Rope Training with Mike

Mike Chen has run the rope station at Ironbound for six years, and every fighter passes through it before they're allowed near the bag.

The session starts with a two-minute basic bounce to find rhythm, then moves into alternating foot steps that mirror the weight transfer used in a jab-cross. Fighters who skip rope work almost always give away their rhythm in the ring.

Sessions run three rounds of three minutes, with thirty seconds rest — the exact structure of an amateur bout, so the conditioning transfers directly.