Mailbag! What do you call...those things you do?

Hi guys, What is the proper term for...all those things you learn when you do martial arts? Like each punch has a name, if you do Jiu-Jitsu, each submission has a name...is it a technique? an expression?

Hm. That's a tough one. Much like anything else related to martial arts, there's a varying amount of consistency within a style and almost no consistency between styles. So, there's no real answer. The following might give you a better idea of what tendencies people have, so you an at least be in the right ballpark.

Wrestlers often refer to "moves," karateka and jiu-jitsu players (among others) have "techniques," and right before a fight, Dangerous asked me to show him "that retard thing."*

But the above could also be plural. A thing could also be, "that...thing from the mount" (where they refer to moving from mount to S-mount to an armbar submission). A move could refer to a sequence of discreet techniques that others might refer to as a sequence. Boxers have "combinations" and savateurs "enchainments."

Do note that if the person you're talking to is a real stickler (or a jagoff), you should probably just call it whatever they do, if only to avoid having them talk to your ear off for hours about what, and why, it is what it is.

* He was, of course, asking about the Rubber Guard's retard control.

CC-licensed photo by Nick Lo.

Mailbag! Why do boxers always touch their nose?

Whenever I watch boxing, I see the boxers touch their noses a lot. What's up with that?

There's no "real"/definitive answer for why this might be. However, some likely causes are:

• The boxer just got popped in the nose and is checking to see if it's broken/bloody
  
  
• The skin on the boxer's nose is irritated from getting jacked or other things Doc Dill discussed a while back
  
  
• They're checking to see where their hands are - if you can touch your nose, you know your hands are basically in the right spot
  
  
• Doing it as a means of "resetting" themselves, similar to clapping gloves
  
  
• Picked up the habit in the gym

Mailbag! How hard do you have to punch someone to give them a concussion?

Q. How hard do you have to punch someone to give them a concussion?

Doc Dill responds:

As my instructor used to say, "you don't have to hit someone hard, you have to hit them right to knock them out."

Basically you need to jostle their head. The "button" is considered the chin. if you hit the chin with enough snap that the jaw slaps shut hard or the whole head jerks down then up or twists sideways suddenly, you will probably knock them out. Think of it this way, you want to shake the ketchup from the bottom of the bottle to the neck. so you jerk down, then up suddenly, making the ketchup in the bottle travel opposite the direction of the bottle. Same thing with the head. You want that little brain bouncing around inside that skull like a walnut inside the husk until lights out.

For more information about knockouts, brain trauma and concussions, see:

Is it a concussion?

What's in a knockout?

CC-licensed photo by Arriba

Mailbag! Why are blows to the back of the head illegal?

Q. Why is it illegal for boxers to punch each other in the back of the head?

Doc Dill says:

Because you can kill them. Seriously, spinal cord injury or fractured skull.

Mailbag! What's that sound with ten seconds left in the round?

by Mike

Easy enough - that's the ten-second warning.

It's not so much a sign for the boxers (though many may use it for one last desperate attack, or to stall if they think they're ahead on points), but rather to let the referee know that the end of the bout is coming and that the corners should have their bucket and stool ready.

The sound itself is made either by hitting a special striking surface on the ring gong (see the illustration) or the table or even the ring itself in order to produce a sound that is distinctive from the bell itself.

Many commissions do not allot corners to pound the mat for fear of causing confusion with the ten-second warning.

You can read more about the life of a timekeeper over at SecondsOut's article The Timekeeper.

Mailbag! Can You Wash Boxing Gloves?

Q. Can I wash my boxing gloves?

A. You can wet a rag/paper towel if you want to wipe off dust, blood, etc.

You can put them in the washing machine or dishwasher if you want to ruin them.

For more information check out Keeping Boxing Gloves Dry and Smelling Good (or at least not-bad)

CC-licensed photo from Slack12

Mailbag! Registered hands?

Q. I heard that upon reaching a certain rank, you'll need to register your hands as deadly weapons. Is this true?

A. Yes.

Mailbag! Why do Boxers tape their gloves?

by Mike

Couple reasons, actually:

• The tape helps the gloves stay on during the fight. Most pro gloves are lace-up and despite this, they can still come loose during a fight and/or the laces can pop out the back. Tape keeps everything nice and secure.
  
  
• The athletic commission also inspects the handwraps and gloves to make sure they are in compliance with all appropriate regulations. Wraps and the tape on the gloves gets signed by a commissioner to indicate that everything is in order. Theoretically, if the gloves are modified, the "seal" will be broken and the gloves will need to be rechecked.

Sadly, events like the Resto/Collins tragedy show what can happen when these regulations are not followed.

Mailbag! Should Boys and Girls Be Allowed To Play Together?

"I'm a chick whose interested in getting started boxing. The gym I'm looking at doesn't have separate women's classes (guys spar with girls). I know no one's going to clobber me, but I'm afraid that they're going to take it easy on me and I won't learn as much. This gym has a good reputation, but would I be better off going to a women's-only gym or program?"

Meredith says:

Personally, I try to go with the guys as often as possible. And to be fair to them, since I'm smaller, I try to punch them as HARD AS I CAN.

Okay, in all seriousness, as long as you're sparring someone at the same level, weight and ability as yourself it really shouldn't matter if they're a guy or a girl. Some people have ego problems, but that's the same for both sexes and I'll address that later.

I do actually go with guys at least as often, if not more so, as I go with girls. One reason for this is just that there are usually more of them around and another is self-defence logic. If you're ever going to get attacked, it's generally not going to be by another girl so it helps to be used to fighting a guy. Generally the more experienced guys are pretty good with knowing how hard to go with someone who is in a lower weight class than themselves. If you get someone who you feel is taking it easy, do the same as you would if you were with someone who was going to hard. Let them know.

I've found that variations on following phrases work well to adjust another person's levels without insulting them either way: "Hey, do you mind if we go a little lighter? I'm trying to work some techniques, if that's okay with you. Let me know if I'm hitting too hard also." or for the opposite effect "Hey, you can go a little harder if you want. I know you're trying to be nice, but I'm okay with upping the intensity a bit if you are."

Both of those phrases are nicer to say than, "Hey, ease up asshole!" or "Dude, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't take a goddamn punch. THROW SOMETHING." Because really, someone may not know that they're hitting too hard. Also, some guys are just going to be overly gentlemanly about hitting a girl because it's been ingrained in their nature and you have to verbally let them know that it's really okay in the ring. Be nice about it, there's a good chance that they're not being a jerk either way and this way both of you get a better workout. Communication is always good since none of us can read minds (regardless of what Mike says after he gets a few beers in him).

When you start at your gym, likely you'll make friends in a few classes and those people would probably be good to partner with for outside sparring sessions. The longer you're there, the more you'll get to know people and you'll get more comfortable sparring with others. Limiting your partners to only one sex really just limits yourself and your experience.

Just like anything else, you will have those people who just don't like to be beat and don't like to be scored on. Guys as well as girls. Eventually you'll learn who these people are and can either avoid sparring with them or at the very least, you'll know what you're in for when you get in the ring with them. The same applies to people who outweigh you and have no control. Sometimes you just aren't in the mood for working with those people.

Mailbag! How hard to hit while sparring?

Q: How hard to hit wile sparring?

This is one of those questions that drives Sifu Z nuts, so I'll answer it for him. (BTW, his answer would be, "if you're sparring light, you hit light, if you're sparring medium, you hit medium and if you're going full contact, you knock his ass out. But in no case should you hit too hard.")

And that really is the right answer. There's no quantifiable answer for this ("keep it under 500 ft-lbs this round") but there is the general guideline, "hit them as hard as they're hitting you, but not too hard in any case."

Maddening, yes.

Savate is a little more interesting in this regard - there are generally two types of sparring, the assaut and the combative. The combative is full-contact while the assaut is a showcase for technical skill and strategy and penalizes fighters for striking too hard. Think about the old boxing saw, "amateur is about skill while pro is about punishment."

Using that as a guideline:

Light sparring: This is when you work on your skills and technique. Techniques landed should not hurt your partner. Of course, you're going to walk into a punch or someone's going to throw something a little stiffer than they intended, but the emphasis is on keeping your form under pressure.

You should be fully conscious of all your movements during light sparring. This is especially important when realizing that you're going to eat some shots that would be knockout blows if you were going harder. Be aware of this while you're working. This is particularly true for new students who either haven't had this explained to them or forget about it in the adrenaline rush. The tendency is to ignore significant shots precisely because they aren't hard. When these students move up a level and start sparring at a medium intensity...they either learn that they were doing something wrong (and take a huge hit to the ego, if you'll excuse the pun) or they get dropped and you never see them again.

Medium Sparring: In medium sparring, you should expect to have your head snapped back a couple times, though you're not yet trying to go for a KO.

At this level, you must be cognizant of your partner's ability and size. For instance, Meredith weighs about as much as my leg, so I'd be throwing lighter than I would against, say, Sifu Z who is about my weight, but has significantly more experience and that medium is different than what I'd use going against our MMA guys when they've still got a month before a fight.

One of my instructors is fond of saying, "Take it easy, but if you catch someone and they stumble back, stop for a second. Ask if they're OK. If they are, hit them again, then back off." It's a pretty good system.

Medium sparring can be dangerous because here, your technique starts to go out the window, especially if you catch a stiff one to the button. There's a definitely tendency to immediately throw something hard back (just a reflex to get the other person away from you), but that can easily set off a subconscious escalation and before you know it you've got two guys swinging for the fences.

Fortunately, this is pretty easy to spot. Much in the same way "a stool knocked over in anger sounds different than a stool knocked over by accident," a punch thrown in anger sounds different than an equally hard shot thrown by the less-impassioned. The two guys in the ring may not even realize they're doing this, but considering how dangerous it can get (and how quickly), I really recommend someone be in the ring to act as referee for any sparring, but especially for medium- or full-contact.

Full Contact: As Sifu Z might say, "knock that guy out already."

Proper protective equipment, a referee and a partner you trust to stop when things need to stop are absolutely necessary for full-contact sparring.

In case you missed it, you always have to keep your partner's safety in mind. Unless there's something really screwed up going on, you should never, ever try to hurt your partner. If there's something strange going on where you're trying to hurt the other guy, you shouldn't be sparring at all. Go home and count to 100, hash it out over a beer, spam their MySpace page, but don't be adding violence to the mix.

Another thing that makes this even more maddening is that there are things you can do/get away with in light sparring that would get you popped in medium sparring and things that you can get away with in full-contact that would get you "tattooed" in light sparring.

Mailbag! Why the cup on the outside when sparring?

Q. Why do boxers wear their protective cup on the outside when they spar?

A: Though it incorporates a cup, it's technically a no-foul protector, which is a safety device covers and protects the groin, abdomen and kidneys - all areas that are not legal targets in boxing, hence the "no foul." Ideally worn because taking a hit to any one of those areas can produce injuries that are bad enough for hobbyists, but disastrous to those who are training for a fight. Women's models are cut differently and have the added advantage of protecting the uterus.

Seriously, it's possible to rupture your uterus by getting hit.

Mailbag! How do boxers drink with their mouthguards in?

Q. How do boxers drink while wearing mouthguards?

A. They usually take them out.

Especially in between rounds of a fight, the corner will pull the mouthguard out so the fighter can get back into this breathing rhythm and use the rest period to calm down.

Even keeping the mouthguard in doesn't generally present too much of a problem for drinking as many fighters use a single-mouthguard that fits onto the top teeth and allows you much more room to open your mouth than a double mouthguard.

Fighters shouldn't be drinking a lot in between rounds anyway - the water will rarely be absorbed quickly enough to make a difference in the fight and getting waterlogged in between rounds is generally a bad idea. Just "wetting the whistle" is generally enough to keep from getting cottonmouth which is just one more thing that could distract a fighter during a match.

You'll note that when a fighter drinks in between rounds, it's not out of a cup, but generally a cornerman squeezes the water out of a squeeze bottle, as it's awfully hard to grab something with those big gloves on.

This question actually came as a search term someone used to find the site. Got any questions for Sifu Z, Doc Dill or the rest of the WWNHH crew? Mail 'em in.

Flickr photo by nogoodreason