Boxing for fitness

Boxing as a sport has never been more popular in Britain, with the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury dominating the heavyweight division, Josh Taylor an undisputed Light welterweight world champion and no fewer than seven other male or female British world champions, the sport has undergone something of a boom in recent years. British promoters also lead the world boxing order. Nice I hear you say, but you don’t like boxing. Who wants to watch people punch the life out of each other? You have a point.

From a fitness perspective, however, non-contact boxing fitness training is a fabulous way to get or stay fit, enhance coordination, balance and cognitive function and generally maintain your motivation in a fun and energetic way, with long-lasting upsides to positive mental health.

Fun & Stress-relieving

There are frustrations abound in the modern world, and who doesn’t think about boxing someone’s ears in from time to time. Punching your stresses away, minus the actual violence, is very satisfying and will help you avoid arrest for violent assault…

From a trainer’s perspective, there is a special kind of reaction to a boxing workout from clients, and seeing the warm glow and excitement such routines create is always noticeable. Endorphin (a feel good chemical) release is high after any activity but particularly so after a boxing workout.

Agility, balance & brain health

With all the lateral movement, twisting and turning as well as responding to commands from a coach or instructor, your agility and balance will be challenged and maintained very nicely. Having to think, react and move, takes extra brain function and there is a proven link of maintaining cognitive brain function and warding off brain diseases in later life by doing such activities (countered somewhat if you are regularly getting punched in the head!).

Injuries to watch out for

Boxing can lead to the potential for all kinds of injuries from the feet up to the neck.

Good technique means forces and power should be generated from the feet upwards so, as always, we advocate the use of supportive footwear to ensure you are exerting forces in the correct way from the bottom up. Such proactivity can reduce the risk of lower limb injuries particularly affecting the ankles, knees and hips, and as there is so much quick lateral and acceleration/deceleration movements, it’s very easy to strain a leg joint.

Injuries to the shoulder and wrist are most likely especially if the punches are thrown at bags or pads. Good technique and equipment are essential to mitigate this risk. If you are hitting pads and bags, you must wrap you wrists and use gloves with plenty of padding. We would always recommend buying your own gear.

Due to the amount of twisting and impact to the upper body and trunk, injuries to the back are also commonplace.

Exercises to hit the target

A range of preparatory exercises are strongly advisable to focus on improving or maintaining flexibility, strength and agility. Always warm-up thoroughly and stretch before you workout. Keep warm or cool depending on the conditions and ensure a warm-down afterwards (heading to the bar doesn’t count!).

Your fitness routine should consist of global strength exercises for the large muscle groups as well as specific strength exercises for movements around the wrist, shoulder and back. Agility exercises such as lateral hops or jumps, balance and plyometrics should also be employed.

If you are in pain to an extent that your performance is being affected, then do seek treatment. If you are also unsure whether you are fit enough, why not consider a fitness fundamentals assessment (FREE to our gym members), which will give a thorough appraisal of your overall health and fitness.

We have a wealth of stretching, strengthening and combat-specific exercises & routines on our FitFor.TV platform and having recently started our new Box & Body class on-site, so there are plenty of options for you to choose from.

The author is a co-founder of FitFor, is a former UK Decathlon champion, sparred regularly thereafter and enjoys all things boxing.