Page 86 - Jennifer Chieng Badass Boxing Workouts

Repeat the full cycle of this exercise from starting position
for 1 minute.

Balance and Stability

As you train and execute various techniques, maintaining
balance not only indicates an increased level of endurance

but also yields a higher rate of efficiency. When balanced,
your body consistently resets to its neutral stance, and any
unnecessary motion is eliminated. Unnecessary motion

negatively affects the timing, impact, and effectiveness of a
technique.

To illustrate an example of unnecessary motion, we will use
a simple combination of the jab and cross. Standing in
neutral stance, you throw the jab and cross twice for a total

of four punches. Before the initial punch is thrown, you are
standing in neutral stance with hands protecting the chin
and elbows protecting your body. You then extend the first
punch, a jab, followed by the second punch, a cross. Now, in

the return of each punch you retract your hands around the
chest area, rather than to the chin. The second time the jab
and cross are thrown, you must make certain adjustments
before extending the set of punches, as resetting to a non-

neutral stance changes the trajectory of the punches,
effectively reducing the overall impact of the punches. First,
your defense is compromised because your hands are
resting by your chest, leaving your chin exposed. Second,

adjusting to bring your hands up to chin level adds to the
amount of time it will take for your punch to reach your
intended target.

As a rule of thumb, you want to return to neutral stance

after each attack to maintain a strong defense and efficient
offensive output. Returning to your neutral stance after an
attack, whether you are the one countering an attack or