Boxing is one of the most popular contact sports in the world, and it is having the greatest penetration in fitness rooms. Nowadays, in Spain and many other countries in the world, the main gym chains already have a boxing ring and a personalized service for anyone who wants to do boxing exercises.
What are boxing drills?
This sport has a ring where two fighters face each other using only their gloved fists, hitting from the waist up. Each fight is divided into different rounds, which would vary depending on the category and weight of the fighters. In a more general way, within boxing, we could also find other categories such as kick boxing or may Thai, very popular in the Philippines, along with MMA.
Boxing training of all movements, whether attack or defense, that serve to improve a fighter’s technique with the aim of defeating any type of opponent in combat. These exercises include protection and personal defense against the opponent’s attacks, as well as the different movements in the ring and the different attack techniques looking for the gap that allows hitting and scoring points.
A boxing match can be resolved in different ways. On the one hand, you can win by KO, a situation that occurs when the opponent falls to the ground knocked out and cannot get up after the referee’s count, or technical KO, when the coach or the fighter himself decides to throw in the towel and abandon the fight. These two circumstances will always occur before the end of all rounds. Once the fight is over, a fighter can win on points if the judges decide to give him a higher score than his rival, which is considered as winning by decision. If the three judges decide to give the victory to the same fighter, the decision will be considered unanimous.
Benefits of practicing boxing
In a society that lives every minute as if it were the last of their lives, doing boxing exercises is a good way to unwind. Therefore, practicing this sport has many advantages. The most prominent are the following:
- Burn calories. Boxing requires an enormous activation of the cardiovascular system, so in this sport there is a large amount of aerobic exercise, ideal for losing weight or defining. In addition, it promotes blood circulation and improves the athlete’s respiratory capacity.
- Reflexes will be enhanced. Boxing implies putting all five senses into your actions, and those of your opponent. Therefore, dodging blows, covering the opponent’s attacks and any movement will increase the practitioner’s ability to reflex.
- It serves as personal defense. Many feel scared when they go out on the street. Although there are already other disciplines such as Kravis Magi, knowing boxing can be used to defend you against any attempted robbery or assault.
- Increase your social circle. Doing activities like boxing will also allow you to expand your social contacts and meet new people.
- Boxing is for letting off steam. Especially on days of high stress, being able to have the opportunity to hit a sack will serve to get rid of all that adrenaline that you may have accumulated and leave the gym in a much better mood.
In addition to being a sport that involves exercising all parts of the body, boxing also provides a series of intrinsic skills that must be respected if you want to progress and meet your goals. Like many other disciplines, it is necessary to be regular in the routines, but also take care of the diet, especially if you want to compete. Each boxer fits in the weight that he considers necessary. Before each fight there is a weigh-in, where a fighter cannot exceed a certain weight. For this reason, you cannot do silly things with food, or with alcohol, in addition to respecting the corresponding hours of sleep.
How to perform boxing exercises
As has been said before, boxing is a demanding sport that requires you to be in good physical condition, in order to withstand successive three-minute rounds with only one minute of rest. Therefore, in addition to a specific boxing routine, a routine to prepare the physique should also be planned. In this routine, the following exercises should appear:
- Push-ups with final clap: Adopting the body in a push-up position, lower your arms to the ground, placing your chest almost in contact with the ground, extend your limbs, clap your hands while your body is in the air and land. With this exercise it is possible to strengthen the upper body of our body.
- Burgees: Ideal for training cardiovascular power. Standing, we will drop to the ground doing a simple push-up and we will push ourselves to jump and clap our hands in the air and start the movement again.
- Jumping rope: A clearly aerobic exercise to continue strengthening our heartbeat and our resistance.
- Abdominals in V: Having a strong abdomen is basic to be able to withstand the possible blows that we can receive. Therefore, you have to perform some of the most demanding exercises. Lying on your back, with your legs and arms stretched out, we will join both extremities forming a V. If you find it very complicated, consult other abdominal exercises.
This routine should be combined with specific boxing exercises. After stretching the arms, legs and back, and having the muscles activated, we will work three rounds of mitts. In these three series, the goal will be to work on defensive and offensive techniques based more on prediction and speed, not force. Imagining the opponent, we’ll cover his punches and work the punches to break down his guard before finishing with a jab or a hook. This will be a part of the training more dedicated to tactical work, especially important when we have to face an opponent. We will watch videos of their fights, previously, to know their strengths and weaknesses.
Completing this first part, the following boxing exercises will be performed with a bag or a sparring partner. If you can’t go to the gym, you can also make a homemade punching bag. The movements previously practiced, we will put them into practice again but we will take the liberty of using greater force looking for that possible KO blow. always without neglecting our guard. We will continue with a pear training (it is a bag that hangs from a hook located a little above the height of our eyes). It will serve to improve our coordination. We will carry out exercises aimed at improving our movement around the ring, exchanging defense and attack movements. The last two rounds will continue to increase the lateral movements, alternated with small blows of great precision. Against rivals with very tight guards, it will be necessary to achieve good precision in order to find that loophole to win by decision.
After training, we will stretch again. It is interesting to discuss techniques with other boxers and encourage the exchange of information, in a sport with multiple possible tactics. If a good regularity is achieved, and consistency in the diet and rest, the boxing exercises will begin to give results in a few weeks. Adapt the routine to your weight and your goals, to increase your strengths. It is also crucial to constantly change the types of exercise so that you do not plateau and continue to progress.
