<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Joel Przybilla, all 85 inches of him, is bobbing and weaving.He is slipping punches and even throwing a few uppercuts and jabs. He is, pun intended, the highest profile boxing student currently training at The Duke Roufus Gym in Milwaukee. But if you're thinking the former Milwaukee Buck and current Portland Trail Blazer is there to learn how to fight back against the National Basketball Association's bully element, you are sadly mistaken. Przybilla isn't planning any mano a mano super heavyweight bouts with Shaq Daddy in Madison Square Garden any time soon. Przybilla, whom former Bucks coach George Karl projected as a 270-pound space eater when he came into the league from the University of Minnesota in 2000, is about 30 pounds leaner, at around 235 pounds, than he was in his playing days in Milwaukee. But a mean, fighting machine? Forget it. "I'm not going to be getting in any fights," said Przybilla, who at 25 is already a five-year veteran of NBA wars. "I'm kind of a wuss. "I've gotten in little tussles here and there, but I don't plan on using (the boxing training) in the NBA. I don't want to get suspended. I don't need my wife on my case, so I won't be throwing any punches." Przybilla's wife of three years, Noelle, apparently laid down the law on fighting when she learned that her husband planned to take up the sport at the suggestion of his personal trainer Todd Troxel. "She told me if I throw a punch (in a game), I'd never come back to boxing," Przybilla said. So, if Przybilla isn't learning for self-defense purposes, why hang around a sweaty gym? Why not just take up salsa dancing at Arthur Murray Studio or any other aerobic activity that would help him with his footwork? "I went to school in Nebraska and saw a lot of running backs go from there to the NFL," said Troxel, who first suggested the boxing regimen to Przybilla. "I couldn't believe how much they worked on their abs, and their hip flexors and their core areas. That's where their speed comes from. "I thought those type of workouts would be the best way to make Joel quicker and faster." Although much of Przybilla's workout at the Roufus Gym centers on hardening his core strength, essential for gaining and maintaining paint position in the NBA, the main purpose is to improve his footwork. When he was with the Bucks, Przybilla was a lumbering shadow in the lane, but slowly he has transformed himself into a more athletic presence.</div> Source
I think it's great that Joel has taken up boxing as a workout regimen. I wish more athletes were exposed to the benefits of a boxer's training schedule. Boxing is guarenteed to improve your foot-work, coordination, weight, and endurance. I wouldn't be surprised if Joel out-hustles all the big men this season and in turn causes a massive influx of NBA players hanging out at the local boxing gym.
