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How to Set Up Hooks to the Body

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Setup Hooks to the Body

Any fighter can tell you the hook to the body can be the most painful punch you will ever feel. It cripples your body from the inside, paralyzes your legs, and takes away your will to fight. Worst of all: hooks to the body can knock you out but leave you conscious to feel the pain.

Nowadays, all fighters are taught to throw hooks to the body but very few are taught how to set them up. They think setting up body hooks means slipping a punch and coming inside. They’re half right but they’re still missing one key ingredient. This is something I took years to figure out.

…the proper setup determines whether you slip in safely to land your hook OR get crushed under your opponent and countered!
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Dance Lessons for Boxing

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dance for boxing

PHOTO: this is my brother, Brian Nguyen, the tango champion.

My brother tried for years to get me to dance. I refused at first thinking “what the hell does dance have anything to do with fighting?” He was the lover, I was the fighter. Could dance and boxing have been any more different? Turns out, I was wrong. There’s a whole lot fighters can learn from dance lessons besides balance and footwork.
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How to Shoulder Roll

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What if you could defend against punches without using your hands? How much faster would you be able to counter if your hands weren’t so busy blocking punches? You don’t need Floyd Mayweather’s reflexes to do the shoulder roll. I’ll show you the technique and teach you how to roll with the punches!

How to Shoulder Roll

It’s time you learned one of the oldest defensive techniques in boxing…
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Fear is Your Defense

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Somebody asked me a great question the other day. He said:

Johnny, how do you not get hit?

…to which I laughed and said, “FEAR!”

You have to be afraid of getting hit. It’s not enough to be “defensively-minded” (whatever that means) and watching Floyd Mayweather videos. You have to be genuinely afraid of your opponent’s punch. You’ve got to respect his power and respect what he can do.

Now I can think of 2 reasons why most fighters don’t respect their opponent’s power…
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Nerds vs Brawlers

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Nerds vs Brawlers

There’s a great divide in my boxing gym at the moment.

On one side are the nerds. These are the learners. They’re constant students, always analyzing and thinking. They’re all about finding the best techniques and perfecting their skills.

On the other side are the brawlers. These are the tough guys. They’re not afraid of getting hurt, in fact they might even like it. They’re all about fighting and beating up people.

Clearly some of these guys will never get anywhere, where the others will likely become world champions. But which is which?
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Building Your Fight Confidence

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Building Your Fight Confidence

Every fighter who has ever lived has been afraid before.

Why do some fighters go on to become world champions whereas others retire without a single win? If you’ve been training long enough, you might realize there’s no amount of training that will ever give you complete confidence. You can’t train confidence, it’s an attitude.

Let’s break down why you’re scared to death of getting in that ring. More importantly, how to overcome that so you can start winning fights.
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What’s Your Fighting Style?

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What's Your Fighting Style?

The best fighters usually fight with their best fighting style. It’s as simple as that. Fighting with a style that fits your natural ability and skills makes you more effective and more successful in the ring.

I use to think developing a fighter’s style was easy until I spoke to a beginner the other day and realized many beginners are potentially using the wrong fighting style. Let me be clear, your best fighting style is PROBABLY not the one your favorite boxing champion uses.

For those of you ready to stop copying Mike Tyson, and start being *insert your name*, here are 4 easy steps to developing YOUR FIGHTING STYLE!
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How to Stop Wasting Energy

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How to Stop Wasting Energy

Most fighters don’t know (or can’t admit) that they’re wasting energy. They make silly excuses like, “Oh I just need to relax more.” or “I need to work on my cardio.” No, man…you’re getting tired because your technique sucks. You’re losing fights not because of your cardio but because of the way you fight.

Are you tired of getting tired?!

…if so, then STOP DOING THIS ONE THING…
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