Give Your Normal Routine The Old 1-2 Punch By Implementing Boxing Workouts

My new favorite fitness classes to do are…..boxing workouts! What better way to spice up your routine than with some good ol’ boxing? I was pretty nervous about the whole concept – I’d never picked up a pair of boxing gloves in my life, so it was daunting to be sharing that with other people around! One of my best friends coaxed me into it, and I’ve not looked back since!

At a time in my life where I was experiencing an insane amount of work-related stress and anxiety, I’d say that taking 2-3 boxing workouts a week probably saved my sanity (and definitely increased my health!). I’m forever grateful to that friend for introducing me to boxing – that’s one person off my punch list :).

Of course, being who I am, I wanted to research what a class would involve, and why boxing workouts are so good for you. Here’s what I came up with:

The Benefits of Boxing Workouts

Bye Bye Calories!

Boxing workouts amp up your calorie burning in an insane way! On a treadmill, running at a pretty decent pace, it will take me up to 30 minutes to burn around 200 calories. With boxing, you can burn up to double that within the same time frame!

Full Body Baby!

Boxing works your entire body with all the jabbing, ducking, squatting, and kicking that you do in a workout! Not to mention you are also improving balance and agility, building endurance, and enhancing your hand-eye coordination. It is hands down one of the best core workouts you can do, with the twisting, rotation of body, and even flexing your core as you do partner work and they hit you. Punching bags are usually around 100 pounds – imagine the strength it takes to move that!

Punch Away Your Anxiety!

Boxing workouts have been proven to help reduce your stress, and not just because you picture someones face as you punch (although that does help :)) The motion of punching something does help to increase your endorphin’s, which in turn boosts your move. As a result, less feelings of stress mean more sleep!

HIIT It!

Boxing workouts are one of the best high intensity interval training programs you can do! You essentially are alternating a hardcore workout for a short period of time, while actively resting for the next period, and then back to high intensity again.

Make A Friend!

Boxing workouts are a great way to make a friend, or new sparring partner. One of the things I enjoyed most about the classes was that we rotated partners throughout the workout, so if your initial partner isn’t up to speed, you can focus on your technique, before moving on to pair up with someone of a higher or lower caliber.

Thanks to a great article by Laura Williams at Money Crashers, here’s a sample workout of what a boxing workout at home could look like.

Example Home Workout

With the items suggested, you could run through the following workout in about 30 minutes, all without needing a partner to box with:

• 5-minute steady jump rope warmup

• 3 minutes heavy bag work, cycling between 30 seconds of all-out punching and 30 seconds of “recovery” punching at a slower rate

• 3 minutes of speed bag work and cardio, cycling between 30 seconds of alternating punching with the speed bag and 30 seconds of jumping jacks

• 3 minutes of core work – one minute plank, one minute medicine ball oblique twists, and one minute leg lifts

• 3 minutes of strength work – one minute of medicine ball squats, one minute walking lunges, and one minute staggered pushups on the medicine ball (rolling the ball between your hands for each pushup)

• 3 minutes power work – one minute broad jumps (jumping as far as you can, back and forth), and one minute per leg of side-kicking the bag (kicking the bag with the bottom of your foot as you kick your leg out laterally and lean your torso to the opposite direction)

• Repeat the heavy bag sequence

• Repeat the speed bag sequence

• 3-minute cool down with a slow and steady jump rope

  Thank you to Laura Williams at Money Crashers for the great workout!