I'm thinking of giving boxing a try

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by kynodontas, Aug 4, 2020.

  1. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Nine out of ten times that will lead to them getting hit hard and then not boxing anymore, it might work for someone who isn't put off by contact, but for the average Joe that's terrible advice.

    It might be what you would do, but your not the average Joe!
     
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  2. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I'm just saying if you're not exhausted after boxing, you're probably not doing it right. I've never enjoyed real boxing gyms that much. I'm honestly not sure if you're supposed to enjoy it as a responsible adult. Its just hard work mostly.
     
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  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    I love pad work, but hate sparring, its hard work, everything hurts, and I suck at it, if I didn't have an eye to self defense, and having such limited time I'll train anything when I have spare time, I probably wouldn't bother.
     
  4. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I love sparring but I'm good at it. I also like hitting pads though. I hate the monotony of bagwork in boxing mostly. That and the circuits.
     
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  5. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    For people with a public-facing career (not just a job) it is a common concern. If you have your arm in a sling or your leg in a cast, people will assume you came off your bike or had a skiing accident or something, but if you have a black eye, swollen cheek or bust lip they assume you've been getting into drunken fights.
     
  6. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    It's supposed to be stressful. You inoculate yourself by exposure over time, so that as you get used to it you can handle more pressure before the stress kicks in.
     
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  7. Botta Dritta

    Botta Dritta Valued Member

    I can sort of get behind that because in my line of work I moved frequently between public facing and behind the scenes and having a black eye wasn't really an option. That being said investing in decent head gear will at least protect from the worse effects of cuts bruises or swelling. I personally never got any more visible an injury than a bloody nose bleed from a well placed uppercut. (Ruined my white t-shirt but the tissue absorbed the worse by the time I had to see the customers in the evening) So if you plan to do boxing like I did for exercise and for light to the occasional heavy sparring you should be Ok, particularly if your boxing gym is professional as they will slowly guide you through one-step two step through to light sparring and beyond. You shouldn't really be involved in any wars and tear ups with any of your sparring partners early on if your coaches have your best interests in mind. If you plan to actually fight...well then you might want to reassess the trade-off.

    P.S David Harrison has the measure of it. Its like Innoculation. Being punched in the face initially is not exactly fun, and it never really is. But over time you will lose that primal emotional shock: you learn you can you CAN take a hit. The Courage you get from that is huge.
     
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  8. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    People should have an open mind or at the very least mind their own business. Not judging each other by looks goes out the window pretty fast with a black eye and split lip I guess.
     
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  9. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I agree that they should, but when your appearance is part of what keeps your career and income secure, you can understand people being a bit concerned about it.

    If you're a dentist and have your face next to your patients' faces all day, and for a week you have just a couple that are uncomfortable with you having a black eye, they go home and tell a couple of friends, who tell a couple of their friends, and before you know it you could lose a handful of patients to the dentist down the road.

    Or if you work with vulnerable people; your boss might not be too keen on you working with violent people or victims of violence while you're sporting a shiner. It doesn't create a good impression or make people feel relaxed around you.
     
  10. kynodontas

    kynodontas New Member

    People being more open minded is definitely a necessity, not only in terms of looks but in general. However until that time comes, things would be difficult. I will talk about dentists but I do believe this is true for other healthcare professionals (and I assume for several other professions that I'm not familiar with). In dental school (and to a lesser extent in dental practice) tattoos, long hair (for men), piercings are not very welcome. You're supposed to look serious. Some would say boxing is not for dentists, it's not noble enough or something. A dentist should go to the gym or have a personal trainer and that's it. Not to mention that they would say boxing will make you stupid and how can a stupid dentist operate and take the right decisions.

    One more question. Most martial arts have belts which kinda sort as an indication of your advancement. Black belt etc. But a boxer from the absolute beginner to the most advanced world known boxer don't have anything similar do they? It's only your victories in the ring correct?
     
    David Harrison likes this.
  11. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Correct.

    As to people feeling uncomfortable around facial injuries and whatnot, what if someone is permanently disfigured?


    Am I going to have to march down the street to change people's opinion? "Black eyes matter" or something?
     
  12. Botta Dritta

    Botta Dritta Valued Member

    Many (but far from most) martial arts have grades to denote advancement. Boxing you are kind of more judged by the amount of fights you have had than the victory’s you’ve had. There are journeymen who make a living in the sport who on paper have lost most of their fights but who suspiciously have mad parrying and head movement skills. Read into that what you will.

    As far as belts, you are only ever as good as the last time you trained -you may have ‘reached’ black belt, but it takes decades commitment to truly *be* a blackbelt, if blackbelt means a senior practitioner in that system and thats only if you have sacrificed enough time for the piece of material round the belt to to be worth a damn. A junior blackbelt gained from a Rex kwon do McDojo (2yrs and all the sweat and effort was done by your parents to pay for the exam fees) doesn’t give you the same martial depth of say A BJJ blackbelt (10+ years and hard competing if often in a key component in getting that grade). Also remember instructors use belts as a short hand way to quickly devise what to teach on a particular night when they have students on varying levels of advancement on a skill curriculum in order to keep everyone interested. For you it might be a status symbol within a class, for your instructor it’s a quick reminder of what you don’t know.
     
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  13. kynodontas

    kynodontas New Member

    Well, as a dentist (especially in my training at dental school) I've seen patients with serious facial malformation. Or people who had a severe accident. And I can tell you they have faced terrible behaviour from other people. And for orofacial surgeons one of the biggest pains is where to hide the scar from an operation. A bruised eye, at least in my country (Greece) means something like "I'm having trouble with my personal life".
    I get what you're saying. But it would be nice for the student (or maybe athlete I don't know which is the more fitting word) to have an indication of how his knowledge/art evolves. As it happens in foreign languages where you have all these levels (A1-C2). Of course there can be occasions where someone has an advanced level in papers but not in practice but still, I think it would be nice of something similar to exist in boxing. It would serve as a motivation I think.
     
    David Harrison likes this.
  14. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    That is exactly why martial arts have belt systems. It is to give people motivation to keep coming back, to give an indication of progress and give landmarks to aim towards.

    Boxing, or any other combat sport without a belt system, kind of does have that. In a martial art you have beginner belts, intermediate belts and advanced belts. In boxing you have hobbyists, amateur fighters and pro fighters.
     
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  15. kynodontas

    kynodontas New Member

    What's the difference between a hobbyist and an amateur fihter? Is it that the former does not participate in ring fights?
     
  16. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    This whole side conversation is making me laugh thinking of the office scenes in Fight Club. I think if someone started with me about a black eye at work I'd go straight to HR. Sports Discrimination!!! :)

     
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  17. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    I've had a few of these conversations at work, even saying it was judo didn't help, but saying rugby did.

    If it first you don't succeed, lie again, lie better!

    Ps you do need to know a little about rugby for it to work!
     
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  18. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    The irony of that movie is that I think the narrator would have gone onto a much better path if he'd just taken up boxing. It fit all the check boxes...sharing emotions, venting rage, making friends, catharsis, and no need to create an alter ego, build illegal underground clubs, or develop terrorist cells. Boxing also definitely solves the insomnia problem, speaking from experience nothing ever had me sleeping so well as even a few three minute rounds a day.

    I thought the book and movie were a good and really funny counterpoint for how boxing gyms help so many kids off the streets, kick drugs, etc. The movie deals with a lot of the same tropes but in a very literally white collar way that isn't like so many other fighting movies (usually some guy down on his luck or struggling with real problems is the hero, unlike FC where the anti-hero is just basically a case of overstressed, overworked yuppie, and I can definitely relate to that facet of the author's intent).

    "Can I get this icon in Cornflower Blue?" Yeah let me give you some cornflower blue, buddy. :D

     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2020
  19. kynodontas

    kynodontas New Member

    Okay plot twist, my working schedule changed suddently and I will be working until 20:00. So in the gym that i'm attending it's impossible to do boxing. I would either have to search for another gym (is it possible to find boxing classes at 22:00?). Or i could try kickboxing at 21:00 which is kinda hard because i will have to be quick to return from work, eat very fast and head straight to the gym. What do u think guys? My other alternative is sticking to crossfit which is until 23:00. But that's a farewel to martial arts before i even properly begun :(
     
  20. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Try it and see what happens, I'd definitely just snack at work, go straight training, and eat properly once you get home.

    Give it a few weeks, if it doesn't work out, go back to just CrossFit, no Biggie.
     

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