Kane & April | Boxing Practice
Oct. 14th, 2023 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(backdated) Kane teaches April some skills in the boxing ring.
"I know the basics, but I've mostly punched a bag." April grinned at Kane around her mouthguard. "We spent more time on martial arts and gymnastics though, because it made more sense for what we did than formal boxing."
"Boxing is complicated. It is not ideal as a fighting form since it is still a sport foremost. But there's a lot that you can take away from it. And it's not just the skills that are transferable. Strategy, mindset, approach; all of those I've found useful in combat situations." Kane said, rolling his shoulders and getting loose. He'd already jumped into the ring, created by the Danger Room as a match of the classic ring from Olympic Stadium from the Leonard-Duran fight in 1980. "Come up on the canvas."
April thought about that for a minute as she pushed herself up and into the ring. "Makes sense. There are times to be aggressive and take some down as immediately as possible, and times where you need to think about it, come up with the right approach. Test what they're capable of so you don't get a nasty surprise. I can see where that'd be just as viable in a competitive match instead of combat."
"Oh you have only scratched the surface. Alright, gloves up." He said and pumped his gloves into hers. "This is the sweet science and I am your professor today."
She settled into a comfortable defensive stance and put her gloves up near her face, elbows and mostly relaxed. "Teach me your ways, Professor Kane."
"So we start with a jab. The jab is the start of a statement." He lashed two out, viper quick, but nowhere near her. "Are you paying attention?"
Her brain itched for a sarcastic comment, but it wasn't the time. Or the right people for that. "I am." She copied his movements, snapping her fists out quickly into the air in front of her.
"No, that's what the jab says. Are you paying attention? Do you have a plan? What have you got to show me?" Kane flickered out three quick jabs, each stopping a few inches from her. "See the way my feet and body move with the jab? It is the opening to all kinds of options to where I'm going to move, what I'm going to throw or how I'm ready to counter. So come at me with the jabs. You're a righty, so two rights and a left. Three punches, reposition, and then three more. Keep going until I say stop."
'Three jabs, pulled, didn't quite catch body and foot movement.' The downside of training like this was how hard Garrison pinged her danger sense. It made it more difficult to concentrate on the full picture. Still. It was useful, and time around him would, in theory, lessen the level of threat her hindbrain perceived him as sometimes. April bounced lightly on her feet, testing her balance, then moved towards Garrison with quick movements. 'Right, right, left. Sidestep, repeat.' A counter-clockwise motion that had her moving around the older man in a steady circle.
"Don't worry about pulling your punches. Just stick with the rhythm." Kane said, guard up and ready as he moved with her. "Forward with your feet on the right, meet them with the left."
"I'd hate to break your pretty face, Canadad," April quipped while adjusting the movements of her feet to match Kane's instructions. "Tempering my strength is for the safety of other humans, not my own."
"Trust me, you're nowhere near landing one of those in a way that will hurt me." Kane said, pushing back against her gloves for a second. "So, the jab comes out of your leading shoulder for speed. The cross comes out of your reserved shoulder. You throw it from a solid position so you can deliver power. The jab is the opening statement, the cross is an accusation. Do you think you can handle me?" He said, throwing one with surprising speed, stopping just before her guard.
April's glove lashed up to block the perceived threat. "I think the better question is if I can keep my instincts under control." She gave Garrison a dubious glance. "That, and whether or not your face survives this is definitely more up in the air."
"Sure. That's what I want. Try and break my face." Kane said with a grin. "That's how I teach you. Throw a couple of crosses. Get your body behind it."
"Weird," April murmured, but switched obligingly from jabs to crosses aimed at Garrison's face. She was still keeping her strength to human levels, but she put her body into it as instructed.
Her blows ran into his guard time and time again, or lashed through harmless as he deked his head. "See what I'm doing? Letting the blow travel. Giving myself an extra half second to react."
"Yeah. How much of that is experience and how much of that is your mutation?" What Dad had called their spider sense gave her some extra warning, but when everything was a danger it was harder to focus and pinpoint. Sometimes she just had to roll with the blows she took. "Spidey sense lets me do something similar one on one, is why I ask."
"Both. You can't simply delete your powers from the equation, but you want to train at times like you don't have them. If you check the DR logs after, you'll find I'm working within normal human ranges across the board."
She nodded in agreement. "Familiar with that, at least with strength training. When most of the people you might deal with are your average mugger or small crime type, you have to pull your punches and kicks to avoid excessive force. Dad had me focus a lot on that, because I had trouble regulating it. And to try and tamp down my sense during friendly sparring. It's unsporting to use advantages others don't have when the goal is mostly fun or exercise."
"Good. So maybe you should try and actually hit me like you mean it." Kane grinned around his mouthguard.
"I'm pretty sure people will be upset if I actually hit you that hard." April sighed at him, only just resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She started mixing the jabs and crosses, being less predictable about the direction her feet and body were moving in an effort to land a solid hit.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that." Kane smirked as he retreated back to her punches until he was against the ropes. There he dummied up, catching her blows on his arms, pivoting so she couldn't get around to land anything clean against his body and head. The smack of the glove leather on flesh was loud and rhythmic as he stayed in place, absorbing and deflecting blow after blow.
It was a decent workout, at least. April was only willing to punch fruitlessly for so long though, and after a few minutes she danced backwards, gesturing Garrison forward. "Takes two to tango, Canadad. C'mon."
"Did you see what I did?" Kane said. "Come on, throw another punch and really watch it."
April watched him through narrowed eyes as she threw a cross, then darted in with a jab that followed Kane's pivot to land a glancing blow along his side. "Yes, I have been watching you twist and dance. You're good at it."
"Throw a punch. When it lands, watch the rope." She did and saw as he simply bounced back a bit on the rope when it landed. "Proper rope-a-dope means that half the force of your punch is getting taken by the ropes. Set up right, you can let your opponent punch until they're exhausted and you're still fresh and ready to go."
"Clever, old man. Very clever."
"We old guys know a thing or two. It's how we survive." Kane said, coming off the ropes. "Boxing is a balance between the pain you're able to take against the pain you're able to inflict."
"I thought your survival was based on prune juice and real Canadian maple syrup in your morning museli," April teased. "Alright. So next time you'll show me how to do that rope trick?"
"I know the basics, but I've mostly punched a bag." April grinned at Kane around her mouthguard. "We spent more time on martial arts and gymnastics though, because it made more sense for what we did than formal boxing."
"Boxing is complicated. It is not ideal as a fighting form since it is still a sport foremost. But there's a lot that you can take away from it. And it's not just the skills that are transferable. Strategy, mindset, approach; all of those I've found useful in combat situations." Kane said, rolling his shoulders and getting loose. He'd already jumped into the ring, created by the Danger Room as a match of the classic ring from Olympic Stadium from the Leonard-Duran fight in 1980. "Come up on the canvas."
April thought about that for a minute as she pushed herself up and into the ring. "Makes sense. There are times to be aggressive and take some down as immediately as possible, and times where you need to think about it, come up with the right approach. Test what they're capable of so you don't get a nasty surprise. I can see where that'd be just as viable in a competitive match instead of combat."
"Oh you have only scratched the surface. Alright, gloves up." He said and pumped his gloves into hers. "This is the sweet science and I am your professor today."
She settled into a comfortable defensive stance and put her gloves up near her face, elbows and mostly relaxed. "Teach me your ways, Professor Kane."
"So we start with a jab. The jab is the start of a statement." He lashed two out, viper quick, but nowhere near her. "Are you paying attention?"
Her brain itched for a sarcastic comment, but it wasn't the time. Or the right people for that. "I am." She copied his movements, snapping her fists out quickly into the air in front of her.
"No, that's what the jab says. Are you paying attention? Do you have a plan? What have you got to show me?" Kane flickered out three quick jabs, each stopping a few inches from her. "See the way my feet and body move with the jab? It is the opening to all kinds of options to where I'm going to move, what I'm going to throw or how I'm ready to counter. So come at me with the jabs. You're a righty, so two rights and a left. Three punches, reposition, and then three more. Keep going until I say stop."
'Three jabs, pulled, didn't quite catch body and foot movement.' The downside of training like this was how hard Garrison pinged her danger sense. It made it more difficult to concentrate on the full picture. Still. It was useful, and time around him would, in theory, lessen the level of threat her hindbrain perceived him as sometimes. April bounced lightly on her feet, testing her balance, then moved towards Garrison with quick movements. 'Right, right, left. Sidestep, repeat.' A counter-clockwise motion that had her moving around the older man in a steady circle.
"Don't worry about pulling your punches. Just stick with the rhythm." Kane said, guard up and ready as he moved with her. "Forward with your feet on the right, meet them with the left."
"I'd hate to break your pretty face, Canadad," April quipped while adjusting the movements of her feet to match Kane's instructions. "Tempering my strength is for the safety of other humans, not my own."
"Trust me, you're nowhere near landing one of those in a way that will hurt me." Kane said, pushing back against her gloves for a second. "So, the jab comes out of your leading shoulder for speed. The cross comes out of your reserved shoulder. You throw it from a solid position so you can deliver power. The jab is the opening statement, the cross is an accusation. Do you think you can handle me?" He said, throwing one with surprising speed, stopping just before her guard.
April's glove lashed up to block the perceived threat. "I think the better question is if I can keep my instincts under control." She gave Garrison a dubious glance. "That, and whether or not your face survives this is definitely more up in the air."
"Sure. That's what I want. Try and break my face." Kane said with a grin. "That's how I teach you. Throw a couple of crosses. Get your body behind it."
"Weird," April murmured, but switched obligingly from jabs to crosses aimed at Garrison's face. She was still keeping her strength to human levels, but she put her body into it as instructed.
Her blows ran into his guard time and time again, or lashed through harmless as he deked his head. "See what I'm doing? Letting the blow travel. Giving myself an extra half second to react."
"Yeah. How much of that is experience and how much of that is your mutation?" What Dad had called their spider sense gave her some extra warning, but when everything was a danger it was harder to focus and pinpoint. Sometimes she just had to roll with the blows she took. "Spidey sense lets me do something similar one on one, is why I ask."
"Both. You can't simply delete your powers from the equation, but you want to train at times like you don't have them. If you check the DR logs after, you'll find I'm working within normal human ranges across the board."
She nodded in agreement. "Familiar with that, at least with strength training. When most of the people you might deal with are your average mugger or small crime type, you have to pull your punches and kicks to avoid excessive force. Dad had me focus a lot on that, because I had trouble regulating it. And to try and tamp down my sense during friendly sparring. It's unsporting to use advantages others don't have when the goal is mostly fun or exercise."
"Good. So maybe you should try and actually hit me like you mean it." Kane grinned around his mouthguard.
"I'm pretty sure people will be upset if I actually hit you that hard." April sighed at him, only just resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She started mixing the jabs and crosses, being less predictable about the direction her feet and body were moving in an effort to land a solid hit.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that." Kane smirked as he retreated back to her punches until he was against the ropes. There he dummied up, catching her blows on his arms, pivoting so she couldn't get around to land anything clean against his body and head. The smack of the glove leather on flesh was loud and rhythmic as he stayed in place, absorbing and deflecting blow after blow.
It was a decent workout, at least. April was only willing to punch fruitlessly for so long though, and after a few minutes she danced backwards, gesturing Garrison forward. "Takes two to tango, Canadad. C'mon."
"Did you see what I did?" Kane said. "Come on, throw another punch and really watch it."
April watched him through narrowed eyes as she threw a cross, then darted in with a jab that followed Kane's pivot to land a glancing blow along his side. "Yes, I have been watching you twist and dance. You're good at it."
"Throw a punch. When it lands, watch the rope." She did and saw as he simply bounced back a bit on the rope when it landed. "Proper rope-a-dope means that half the force of your punch is getting taken by the ropes. Set up right, you can let your opponent punch until they're exhausted and you're still fresh and ready to go."
"Clever, old man. Very clever."
"We old guys know a thing or two. It's how we survive." Kane said, coming off the ropes. "Boxing is a balance between the pain you're able to take against the pain you're able to inflict."
"I thought your survival was based on prune juice and real Canadian maple syrup in your morning museli," April teased. "Alright. So next time you'll show me how to do that rope trick?"
