When starting out, the biggest mistakes I see in beginner boxers are holding their breath, not pivoting their feet, not keeping their hands up, going too hard and not focusing on the fundamentals.

Breathing is crucial to generating optimal power, executing movements efficiently, and most importantly maintaining your energy reserves. There’s no quicker way, apart from completely exerting oneself, to empty the tank than holding your breath while punching, moving, defending etc. I recommend inhaling before each combination through the nose and performing tiny exhales on each of the following punches through the mouth before inhaling once more after the combination has finished. So, if you were performing a 1-2-3 combination (Jab-Cross-Left hook), I’d inhale before the combo, proceeded by a tiny exhale on the 1, tiny exhale on the 2, and tiny, or bigger exhale on the 3 as it’s the last punch in the combo, before inhaling again. One trick for beginners, is to say the punches out loud as you do them, so you essentially force yourself into breathing.

Next, we have failing to pivot, of failing to pivot properly to fully engage the hips and achieve optimal rotation of our frame. Most boxing movements consist of rotation of the hips and shoulders, and pivoting is crucial to hitting these correctly. What can be challenging, is ensuring the timing of the pivot as well as maintaining one’s balance while performing the pivot. There are 3 points of contact with the foot to ground that should be of focus. The ball of the foot, the outside directly beside it below the pinky toe, and the heel. Essentially a tripod. When you pivot, you only want the heel to come off the ground as you rotate your foot with your toes now pointing straight ahead (towards your opponent). If you imagine your power starts from the ground, and works its way up, the pivot should realistically happen milliseconds before the rotation of the hips, proceeded by the shoulders and the contact of the punch to the target. Often, the pivot happens at the same time we throw our punch. If you wait to late, you miss out on much of the potential power generated that can’t be made up for until the following punch. Envision the body moves as one, with the rotation of the shoulders and hips, alongside the pivot of the foot and the delivery of the punch all happening together as one unit. This is what I shoot for.

Keeping your hands up as a beginner is the most effective way to protect yourself. I’m a big believer, that over time, your guard as well as your entire style can change to something considered riskier, but it’s an absolute must to keep your hands up close to, or around your chin always when not punching if you’re just starting out. The biggest mistake comes when dropping the non-hitting hand. This means, that the hand that isn’t punching is also not protecting the face while you’re throwing or landing your other punch. This is problematic as if the opponent is punching at you simultaneously, the odds of you getting hit are very high simply because your guard is not protecting your face at all. However, sometimes keeping your hands glued to your face makes one’s movements stiff and robotic. Each person needs to gauge where their guard should be at different points and positions in the fight based on their individual style. Until you get to that point, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and keep your hands at or near head chin/nose level so you can quickly block your opponent’s strikes. As one hand goes out for your next punch during a combination the non-hitting hand should be returning to protect your face. Again, moving as one unit.

Lastly, I see many beginners exerting too much energy, while not focusing on technique and form. You don’t go into the gym on the first day and squat 500lbs. You might just start with your own body weight. I think adding speed and power are much easier, when your technique and foundation is already solid. Break each movement down into individual sequences if you’re having trouble and take your time as you figure out which sequence is causing you issue. Go through these motions carefully, and focus on your bodies positioning, the allocation of your weight between feet, the posture of your body etc. Remember, you won’t master anything very quickly, and you’ll have to go through these motions hundreds if not thousands of times before they become second nature, so there’s no reason to rush. It can be detrimental if you compensate with athleticism instead of building a solid technique, because when you’re tired, hurt, injured, or said athleticism fades, your foundations begin to crumble, and you cannot make up for the errors you once could. Enjoy the journey, ask questions, understand why and how you do each movement at certain times, and learn how they all feel because it’s a marathon, not a sprint.