[Yan]

So I was signing up my 5-year old for different sporting activities run by the city, and I noticed that there is an Olympic Boxing course for adults (well, two courses actually, level 1 and level 2). Doesn't sound like something very serious, just once a week for an hour, for six weeks or so - teaches basic footwork and other stuff. Can it supplement judo in any way - from the experience of those of you who trained in boxing? Thanks!

This post has been edited by Yan: 11 March 2010 - 10:17 PM

[stacey]

I like boxing. I think anything that gets you moving, increases your cardio, and gets you thinking chess like in terms of your body and the bodies of others is good for judo. THat being said, I knew a guy who did boxing for like 20 years, golden gloves as a kid/young adult. He was the stiffest judoka I've ever played, and he attributes that to his boxing background, the need to keep arms distance, and the desire to hit people. You're starting as an adult. You're talking about 1 hour a week. I can't see where it would hurt, and might just help you think more flexibly about things.

What I'd suggest is try it out. If you notice it acting detrimentally to your judo, stop the boxing. If it doesn't harm your judo, keep it up. If it helps your judo, stick with it.

[BoxingJudoka]

stacey, on Mar 11 2010, 04:26 PM, said:

I like boxing. I think anything that gets you moving, increases your cardio, and gets you thinking chess like in terms of your body and the bodies of others is good for judo. THat being said, I knew a guy who did boxing for like 20 years, golden gloves as a kid/young adult. He was the stiffest judoka I've ever played, and he attributes that to his boxing background, the need to keep arms distance, and the desire to hit people. You're starting as an adult. You're talking about 1 hour a week. I can't see where it would hurt, and might just help you think more flexibly about things.

What I'd suggest is try it out. If you notice it acting detrimentally to your judo, stop the boxing. If it doesn't harm your judo, keep it up. If it helps your judo, stick with it.

Kind of an unusual boxer, normally you learn to be quite comfortable at getting into clinch range, and relaxing in the clinch (ie you don't want to be burning off energy in the clinch, though ideally your opponent is ). I wondering if he was exceptionally tall for his weight division, and so saw in fighting and clinching as an evil to be avoided at all costs. In most cases judo and boxing actually complement each other quite well, since both are to a large extent done with the upper body relaxed and moving from the hips/legs. Stiff arms/torso/legs is a disaster in boxing for too many reasons to go into, suffice to say most of the reasons they're a bad idea in judo translate into boxing.

One hour a week is mainly a cardio program, you'd no more compete in boxing training an hour a week than you would in judo. But if its a fun atmosphere I'd say give it a try, as an adult any exercise you enjoy doing is worthwhile.

This post has been edited by BoxingJudoka: 11 March 2010 - 10:36 PM

[Tafftaz]

I train a former boxing coach in judo. He is now shodan. Very strong but used to be very stif,same as the guy in the OP.
However he is starting to loosen up a year into his shodan.
As for boxing supplementing judo, well he coaches me in boxing especially 6 -8 weeks before a shiai. I am not the greatest but it does give you great cardio and anything that helps your hand and foot speed and co-ordination can't be bad, can it.

[Kozushi]

I'm sure it helps - footwork is very similar, and the fitness benefits cross over nicely.