The "Archie Moore" (diary entry)

02.08.2022 Tuesday night's client entered hour two of his new Boxing course. We focused on the shoulder roll and footwork. After a brief warm up of dynamic stretching and muscle activation exercises we moved straight onto some agility/footwork drills. I am strongly in favour of training new behaviours and any challenging coordination work as early in a lesson as possible. Complex movements should come in early in any workout due to the amount of conscious concentration required and the energy needed to perform these repetitions with good form. Footwork is a classic example. This remains one of the most difficult parts of fighting due to the coordination required to move the body whilst attacking and defending. Today I used the agility markers for the following two types of exercise: Agility Ladders - As the name suggests, these are exercises suited for the agility ladders. We didn't have any today so I improvised with the markers. We weaved, moved in and out, feinted and performed lateral movements whilst layering on punches, deflections and upper body evasions. These exercises are great to maintain stances, and therefore balance, through forward and backward movements.

The Circle - Here one marker is placed in the middle with an even number spaced around the outside. The fighter can perform various exercises that involve moving in and away from the centre marker whilst weaving in and out of the circled markers. These exercises building more lateral and circling movements. They also help to create angles. Our technique for today took inspiration from the "Old Mongoose" Archie Moore. We look at his shoulder roll and began using it to set up a cross. The roll blocks an incoming jab, but the entire movement puts spring behind the rear hand punch. Working as a counter the punch crosses over the opponent's lead hand or a pivot step allows for an over hand variation to the opponent's blind side. Still another option is to deflect with the right hand and fire back with a jab or a left hook. Staying with cross, I added in a left hook/cross combination. We then sandwiched the roll with feinting and footwork taken from the earlier agility training. Again, taking inspiration from "Ancient" Archie we used his cross-arm guard and lure with his head. This was sometime prefaced with a jab or two to invite immediate retaliation. Therefore, one combination was jab/jab/baiting feint/shoulder roll/cross/hook/cross, but we kept it fluid and creative.

The lesson finished in 5 x 3 minute rounds. Round 1 - Straight punches plus all defensive upper body movements (including the shoulder roll) and footwork Round 2 - Add in hooks Round 3 - Add in uppercuts Round 4 - Add in shovel hooks Round 5 - Add in overhand punches Footage of this lesson https://clubbchimera.com/services/