One coach cannot hold for twenty — so tonight the whole room learns to hold pads properly, and every future session gets better.
Pad Work for Partners
- Boxing
- Mixed club class
- 45 min
- Works for 8–20, paired by size
- 1 coach
- Effort 3/5
- Boxing gym floor
- pads
- partner work
- fundamentals
- club night
Kit: One pair of focus pads per pair, gloves and wraps for all, timer or bell.
Hands and Feet Awake
Setup: Wraps on, floor spread out in a loose swarm. Say the point of the night up front: by the last bell, everyone in this room will hold pads well enough to coach a partner — which means every pad night after this one doubles in value.
How it works: Two shadow rounds with thirty seconds between: round one feet and jabs at half speed, round two full combinations at honest speed. Between rounds, wrists and shoulders get their prep — arm circles, wrist rolls, open-close fists fast for ten seconds. Holders' wrists work hard tonight; warm them like they matter.
Rounds: 2 × 2 min shadow, 30s rest
What to say
- “Step and drag, never cross — the feet rules run pad nights too.”
- “Snap the jab back to the cheekbone — the pads will punish slow returns later.”
- “Wrists warm and wrapped — holding takes hits too.”
Easier
One shadow round at half speed.
Harder
Round two adds a slip after every combination.
Holder School
Setup: Semi-circle, one volunteer gloved up as your demo boxer. This is the technical block of the night and the pads are the technique.
How it works: Teach holding like you would teach a punch, with steps and mistakes. Demo the four holds: straight punches — pads at your own head height, angled slightly in; hooks — pad turned face-in at ear level; body shots — pad flat against your ribs, elbow tight; the pad-jab feed — a slow straight push for your boxer to catch. Then pairs drill the holds without punches: boxer calls the shot, holder shows the right hold, five each, swap. Only then add light punches at half power, working through the menu.
The technique, step by step
- Straights: pads at your head height, palms toward the boxer, angled a few degrees in.
- Hooks: turn one pad face-in at your ear, elbow bent, braced for a level arc.
- Body: pad flat on your ribs, elbow glued to your side, small exhale as it lands.
- Pad-jab feed: push one pad slowly and straight at their guard — their catch practice, your timing practice.
- Every hold: stance on, eyes on the boxer, pads quiet between calls.
Key details
- The pad meets the punch in its last few inches — small press, straight line back through your forearm.
- Call, hold, meet, reset — the rhythm of good holding never changes, whatever the shot.
Common mistakes
- Waving the pads around like traffic signals between calls — quiet pads make honest punches.
- Holding the pads out wide of the body — punches learn to travel to places heads never are.
What to say
- “Meet the punch with a small firm press, like closing a door — never chase it, never go floppy.”
- “Hold the pads where your own head and body actually are — you are teaching their eyes where a target lives.”
- “Stand in stance while you hold — a holder flat on their heels teaches punches that only work on statues.”
- “Watch their feet between calls — the holder is the best-placed coach in the gym.”
Easier
Two holds only tonight: straights and hooks. Body and feeds wait for next time.
Harder
Holders add small honest movement between calls — half a step left or right, boxer must re-face before the shot.
Rounds That Build
Setup: Pairs spread in a horseshoe so you can see every pad from the middle. Boxer gloved, holder padded, swap each round.
How it works: Six rounds of two minutes, thirty seconds between. The menu builds: rounds 1–2 singles and doubles on the call — jab, cross, 1-1, 1-2; rounds 3–4 add hooks and one body shot per sequence; rounds 5–6 add the pad-jab feed after each combination — boxer catches and answers with a counter jab. You rotate the horseshoe pair by pair. The real drill is the holding: correct the pads as often as the punches, and say why each time so the room learns holding is coaching.
Common mistakes
- Both partners drifting toward the middle of the floor mid-round — own your patch of the horseshoe.
- Holders answering a heavy hitter by bracing stiff-armed — absorb with elbows soft, or ask them to bring it down one notch.
Rounds: 6 × 2 min, swap each round, 30s rest
What to say
- “Holders call it when the hand comes home low — you are each other's coaches tonight.”
- “Range first, punch second — if you have to reach, your feet owe you a step.”
- “Feed the pad-jab slow and straight — a wild feed teaches a flinch, not a catch.”
- “Quality singles beat noisy combinations — I would rather hear one clean pop than five slaps.”
Easier
Stay on rounds 1–2 material all six rounds; no feeds.
Harder
Rounds 5–6: holder walks forward and back through the round — boxer keeps range and fires only on the call.
Thirty-Second Burnout Ladder
Setup: Same pairs, same pads. The engine finisher — short enough to stay honest, hard enough to count.
How it works: Four ladder rungs, swap roles after each: thirty seconds of nonstop straight punches at the pads, medium power and maximum snap; rest fifteen; thirty seconds of 1-2-3 repeat; rest fifteen; thirty seconds boxer's choice combinations; rest fifteen; final thirty seconds jab-only speed, holder counting the honest ones out loud. Then the whole ladder for the other partner.
Rounds: 4 × 30s work / 15s rest, then swap the ladder to the partner
What to say
- “Snap over slog — the moment they turn into pushes, we have stopped boxing.”
- “Exhale on every shot — the breath is the metronome when the arms go heavy.”
- “Holders, count only the jabs that snap back home — make the number mean something.”
Easier
Twenty-second rungs, twenty seconds rest.
Harder
No rest between rungs one and two — a straight sixty before the first breather.
Wrists, Shoulders, Verdict
Setup: Gloves and pads down, loose circle.
How it works: Shake the arms out, then stretch the night's workers: forearms and wrists both directions, shoulders across the chest, triceps overhead, neck slow — twenty seconds each. Wraps off while you close the loop on the lesson.
What to say
- “Holders stretch wrists as carefully as punchers — pads take the same hits gloves give.”
- “Long exhales bring the heart rate down with you.”
- “Look after the club pads — velcro closed, stacked flat, they last years.”
Ask the class: Ask the room: what is one thing your partner's holding did tonight that made your punching better? Every answer is proof of the night's idea — a room of holders is a room of coaches.
MatPlans curriculum team
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