KICKBOXING UNDERGROUND
PERSONAL TRAINING
WHAT TO WEAR & WHAT TO BRING:
If you’ve signed up to take personal training lessons from me, you probably have a few questions in your mind, and there are a few things you should know…. so let me address these:
You will want to bring water, but also, make sure you are able to drink it with boxing gloves on! Therefore a sports bottle, or something with a straw is needed.
Also, wear shoes. Tennis shoes, socks, something supportive and that can protect your feet is needed. You can stub your toe, which isn’t fun; so protect them feets!
Make sure your shoes have a “tennis shoe” bottom, meaning: no protruding tread. That might rip the heavy bag. (see pic below)
You will also be glad to have a sweat towel.
I will provide you with your first set of handwraps.
For females, you’ll want to wear a “scrungi” to keep hair from touching your face or it will annoy you the whole session!
And please bring $75 cash, as I have no other way of processing payments. Please pay before the start of every session. I am never thinking of pay after a session and I will forget!
- Water; Sweat towel
- Shoes with recessed tread, not protruding tread (example below)
- Bring $75 cash for payment
CONFIRM YOUR APPOINTMENT:
This might sound like overkill, but:
Whatever time we set, I ask you to text both the day before,
AND also 2 hours in advance on the day of the session, to make sure you are definitely coming so that I may be prepared for you.
- Confirm your appointment 24 hrs in advance
- Reconfirm your appointment 1-2 hours before your appt time.
- I appreciate your cooperation on this procedure
My phone is 864-518-7570
My address is: 496 Glendalyn Ave, Spartanburg.
You will see a Spinx gas station. Our house is right behind it.
Park along the curb in front of the house.
You are going to have tons of fun doing this training, and you’ll be learning a LOT.
Just show up with an open mind, no expectations, and simply experience the training.
You are in good hands, and I will have you learning in no time. Your job is just to escape your outside concerns for one hour, and be lost in the flow of Muay Thai kickboxing and the hard-hitting action of the heavy bag.
On your way home you’ll realize you haven’t felt this stress-free in a long time. And that will happen at every training session.
TRAINING FORMAT:
Each workout will be 10 “rounds” long. We will start each one the same way: one round of “Seated Stretches”, one round of “Standing Stretches”, and one round of “Dynamic Stretching”. This gives you a good flexibility warmup to make sure that nothing in your body is going to catch, bind, pull, or tear.
The training system eases you into the workout very gently so it helps you build yourself into getting in the mood to exert yourself. That way you don’t have to show up “in the mood for exercise”. If you’re not there, the System takes you there very easily.
Just so you know in advance about the format of the training sessions, they all have the same format:
- 10 Rounds of 5 minutes each, with a one minute break between each round. The whole workout lasts one hour.
- By Round 4, we put on boxing gloves and work on a skill or technique appropriate for your stage of the learning process.
- Then Rounds 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all on the heavy bag and you'll be learning to fight your opponent using a variety of strikes and techniques.
These techniques have not been “dumbed down” for easy consumption; they are the very strikes that the professional fighters use in boxing, kickboxing, and MMA (UFC).
In fact, a professional fighter could use this exact same workout that you’re going through.
Why do I mention that? To point out that you’re not supposed to be great at the techniques. Don’t put any pressure on yourself. There’s a lot to know. So relax and don’t worry.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT AT THE TRAINING?
Mentally: Don’t be hard on yourself or become frustrated with your performance. Whether you’re doing it 100% right or 20% right, you’re still going to be accomplishing your goal of exercise and learning. So why should negative self talk enter your mind? Be prepared to always be positive with yourself. These are all “practice sessions”, not the Olympics.
Physically: I do not care how fast or strong you are or how much stamina you have. I do not care if your technique sucks. I can assure you it will. That’s perfectly fine. These are all things that are out of your control. What you are in control of is a positive mindset.
The only thing I will be insisting on, because they are fully in your control, are 3 very easy fight habits. More below on that….
- Don't push yourself past what is comfortable, cardio-wise.
- Endurance and stamina take a long time to develop.
- It is tricky knowing just how hard to push yourself and there is a tendency to overdo it. If I sense you need more air, I will pull you off the bag, have you keep your guard up, and we'll work on defense to save energy.
There are some “fight habits” you need to learn, and these habits are the only things I will necessarily insist on during training. Why? Because they are crucial to you being able to successfully defend yourself, and if I don’t do a good job of reinforcing these disciplines, then I am not performing my responsibility as your trainer.
Here are the 3 habits/disciplines:
1. Fight time is fight time.
This means when the bell rings to start the round, you need to bring your hands up to protect your head, get your legs and feet ready to move if necessary, and use your eyes to look for danger. Think of this as, “The bell just rang; anything can happen!!”
2. Maintain a good guard.
Keeping your hands up isn’t a requirement for a skilled fighter, but it definitely is when you are just learning. It is so important to protect your head/face, and particularly your chin, because should you get knocked out by an unseen blow, you are no longer able to defend yourself at all. This is the worst case scenario and we need to prevent it.
3. Keep your eyes on your opponent.
This is vital. You NEVER want to take your eyes off of your opponent, even for a split second because it’s the blow that you don’t see coming that is the most dangerous. When you are fighting your opponent (the heavy bag) you will keep your eyes laser focused on his every move!
THE PUNCHING RANGE:
A crucial point that we always keep in mind while training is the distance we stand away from the opponent.
If you can reach out and hit the bag, that means the opponent can also reach out and hit you. So, for all practical purposes, that is not an ideal distance to place yourself. There is not enough time to react and see what’s coming at this range.
So while we’re training, we are always going to be standing just outside of this “punching range”, so whenever you throw your first strike at the bag, you are going to need to step forward to “close the distance”.
And as soon as your combination is over with, you are going to move back outside that range again. (Of course, you have to be INSIDE that range while throwing your techniques, otherwise none of them would land.)
But as soon as you’re done with your attack, you move very quickly back outside the punching range, get right back into a fighting stance with your guard up, and you remain hyper-vigilant (expecting an attack to come at any time).
This increases your cardio and fat-burning during the workout as well. Sure it’s tiring throwing punches and kicks, but believe it or not, just the footwork of moving “in and out” or around the bag can be a lot of exercise.
So we are ALWAYS going to be concerned with what the opponent is doing.
Most people who train on a bag think about one thing: what THEY are doing. We are going to be equally concerned with what the OPPONENT might do.
If you train this way, you won’t have to make that important adjustment if an actual violent attack ever takes place. So we will start preparing you, right from the very first lesson, to NOT stand where the opponent can easily hit you, and to move away from the attack and be hyper aware of defending an attack.
- Here's what we are going to be looking for after we throw our combo:
- the opponent throwing punches at us (we will also keep this in mind while we are throwing punches);
- the opponent rushing towards you (to tackle you, take you down, grab you, whatever)
So as we move away from the bag, we are going to be ready to defend by blocking, by redirecting the attacker’s motion, by obstructing him with our hands or arms, and by keeping our hands up.
Now that I’ve told you this up front, I just saved you a little bit of time by helping you absorb this teaching it in advance.
But don’t worry, I will be reminding you of this ALL the time! lol
WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRAINEE:
As much as I hate to say it, not everyone is cut out to be a great trainee. And that’s fine. There are lots of different training options, programs, and teachers out there. If you search diligently, you will find a great fit for yourself. I may not be it.
Here are some factors I have noticed that indicate a poor fit to this training:
1. You are too busy. Or you are not in control of your schedule. If you are a busy business owner and are blown to and fro by the dictates of your business, this private training is going to be a poor fit. You need to join a class somewhere where you have many time slots to show up so you don’t miss your training consistency.
2. You need to cancel or reschedule often. When someone sets a training time with me, but then needs to already cancel or reschedule several times during their first few sessions, that is a good indication of what the future will be like.
A good rule of thumb is, if you can’t get thru your first few sessions on time, I will probably have to recommend you find a training program more congruent with your lifestyle and schedule. Certainly no hard feelings. I have a schedule that’s not set up to accommodate many changes due to my other business.
3. You do not have disposable income for personal training. Personal training is expensive! There’s no way to ignore that fact.
If you don’t have the first 12 sessions worth of cash sitting in the bank, you may want to take a realistic look at whether you should be enrolling in personal training, or if a group class environment might be a better use of your money.
I don’t want you to have to make sacrifices because you’re subscribing to my training. Really consider enrolling in a group class; it is much less expensive.
4. Training is a low priority for you.
If a reason you need to cancel your session is because your friend stopped by unexpectedly, or because “you have family in town”, etc., then my training won’t be a great fit. Please do some soul searching up front. Realistically assess your goals and motivations.
Not many people can get thru a one time rotation of 12 sessions. If you do, you have demonstrated extraordinary commitment and dependability. You are in the top 10% of trainees!
Now let me tell you what makes a great trainee:
- You are dependable. You don't set an appointment that you can't make. Your word is your bond, and you can be relied upon.
- You know how to communicate. You respond timely to communication. You do not have periods of being "missing in action".
- You are eager and motivated to learn. You have a genuine need in your life for the training. Your own motivation to be successful in this endeavor fuels and empowers you.
Lastly, a worry people have during the training is: “I’m not very good at the combinations. I keep doing things wrong and making the same mistakes.”
Do not cause yourself stress by worrying about technique or form! We are going thru a 10-Round workout, and 6 of those rounds are on the Heavy Bag throwing combinations that “are not dumbed down for beginners”. We will keep the training very pure and authentic so if you ever decide to continue with kickboxing, you’ll have everything right and zero bad habits.
I’m into authenticity, keeping it real, and maintaining purity to sound principles. So I’m not going to have you throw any “move” or technique that aren’t the same as you’d find in a true fight gym.
However, we don’t allow “expectations” to enter the workout area, nor discouragement or frustration. It must be a stress-free zone. You are only responsible to show up; the responsibility of teaching and your learning is on my shoulders. You don’t need to be concerned about it, and you don’t need to be concerned that you are not meeting my expectations of you.
Our #1 goal is to get you training and doing it productively, efficiently, and scientifically. You are going to be learning how to develop a lifelong System of exercise that you can one day maintain on your own and enjoy and benefit from.
All lessons are professional, fun, and stress-free. Hope this helps you know more about how to prepare your mind for the training.