Japanese-Style Boxing Fundamentals and Habits

Not what to throw, but how to throw it and how to stand. This is the base that makes every combination work. 50 techniques

• Give the right hand time to load
  Load the right
  The right cross gets heavier when you throw it after loading your weight onto your back foot. To do that, don't rush it out on a quick "tap." Make a short pause: "tap, and." Even if it comes a little later, put getting your weight behind it first. Revisit this when the right in your one-two feels light, or when you have a habit of rushing the right.
• Punch and return as one motion
  Body, then hand
  A punch doesn't start from the hand. Your body moves first, and your hand rides on that movement and goes out. And it doesn't end where you land: bringing the hand back and returning to your guard are part of the same motion. The idea is not to separate punching and returning. This is a basic for people who punch with just their arms or leave their hand out after punching.
• Don't telegraph
  Wind-up
  Telegraphing is the prep movement that shows just before you punch: giveaways such as pulling your shoulder back or shifting your weight to one side. The bigger the giveaway, the more easily the opponent reads when you're about to punch and stops it. Keep your start compact and put your step-in momentum straight into the punch, and you can punch while hiding the signs.
• Lead, don't wait
  Take the lead
  If you wait to see what the opponent does, they get to decide how the exchange goes. Make them move by throwing left jabs and feints yourself, and when they react, with their guard going up or down, send your power punch through. It's a way of thinking that competes on how you draw the opponent out, not on how hard you can slug it out.
• Punch and move
  Punch and move
  The basic rule is not to stay in the same spot after you punch. If you stand there at the end of your punches, you take the opponent's return fire. But just moving away also kills your own chances to attack, so when you land, don't back off: step in once more. Every time you finish punching, choose one of two: move if you missed, step in if you landed.
• Don't stay in front of them
  Take an angle
  Right in front of the opponent is where both of their hands reach most easily. Staying there is the same as walking into a place with no way out. Keep shifting to the side or at an angle, holding positions that are hard for them to punch from where they stand. Whether you're entering their range or leaving it, move at an angle, not straight.
• Lean forward into a power jab
  Lean into jab
  The left jab you use to measure distance is thrown with your weight kept on your back foot. But when you want the jab to do damage, it's fine to lean forward into it. If your weight doesn't move forward, there's no power in the jab. Use this when you want the jab itself to hurt the opponent, not just measure distance.
• Hold back power in training
  Hold back power
  When you try to hit every punch hard in training, your balance slowly breaks down without you noticing. So hold back your power on purpose and put being able to move ahead of landing. The more you hold back, the more accurately you can feel where your center of gravity is and whether your weight is on your front or back foot.
• Know your range
  Your range
  Your range is the distance at which your punches reach without a step. Know it accurately and you won't lunge in more than you need to, and you're less likely to lose your position as you finish punching. At the start of the round, throw a one-two on the spot to measure where it lands. If it doesn't reach, don't take a big step. Step in only half a step.
• Switch between relaxed and set
  Relax
  If you stay tense in your guard the whole time, your movement stiffens and your breath runs out partway. The basic idea is to stay relaxed until you need to set, and tense only as much as you need at the moment you punch or take a punch. Switch clearly between relaxed and set, and you keep your joints' range of motion and your reaction speed while you keep moving through the whole round.
• Don't plant your feet in long combinations
  Keep feet moving
  While you throw a long flurry of four or more punches, you stay in one place for a long time. During that time, the risk of getting hit in a trade or by a counter goes way up. Break your combinations into short chunks, bring your weight back to the middle, and keep punching while moving your feet, and you keep a way out even while attacking.
• Drive the uppercut in a straight line
  Fixed elbow
  Swing an uppercut in a big arc and, when it misses, you can't stop the momentum. You lose your balance and leave yourself wide open. Keep your elbow angle fixed and drive it straight up from below by the shortest path. Even if it misses, it hits the opponent's arm or body and stops, so you keep your balance and can get straight back to your guard.
• Change the tempo
  Change pace
  If you keep throwing punches with the same power and the same speed, the opponent gets used to the rhythm and adjusts. Mixing fast and slow, hard and soft resets that. Also keep in mind that the harder the punch, the less it works when you repeat it. This is for people whose combinations get monotonous and easy for the opponent to read.
• Stick to the basics when tired
  When tired
  If you get tired and stop punching, you get hit. If your feet stop, you get hit too. If it's going to hurt either way, choose to get tired from moving. The closer you are to your limit, the more you put keeping the quality of your footwork, guard and breathing first. This is how to think late in a round or in the second half of sparring, when your body starts to feel heavy.
• Throw even when you're not set
  Throw anyway
  As you train more, you can pick up a habit of not punching unless your stance and timing are set. In real exchanges, the perfect shape rarely comes. The idea is to throw anyway even when you're off balance and build up the experience of landing from there. It's for people who care so much about form that they've stopped throwing punches.
• Brake with your front foot
  Brake
  Braking with your front foot means using that foot to stop the momentum of stepping in, all at once. The stopped momentum turns into body rotation, and that puts power into your punch. It also stops your weight from drifting forward, so it's easier to get back to the middle after you punch, and you move on to your next action sooner without trying.
• Keep your left hand up
  Left hand up
  Your left hand is the one that tends to drop as the rounds go on and you get tired, or when you tense up. If it drops too far, you can't both watch the opponent and protect your face. But hold it too high and it blocks your view, so find the height where you can see them and still protect your face, and keep it there at all times.
• Shift your weight forward to attack
  Weight forward
  Once you decide to attack, shift your weight from the rear-leaning defensive stance to a forward one. A slight forward lean is about right. But hold yourself back so you don't tip forward as you punch. From a waiting stance your punches have trouble reaching when you switch to attack, so change where your weight sits depending on whether you're attacking or waiting.
• Three answers to the jab
  Three options
  If you only back away from the opponent's left jab, you can't take control. Choose one of three answers yourself: a simultaneous counter, a parry or a slip. If you keep a twist in your body as you make the jab miss, that twist powers your next counter. This works against opponents who control the distance with their jab.
• Keep breathing at close range
  Breathe
  When you trade punches at close range, it's easy to hold your breath without noticing. When your breathing stops, your body tightens up and your next move comes late. Learn to breathe out with each punch and hold your breath only briefly at the moment of impact. This helps in close-range fighting with long flurries, and when you're close enough for your bodies to touch.
• Always fire back after defending
  Always fire back
  If you only defend, the opponent can come forward without worry. After you slip or block, punch back, even if it misses. Just making the opponent understand that a counter is always coming weakens their forward pressure. It works especially well when an opponent who keeps coming forward is pushing you back.
• Throw the hook with your shoulder (open the door)
  Turn the shoulder
  Swinging a hook with just your arm doesn't produce power. Drive the shoulder on the punching side forward (the right shoulder for a right hook) and turn your whole body like opening a door, and the hook gets stronger without extra effort in your arm. If your shoulder stays still, it's like a door stuck shut, and you end up with a weak hook where only your arm moves.
• On the ropes: stop, deflect or circle out
  On the ropes
  If you keep backing up until the ropes are behind you, there is nowhere left to retreat and your options shrink fast. When you get near the ropes, pick one of three: stop the opponent, deflect the attack, or circle out to the side, and reset your position. Not retreating with the step back alone is the starting point for not getting stuck on the ropes.
• Mix it up high and low
  High and low
  Mixing it up high and low means splitting your punches between the head and the body so the opponent can't lock their guard in one place. Go to the head and they raise their arms. Go to the body and they lower them. Put the next punch into the gap that movement creates. Use it when you can't break a tight guard by going to the head alone.
• Snap your punches back
  Snap back
  Snapping your punches back means pulling your fist back to your guard quickly after you throw it. The speed of that pull sharpens the rotation of your opposite shoulder, so your next punch comes out sooner. Not leaving your fist out after punching is the foundation for keeping combinations like the one-two from breaking off partway.
• Recenter your weight after punching
  Recenter
  Letting your body fall forward after you punch is a very common mistake. Stuck leaning forward, you can't throw the next punch and you take the opponent's counterattack full on. Bring your weight back to the middle between your front and back feet right after you punch, and you can throw the next right cross or hook straight away and stay calm and ready for their return.
• Review what happened after each exchange
  Review
  When you look back on an exchange, focus less on whether you got hit and more on how quickly you recovered afterward. For the moments when your own punches landed, put into words why they landed. That makes it easier to set up the same situation again on purpose. Use this right after sparring or when you think it over on the way home.
• Don't close your eyes or turn away
  Keep watching
  When a punch comes, you may close your eyes or turn your face away without meaning to. Then you can't see the next punch, and both your defense and your counter come late. Feeling scared is natural, so don't try to get rid of it. Instead of letting it shut your eyes, point it toward reading the opponent's movement and avoiding the punch.
• Cut off the ring
  Cut off
  When you go after an opponent, don't follow from behind. Close off their escape route first. With fewer ways out, the opponent is kept busy defending and evading and can't keep up with your attack. Drive them toward the narrow side, such as the ropes or a corner, and use your positioning to set up a situation where you can punch easily.
• Don't let your shoulder lead the rotation
  Rotation first
  Not letting your shoulder lead means punching so your shoulder doesn't lunge ahead of your core rotation. When the shoulder goes first, the angle of your fist opens up, power leaks out, and your wrist, elbow and shoulder are more likely to take the strain. It's an easy mistake on punches thrown from below, such as the left body uppercut, so punch in this order: rotation first, then push with your hand last.
• Push your shoulder blade forward
  Shoulder forward
  Pushing your shoulder blade forward means sliding it forward at the end of the punch so your fist travels a little further. Link it in order, push off the floor, turn your hips, push the shoulder blade, and you gain reach and power. But if you tense up trying to hit hard, the shoulder blade locks in place on your back and that extra extension disappears.
• Throw the middle punches at 70%
  Keep your base
  Throwing the middle at 70% means not going all out on the punches in the middle of a combination. In a one-two-hook (jab, cross, left hook), you throw the right cross in the middle to set up your position for landing the final hook. Throw everything at full power and the opponent reads your rhythm while your stamina runs out.
• Keep your head moving
  Move your head
  When your head stays fixed in one place, it's easy for the opponent to aim. The more your head shifts position, the harder it is for them to line you up. Whether you're in your stance or punching, don't keep your head in the same place. This is a basic to revisit when you keep getting hit by jabs and crosses in a row.
• Bait the counter, don't wait for it
  Bait and counter
  If you just wait for the opponent to punch, you don't know what's coming where, and your counter won't be on time. Leave just one spot in your guard open on purpose and get them to punch there. If you know where it's coming, you can meet it already prepared. This is for people who aim to counter but always react too late.
• Hook the guard back up from below
  Up from below
  For most people whose guard gets sloppy after punching, the hands do come back, but they come back too low. So bring your hand back to your guard by lifting it as if hooking it up from below. It's a way of returning that keeps your face covered at the end of your punches. It suits people who go into their next move with their hands still down after a flurry or when they get tired.
• Set your feet, then punch
  Set your feet
  Set your feet, then punch is about order: you set your feet first, then throw the punch. Punch while you're moving and your axis wobbles, so the punch comes out light. Build the habit of punching the moment your feet stop. The force from pushing off the floor reaches your fist, and you're less likely to walk into their counter.
• Be first to move after the exchange
  Move first
  The moment an exchange comes to a break, there's a gap where both of you stop punching. Whoever relaxes first here is late on the next move. If you can go first as the opponent's attack ends, you can bring the pace over to your side. This is a way to think about starting to move, for people who tend to go passive after an exchange.
• Bring your hands back under your chin
  Back to guard
  After you punch, bring both hands straight back under your chin. Your left hand after a right cross needs the most care. When your body opens up, it tends to drop away from your chin, and that becomes your biggest opening. The more you overswing the right, the later it comes back, so keeping your right compact also helps you get your hands back faster.
• Keep a poker face
  Poker face
  If your face shows that a punch hurt, the opponent targets that and steps up the attack. Your condition shows not just in your face but just as much in your breathing and your eyes. Hide all three together, and use your eyes as a feint to fool them as well. That makes it a basic that matters for both defense and offense.
• Choose your punches by range
  Pick by range
  Every punch has a distance where it lands best. The basic split is straight punches from long to mid range, and hooks and uppercuts at close range. When you get close, the path of a straight punch gets jammed, so once the distance shrinks, switch to punches from the side and from below that let you use your body's twist.
• Step one fist deeper than on the mitts
  One fist
  The distance that feels just right on the mitts is a little short against a real person's face. Punch from there and your fist falls short and you only lose your posture. When you punch at a person, such as in sparring, step in one fist deeper than on the mitts. It's a way of shifting the sense of distance you learned on the mitts slightly forward for punching at people.
• Make both the jab and the cross a threat
  Both a threat
  If the opponent reads that either the left jab or the right cross in your one-two isn't really coming, they can focus only on avoiding the other one. Throw both with intent to land so they have to watch for each. If you make either one just for show, the whole one-two gets easier to read. The same goes when you practice punching at reduced power.
• Apply pressure with your right hand position
  Right hand
  Each hand in your guard has its own job. Hold your left hand at a height that protects your face while leaving you a clear view ahead, and hold your right hand where the opponent feels you could punch at any moment. Just by how you place your right hand, you can make it hard for them to punch, so it's easier to take control even before any exchange starts.
• Keep offense at 30–40% early on
  Pace offense
  If you go all-out on offense from the start of the round, you end up trading punches without knowing how the opponent attacks. Early on, hold your offense to 30–40% and use the rest on watching the opponent and defending. Once you can see how they attack, raise your share of offense. This is a way of pacing for people who get into exchanges early in sparring and tend to get caught trading shots.
• Stop the punch with your body, not your hand
  Stop with body
  A punch thrown at full power has to stop somewhere at the end. If you stop it with your hand, where your fist stops and the path it takes shift every time. Stop it with the rotation of your upper body and hips instead, and the path stays consistent. You can also use the momentum from stopping for your next defense or movement, so you get from punching to moving faster.
• On the inside, push with your legs, not your arms
  Push with legs
  When you're chest to chest with the opponent and try to shove them away with your arms, it turns into a contest of arm strength. Lock your arms and shoulders so your upper body becomes a single wall, and send the force of your legs pushing off the ground through your core into the opponent. Think of a shoving match, not arm wrestling. Once you push the opponent off balance, gaps and angles to punch open up. This is a way of using your body for people who get pushed around at close range.
• Textbook form alone won't land
  Throw through
  If you only punch cleanly by the book, you only show movements the opponent already knows. They just have to wait for the path they expect, so your punches land less. So now and then, mix in punches where you throw through with exaggerated movement to land. This is about how to break the basics to land, once the basics are solid.
• Measure their range as well as yours
  Their range
  If you only watch whether your own punches reach when you measure distance, you leave yourself open to the opponent's punches. The distance where you can land is the distance where they can land too. The idea is to keep both your reach and theirs in mind at the same time as you move. It's the base for deciding when to move in and out and where to tighten your guard.
• Don't turn the fist over at close range
  Don't turn fist
  Twisting your fist inward as you punch so the back of your hand faces up is called turning the fist over. At long range this is the basic, but when you're close to the opponent, it works better not to turn it. This is for people whose hands get jammed up in close-range fighting. Choosing the fist position by distance gives you punches that carry power both up close and at long range.
• Don't punch the forehead
  Target
  The forehead is a hard part of the skull, and hitting it can easily hurt your own fist. When you go to the head, aim for the chin, under the nose or the temple, not the forehead. For the body, the targets are the solar plexus and the liver. You especially need to decide not to punch down onto the forehead when the opponent lowers their head.