Boxing Workout Tips

We know there are plenty of great health benefits to be reaped from doing cardiovascular exercise. These benefits include improved heart health, more fat loss and a better sense of well being. However, most of us also know how boring cardio can be. Chugging away on a stationary bike or elliptical machine can get quite monotonous. If you want to try an awesome form of cardiovascular exercise that will have you changing up movements enough to avoid boredom while helping develop muscles that don't normally get worked, you should try boxing workouts.

A good boxing workout requires you to do so many different movements that you should stay interested. You will also develop improved punching power, hand speed and foot speed, and you never know when those things may come on handy. Whatever the case, I fond boxing training more enjoyable than conventional types of cardio, and you may as well.

The biggest downside to boxing workouts is the required equipment. You will need at least a heavy bag and some good bag gloves for an optimal workout. Other pieces of equipment, like a speed bag and jump rope, are excellent to train on too. If you train at a gym that has some boxing equipment, that's great. If you want to set up a home boxing gym, there are great options for that as well.

Heavy bag training is the mainstay of any boxing workout. You can practice a variety of punches with a heavy bag, while moving around it to practice better footwork.

The best way to do a heavy bag workout is to break it up into 3 minute rounds. At first you may find that hitting the bag at a fast pace takes a lot more out of you than you thought it would. If you have a tough time doing 3 minute rounds, try doing 1 or 2 minute ones. You may only want to do 2 or 3 rounds when you start doing heavy bag workouts and work your way up to 5 or 6 eventually.

The best heavy bags are going to have enough weight to have some give without going all over the place. You will almost certainly hurt your hands if you try to hit them without protection. Heavy bag gloves really are necessary if you want to punch with optimal speed and power. Hand wraps should also be used to further protect the hands.

Learning to hit a speed bag properly will improve your hand/eye coordination and, of course, your hand speed. It may be tough to get into a good rhythm on a speed bag at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will be surprised at how good you can get at it.

Basically, when you hit a speed bag, you want the bag to bounce 3 times before you hit it again. It should go back, forward and back again before you make the next punch. This may seem slow, but believe me, once you can really get it going, it's anything but. You also need to hit the bag with the insides of your hands to get a good rhythm going. You can alternate between hands or hit two times with one before switching to the other. As you get more advanced you can try different punch combinations on the speed bag.

Another thing about speed bag training is that you are not trying to destroy the bag, just hit it with a quick rhythm. This means that you don't hit the bag hard, just a nice tap-tap-tap movement. These bags are filled with air, and when people play too rough with them, they do break. Hit a speed bag the right way, and you won't have to buy a new one or wait for your gym to do so.

During your boxing workouts, you should try for 2 or 3 three minute rounds on the speed bag after your heavy bag training. Of course, you can adjust this to your liking.

Skipping rope strengthens the leg muscles so you feel lighter on your feet. This helps you stay on your toes so your footwork improves. It also works the shoulders to a degree as you use them to keep the rope going. Jump roping is pretty basic, but it's certainly not easy.

When you first start jump roping, you may not be able to do it for very long. You may be able to get into a nice rhythm only to feel fatigue in the calf muscles rather quickly. If this is the case for you, try skipping rope for 2 or 3 minutes, then taking one minute of rest before going back to it for another 2 or 3 minutes. You can try to get 3 to 5 rounds of jump roping like this.

Ultimately, you should try to work up to a point where you can skip rope for 15 to 20 minutes or even more. This isn't as tough as it sounds when you get used to jumping rope.

Working the abs is an integral part of a great boxing workout as strengthening the core and abs will improve your boxing ability. Your body will be able to turn into punches better, as well as be more able to take them. Of course, added ab development will help you look better also.

You will want to hit all areas of the core when training the abs. This means hitting your upper and lower abs, as well as the obliques and lower back. There are other ways of hitting the core as well, like doing exercises on a bosu ball while you do certain weight training exercises.

Some of the best exercises to do for the abs include leg raises for the lower abs, crunches for the upper abs and side bends for the obliques. Hyper-extensions are an excellent exercise for the lower back if you do some work for that area as well.

Running can be one of those boring types of cardio to do, but it does well as part of a boxing workout. You can work the legs nicely and feel lighter on your feet from running and jogging. At least since it won't be your whole workout, you won't have to spend as much time running.

To mix up your running portion of a boxing workout, you can do some short all-out sprints before going back to more of a jog to keep it interesting. You can either run outside or on a treadmill. While running outside may be preferable, sometimes the treadmill is a better option due to weather.

You don't need to spend a ton of time running as there are plenty of other exercises to do during a boxing workout. Try running a mile or 2 at a decent pace, which shouldn't take very long depending on your level of fitness.

Shadowboxing is one of the simplest forms of boxing training as it only involves you practicing punches without using a bag. It's also great to do if you don't have access to heavy bags or speed bags. You can also move around more.

If you shadowbox, you can do rounds as if you were working a bag. Five good rounds that last 3 minutes each should have you working up a sweat. If you want to shadowbox after heavy bag training, try for only a couple of rounds.