Women And Boxing: The Ring Fits

Remember when your dad taught your brother to box?

It used to be a rite of passage. But judging from the frequency of attacks on women in this nation, Dad taught the wrong kid self-defense.

Women now seem to be rectifying that oversight - and getting great workouts to boot - as more and more of them flock to boxing gyms.

"It combines cardiovascular conditioning and strength training with the boxing moves," said Lynda Johnson, fitness director at the Sporting Club at Aventine in San Diego, Calif.

She said her full-service health club offered classes in boxing training that were extremely popular. But schedule limitations contributed to their demise. The instructor, Jesse Valdez, is in the process of opening a boxing gym elsewhere in San Diego.

"You have to concentrate to get the footwork and you work on eye-hand coordination," Johnson said. "It really hits hard at the cardiovascular end, so you get a good aerobic base and an anaerobic base."

All those bases mean training to box wears you out and builds you up, too.

That combination has attracted executives and women, who share the handful of boxing gyms in Southern California with amateur and professional fighters.

"We still get a lot of businessmen," said veteran trainer Emilio Elenes, who works his fighters at Irish Spud Murphy's Boxing Gym in downtown San Diego. "But we have a lot of inquiries from women. It's a confidence builder. And boxing helps them reduce weight and tone down, rather than build up."

Elenes said road racers in particular like boxing's cardiovascular training effects.

"Women have a tendency to pick up the various exercises a lot quicker than men," Elenes said. "Men are so self-conscious when they first come in and there are other people around. They have to show what they can do. It's the macho thing. But women study and look and listen. The seem to improve more rapidly."

Elenes said trainers at Murphy's gym attempt to put newcomers at ease by reminding them everyone had to start at the beginning in boxing to learn the stances and other movements that seem so awkward at first, and that, in reality, not everyone else in the gym is watching them.

Elenes said the women at Murphy's average 28 years of age and are career-oriented, working for large firms or owning businesses. Most are already members of other clubs. Their first question, he said, is, "How can people go 12 rounds?"

"We put 'em in the headgear and the 16-ounce gloves and put 'em in the ring," Elenes said. "By the end of the first round they feel tired. And their arms, they can barely lift them. Part of that is conditioning."

In addition to running or skipping rope, beginning boxers take on basic combination punches and hitting the heavy bag, the long, thick duffel-like bag suspended on a chain from the ceiling. They also work on a timing bag, attached to floor and ceiling with cords, and the speed bag, the small, teardrop-shaped bag most people associate with boxing. The heavy bag develops footwork and power. The timing bag develops timing and eye-hand coordination. By bouncing side-to-side, Elenes said, it simulates the opponent who bobs and weaves. The speed bag develops coordination and rhythm.

Students who train at Murphy's usually do so three times a week for an hour or so at a time. And that's a nonstop hour of work.

"The trainers work the men and women alike," Elenes said. "They go by the same schedule as pro fighters, three minutes work and one minute rest. That minute of rest is work, too, because the trainers are telling them things to do."

Men and women are treated equally, Elenes said, until it's time to step in the ring.

"We don't have the protection gear for the women for the breasts," he said, "so the trainer gets in the ring on defense to let her have a feel for what it's like in the ring with another person."

Trainers wear mitts that students hit to test the power of their punches. Elenes said punching power develops rapidly, sometimes surprisingly rapidly. He said some female students have reported that in "playing around" with boyfriends, punches have landed with sufficient force to snap back heads.

It's the surprise factor, Elenes said, that makes boxing so practical for women.

"They know if they have to, if they get into a confrontation, they can disable an individual with a quick 1-2 combination so they can have time to run away. Instead of this guy getting up and chasing them, he'll be embarrassed for a moment, and that should be long enough for them to get away. He'll be surprised. Even a short right hand can deck somebody quickly, and it takes five or six seconds to get back in focus."