Fighting Fit: Boxing Workouts, Techniques, and Sparring (Start-Up Sports, Number 12) [Paperback]

Doug Werner (Author), Alan Lachica (Author)

Book Description

Series: Start-Up Sports, Number 12 | Publication Date: October 1, 2000

A boxer’s workout is a fantastic way to burn calories—it is engaging, exhilarating, and effective. Going beyond jumping rope and punching the heavy bag, this guide describes intermediate and advanced boxing skills that will help anyone improve their performance in the ring. This boxing workout will help develop body and character so that athletes can get into the best shape of their lives, build self-confidence, and be winners in and out of the ring.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Boxing has become a trendy sport, popular for the thorough aerobic workout it gives and its ability to make practitioners feel physically courageous. In Fighting Fit: Boxing Workouts, Techniques and Sparring, Doug Werner of Start-Up Sports and Alan Lachica, a certified U.S.A. Amateur Boxing coach and former boxer, shoot straight from the hip ("We suggest you buy [protective gear] from a catalog because equipment sold by mass merchants is often crap"). They take the flash out of boxing by breaking down the sport step by step--made even easier with 450 photos--to teach newcomers correct technique and how to apply it for a proper workout.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Doug Werner is the author of the 12-book Start-Up Sports series that includes guides on surfing, snowboarding, sailing, in-line skating, bowling, longboarding,

golfing, fencing, backbacking, and skateboarding. He lives in San Diego, California. Alan Lachica is a certified USA Amateur Boxing coach and the owner of Cross Boxing. He lives in La Jolla, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Tracks Publishing (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884654029
• ISBN-13: 978-1884654022
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Boxing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good beginner's book, just short of 5 stars..., June 10, 2003

By 

JL "j18lee" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fighting Fit: Boxing Workouts, Techniques, and Sparring (Start-Up Sports, Number 12) (Paperback)

This is a very good beginners boxing book as Doug Werner guides through all the basic 6 punches (jab, straight, left/right hook, left/right uppercut) and proceeds with countless bag and flow drills in a manner that beginners can easily understand and practice. The scope and detail of this book is SIGNIFICANTLY superior to more popular beginner's book "Boxing: The Complete Guide to Training and Fitness" by Danna Scott. I have bought (and gave away) that book due to its lack of details. The large number of photographs in this book is very well selected and helpful.

A few minor gripes that took away one star for me were: (1) Some editting problems such as minor typos and one incorrect description where the author meant left hand, but wrote right hand (which was quite confusing when comparing to the picture). (2) Be careful of a number of photos showing the fist so over-rotated on straight punches that the thumb actually is pointing straight down! I think he was trying to make the fist more visible, but I think it certainly would add confusing to a beginner. Note that at no point does the text indicate the thumb is to point down toward the ground. (3) The weightlifting exercises could have used a few more pictures as the text was somewhat lacking. However, these minor gripes aside, this is the best mass published beginners book out there that I've found and I've looked through about 10+ books.

...

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, April 23, 2004

By 

Seppo Vesala (Helsinki, - Finland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fighting Fit: Boxing Workouts, Techniques, and Sparring (Start-Up Sports, Number 12) (Paperback)

As the earlier book by the same authors (Boxer's start-up) was an excellent book, I was expecting this to be at least a four-star book. I was badly disappointed, however.

Much of the written material in the book is taken directly from the earlier book, and there is not much text added. Instead, the book relies heavily on photographs. There is nothing wrong with that, per se, but it places high demands on the quality of the pictures. Sadly, the pictures don't fill the expectations. They are not entirely bad, however, as you can see what you are supposed to see from the pictures. But they are far form good quality.

Much of the book is filled with different punch combinations, counters and flow drills. In these pages, there is hardly any text, instead the reader is supposed to study the pictures and learn from them. This is hardly satisfying, and there is a genuine need for exhaustive written instructions. There is also some instructions about stretching, weight training and sparring, but these issues are not given very thorough presentation.

There is some merit to this book, but you need to have a more complete textbook to support the pictures in this book. For one, the book is missing a complete training program, instead the reader (beginner-intermadiate level) is supposed to construct one on his own, based on the limited information given in this book.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Book but a supplement not subsitute, October 3, 2003

By 

Andrew Platek (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fighting Fit: Boxing Workouts, Techniques, and Sparring (Start-Up Sports, Number 12) (Paperback)

This is the best book on boxing I've encountered. The author does a good job of explaining technique and providing drills for exercise. However, ANY book on boxing will be inadequate for learning how to box. Good boxing skills can't be learned from a book - just the way you can't learn to dance well from a book. To physically know how to box you need a trainer and you need to get in the ring and spar. To master the techniques, it must feel right. You acquire that feeling by watching your trainer and having him/her correct your mistakes. You have to be physically next to that person (Anyone who's learned to box or dance will tell you this is true). You polish those techniques and gain confidence in using them through sparing. Yet the author does deserve credit for putting out a fine book.