Rebecca Brayton: Hi! I am Rebecca Brayton and welcome to WatchMojo.com. If you want to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, today we are getting some basic boxing tips from Sylvera Louis of Underdog Gym. So what kind of workout does boxing offer?
Sylvera Louis: Well, boxing offers a very vast cardiovascular workout with strength component, flexibility. It's pretty much a total workout.
Rebecca Brayton: How long after I start will I see a difference?
Sylvera Louis: Most of our members see a difference after pretty much the first months of training.
Rebecca Brayton: So who is attracted to boxing?
Sylvera Louis: Mostly teenagers. I think they are going through changes that are in their life. So there is like pain and anger towards that. So they need to really externalize or channelize this energy.
Rebecca Brayton: For a beginner, what kind of special equipment might we need?
Sylvera Louis: It's a pretty cheap sport. All you need really pretty much are hand wraps and most of the time, most gym will lend like the boxing gloves, so you need hand wraps, shorts, some T-shirts.
Rebecca Brayton: So what kind of special skills are involved in boxing?
Sylvera Louis: You have to control your emotions. You have to learn to know yourself a whole lot. To know what's you can't and can do. If you get hit, it's really hard to stay focused on what you have to do, then it's basic notion of coordination, speed and strength.
Rebecca Brayton: So what's your background in boxing?
Sylvera Louis: When I was like 16, I was like pretty much in routine, like many others. So I started boxing. I boxed for two years back then, and about one year ago, my old coach told me, he wanted to change his gym. So I started trying to find a location with a few of my friends and my brother and we opened up the gym, and then I started competing about 10 months ago. And it's going pretty good.
Rebecca Brayton: What kind of training do you do before a fight?
Sylvera Louis: You want to warm up, doing the same motions you will be doing in a ring, or if you are sparring, you are doing pads, you want to do it and score it then. You speed it up, you spend a whole lot of time in front of mirror. That's the most important part of like the workout. It sounds a bit silly, but you really want to see what you look like when you are throwing punches, when you are moving and then you do some pad work with the coach. I think we will do some pad work if we get it. After pad work you might spar with someone else, which is like you recreate a fighting situation. So you do a few rounds with that, maybe work the bag a bit, and that's pretty much it.
Rebecca Brayton: What do you say, when people say boxing is too violent a sport?
Sylvera Louis: That's life, and fighting is a part of our nature. When we were kids we always play fight, it's fun. Even people who say boxing is dangerous, say it's violent, it's the same kind of people, if they go see a fight, they will want to see a knock out. If I go see a fight I will be is this a -- I just want to see what happens, so that's cool.
Rebecca Brayton: Would you consider boxing a form of defense?
Sylvera Louis: To me it's a form of expression. It's really you could express what's within you, you could express like your character. When you are fighting, you really get to know that person. That's why often after a fight you will see like two guys are trying to rip their head off, and after that it's like, oh, they'll hug each right in. They are like are warmed.
Rebecca Brayton: So are there any myths about boxing that we should dispel?
Sylvera Louis: Well, pretty popular one is that, it's often said that women weaken legs, so in preparation for a fight, often old school trainers will ask their fighters not to have sex.
Rebecca Brayton: Good to know. Thank you very much.
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