Too many boxers not enough heavy bags.

My local gym has 3 standard boxing heavy bag and one smaller heavy bag for working knees.

Love it. I can't afford an MMA gym at the moment but it fills my desire to punch things.

Lately I've noticed more and more guys coming in trying to work on Muay Thai or Boxing. A large percentage are getting full on gloves, even mouth pieces, and boxing/MT shorts. Mind you there is no sparring it's just a regular gym.

I'm not necessarily against that but if these guys are buying all the boxing equipment (I've even seem some with sparring headgear) maybe they should look into actually joining a real boxing or MT gym.

Now I'm kinda being selfish cuz I'm more fed up with having to wait for a heavy bag to open up but I think if they're that enthusiastic they should try a more specialized gym.

Am I wrong here or being real selfish?

 

You are being selfish. Their financial situation might not allow them to take classes. Or maybe they simply are not interested. Sounds like you need to move on

 

lol... maybe you should be the one joining a real gym.
If not... then you have to put up with the I-own-all-the-flash-kit muppets. They are always bound to show up.

Besides... I'd say if people really want to improve their skills in boxing or Muay Thai... they don't need a heavy bag... they need a mirror and bit of open space... footwork and shadow boxing are going to more than bag work will.

 

Make a friend who can hold the mitts for you. Problem solved.

 

There is more to it then simply "holding the mitts" especially if he wants to keep his form in tip top shape. If it's simply for the cardio and he doesn't care about form then I guess it's fine to just flail on the focus mitts. Keep in mind that looks more ridiculous then the people who punj heavy bags as fast as they can with no power or form

 

I'd value partner padwork more than bagwork any day of the week. Form can deteriorate with bagwork too, you know.

 

Wearing a gumshield is fair enough.
When I've prepared for gradings where I will have to wear a gumshield for extended time I wear it on the bags and during exercise and/or a warmup.
That way it shouldn't feel like a barrier on the day.

It could be that the guys you deride are actually part of a proper gym and supplement their training at your gym?
That might explain the headgear for example.

 

Bagworks depends on the person that's hitting it. Focus mitts depend on both people involved. Regardless if this guy has an issue he should go at a non busy time or find another gym to train at.

 

Ok point taken. I like hitting heavy bags but I do the mirror stuff too. I'll shut up about it. As Kuma said I might be able to some mitt work with some of those guys. I used to do some sparring and mitt work in college maybe if any of those guys got the same schedule I can do it again.

But crossing fingers this year I might just happen to have the budget to join a local MMA gym. I was hoping to join one of the gyms affiliated with Lloyd Irvin but those are just a li'l out of my potentially new budget.

Really I'd like to see one of those new fangled MMA/regular gyms open up. If you can be a charter member usually those new gym memberships are really cheap. Oh well wishful thinking.

 

I'm hoping for the same. I wanted to train MMA but the places around here are too expensive. I'll stick to my 19 a month bally's membership and 70/month Judo/Ju jitsu

 

Always worth having a chat with gym owners about discounts. Most of them are martial artists who will sympathise with a keen student who hasn't got enough $$ to pay full membership prices. Also keen students who love training help the gym by motivating new and unsure students.

In the past I've trained at a heavily discounted rate, and I know several people now who do so. Also worth a try if you're at a level to pledge to represent their gym in some form of competition, thats another good bargaining tool.

 

How close are you to Alexandria, Pitfighter?

 

You do need the share the bags, regardless of what other people are wearing.

You could talk to the owner of your gym about putting a time limit on the bag use if you are waiting too long for a bag.

 

With bagwork if you're doing something wrong and don't notice it, it doesn't get fixed. With a good partner, they can let you know what you're doing (i.e. dropping your hand slightly after a lead straight, or telegraphing a specific punch). Partner work is almost always superior to solo work.

 

Depends what part of Alexandria. I live in Falls Church now so I'm about 10 min during non rush hour to like bailey's crossroads but like I'm still pretty far from like crystal city.

 

You just repeated what ive been saying. A GOOD partner lol

 

Crystal City *shudder*

Friend of mine used to live there. A student of Lloyd Irvin coincidentally. Got my car towed the last time I visited him. No fan of Crystal City.

On Rt. 1 in Old Town, there's an LA Boxing, which is quite nice to look at, but probably not cheap. The amusing thing is that not two blocks away, the Charles Houston Recreation Center (which has recently been completely bulldozed and beautifully rebuilt from the ground up) houses the Alexandria Boxing Club. It, too, is obviously brand new. And trains actual boxing competitors. I don't know what the current rates are, but back when I was there, boxing was $40 a month.

Just a thought. For $40 a month, it might be worth it just for access to the bags.


Stuart

 

You actually never mentioned a "good partner."

As an aside: if you have never or don't currently train in a martial art, I wouldn't recommend inserting your own training advice until you actually have some experience.

 

I said that there is more to it than simply holding the mitts. Does that not imply that your partner needs to know what theyre doing. As for advice, I dont know Why you're trying to pick at me, I have enough experience. As it has been said before. I agree that mitt work is better if the partner has experience, all I said was that he's better off hitting the bag on his own if he doesn't have a good partner. Now get off my case

 

I've taught my wife to hold the mitts for me, and she does a pretty good job after some training. Sure it'll take time but the mitts will go a lot farther to improving your skills than just punching a heavy bag. And if you have nothing else, it's better than nothing.

And I'm not sure what experience you are referring to, since in previous posts you have stated you pretty much have no MA experience at all.