Become a MittWork Boxing Coach!

In this section, we will breakdown the technique of holding pads properly to feel confident, give your athlete accurate feedback, and prevent injury.

Holding pads is a skill set, just like boxing. Being and experienced boxer or striker does not neccesarily mean that you will be a good pad holder. In the MittFitt Recruits Course, we have broken down step for step the most important mechanics for properly holding pads.

We will cover the concept of the A Frame, a crucial structure for holding pads that provides accurate targeting and prevents injuries for both the athlete and the pad holder.

Also, we will cover the basics of setting up your fight stance and knowing how to manage distance. By the end of this module you will have comprehensive understanding of the proper mechanics for holding boxing mitts

In this video we will discuss the appropriate stance for holding pads. The A frame is the proper hand positioning that will provide the maximum results and prevent the most amount of injuries.

To set up the A Frame, the pads should be held close together and close to your chin, depending on the athletes height. Elbows will be turned out slightly to keep a solid structure.

While the A Frame is the term for your arm and hand positioning, it is important to think of the "Striking Sphere" which is a zone that resembles a sphere, think of a basketball or more accurately - a head!

You should always consider this striking sphere when holding the pads, the majority of strikes will land in this zone.

Managing distance is an important aspect of boxing and one that a pad holder should pay close attention to.

The correct distance will depend on your athlete. You should ensure that punches land at full extension.

If the elbows are still bent when the punches land, you are too close.

If the athlete is leaning forward to land punches then you are too far away.

As you work more with your athlete, distance will become intuitive.

As a pad holder, you should always be "catching" punches. To properly catch a punch think of the 90/10 principle. The athletes punch makes up 90% of the distance and your pad travels 10% to meet it.

In this way you are essentially mirroring every punch thrown. The more you understand the correct form of the punches, the better you will become as a pad holder.

Commonly, beginning pad holders will "chase" the punch. To chase the punch means you are violating the 90/10 principle and in turn most likely shorting the range and distance of your athletes punches.

There are times when you will chase the punch as boxing is dynamic and distance always changes.

As a rule of thumb, try to stay as close to the 90/10 principle as possible and never exceed 50/50!

The Fight Stance is the home base for the athlete and for your first few sessions with a new athlete, this may be the main focus.

As most people you will work with will be right handed, we will use terminology related to the Orthodox Stance.

For a left handed, or SouthPaw athlete, just swap left for right in the following instructions.

The left foot forward should be in front with the toes pointed forward. The right foot is directly behind it with the toes pointed at 45 degrees.

Feet should be shoulder width or more apart and there should always be a slight bend in the knees.

Elbows stay tucked in nice and tight to protect the ribs and the sides and the hands should stay up protecting the chin at all times.

The left shoulder will be turned forward in what is called the Blade Position.

The Blade Position may also be referred to as the Half Man Position. This position provides a smaller target you your opponent, reduces the distance that the left hand needs to travel and brings extra power and rotation to the power hand.

There will be variance to this depending on the style of your athlete. For example, a Muay Thai Fighter will use a more square stance meaning that the shoulders will be more square and the feet will be more parallel.

In this video we will start fine tuning the details that set apart a good pad holder from a great holder.

The height that you hold the pads will depend on the height of the athlete that you are working with.

You should always keep an eye on the athletes shoulder level and adjust the height of your A Frame accordingly.

By making sure that the height you present the pads at is accurate, you will teach your athlete better habits and improve their Form and Technique.

There are times where you may make adjustments to the height. If your athlete is very short, they will most likely be sparring or fighting people taller than them. For this reason, it may be necessary to keep the pads up higher. The same would apply to tall fighters.

In this video, we will talk about the stance that you as a pad holder should take. We will also discuss working with left handed fighters, known as southpaws.

Mirroring refers to the pad holder taking on the fight stance of their athlete. If they stand in the orthodox position than you should as well.

If you should get to work with a left handed athlete it will be important that you can work in that stance as well.

It can be very tricky to work with southpaws when you are first starting as everything will be the opposite of what you are used to.

It is important that you practice the pad holding techniques in the upcoming modules in the southpaw position.

If you happen to be left handed, you may actually find it easier to work with right handed athletes! This is because the majority of people you work with will be right handed.

Communication cannot be overlooked when holding pads.

Now that we understand the concepts of how to hold the pads, proper distancing, the 90/10 principle and your stance, let's discuss how to lead a PadWork session.

Calls refers to the timing of your instructions and how to effectively ask your athlete for punches and combinations as to not disrupt the flow.

When you are first starting you should practice to develop your calls as much as possible.

Cues are non verbal cues and gestures that you make to let the athlete know what you expect. As you develop chemistry with your athlete cues will become just as important as calls.

The numbering system in boxing is used to make calling punches easier. When holding pads, calling Double Jab Cross Hook Uppercut can be a lot lengthier and more confusing than simply saying 11236.

By using a numbering system, we improve our ability to call combos faster during our rounds, increasing the Intensity in the MittFitt System.

Now if you’ve ever done research on the boxing numbering system you’ll probably have quickly found conflicting information. Through the years there have been many variations of the numbering system and there isn’t a right or wrong answer. In fact it’s pretty much only the 1 the 2 and 3 that are commonly agreed upon.

The conversation shouldn’t be which one is right, but what one works best for you? The MittFitt Boxing numbering system was designed to be easy and represent the natural progression of punches in the order that you will learn and use them.

It is important that you understand the MittFitt Boxing Numbering System to complete this course. Once you have a solid understanding of your pad flow, feel free to use whatever numbering system works best for you and your athlete.

One of the beautiful things about boxing is that new techniques and variations are discovered constantly.

Module 4 is where we start to learn the offensive part of being a pad holder, and that is throwing counter punches for your athlete to defend.

There are many common defensive maneuvers that boxers are taught and in this MittFitt Recruits Course you will learn the most popular. Adding these defensive maneuvers into your MittWork sessions will have you looking like a pro immediately.

As you learn these defensive maneuvers, start to consider how you can add them into your sessions.

Slips are perhaps the most common defensive maneuver used in boxing and require the lease amount of effort.

Before we can master the slip, we must understand the concept of The Center Line. When standing in front of a heavy bag, training partner, or an opponent, the center line is the line of sight from the eyes to the target.

When a straight punch is thrown it is most often thrown down this center line. A slip is executed by slipping your head to the side as to be off the center line.

The slip should never be a larger movement than is required.

Rolls, sometimes referred to as the Bob and Weave, are a defensive move that take considerable more effort than the slip but are necessary to avoid getting caught with hooks.

The Roll is a defensive maneuver that involved changing the head level by making a U shape with the head.

It is important that the legs are used to change the level, dipping in with this head or torso can put the athlete in a bad position in a real fight!

Rolls are also an effective way to load up a punch, the shoulders should rotate as the roll is performed. This will allow the athlete to quickly throw a counter punch after the roll. For example, if the roll is from right to left the left shoulder should rotate back which will in turn load up the lead hook.

The Catch is essentially a block in the traditional sense. In Module 2 we discussed what it means to catch a punch as a pad holder, for the athlete to catch a punch is a slightly different technique!

The Catch can be used for any type of punch but is most commonly used to defend uppercuts and hooks.

When using catches in your sessions keep in mind that the athlete will take some form of physical contact and therefore may not be appropriate for all of your sessions.

The Pull is a much trickier maneuver than the slip or the roll and only athletes who have a strong understanding of distance should start performing the Pull.

The Pull is a slight stepping back of the rear leg to bring the head back and out of distance of an oncoming punch. The rear leg then acts as a spring to quickly propel forward, possibly with a counter punch!

You may hear the Pull referred to as a Step Back. While it is much faster to say pull than step back, it may be hard for your athlete to differentiate between the work Roll and Pull depending on your accent or intonation.

Keep this in mind when you consider the Call you would like to use for this defensive maneuver.

The Parry is perhaps the master of all the defensive maneuvers and should be drilled carefully. Timing is crucial to pulling off the Parry and is therefore the most rewarding technique in defense.

The Parry is a deflection of an oncoming punch and can easily leave vulnerability if thrown incorrectly of poorly timed.

As the pad holder, you should coach proper technique when incorporating the Parry into sessions.

MittFlow is MittFitts very own approach to creating combinations using punches and defensive maneuvers.

The point of MittFlow is to be as fluid as possible, using simple guidelines and rules to keep a combination alive.

While this approach alone may not serve competitive boxers alone, there is great value to the mental aspect of the principles of MittFlow. You can use these principles to get you started and then make your own unique adjustments that serve your style as a pad holder.

In MittFlow we have broken down 3 basic phases that work in a looping pattern:

Phase 1 - Selecting your combinations

In this Phase you want to start thinking of the combinations that you want to use in your MittFlow. Keeping the combos to 3-5 punches is typically recommended as much more can be difficult to remember, especially when layering in Phases 2 & 3.

In a separate section, we will cover the MittFitt Combo System (MFCS) which will give you an easy way to select combinations that work well together in your MittFlow.

When beginning to create MittFlows, you may want to just start with one combination in mind. As you become more experienced, you may want to select all the combinations that you want to use in your MittFlow.

Phase 2 - Adding In Defensive Maneuvers

In the second phase you will add in the defensive maneuvers. involved throwing a counter shot for your athlete to defend. To make the MittFlow stay fluid, you will mostly throw your counter shot with the hand that is available for your athlete to defend.

For example, if the initial combo was 1-2-3, your right hand will be available to throw the counter shot since you have just caught the Lead Hook with your left hand.

While this is not a rule that you have to follow, especially when training competitive athletes, it is a guideline for MittFlow so that you can keep the flow fluid.

Phase 3 - Adding in the Counter Combinations

The third phase is essentially the first phase repeated. However, there will be one extra guideline to follow in this phase since it comes after a defensive maneuver.

This guideline involves making sure that the counter combination starts with the athletes opposite hand to the counter that you just threw.

For example, if you have just thrown a jab for your athlete to slip, your right pad will be available to catch a rear hand shot from your athlete. It will take extra time for you to get your left pad back to position and depending upon the defensive maneuver just executed, the athlete will most likely be position to throw their rear hand.

After you get through all 3 phases you essentially continue looping Phase 2 and Phase 3 to keep your MittFlow going!

Please make sure that you have a solid understanding of the MittFitt Punch Numbering System and the Defensive Maneuvers that we have covered in the previous sections before starting this section.

After this module we will cover the MFCS which will give you a framework for easily calling combinations to incorporate into you MittFlow.

The MittFitt Combo System (MFCS) is an innovative framework for crafting combinations. There are several "combo banks" used in the MFCS that can be learned and applied. Each combo bank has it's own philosophy and unique set of combinations.

In addition to these combo banks, there are several commands that each change the combination in their own unique ways. This allows you to take one combination and make dozens of variations. These commands can be applied to any combination you create, not just the combo banks in the MFCS.

Learning the MFCS takes practice and patience but when mastered has great benefits for mental and physical conditioning. It is recommended to work with your athlete by mastering 3-4 combos in the first session and then adding in the commands. This foundation will allow you to add future combinations in upcoming sessions.

In this course, we will cover the Alpha bank which contains 8 combinations each consisting of 3 punches. The Alpha System is the best place to start as it incorporates some of the most basic combinations. Also, it is laid out in a structure that allows them to be easily linked together in MittFlow.

For the Alpha System, every odd number will begin with the lead hand and every even number will begin with the rear hand. The first 4 combinations will focus on long range shots such as straights and the Lead Hook. The last 4 combinations will focus on closer range shots, the hooks and uppercuts.

After this section you will be able to create an 64 combinations, each with only one Call. Add in one Defensive Maneuver and a counter combination and you already have thousands of options at your disposal!