Let’s talk about how to grow your reflexes into boxing instinct!
All pro boxers have lightning reflexes and low reaction times. So how does one boxer get an advantage over the other?
By focusing on boxing-specific movements and paying attention to their shadowboxing habits, they sharpen their boxing instinct. Then they are better able to react and predict their opponent’s next move.
Keep reading to learn how to develop your reflexes into boxing instinct!
How To Grow Your Boxing Instinct
To grow your boxing instinct,
- Train Boxing-Specific Movements
- Watch Your Shadowboxing Habits
- Learn How To Predict Your Opponent’s Next Move
- Do Partner Drills
- Spar With More Purpose
Train Boxing-Specific Movements
If you want to grow your boxer’s instinct, train boxing-specific movements.
There are many exercises out there that say they will increase your reaction time, but the truth is that in boxing, all reaction-time exercises are not equal.
First, let’s say you’re a pro tennis player and a beginner boxer. Your reaction time is stellar.
When your opponent serves, you know by instinct whether to return front-handed or back-handed.
On the other hand, when a punch comes for your face, you don’t have the experience to connect the movement to a correct response. You have to think first before making your move.
How do you get this muscle-memory instinct then?
The answer is by drilling boxing-specific movements.
The double-end bag is a good place to start as the bag can represent your opponent’s face bobbing and weaving or your opponent’s glove jabbing and hooking.
You focus on where the bag will be, not where the bag is at the present moment.
On the other hand, the SparBar is good for teaching you to keep your hands up, but it’s not good for training boxing-specific reflexes.
Notice how the bar will always swing to the opposite side, never the same side. It’s not realistic.
Watch Your Shadowboxing Habits
Next, watch your shadowboxing habits.
When you’re in the ring, there is no time to think, only to react. Your opponent will test your reaction habits, not your reaction time.
How you react is determined by how you have been trained.
By shadowboxing, you get to analyze your own reactions and habits and to create different responses to the same situation.
No matter how fast you react, if you only slip left after a jab, your opponent will take advantage of this habit.
Think about how to turn your reactions into good actions, otherwise you will only be controlled by your opponent.
Learn How To Predict Your Opponent’s Next Move
Next, instead of focusing on raw reflexes, learn how to predict your opponent’s next move.
It doesn’t matter how fast your opponent is moving if you know where he will be at a given time.
For example, watch Floyd Mayweather’s pull counter.
People see this and praise Mayweather’s reaction time. But they confuse raw reaction time and reflexes with Mayweather’s ability to read and anticipate his opponent.
By leaning in and baiting with his head, Mayweather is expecting a jab.
The pull counter is Mayweather’s best guess about what his opponent will do next, rather than reacting in the moment.
In your next spar, don’t just survive. Spend one round testing your opponent’s habits with feints and level changes.
For the next round, make guesses on where your opponent will be based on the information you gathered from the previous round.
If you’re a beginner, we recommend that you look at your opponent’s shoulder line so you can better predict his moves.
Do Partner Drills
Next, do partner drills if you want to grow your boxing instinct.
Partner drills for boxing improve your ability to read your opponent’s body language and hone your reflexes, while training in a safe environment.
You and your partner will practice defending against common combinations in a controlled way.
With time, you’ll begin to see these movements easier when you’re sparring at a faster speed.
Spar With More Purpose
Lastly, spar with more purpose if you want to grow your boxing instinct.
Don’t go in the ring just to trade heavy punches with random people.
Find a partner you can spar slow with. Pay attention and get in tune with her cues, body language, and habits.
Instead of approaching each situation with your reactions and habits only, you’ll see that there are multiple ways to respond. Over time you’ll see this mind-body connection translate to your full-speed spars.
This exercise will teach you more than any reaction-time training can.
Conclusion
Now that you have guidelines on how to develop your reflexes into boxing instinct, you’ll improve much faster.
At the higher levels, everyone is fast and hits hard so then boxing becomes more like chess.
Every move becomes critical in testing your opponent, regardless if it’s a pawn moving one step forward or a queen shooting across the board.
When you shadowbox and spar, pay extra attention to your habits and technique. Do your thinking outside of the ring so that you can flow inside of the ring.
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