Day 18 of 100 Days of Boxing [Video Content]

December 2, 2023

9:59 am 52F

Rounds: 6

Location: Front Day Room

Audio: "Give Me The Night" Spotify radio

Working on foot work, I naturally mix in modified squats to emphasize head movement, positioning, and explosiveness. I see boxing highlights of boxers performing this movement to evade strong attacks or gain ground covertly to improve their striking position or to create angles.

I realize the speed of the movement is dependent on the external rotation of the femur and wide outward facing feet. This quick drop and explosive rebound can be credited to the unique shape of the femur. I have been practicing this and have felt significant improvement in overall leg strength and speed. My legs are sore in places I only feel after riding a horse. Think inner thighs, quadricep bellies, and hamstrings.

Much like the Russian and East Slavic dance shown below: (skip to 0:40 seconds)

Vprisiadku dancing (Russian: вприсядку) is a type of dance moves in East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian) dances. The dancer squats and thrusts one foot out in turns.

"A small amount of axial rotation is also present at the joint during dynamic movement, with the femur rotating laterally during flexion and medially during extension with respect to the tibia. This causes the instant center of rotation at the knee to shift slightly throughout performance of the squat."

I will attempt to explain: as the leg is extended in a squat or standing the femur shape enables additional strength, and explosiveness due to natural femur rotational. The movement does not rely only on the femur but is also contingent to the overall combination of hip flexor and hip socket strength.

The explosiveness of this dance move is evident. I've also seen modified versions of this body movement from boxers. The key is the feet, watch the feet in the next boxing match you see, each foot will have toes pointing outward when performing a dip and explosion back to a fighting stance. I've heard this can be called "ducking", dive down like a duck and erupt into your stance in another location, much like a duck in water.

Sources: https://www.dentonisd.org/cms/lib/tx21000245/centricity/Domain/700/Everything_you_need_to_know_about_Squatting.pdf