Boxing Workouts to Incorporate in Your Exercise Routine

Boxing workouts involve a range of movements and training intensity which help you burn many calories and build strength, power, and conditioning your body. If you are a beginner looking to incorporate boxing workouts into your exercise routine, this article will tell you all about how to safely get started and work your way up to get maximum results.

How to Do The 30-Minute Boxing Workout

This is one of the boxing workouts for beginners as it lays down the foundation for boxing without the impact that might overstress the arms or legs.

1. Shadowboxing

Shadowboxing is excellent for building the right movements involved in boxing. You can add a range of punches and kicks and develop your muscle memory before progressing to working on a bag.

How to Do 

• After your warm-up routine, start from your standing position. Throw a combination of four punches (Jab/cross/hook/Hook).
• To throw the punches in proper form, make a proper punching fist with both hands. Keep the shoulders down and the elbows free to throw the punches from your shoulder.
• Exhale sharply with each punch. To increase the intensity, twist the abdomen in sync with the punches so you can add more power to the punch.
• At the end of every four-punch combo, add a raising knee kick.
• If you begin with your right arm, raise the right knee first to maintain the flow of the movement.

2. Mountain Climbers

This is a moderately intense exercise that targets the core body muscles, legs, and shoulders.

How to Do 

• Start from the planking position with your arms entirely straight off the floor under the shoulders.
• Have your legs extended fully out while keeping your back parallel to the ground.
• In a quick snapping movement, bring one knee close to your chest as you exhale.
• Alternate the knees quickly and repeat 10-15 times, depending on your level.
• The faster you go, the more energy you burn. Make sure not to overdo the exercise.

3. Squat Kick

This exercise takes the intensity up a notch. It is a great workout to build muscle groups used for kicks.

How to Do

• Start by performing a full squat. Stand with your feet apart a little wider than your hips and squat, pivoting on the knees.
• As you stand up, throw one leg out to perform a straight kick in the air.
• Squat again and throw the opposite leg out to do a front kick.
• Exhale as your go down on the squat and inhale as you come up. Exhale again as you perform the kick.
• Repeat 10 – 15 times in one set if you are a beginner.

4. Sit-up Punches

This exercise targets the abdomen, lower and upper back along with the shoulders.

How to Do 

• Lay down on the floor with your knees bent and the feet firm on the ground.
• With your fists at the level of your face, do a sit-up (abdominal curl).
• At the end of the curl, throw a jab with each arm and go back to the resting position.
• To keep your feet firm on the ground, press the big toe onto the floor.
• Perform 10-15 repetitions per set.

5. Combat Burpees

This is a full-body workout that involves a combination of movements.

How to do 

• Start from the standing position and throw a combination of punches such as jab-cross-jab-cross.
• Bend down with your hands touching the floor and throw both the legs out behind into a planking position.
• Do one push-up quickly and jump back up.
• Continue the next repetition with a set of punches.
• You can change the combination of punches. Add a clapping push-up to make it more challenging. Start with 10-15 repetitions per set.

6. Boxer’s Twist

This exercise is a bit intense and develops strong boxing abs as it works mainly on the core.

How to Do

• Sit on the floor in an upright position and lock your legs at the ankles.
• Raise the legs about 6 inches of the ground and tilt back to balance yourself and engage the core muscles.
• Throw an alternative hook from each hand with a simultaneous twisting motion to work the abdominal muscles.
• To increase the difficulty, raise the legs higher.

Boxing Workout with a Bag

It is possible to advance to a punching bag workout once you have built sufficient strength in the body and attained a proper posture. Striking a punching bag is the most effective way to build power and explosiveness in boxing movements.

Bag workout basics

Choosing a punching bag: As a beginner, pick a light punching bag that weighs around 40 to 100 pounds for your cardio boxing workout. A straight punching bag that hangs from the ceiling works well for all boxing workouts.

Wrapping the hands: It is vital to firmly cover your hands with the boxing hand to provide enough support to your wrists during the long sets of strikes. Wraps keep the fist and the wrist aligned with the rest of the arm and help avoid injuries and deliver more power.

Learning the proper technique: Punches are precise movements that need to be performed correctly to be effective. When done improperly with excessive force, a poor punching technique can injure your wrist or the hand, or worse, break it. Therefore start with slower speeds and lesser power to learn the proper technique.

Breathing correctly: The power in boxing comes from the upper body, core, and legs. Sharp breathing with every strike ensures that the core is stiff and transmits the energy of the blows throughout the body. Proper breathing can make or break your workout.

Warming up: It is critical to warm up before every workout so that the body is ready for the powerful movements that come with boxing. Warming up improves not only technique, speed, and power but also avoids injuries.

Working out with a bag

The Stance: The stance is your attack position. If you are dominant in your right arm, you will have to stand with your legs staggered and shoulder-width apart. The left leg will be in the front, and you will throw jabs with your left arm while the right arm is used for power strikes. Your fists will have to be held next to your chin and the elbows on the side.

Jab: The jab is a quick and straight punch that is thrown with the leading hand. It is not too powerful and is often used as a leader to a power shot.

Cross: The cross is a powerful punch thrown with the dominant rear hand. It is done by pivoting on the ball of your back foot while simultaneously turning the hips and throwing out the dominant hand in a punch.

Hook: The hook is a power shot thrown from both hands as both a head or a body shot. To perform a hook, swing the arm at the bag with the elbow bent at 90 degrees and the arms parallel to the floor. Twist the body into the attack pivoting on the feet to deliver the blow.

Workout

Warm-up: Jump rope for 5 minutes, arms stretched out and circles clockwise and anti-clockwise to get the muscles warmed up. Up, down and sideways neck turns to warm up the upper shoulders. Continue jogging on the spot for about a minute, 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 lunges. Finally, perform 5 minutes of shadowboxing.

Drill 1 on Bag: Jab, jab/cross, jab/cross/hook/, jab/cross/hook/cross. Give a second break between each combination and walk around the bag. Do not stand in one place; imagine the bag as an opponent and move around to stay unpredictable and throw better punches. After the combinations, stand in one place and fire away 20 straight punches with both hands while alternating your stance. After 2 rounds, stop and do 5 burpees.

Drill 2 on bag: Perform combinations from one side only and alternate stance after every set. Throw a jab/hook/cross and from the dominant rear hand, throw a power cross/hook from your lead hand: alternate stance and repeat 5 rounds. Perform 5 burpees at the end.

Drill 3 on bag: Stand close to the bag, and for 10 seconds, strike hard on any combination of your choice. Rest for 10 seconds and pound the bag again for 10 more seconds. Complete 5 rounds and do 5 burpees.

Boxing Workout with Weights

To take your boxing workout up several notches, you can add some free weights to the regular boxing movements. Workouts with weights tend to be more strenuous; therefore, ensure you have spent some time conditioning your body with the previously mentioned workouts before attempting with weights. For starters, pick a pair of 5-pound dumbbells as weights for the workout. Here are some routines you can try:

Punching Power Lunge: Start with standing with your feet, shoulders width apart, and both hands at the shoulders holding one dumbbell each. Perform a lunge with your right foot forward. In the middle of the movement (at the bottom), punch alternatively and get back to starting position. Switch sides and perform the same movement to complete one repetition. Perform 5 repetitions per set and perform 2 sets.

Dumbbell Uppercut: These are standard boxing uppercuts performed while holding dumbbells. Stand with your feet in the attack stance; foot of the dominant side one shoulder length ahead of the other. Throw an uppercut with the elbow with the arm of the dominant side. Switch sides and perform the same movement again. Perform 3 sets with 10 repetitions each.

Triceps Extensions: Start the exercise in a quarter squat position while holding the dumbbells at your chest level and your elbows to the side close to your torso. Extend both arms backward simultaneously until the arms are straight. Repeat the motion 10 times and perform 3 sets.

Wide-Legged Squat: Start with the basic squat stance and the dumbbells held at your chest. Step the right foot out to the side and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push on the right heel to get back to the start position. Repeat the motion on the other side to complete one repetition. Do 2 sets of 5 repetitions each.

Boxing workouts are excellent for burning calories, fat and getting intense exercise in a short time. When taking up bag workouts, it is essential to learn proper form and technique to avoid injury and gain maximum benefit.

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