Hacker News Reader

Comment by jgmmo | Hacker News Reader

Good for him.

I hear what's he's saying about the physical contact, and the feeling of dominating the player in front of you. My high school football coach use to say, on the football field you could measure yourself. You could see how tough you are, how strong you are, and if you have the mental toughness required to win. It's you versus the guy across from you.. There's not many chances in this world to test yourself like that. I think that's some of what he means when he says he's 'addicted' to the physical contact of football. I certainly miss that aspect.

View on HN

To be fair, I think that's true for any competitive sport. Even many forms of non-competitive sport. Personally I enjoy sparring in english boxing.

There's something very relaxing about punching people in the face.

What about getting punched?

I think it's actually a great experience. There's a feeling of being shaken to the core that you can't learn to deal with if you don't do this. Hard to describe, it's not just physical.

even in a real fight, it's not as bad as it sounds.

the pain comes much later, and by that time, you're already prepared for it.

if by a 'real fight' you mean a ring fight or smoker match, then yeah I totally agree.

on the other hand, if you're referring to an unstructured 'street' fight, then I couldn't disagree more. there are too many variables that can't be controlled for, and is thus something I would strongly discourage.

Agreed. Do not under any circumstances get in a street fight. Especially if you're a trained fighter. If you lose, you will likely break your own bones because you're used to fighting with protective gear, if you win, you will likely go to jail because you will cause some serious damage.

There are so many times in sparring, especially with newbies, where you pull back your punch so you don't hit the opponent if they were too slow to cover up. In a street fight you wouldn't. That would end poorly.

>What about getting punched?"

There's something to be said about experiencing the fear and pain of physical combat, something nearly every species on the planet (including our ancestors) deals with on a daily basis.

Gloves work surprisingly well. It took me four years of regularly (1x/week) sparring dudes 20kg+ heavier than me (40+ lbs) to get my first injury. And even that was just a small cut above the eye.

The timeline for me is clearly separated to "before the first punch to the nose" and "since that moment" -- and this description is similar to just about any other person practicing martial arts that I've talked to.

The first time you get your nose punched while boxing, you have no idea what hit you, or where you are, or where the floor is. It is very disorienting, and usually quite alarming. But that experience somehow reconfigures your brain, and all the times after that are "just" irritating or painful.

And I also remember, that following that day, a lot of things in life became much less intimidating and much more tractable. For me, it was a small, but memorable, "life changing experience"

Oh god, I remember the first punch to the nose. Nearly impossible to hold back tears. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I felt my pride was hurt, my emotions. I just could not deal with it. I didn't fall down or anything. But that feeling of being punched in the nose shook me to my emotional core.

Now it's just eh. Hardly notice it anymore.

Boxing reconfigures the brain all right. Just not in a good way.

My first night training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was a similar experience. In BJJ you spar at 100%, because it's relatively safe to do so. You tap your opponent's body or the mat to signify submission. Tapping basically means 'you could have killed me'. Rolling with someone who is only one belt higher than me feels like drowning, and the first time your opponent takes your back and is choking you is the time when a lot of people panic. Learning to control my breath and the feeling of panic in order to fight to get to a better position has made a lot of other problems in my life seem small and insignificant.

What is "english boxing"? My quick search was inconclusive, my intuition would suggest it could either be a bare-knuckle, a humorous, or gentleman-like variant of boxing.

It just means normal boxing with no kicks or elbows or weapons. Most people just call it "boxing", but I felt like being more specific.

I can measure myself just fine at the table tennis table, thank you very much, and with far less risk of injury.

(I played football in high school too. I sucked. No, really, I really sucked. Pretty funny to look back on now, though it wasn't at the time.)

The respective tests are as different as maths and literature though. In some respects, if you're not that bad, the adrenalin rush from vaingloriously crashing into superior opponents in a contact sport is a lot more satisfying than being effortlessly outpointed in a much more technical battle

Reply on news.ycombinator.com