The basic 8 Count Drill

The basic 8 Count Drill, Focus Mitt Basic Workout, boxing training on focus pads for footwork.

It is a basic focus training method but I ask you to try it even if you consider yourself an expert because you may discover some interesting ideas especially if you perform it with a professional who keeps you focus pads.

A method of work and training that all and I say all the good boxers have used to learn the impressive boxing techniques they perform in the ring or doing sparring are precisely the focus mitt.

This training is irreplaceable and is not comparable to performing combinations to the bag and the reason is simple who keeps the focus has an active role that the bag can not give you, changing rhythm, times, position in space, forcing you to move, dodge and look for the target.

Focus Mitt training is the center and is designed to help you develop your combat reflexes, punching technique, defense technique, combat strategy, energy management, etc.

The advantages of training with focus mitt go further, providing new stimuli to become a better fighter.

Most boxers rely on focus mitt training to improve their speed and power but you are limiting the possibilities because it is a versatile training method for anyone looking to develop their striking skills.

Focus workouts are great for developing:

• precision
• timing,
• rhythm
• 
  strategy
  ,
• fighting style,
• resistance and explosiveness
• reflections and
• clearly also the speed and power.

There are several work exercises with focus pads that may seem simple but are very effective for developing the fundamental skills for combat and that you can not perform on the heavy bag.

Beginners can use focus mitt to improve their footwork, counteract all the styles of opponents (you need to have a good trainer who creates this approach), improve coordination and reduce stress.

Equipment needed to work with focus mitt

Focus mitts are slightly curved hand pads that are attached to a glove to allow those who hold them to have a good grip.

There are different sizes and different weights to allow you to do specific jobs and allow the partner who holds the focus to move his hands very quickly.

Learning to keep the focus mitt is an art and for this reason there are real well-paid professionals because it is an active job and requires good experience to do a good job, especially when it is also required to vary the attitudes of opponents.

Today the focus is used not only by boxing coaches or other combat sports such as Muay Thai when they train the boxing part but also by fitness instructors to “capture” the blows pulled by beautiful girls who have discovered how this type of training is intense and helps to create a super toned and explosive physique.

Focus mitt workouts, also commonly known as strikers or pads, are a fun way to learn essential and advanced boxing techniques.

To carry out an effective training program you need the following equipment and possibly quality:

• Training partner or a coach – You need a partner who holds the focus pads, who calls you the combinations, keeps your guard active and absorbs the shots you shoot. A boxing coach or fitness instructor will be in a better position to guide and correct you on how to pull the shots and combinations, observe and stimulate your guard, your footwork, the correct distance, etc.
• 
  Focus mitt or focus pad
  – Use good focus pads because they will give you a goal on which to direct (focus) your fists and will make the trainer’s work easier. They are curved and padded to make it easier for your partner to “catch” the punches you throw. The padding allows you to hit with speed and power, thereby improving accuracy, power and speed. They must have a good grip to prevent them from moving or jumping when they are hit. Depending on the type of training you need to do, use the more standard ones or the smaller and lighter ones.
• Boxing gloves and bandage of and for the hands – You can’t punch at maximum power and safely without bandaging your hands and without gloves, so wrap and fasten your gloves all the time to preserve your hands. Conditioning without gloves to hit with bare hands is a separate chapter. MMA athletes can and should also use their combat and training gloves but for some workouts it is best to use sack gloves or regular boxing gloves.
• Clock or Boxing Timer – To monitor your rounds and break, one of the goals of these workouts is to improve your times and develop a rhythm. Some exercises are performed in timed shifts to create a circuit. A timer will not only help you achieve this, but will also help you keep track of all your rounds.
• Boxing shoes – You need shoes that help you with your footwork and footwork, shoes that give you good grip and stability on the floor where you work to punch with power and speed.
• Water bottle for proper hydration.
• Boxing Tracking – If available is not critical.

The basic 8 Count Drill, the 8-stroke exercise for beginners

The basic 8 Count Drill is a basic 8-stroke focus pad exercise for beginners that teaches you the fundamental skills of boxing.

Routine teaches how to hit and move within the ring or a defined space.

You will also learn how to have control so as to avoid being stuck in one place by your opponent.

You will pull a fundamental combination such as Jab-Cross-Hook, dodge to get back to hitting, use footwork, etc. a basic but extremely preparatory drill for your boxing training.

This focus mitt workout is a fantastic way to get a workout of 5 rounds of 3 minutes so a total of 20 minutes overall considering also the minute break on the fundamentals of boxing.

If you do the focus mitt not for fitness but as a combat sport if you can use the mouthguard to get used to breathing with the mouthguard and using the sack gloves but even better (even if they spoil) with the gloves as ounces (weight) that you will use in the match.

Before starting the workout do 3 rounds of rope to do a general pre warm-up of the body.

The idea with the workouts with the focus mitt is also to consolidate your footwork and your sense of distance to find yourself in the correct range to shoot shots so as not to be too close and become an easy target or worse still too far and miss the target.

Just as your feet are the basis of your body, footwork is the basis of all the basics of boxing and therefore to be able to shoot the shots correctly.

The basic 8 Count Drill:

• The first punch you will throw is a jab. It means that you have to punch your left hand towards the left hand of your training partner who holds the focus or your coach.
• The next shot is called a cross. You have to punch with your right hand towards the right hand of the partner holding the focus.
• This cross shot is followed by a left hook, the famous Hook, which is more like a jab repetition but your partner will direct the focus to give you a suitable target for that type of shot.
• The fourth shot is a right cross again, just like in the second pass of the drill.
• Now those who keep the focus will pull you a left hook, to which you have to dodge in lowering (do not look at your feet but always look into the eyes of your training partner) and pull crossing with a right cross.
• After throwing the cross foul follow by a left Hook.
• You should then now swing and slide under your training partner’s left back hook while placing a left hook to your body or as you go out and turn around by pivoting to your back foot.
• Finish the drill with a right cross.

Ps. If you are left-handed it is all mirrored

It is important never to lose your guard but if it happens your training partner should warn you or pull you a shot where you are discovered and start the drill again.

The sequence is always the same but:

• Round 1 – Slowly work on precision and use it to understand the sequence and warm up well. If necessary, unpack the sequence.
• Round 2 – Work by increasing the speed but listen well to your balance, do not put power in the shots yet.
• Round 3 – Work by increasing the speed and start putting some power into the shots but not yet at the maximum.
• Round 4 – Work at maximum as power and speed (only if the first 3 rounds went well)
• Round 5 – Work at maximum as power and speed

Tips the Boxing Workout Footwork Drills

Start the drill by running it slowly, try to be precise, listen to your balance, then increase the speed gradually and only at the end put the power of the shots.

If necessary, unpack the drill starting from the first shots until it is completed.

As you can see, you are learning to shoot or consolidate fundamental shots and learning fundamental dodges and footwork.

It is useless to learn new things if you do not acquire these fundamentals, you will bring with you mistakes that you will pay dearly.

I recommend the guard.

Conclusions

Now that you are an experienced boxer or a person who is just trying to get back in shape, focus workouts are fun, anti-stress and can be a great workout for boxers or simply for weight loss and fitness.

The focus pad is a workout to be performed with a partner unlike the sack that you can perform in only training and that you can do at any time of the day, here the game becomes even more serious because you work in two and requires the help of a training partner.

I focus mitt is a great workout in your schedule but clearly it can’t be the only way to train for a combat sport.

Focus Mitt should be integrated according to the discipline, the Pao if you practice MMA and Muay Thai, the heavy bag and shadow boxing sessions, conditioned sparring and free sparring,

If you can do pad workouts with a precise focus, try to keep each workout focused on one thing, then vary your workouts by diversifying them and to keep your workout varied.

If you consider it important or your coach recommends it, repeat the same workout but do not try to do in a single packed workout all the exercises that can be done.

If you want to do a free workout or open workout try to do it on the weekend or on a day you want to do a workout dictated by your body and mental sensation, without a trace.

Stay Tuned!

Street Fight Mentality & Fight Sport