous anbd counter productive.

Train Smart:  Learn how to regulate the frequency, intensity and duration of your workouts for maximum progress in minimum time and effort.

Don’t Waste Your Time:  Avoid wasting your time on “low-return” exercises that do nothing to enhance your athletic performance and fighting skills.  Concentration Curls, leg extensions, or any “isolation” exercise fall into the low-return category.

Use Equipment Properly:  Buy or borrow the best combative training equipment you can get your hands on and learn how to use it productively and safely.  (Heavy bag, focus pads, Thai pads, boxing gloves, kettlebells etc.)  My Toughen Up Training Guides were written to address this very topic.

Supplementary Exercises: Supplement your combative drills with full-body exercises that emphasis balance, coordination, core-strength, and other head-to-toe qualities.  “Train movements not muscle groups.”  Body building type exercises do very little for your fighting abilities and athletic performance.  That’s why so many fighters are turning to more functional equipment like kettlebells, full body free weight exercises, body weight exercises, medicine balls, “odd object lifting,” etc.

Mix It Up:  Continuously vary your workouts to keep them from getting stale and boring.  When your body adapts to the stress of a new workout program progress stops.  You need to change things up to keep improving.  Don’t stick with the same workout program for more than 4 weeks.

Don’t Hurt Yourself:… most importantly… the number 1 priority is to avoid the aches, pains and injuries of overzealous and improper training. If you need a hand with any of these ingredients, check out my Toughen Up Training Guides at http://www.ToughenUp.com/ .

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me…

Take care, train smart and stay safe…

Randy LaHaie

I recently received some excellent comments from Glenn Olson, a Power Punching Guide customer after publishing an aricle on kicking and knee strikes. 

He wrote,

“In my experience women and children should normally avoid hitting with the fist, as they can’t seem to maintain proper form under stress or just don’t have the mass. My orthopedic surgeon often says that martial artists are his best customers due to injuries through improper striking.”

That raised an issue that I’ve been meaning to discuss.  Perhaps now is as good a time as any.

I have written many times that the most common injury sustained in a street fight is “broken hands.”  Unless you are a highly-trained, highly-conditioned fighter, there is a good chance that all that power that you will generate can cause as much injury to you as the person you are hitting.  So lets take a look at that.

The reason I am such an advocate for punching is that it is, in my opinion the best way to implement ongoing combative training to condition your body and develop athletic qualities that will carry over into self-defense. 

I consider proper punching skills to be the foundation of a combative training system. Punching allows you to develop skills and qualities that are extremely important in a fight… and they can be incorporated into sparring with boxing gloves and hitting heavy bags, focus pads, Thai pads etc.

When we do that type of training, what is the first thing we should do?  PROTECT THE HANDS.  It would be silly to participate in this type of training without the protection offered from bag gloves, boxing gloves and hand wraps. Accumulative trauma and injury to the knuckles, wrists and structures of the hand would be inevitable.

That’s got to tell you something about punching someone in a street fight. 

I’ve been in a my share of scuffles in the real world and you know what?… I’ve seldom blasted someone in the head with a clenched-fisted punch that didn’t hurt.  I’m not saying I was injured… but I sure thought I was at the time. Youch!

So, why don’t we consider open-handed strikes for Combative Training? 

Some times I do.  In particular for women… Many women feel more comfortable delivering a palm strike than a clenched-fisted punch.  So I let them.  You can easily deliver the straight punches and hooks with open hands, making contact with the heel of the open hand.

However, my experience has been that open-hand training on impact equipment doesn’t work so well.  Blasting a heavy bag, for example, with a palm strike is OK once in a while but if you do it too often you’ll quickly stress the small bones in your wrists and it will lead to chronic injuries.  Most men don’t have the wrist flexibility to deliver this type of strike any way.

So here’s what I’m telling you… the fist is the best “weapon” to use in training because it can be protected with combative equipment like hand wraps, bag gloves, boxing gloves etc.  Accumulative injury potential can be kept to a minimum during training.

Learning to punch teaches you the fundamental body mechanics of ANY upper body strike, whether using your palms, forearms, elbows, or a weapon.

Here’s an example from law enforcement.  I found the progress of police officers improved DRAMATICALLY in baton training when I spent some time teaching them how to punch first.  Stance, balance, weight distribution, body rotation, coordination, power generation, cover hands, breathing improved as a natural consequence of the combative training drills I put them through… By the time we got the the “traditional” law enforcement techniques, they had a strong foundation of movement and power generation. 

Baton skills for example improved dramatically if the student developed solid punching basics first.

So maybe the point that I’m meandering toward here is this… Punching is the best way to train the dynamics of your striking skills.  However, in a street fight, those body mechanics, will serve you well when modified to striking techniques more suitable in a street fight.

Here are some examples of how you can modify some existing punching skills in a street encounter.

Replace The Fist With A Palm Strike

With very little modification, impact in a lead punch, cross and hook punch can be made with the open hand.  Draw the fingers back, tuck the thumb in along side the hand so that it doesn’t get jambed and make contact with the heel of the hand.

An open handed “hook punch” with the cupped palm across the ear can also have a devastating affect (broken eardrum) in a street fight with a low injury potential to the striker.

Use Brachial Stuns

The brachial stun is a technique used in law enforcement that overloads the brain with sensory input that can result in a knockout or semi-consciousness.   In this technique, the forearm is driven into the cluster of sensory nerves on either side of the subject’s neck.  This results in a “mental stun” that will allow you to regain control of the situation with a low likelihood of injuring either the subject or the striker.

Guess what boys and girls… The brachial stun is nothing more than a hook punch, where the arm is extended and contact is made with the wrist or meaty part of the forearm.  Other than that the striking dynamics are the same.  If you have a solid hook punch, you’ll have a solid brachial stun.

Consider the Hammer Fist

I might be letting the cat out of the bag here, but I’ll be adding another striking technique to the power punching manual. (included in future versions of the guide)   It’s called the “hammerfist.”  The hammer fist is a striking tactic that can be delivered in various fighting positions and at various angles… (many that wouldn’t be conducive to other types of punches).

It works great in impact drills on the heavy bag and focus pads.

The advantage of the hammer fist is that you’re making contact with the muscle tissue at the bottom of your clenched fist.  This allows you to generate significant impact without the bone-on-bone contact of a knuckle strike.

Use Your Forearms

In the Power Punching Guide, I discuss forearm strikes for a very deliberate reason.  First of all, they’ll teach you how to master body rotation and whole-body striking dynamics fast.  Secondly, they are EXCELLENT street fighting techniques.

The forearm is a far more durable striking weapon than ANY hand strike and is excellent in a close quarters encounter either standing or on the ground.

This is not the same as an “elbow strike” though. In an elbow strike, contact is made with bony point of the elbow itself.  If your elbows aren’t conditioned and you bonk someone on the coconut with it, you could chip the bone.

Also elbows cut.  Even light contact to an opponent’s head and face with your elbow will split your opponent wide open.  And in the rare exception of a multiple attacker scenario (where you are trying to psyche out the rest of the pack by inflicting a painful and visible injury), cutting someone open in a street fight is not a great idea.

It doesn’t nothing to control the opponent, makes him as slippery as a bar of soap and you now run the risk of catching whatever infectious critters that the guy might have floating around in his blood stream.

Punch Smart

Oh yeah, if you think you’ll hurt your hand punching someone in the head, don’t hit’m in the head…  With all that I’ve said about these simple, common sense modifications… there’s nothing wrong with punching in a street fight if you know what you’re doing.

If you practice what I’ve written about in the Toughen Up Manuals (or you are actively involved in a combative system of your own), you’re going to get pretty damn good at punching.

You’ll have the punching power, accuracy and precision to land those sledgehammer shots just about anywhere any time you want. 

Punch the side of the opponent’s jaw.  This is a flat surface and because the head and jaw rotate, the “snapping” of the opponents head to the side will amplify the striking energy and rattle his brain.  It will most likely K.O. the bastard.

In a life or death encounter, punch the neck. This should be reserved ONLY for serious encounters where deadly force can be legally and morally justified.

Punch the torso.  A solid punch to the chest will knock your opponent back, a punch to the solar plexus (the cluster of nerves at the base of the sternum… where you gut meets your rib cage) will have your opponent gasping for air.

A punch to the front of the shoulder (brachial plexus tie-in) while inflict tremendous pain and will temporarily incapacitate the assailant’s shoulder, arm and hand.

Use A Weapon

There is little mystery about fighting with weapons.  A weapon is merely an extension of your empty handed skills.  I am constantly asked about using kubatons for example… I used to sell them at my self-defense seminars.  The best way to use oneeffectively is not to learn a bunch of exotic kubaton-specific techniques… but to hold it tightly in your hand and punch with it.

I have been teaching weapons for decades and carry an ASP baton on duty as a police officer.  That baton is the middle ground between my bare hands and my firearm… I’d better be able to hit with it.  In order to do that, do you think I pound on a heavy bag with my baton every day?

Nope… I don’t have to… My punching practice gives me all the striking skills I need with a baton, a kubaton or any other kind of weapon.  So my point here… If you get yourself into a serious, life-threatening situation… consider a weapon.

So here’s what I’m saying… Punching is the best way to learn striking skills that can be used safely as an effective means of ongoing combative training.  However, when you hit in a street fight… hit smart. Modify your existing and well-established striking skills by opening the hands, using your forearms, and punching more vulnerable and strategic parts of your attacker’s body.

In the meantime… take care, PUNCH smart and stay safe…

Randy

If you asked me to teach you as much as I could about proper hitting fundamentals, real quick in as few training sessions possible…

If you asked me to let you in on my favorite piece of combative training equipment…

If you asked me what training method would give you the best bang for your buck…

Here’s what I’d tell you… Focus Pads!

Focus pads, focus mitts, hook and jab gloves, punching mitts or whatever you want to call them are an awesome piece of equipment… This inexpensive, portable, versatile and useful piece of training equipment is without a doubt, hands down my favorite combative training method for both advanced and beginning students.

Focus pads are easy to find… just about any sporting good store should sell them… Easy to use… all you need is a partner to hold them… and because they are handheld, you can use them in virtually any environment?

Focus pad training is a staple in boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts training programs.

But you know what?  Very few people are using them for street-based self-defense training or the powerful conditioning and fitness benefits that they offer.  That’s too bad because they don’t know the benefits that they’re missing out on.  Even fewer people are looking for instructional advice on the Internet. I know that because very few people find my web site looking for focus pad info. (the #1 reason is Heavy Bag training advice)  Exactly why that is, is beyond me…

If you want to tap into the one of the best combative training activities that there is, I strongly encourage you to get yourself a pair of focus mitts and learn how to use them properly.

You won’t regret it.  If you want more information on the benefits of focus pad training, I wrote an article all about it… Benefits Of Focus Pad Training.

Question:

Hi Randy.  My wife and I have been doing Krav Maga now for 3 months so we consider ourselves “beginners” relative to someone with years of experience. 

We’re really enjoying reading your book. (Toughen Up Training Manuals)

We’ve learned basic punching, kicking, elbows, knees.  We also purchased focus mits and other pads and a punching bag for home workouts and have been using those for a couple months. 

We just started doing some light boxing drills that we made up (e.g. random jab-cross or random left-right hooks) but could use any suggestions you have for boxing drills.

What are some great boxing glove drills we can do?

How do my wife and I train without hurting each other?

Here’s My Answer:

Designing Your Own Boxing Glove Drills

If you feel you’re ready to take the plunge into boxing glove work… here’s the approach I recommend to get you off to a good start.

Use the “build ups” that I describe in my Power Punching Guide… Lets use for example: a lead, cross, hook, uppercut combination.

I’ll assume, you already know the defensive actions for each of these strikes.  Here’s how I’d set things up.

=> Build up one strike at a time

Start with your first technique… the lead.

Throw a lead punch at your partner and have her block it. Keep it light and non-competitive.  You throw a punch and she “pats” it aside.  Continue with this until it that starts to feel easy…

Add the cross.  Now you throw a lead/cross (1-2) combination.  Have your partner defend both of those.  Continue that for a about 25 reps or so. Once again, keep it light and non-threatening.

Then add the hook for a 1-2-3 combo.  Block, block, block… step out of range, re-set and then do it again. When you’re comfortable with that…

Add the last punch into the sequence… Now you’ll throw a 1-2-3-4 combo… (lead, cross, hook, uppercut) and your partner will defend against each one.

=> Surf the Threshold of Error

Pace your drills based on the “threshold of error.”  In other words, if you aren’t making any mistakes, its probably too easy and you should step it up a bit.

If you’re making too many and getting hit a lot, slow it down a notch.

I suggest that you stick with the same attacker and defender until you’ve built up to the entire combo.

At that point you can either change roles and begin the build up sequence again or stick with the same attacker and defender throughout the following variations.

Also keep in mind that you can use any hitting combination you want… you don’t have to stick to mine.  I also like throwing the odd kick or tackle defense into these types of drills.

=> Punch At Your Partner

Avoid the common mistake of “punching to miss.” People new to partner training drills often throw punches that are out of range (and fall short of reaching their partner) or they aim to miss their partner rather than directly at them.

This can develop sloppy striking skills, defensive skills and a false sense of security.  I suggest if you’re worried about injuries or accidental impact … slow it down and keep it light.  You shouldn’t feel nervous, stressed or concerned about being hit during this type of training. There is merit to learning how to be hit.

Once you feel proficient with the basic drill I’ve outline above, you can mix it up with these variations…

=> Broken Rhythm

Stick with the same sequence but “break the rhythm.” In other words… don’t throw all of the punches in a smooth, timed sequence… Throw a punch, hesitate, then throw the next two… hesitate again and so on.

Mix up the timing so your partner knows what punch is coming, but isn’t sure of exactly when it’s coming.  This starts to develop more realistic defensive timing and reaction time.

=> Alternate attacker and defender after each combo

Rather than “blocking” a drill out into sets and doing a bunch of reps before switching roles, alternate the role of attacker and defender each time.  You are the attacker, you throw your combo and your partner performs her defenses.

Then switch around and now you’re partner becomes the attacker and YOU defend.  Alternate back and forth so that you’re not getting “stuck” in either the defensive or offense mode for any longer than a combination.

=> Randomize Your Sequence

Now… sticking with the same punches… mix up the order. You’ll throw the lead, the cross, the hook and the uppercut as before but not in the same sequence.

You might open up with an uppercut, then throw a lead, then a cross, then a hook.

Eventually, you’ll be able to do “free style” training where you can throw any punch or kick in any sequence and get a good workout out of it.

=> Build A Solid Foundation First

Eventually, I’ll be developing additional Toughen Up Training Guides  all about boxing glove and partner training drills. 

However, if you are just starting out, and haven’t already established a solid skills base… boxing glove drills (in particular sparring) is probably not a good idea yet.

You want to start with the basics and develop the skills and control you need to train without accidentally zigging the wrong way, stepping into a punch or hitting harder than you intended to.

My recommendations are to learn your basics well (punching, kicking etc. and the defenses for each) and start working with a partner with focus pads… They are a great tool to use when learning combinations, accuracy and control with someone without the risk of injury.

You can check out my Toughen Up Training Guides at… www.ToughenUp.com .  I also set up a specific page for the focus pad manual at www.ToughenUp.com/focus-mitt-training.html

Hopefully it gives you some food for thought.

Take care, train smart and stay safe

Randy