Perfecting Stance

• 1). Begin by focusing on your stance. To do this put on your gloves and face the mirror. Bend slightly at the knees, keeping your legs roughly shoulder length apart. Keep your left foot slightly forward of your right and balance your weight equally between the two. Point your right foot off to your right so it is almost perpendicular to the mirror. Your left foot should not be pointing directly at the mirror, but slightly to your right so if a line were drawn straight from the tip of toe it would just miss the mirror. The placement of your feet is very important as it will determine how you present yourself to an opponent. With your feet in the described places you will be forced to turn your upper body slightly to the left to present directly at the mirror. This is ideal as it will allow you greater mobility around your opponent as well as the ability to generate more force behind a punch simply by twisting at the waist as you swing.
  
  
• 2). Keep your back straight rather than hunching forward, which is a common mistake. By keeping the back straight you do a better job of maintaining your balance. It also allows you to extend your arm further so the range of your punches is greater. Lend your face greater protection by hunching your shoulders up.
  
  
• 3). Raise your fists balled so that your lower arms and hands form vertical bars in front of your chest and face. In the mirror the only part of your face that should be visible above your gloves are your eyes and forehead. Also do not present the backs of your hands to the mirror, but the bottoms of your hands opposite from the thumbs.
  
  
• 4). Reinforce the assumption and maintenance of this stance by practicing throwing punches at the mirror. These punches should be nothing special, simply pushing out the arm to full extension. Continue to do this until your arms reach full extension immediately upon brushing the glass of the mirror. Without moving your feet, only the positioning of the shoulders and back would affect the distance of the punch. So by continuously punching the same spot at the exact same distance you aid in the development of muscle memory so you will be able to assume this stance immediately and automatically in the future.
  
  

Practicing Footwork

• 1). Put your boxing gloves on and approach a hanging heavy punching bag. You will greatly benefit from the aid of a friend or sparring partner who will stand behind the bag and hold it so it does not swing back and forth with each punch.
  
  
• 2). Take up your stance and practice throwing punches as if you were fighting a real opponent. Have your aid randomly swing an arm around from one side of the bag or other to strike at your head. Also allow him to yell instructions to back off or approach the opponent in addition to his attacks.
  
  
• 3). Dodge a punch coming from your left by pushing off with your left foot and popping your right foot out to the side. This will push your body hard to the right while maintaining your stance. React to a punch coming from the right by pushing off with your right foot and reaching out with your left, mirroring the first move. These are the two most basic and important methods of dodging and incoming punch in boxing.
  
  
• 4). Respond to your aid’s command to back off by taking short hops backward with your right foot pulling your body back as you do so. Drag the toe of your left foot along the ground as you do so. By doing this you ensure that you always have one foot on the ground at all times and are thus able to respond immediately to an opponent.
  
  
• 5). Advance by hopping forward with your left foot and dragging to the toe of your right. Repeat these steps in the order most fitting to the situation until they become second nature.