Top 5 Reasons to Incorporate Boxing into Your Workout
Why do you invest the time to go to the gym and workout? Maybe there’s more than one reason, but nearly everyone has the same primary reason – to look good. A nice by-product of looking good is health! So you get healthy and you look good. Not a bad combination!
The obstacle to looking good and being healthy is time. You have to make the time to do it. We’ll pretend you’ve overcome that hurdle, you’re making the time, you’re going to the gym, now what do you want?
You want to maximize your limited time. You want to get the most for your dedicated gym time. In other words, you want to look good and get healthy in the most efficient way possible. If you can learn a new skill and have fun doing it, all the better. Boxing for fitness does this. Here’s how…
Sculpt Every Muscle
If anyone tells you boxing is predominantly an upper-body workout, they’re doing it wrong. It’s true your arms are involved for every punch you throw, but the power comes from your legs and hips. Your back shoulders and core are also engaged. Similar to swimming, boxing is one of the few forms of conditioning that utilized your entire body in a dynamic way.
Because proper movement involves staying “on your toes” and keeping your legs slightly bent you develop leg strength from keeping correct form. Your lats are engaged and fire every time your snap a punch back from the bag. Boxing builds the most neglected aspects of core strength – rotational strength and dynamic concentric power across the entire midsection. Every muscle from the hips to your rib cage are actively involved in each punch.
Best Cardio Possible
When you do something repeatedly your body adapts and you stop making gains – you hit a plateau. Boxing has so much variation that your body never really plateaus and you continue to make gains and improve your cardio the more you do it. You’re building your aerobic base while still doing anaerobic type sprint work. The ebb and flow of dancing, slipping, moving, and firing off combinations is nearly impossible to match when it comes to variety and maximizing cardio training. And best of all – it’s never boring.
Improve Balance
Throwing a good punch requires a complex chain of muscles to fire starting from the ground up. Often times you’ll hear a boxing coach say “punch with your feet.” This is because the transfer of weight from one foot to another is where your punching power comes from. The arms are just along for the ride – similar to a golf swing if you play golf. When you train like a boxer you learn to shift your weight properly and to move your feet correctly which improves balance and overall athleticism.
Confidence
When you learn how to throw a punch properly you’ve taken a giant leap in knowing how to defend yourself if the time comes. Just knowing that you can defend yourself decreases the chances of actually having to defend yourself. A lot of times an aggressor will not attack if they sense or notice your confidence. Confidence alone is a great defender – but difficult to fake. If somebody does engage, you might never have to throw a punch to get them to back off. When you box for fitness you learn how to move and avoid strikes – sometimes that alone is enough to get somebody to back down. Ultimately if you do have to throw a punch, chances are your stance along with a quick combo will let your attacker know you know something about fighting and that may be enough to create some time and separation for the attacker to leave and/or for more help to arrive.
Stress Relief
Ever hear about somebody getting angry and punching a hole in the wall? It happens a lot, and there’s a reason for it. The reason people punch things when they’re angry is because it’s the ultimate form of stress release. One punch can take somebody from full tilt rage back down to an even calm baseline state. We don’t recommend punching walls; we do recommend punching bags though. When you punch, your brain increases production of endorphins, which are neurotransmitters that create feel-good thoughts in your brain. Punching also gets the tension that collects in your muscles when you feel stress.
If you’re looking for the most efficient form of exercise that builds strength, cardio, focus, confidence, and relieves stress – boxing for fitness is the answer.