Boxing has gained a lot of popularity over the last couple of years, and for a good reason. Whether it is weight loss you’re after or muscle development, you can achieve anything you want off your body just from boxing. 

The most valuable thing in life is good health and wellness. There’s not much to argue against that, and it’s become increasingly clear to everyone today that feeling good on the inside equates to looking great on the outside.

Many people have understandably turned to martial arts training to get in shape, and there are so many options. One of the best ways to start your journey is to step into a boxing gym.

From shedding unwanted pounds to giving you an extra boost of energy and confidence that you need daily, boxing is undoubtedly one of the most suitable martial arts disciplines for you to take up. In no time, your future self will be thanking you for signing up for a boxing class, and soon, you’ll reap boxing’s many impactful rewards.

You might have been sitting on the fence for a while now, thinking whether or not boxing is the right martial arts discipline for you to try. However, there are so many great reasons to start boxing and why you need to start soon.

Boxing Is An Enjoyable Use Of Your Time

As adults, we often complain about the lack of time for anything. We feel like we’re always busy with work and with life. But if you take a step back, you’ll realise you do have time to allot for your health and fitness.

Better yet, make time. Because health is wealth, and you’ll thank yourself for it.

Boxing training is an incredibly enjoyable use of your time. Instead of scrolling through your social media feed for hours on end, or binge-watching TV series in the wee hours of the night, use your time more wisely.

Hitting the heavy bag, nailing combinations on the focus mitts, sparring with your gym mates — these are all activities boxing practitioners rave about. With boxing, you’re training and having fun at the same time.

Boxing is also a great way for you to relieve stress. It takes out the stress and anxieties of day-to-day life in a safe, supportive, and controlled environment.

Since boxing is a form of physical exercise, the brain releases “happy hormones” or endorphins that leave you feeling calm and centred and proud after each session. It is scientifically proven that physical exercise, like boxing, has many physiological benefits. It reduces cortisol (stress hormones), improves body image, and increases energy.

Empower Yourself With The Knowledge Of Self-Defence

Self-defence skills are a basic human right. Everyone should have access to this knowledge, from women and children mothers and fathers.

There’s a sense of security that envelops you when you know you can take care of yourself and the people around you if faced with imminent danger. The ability to defend yourself and the people you love against an attack, you can’t put a price on that level of comfort.

Equip yourself with the necessary skills and self-defence foundation to escape danger and diffuse tricky situations.

Boxing is one of the best martial arts for self-defence. It teaches and trains your mind to think and react quickly, giving you the athletic reflexes of a real fighter.

Boxing training will train both your body and mind in the science of combat. It will empower you with a heightened sense of awareness, making you ready to defend yourself at all times. In addition, it kicks your survival instinct into fifth gear.

Having the confidence that you can face an assailant in combat gives you peace of mind wherever you are.

You’ll Burn Major Calories-Fast

The main physical benefit beginner boxers will see it is cardiovascular, says Santa. “Boxing improves your resting heart rate and muscular endurance,” he says. That lowered resting heart rate and increased stamina can give you an edge in your other workouts.

With a possible burn rate of 13 calories a minute, boxing goes head-to-head with other types of cardio like running and cycling.

Plan to punch away anywhere from 200 to 400 calories (for a 140-pound individual). Thirty minutes of boxing in a ring torch 400 calories; 30 minutes of punching a bag burn 200 calories; and 30 minutes sparring with partner blasts 300 calories.

You’ll Relieve Stress Like Never Before

Whatever’s got you ready to snap, boxing will help you calm down. “I’d say the number-one thing that sets boxing apart from other workouts is the degree of stress relief,” says Arnold Gonzalez, USA Boxer and a trainer at EverybodyFights. “It’s unlike any other workout.” 

Not only is hitting something a healthy and productive way to help you let go of tension, but the rush of endorphins may also make you happier.

For example, a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology found that people who engaged in high-intensity workouts for an hour released significantly more endorphins than those who spent an hour on moderate exercise. (ICYDK, boxing falls into the high-intensity category.)

The mental perks of boxing don’t stop there: “Boxing builds confidence and discipline at another level”.

You’ll Improve Your Coordination

Hand-eye coordination is key for boxing. Punching a bag or sparring requires focused movements and amazing recall, challenging your muscles and your mind, says former championship boxer Michael Olajide Jr., co-founder of Aerospace in New York. (Learn how to throw a punch like a pro before you even hit the gym.) Muhammad Ali didn’t “float like a butterfly” for nothing.

You Are Going To Under No Circumstances Halt Mastering

It is effortless for your health and fitness regimen to come to be, perfectly, program, but boxing will keep you on your toes. “Boxing necessitates complete target, which will make the time fly by,” says Santa.

And as opposed to managing on the treadmill, you can generally find something new to understand (or an individual new to spar!), so you have a major incentive to hold training.

Extremely Therapeutic 

One of the best benefits of boxing is that it is amazingly therapeutic. It is considered one of the high-impact sports known to release a lot of stress, making it more effective than going to therapy.

Think of it this way, you can’t release your anger on a therapist, but you sure can on a boxing bag. After every boxing session, you will leave feeling good, and your happy hormone dopamine will be through the roof. Boxing is a great way to let it all out, unwind and vent to that poor punching bag.

It’s A Lot Of Fun

Anybody who has done boxing or is doing it will tell you that they don’t want to stop.

However, if you adopt boxing as an exercise, you can easily do it at home. Get yourself a nice pair of gloves a punching bag and incorporate your session with some fun music in the background to keep the happiness alive during an intense workout like boxing.

During the workout, you constantly feel encouraged while being tired, but you won’t help but make the best of it!

Surprising Benefits Of Boxing

Boxing is one of the most globalised combat sports, and the top boxers remain some of the highest-paid athletes in the world.

However, anyone can master the sweet science and enjoy the many rewards that come with it, like being capable of defending yourself and your loved ones, not just the professionals or most athletic.

Learning how to box doesn’t require you having to deal with being punched hard in the face when sparring. That aspect is typically reserved for those who plan to box competitively.

Boxing Sculpts the Midsection

Boxing is a great way to develop both functional and aesthetic abs.

A common misconception is that boxing is merely an arms workout. Sure, if you box with poor form, your shoulders will burn like no other, but it is also a profound core workout when you box with proper form. To generate speed and power in boxing, you need to utilise hip and trunk rotation. 

This requires the abdomen muscles, such as the internal and external obliques, to contract explosively (both concentrically and eccentrically) to produce torque and slow down the movement so that your centre of mass remains over your base support i.e. midline stability.

It is also very effective at developing a muscle that many people attribute to sculpting the ultimate abdominal region – the Serratus Anterior (SA).

When sculpting the midsection, most people fall short of their potential by simply focusing on the rectus abdominus, aka the visible 6-pack and neglecting the serratus anterior. The SA ties the entire abdomen together and should not be overlooked. 

The SA is often called the boxer’s muscle because boxers tend to develop the best. The reason for this is that the action of the SA is scapular protraction (think about reaching for a long punch). It’s a functional muscle with aesthetic benefits too.

It brings together the 6-pack look. But, of course, if your body fat percentage is not low enough to reveal your abs, then no matter how many crunches and leg raises you to do, or how many punches you throw, you won’t be able to see what’s beneath the layer of subcutaneous fat. 

In other words, abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen. It would be best if you put in the hard work in the gym to stimulate growth and then let your nutrition do the rest of the job. Sculpted abs are one of the biggest benefits of boxing.

Improves Cardiovascular Health

Boxing is an effective way to improve your cardiovascular health. Boxing requires you to move around as you train, throwing punches, moving across the ring, all forcing your heart to work harder to supply these areas with oxygen and blood.

For example, try throwing punches non-stop for 60 seconds and see how much it raises your heart rate. Boxing training also includes lots of drills like jump rope, which helps to improve your footwork and cardio. 

Doctors recommend getting at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise five days per week. Learning how to box gives you more than 20 minutes of cardio each training session.

Training will noticeably improve your cardiovascular endurance, protecting you against health issues like heart attacks, high blood pressure, and strokes. 

Improving your cardiovascular endurance will carry over into other aspects of your everyday life. For example, you’ll notice that you’re no longer breathing hard after running up a flight of stairs. 

Builds Muscles And Definition

Boxing training gives you a full-body workout that helps to build big, strong muscles. In addition, the intense cardiovascular exercise you perform while training helps keep these muscles well-defined.

On top of that, adding weightlifting programs helps to further strengthen and condition your body for even more gains.

Boxing doesn’t just build muscles that look good; it targets many of the smaller muscles conventional workouts often miss, especially the surrounding joints and muscles that help with stability. As a result, you end up with a noticeably more impressive physique than those who only lift weights. 

Builds Strong Bones And Joints

Boxing training makes your bones stronger and denser. Considering how our bones become weaker as we age, building stronger bones protects you from degenerative diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

In addition, most weight-bearing exercises are beneficial for building stronger bones and joints.

Boxing requires you to be light on your feet as you move around the squared circle. Constantly bouncing around and shifting your weight while training puts weight on your legs, knees, and feet, strengthening them in the process. 

Punching anything solid – like a punching bag or mitts – counts as a weight-bearing exercise since your arm runs into resistance. The more weight or resistance your bones deal with, the more your osteoblast builds more bone tissues.

Helps Control Weight

Here’s one surprising boxing health benefit: weight control.

Eating excess calories is the speedway to weight gain. Our bodies are set into a high metabolic state when we box regularly. We are speedily burning calories even hours after the boxing session. As a high impact aerobics exercise, boxing turns the fats stored in our body into energy.

This helps us to go even more intense in our workouts. Imagine all the fats in your pot belly and flabby arms turning into energy. At the end of it all, getting rid of the excess calories and fats helps you lose belly fat. This means your weight is on its way to being what you have always wanted it. Or even better.

Increases Total Body Strength 

Normally, boxing goes hand in hand with skipping. Ask the boxers. There is a lot of jumping, kicking, and punching in there. All these activities play critical roles in our overall fitness. Together, multiple activities help build lean muscle.

Take punches in boxing as an example. You use your upper and lower body muscles to throw punches. Repeated punches help to strengthen those muscles. Make sure to keep a good technique throughout. Using a good boxing technique can also help you avoid lower back pain.

Develops Toned Muscles

Another of the many boxing health benefits is body tone. Let me explain. Your arms, legs, hips are all in constant motion in boxing. Over time, this works on your muscles and leaves them toned and looking fit. The goal is to be consistent.

But it’s not the arms alone that gets toned. The feet are not left out in the fitness distribution business. As long as you’re throwing that punch, you’ll be on your feet. The feet carry the body (weight), which helps tone the muscles there. No part of the body is left out when boxing is involved.

FAQs

What Age Is Too Late To Start Boxing?

There is never a wrong time to start boxing, and you are never too old. However, there are options for any age for those wishing to compete or participate in tournaments. Depending on your skill level, you may be ready to compete quite quickly, or you could spend some time learning the ins and outs of boxing.

Should I Get In Shape Before I Start Boxing?

If you want to start boxing, cardio workouts are necessary. When training, workouts like jumping rope, running uphills, push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks are important. If you are out of shape, boxing is a good and fun way to lose weight and increase athleticism.

Can You Self Teach Boxing?

Boxing can be self-taught, but it’s not the quickest and most effective way to become better at the sport because you aren’t able to tap into the knowledge of a boxing coach who would help you one to one.

Should I Get In Shape Before I Start Boxing?

If you want to start boxing, cardio workouts are necessary. When training, workouts like jumping rope, running uphills, push-ups, sit up, and jumping jacks are important. If you are out of shape, boxing is a good and fun way to lose weight and increase athleticism.

How Fit Do You Need To Be To Start Boxing?

The distance and speed will be up to you depending on your current fitness levels, but aiming for a distance of at least 3-4 miles at a reasonable pace should get you off to a good start. Interval Training – Boxing requires short bursts of high intensity followed by short rests.