Getting Strong Now

"It's all they got there, I can do more." The Amazon boasted, she knew her strength was something beyond freakish. In a good way. Although that level of strength had somewhat diminishing returns after a point it seemed. But this wasn't about her win-loss record, this was supposed to be Adrian's training day. "When did we get the heavy bag anyway?"

"Well..." Adrian began, kinda nervously "I was thinking that Taylor and me have done a little boxing practices together before and it wasn't really in my favour, so I figure that she figures that I'm gonna put all my effort into just beating her in chess and hoping I don't die during the punching part. But! If I get good at boxing, well, good enough, I'll be able to catch her off guard by coming out swinging. Or even beat her enough in the boxing that she's thinking 'omg where did that truck come from' when she's doing the chess part." The former cosplayer explained, happy with her strategy. "I mean, I'm pretty sure she's going to be bad at chess but this is like extra security"

"That still doesn't explain how you got the bags set up without me knowing you even bought them. I was only gone for a weekend." Rebecca pointed out. Decent boxing equipment wasn't the sort of thing you could just go into a store, buy, and have ready by the end of the day. Adrian must have been planning for this for a while

"That's not important! I've just been trying to get used to putting more force, trying a few basic one-two combos and hoping I don't break my hand."

Carmen nodded along as Adrian explained her strategy. She admired the spirit, and from the sound of things Carmen would at least be able to skip over teaching her about through basic punches. Still, though...

"I'll teach you how you want to be taught - you know yourself and Taylor better than I do." She held up a finger and turned to Adrian, making sure to look her straight on. "But, here's my advice: Do not take Taylor head-on. From what I've seen, she's what we call a 'swarmer'. An in-fighter. She moves in fast, she closes the distance, she overwhelms. I'm not saying you're weak, but, being honest, Taylor's better at the close-game. Trying to beat her at the game she's been playing for longer probably isn't the best idea."

Carmen took a step back and held up her jabbing hand. "What I'd suggest is to use that against her. You have a slight height advantage, so in order for her to be really effective, she's going to have to come to you. If she sucks at Chess as much as you think, she's going to want to knock you out early and fast. So I think you should work on footwork and jabs." Carmen started swaying from side to side, pantomiming the general idea. "Dance with her. Elude. Pick away at her. She might get in a few blows, but as long as you stay mobile, she won't be able to bring the hammer down. That's going to irritate her and make her even more likely to screw up in Chess, maybe even with the boxing. It'll give you openings, and I can teach you some moves that really punish in-fighters."

She stepped back and folded her arms, looking between her and Rebecca. "That's my professional opinion on the matter - but ultimately, you're the one who's going to be in that ring, so the approach is up to you."

Adrian nodded along with what Carmen was saying. She would like to be able to take it to Taylor, beat her at her own game. But playing her own game and forcing Taylor to play that would be better. Plus it would fit in with what she knew about the matchup just on the wrestling side. Taylor was aggressive, Adrian was more passive. Especially in the early goings. Being able to frustrate the blonde by dancing around her attacks while throwing out a few of her own would be great. "So its like Rocky 3 vs Clubber Lang? I basically have to work around her instead of trying to grind through." She tried to summarize. "Sure! Great plan, so uh... let's get started! I kinda already did warm ups an hour while back when I was working the bags so... do I have to break out the skipping ropes?"

"Yeah, kind of like that movie. Except take away the part of the fight where Rocky just let Clubber wail on his face. You don't want to do that."

She stepped out of the elevator when they reached the bottom floor and started to unpack. "And we can skip the warming, if you're feeling good. I say we get in the ring, let me show you how to move and put some more jabs in your arsenal. Then we can go for about, say, two hours with the pads and the bags, get you on some footwork drills. Then you take a break, come back, and we put it all together back in the ring." She took out her pads and laid them to the side. "Sound good, niñita?"

"Well, duh." Adrian wasn't about to let anyone just wail on her for free as she stepped towards the ring, still holding her gloves in her hands awkwardly. "So by footwork, you mean how fast I can move without dropping my guard?" She guessed, her studies hadn't really illuminated her idea on the technical terms for boxers. That 'swarmer' was a class or something was all news to her while she did up her gloves.

"Hey, you'd think it was obvious, but I've known some fighters who tried that approach, thinking it makes them tough or something. Too many movies in their head." She rolled her eyes. "Tend to have short careers."

Carmen took out her headgear and snapped it on, then went to tie up gloves. "Pretty much, yeah. Footwork's more important than punching, in a lot of ways. A lot of the power comes from down there, and it helps you work the angles. It'll keep you at the distance you want to be, not hers. Guerilla tactics, stick and move, stick and move. ABCs, always be charging, even if it's away from your opponent."

She slapped her gloves together, twice, a little ritual that helped get her in the mood, and she started to make her way in the ring.

"Really? People let people hit them?" Adrian asked, kind of confused while Rebecca nervously coughed. She knew exactly what Carmen was on about, she was guilty of that a few too many times. "So keep moving, gotta go fast. Gotcha." the former cosplayer confirmed as she rolled into the ring, pushing herself back up to her feet with a little bit of awkwardness. Boxing gloves weren't the most practical of things outside punching.

Carmen caught the cough as she moved into the ring behind Adrian, sending a sly smirk her way before she rolled in. "Yeah, some guys just want to be Billy Badass. Then they get knocked flat, staring at the roof."

Carmen stood up and starting moving, getting into an orthodox stance. "All right, let's start building the house. Balance is key, so keep your spine straight. Good posture, your legs always need to be ready to either take you out of danger or move you in. Stay loose."

She demonstrated, bouncing to and fro in front of Adrian, changing directions. Each step served a purpose, drawing her around, making her a moving target. Like a fly, able to move in any direction at will at any given moment.

Adrian tried to follow Carmen's instructions to the letter, straightening out when told to and mirroring the Peurto Rican's posture. It was difficult to keep a bead on the boxer as she ducked and weaved around in front of her. The former cosplayer had an idea of how this would work out but there was still a question "Won't that just wear me out much faster. If I'm trying to outlast her and all."

"No other way." She moved beside Adrian and started bouncing in rhythm with her, trying to keep her focus down and give her an idea of how it should be done. She wasn't bad for a novice - Carmen had certainly seen far worse. Far away from perfect, but passable. It made her wish they had more time, much more, but wishing wouldn't change a thing.

"You want to keep this as an out-fight for as long as you can. It's really hard to do much damage when we're on the edge like this - she'll hit you, it'll hurt, but to put you down she'll have to come close." Carmen ducked down and gave Adrian an example, launching into a furious combination. A left jab, followed by a straight, followed by a left hook, ending off with another straight, all in rapid succession, hurricane force. She did a quick pivot and spun back to face her.

"That's the sort of thing you do not want to be on the end of. Keep your options open. She's good at hit and run, so you've got to take as much of the hit out of it as you can."