Boxing Drills for Keeping Hands Up

Depictions of boxers can be found on the walls of tombs from ancient Egypt, making boxing one of the oldest forms of competition. Boxers then and now know the importance of keeping hands up, but this is not always easy, especially when you get tired. A number of drills can help you keep your hands up when boxing.

  1. Mirror

    • One of the problems that causes many boxers to continually drop their hands is that they do not realize they are doing it. To help correct this, it is often helpful to get a little feedback on your boxing while you are boxing. One way to do this is to do some shadow boxing in front of a mirror. The mirror will provide you with instant feedback on your form, including whether you are dropping your hands or not. You can then correct yourself whenever you see your hands dropping.

    Partner

    • Another good way to help you keep your hands from dropping is to tell your trainer or sparring partner to make you pay for your mistakes. Tell them to exploit your dropping hands by giving you a light punch or jab whenever your hands come down. This negative reinforcement will help you to break the habit of dropping your hands, as no one likes being punched.

    Road Running

    • One other thing you can do to help you keep your hands up is to keep your hands up during your running, which is also sometimes referred to as road work. This may look a little strange to anyone who runs by you or who passes you in a car, but it will help reinforce that you have to keep your hands up even when you are tired. It is, after all, at the end of a round and in the later rounds when you are tired that you are more likely to drop your hands. Try also to throw a few shadow punches and jabs when doing your running.

    Coin

    • One popular drill for boxers looking to keep their chin down is to hold a tennis ball between their chin and neck to help reinforce the habit. There is a similar drill for the hands, where you work on punching with one hand, while holding a coin or something similar between your fist and jaw. If you drop the coin, then you know that you are taking your hand away. After you have worked on one hand, you can switch the coin to the other side and the other hand, and work on punching with the other hand while keeping your hands up.