If you are thinking of trying a different training than what you have always been doing, boxing can be your new best friend. Contact sports are a great option to get in shape or to complement another sport, they are fun, they help us manage stress and anxiety and improve our overall health.
The benefits of training boxing
Boxing is a sport that certainly engages: both boxing clubs and gyms dedicated to fit boxing or similar disciplines (chains such as Brooklyn or Fightland) have been growing in number since recent years in Spain. And is that boxing is a very good option to get in shape, whether we are newbies in the world of sports or if we come from other sports disciplines, whether or not they have something to do with contact sports.
Through boxing we will not only improve the muscle tone of our arms and our shoulders, those responsible for throwing the punches during the fighting; but we will also work all our middle zone ( all the blows begin and end in our central zone ) and the deep muscles of the abdomen.
Both coordination and agility are two of the basic physical abilities that are most worked in boxing classes. Intermuscular coordination, which helps us to move different muscle groups in an orderly and efficient way, is important when moving around the sack or in the ring itself. Agility, especially in the legs (footwork is very important for boxers) and when dodging punches, it is also important, especially in combat.
Boxing training is also very demanding at the cardiovascular level: it usually works at intervals of three minutes in which the body works at a high intensity. Between these intervals, short breaks are made. As you can see, it is a training system very similar to HIIT and, therefore, very demanding.
What will you do in a boxing class?
If you have never entered a boxing class, you may think that as soon as you enter you will be put to fight one of your teammates. This pulls back a lot of people, but calm, because before making a fight against an opponent you have a lot to learn.
Classes always start with a warm-up that usually includes both joint mobilization and jump rope intervals. In this way, we prepare the body and gradually raise the pulsations before starting the training itself.
If you are a newbie, the first thing you will have to learn is the technique of the main punches of boxing: direct, upper, hooks… The technique in boxing is very important for the punches to be effective and to avoid suffering injuries from a blow bad given Different strokes are practiced alone or with partners, at different speeds and both in isolation and forming different sequences.
The defense is also a very important part of boxing: not only do you have to know how to hit, but it is essential to know how to cover, dodge and fit the punches to suffer the least possible damage. We practice this when training with a partner.
It is also common to dedicate a part of the class to shadow boxing and punching the bag : both things help us to improve our technique and to work our footwork (it is very important, facing a combat, that we know how to move around the whole ring and also on both sides of the bag).
The training session is usually finished with a final interval of rope and stretching, to return to calm gradually.
As you can see, it is a varied and fun training that we encourage you to try. Be careful, because it hooks!