Drill — a physical or mental exercise aimed at perfecting facility and skill especially by regular practice.

In his book Outliers: The story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell looks at factors that contribute to high levels of performance. 

He suggests that several factors play a part, including:

• opportunity and timing

• background and culture

• environment

These all play a part, but the main pillar of success is practice. Gladwell proposes that practicing over time, develops excellence in a subject.

We learn in three stages:

1. Cognitive — we learn the mechanics of the skill.

2. Associative — we take this learning and connect it to stimuli and knowledge we already have.

3. Autonomous — the skill becomes an unconscious process.

At this point you can perform the skill without thinking about it. This third stage is the level that elite boxers perform at. They are boxing computers — programmed to run instructions responding to a specific task.

The boxing computer concept doesn’t end there. Computers have two memory states:

• RAM (Random Access Memory) — storing temporary information.

• ROM (Read Only Memory) — storing permanent information.

When using a computer, sometimes you will notice it slow down. This happens because it has insufficient RAM to run what you are asking it to do. Computing folks call this “thrashing”. 

The human brain has two comparable states — short-term and long-term memory. If you matched a beginner boxer against an experienced one, you will see this in action. The beginner does not have enough skills committed to long-term memory to deal with the task at hand. Like the lagging computer, they get overwhelmed. The experienced boxer can deal with anything the novice has to offer. It’s for this reason that any reputable coach will never allow this to happen.

Drilling skills transfers skills and technique from temporary memory to permanent memory. Once stored in long-term memory you can use and adapt them in different ways. 

Like a computer, we can reprogram our brains to perform different tasks. It’s a bit like adding or deleting commands in a programme. 

The nodes in your brain that control different parts of the process build up connections. The more you carry out (practice) that process, the stronger the connections become.

Training scars

Keep your practice sessions as realistic as possible and be wary of training scars. Training scars are a verified phenomenon that pop up in many types of technical training. They are especially prevalent in combat training. When you drill a technique, it becomes a habit, so it figures that how you drill becomes part of that habit.

In their book Algorithms To Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions, Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths give some incredible examples. Police changed firearm drills after officers took the trouble to pick up spent casings during real gun fights. Why on Earth would they do that? Retrieving casings is good etiquette on the practice range. Unfortunately, this repeated practice bled into the learned skill.

The FBI also had to make changes. In hand-to-hand combat, their agents were disarming assailants and immediately handing the weapon back. This was what they did in training with their instructors time and again in drills.

These examples showcase the power of unconscious learning. They highlight the importance of practicing as you intend to box. 

You’ll see this in gyms all the time. When working on the pads or bag, you will often see a boxer reset. They will throw a combination then perform an idiosyncratic ritual, before going again.

This might be a shrug of the shoulders or shaking out arms and shoulders. If you find yourself doing this, or see a training partner doing it, nip it in the bud immediately. This will contaminate the skill.

Pad holders have an important responsibility in this respect. If you drill bad habits into your partner with bad pad work, they are there for a long time. Dropping your hands and shaking your shoulders on the pads might sound innocent enough. No biggie, you might think. Doing it in a boxing ring in range of someone trying to knock your block off? That is a biggie. 

Deliberate drilling

Now we understand the process of learning new skills. It can be stressful at first so go easy on yourself! Try not to get frustrated if things don’t drop into place immediately.

Deliberate practice depends on patience, determination and hard work. Take it slow. Prioritise technique before everything else. This will save you a lot of heartache further down the line. It takes ten times longer to unlearn a bad habit than to learn it. Habits get embedded, and they are hard to dig out.

Use a progression for each new skill:

1. Mirror. I recommend using your mirror in the first stage of skill acquisition. This gives you an immediate, visual feedback loop. Run through the technique, taking time to consider what you are doing and why. 

2. Pads/bags: stationary. Don’t take new skills on to the pads or bag until you feel comfortable with the movements. When you do, start in range from a stationary position. The pad holder must hold pads and throw punches to the right place. Aiming away from your face or holding the pad to the side of there’s will develop training scars. Before you start any drill, pay close attention to your feet position. Don’t square up to your partner. Your lead foot should be close to your partner’s lead foot. If it’s aligned to their rear foot, adjust it. 

3. Pads/bags: movement. Begin the drill out of range, using your feet to get into distance. The onus is on the pad holder to move realistically. A small step out of range will let you find the correct range, then punch or defend. Constant erratic movement will drag the drill quality down. 

4.  Pads/bags: timing If using pads, the holder can then vary the timing of the target or punch. You must then attack or defend without advance warning. If you are using the bag, pick out some audible or visual stimuli to trigger the reaction. Anything will work, as long as it is unpredictable and occurs regularly enough. 

5.  Pads/bags: When you are confident that you’ve underpinned your skill with sound technique, begin to add speed and power. If you notice any dip in quality, dial it back immediately. 

6. Evaluate: Try a couple of one minute rounds of pad/bag work and shadowboxing. Link the new skill with ones you already have. Record and analyse these rounds. Look out for faults, training scars and areas that you can improve. 

This is a framework. You don’t have to apply it slavishly, but don’t rush. It’s tempting to push on, but it helps to introduce skills in chunks. Allow time for the neural pathways to connect and get strong. Don’t overload your short-term memory by trying to learn everything at once — there’s only space for so much. 

Take the time to consider what you are doing and why. Be your own internal coach and subject yourself to constant evaluation. Good technique is hard-earned and easily burned — be a skills miser. Remember to make sure that your skills bag has no holes — don’t compromise learned skills as you learn new ones. 

Bear in mind that all boxers go through this process.

One last thing — if you feel tired, don’t push it. Sleep on it and return refreshed with a new perspective. You may get a surprise. A lot may have fallen into place overnight without you realising. 

Sources

• Christian, Brian, and Tom Griffiths. (2016). Algorithms to live by: the computer science of human decisions.

• Gladwell, Malcolm. (2008). Outliers: The Story of Success.

• Fitts, P.M., & Posner, M.I. (1967). Human performance.

• Baddeley, A. and Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory: The psychology of learning and motivation.