Boxing is a combat sport that has been practiced for many years, with its inception dating back to before the first ever Olympics in Athens. It helps train people in striking and general physical conditioning, whereas in more recent times, it has become popularized as a form of exercise. Like the sport, boxing for fitness offers many health benefits, and usually includes movement, footwork and punching drills on equipment. Many boxing exercise programs involve other conditioning exercises, including jumping rope, calisthenics, and running. Practicing the sport is great for improving your overall physical well-being, while also challenging your mind and body. Here is a list of benefits of boxing, which are all supported by science.
Improves Heart Health
During a training session or boxing match, boxers need to be capable of performing high intensity activity on a frequent basis. This is due to the fact that the sport itself is a form of high intensity interval training (HIIT) that constantly pushes your body to undergo intense periods of activity. It helps with decreasing a risk of heart disease, and improving your aerobic fitness.
Helps with Losing Weight
In comparison to other activities, high intensity boxing training decreases a greater amount of body fat and helps more with improving overall body composition. Although, the number of calories burned can vary, depending on the intensity level, as well as other factors. Exergaming – simulated boxing done through a gaming system – even effectively burns calories. This can increase the activity levels for those who are less likely to attend a live training or exercise program, and give them more comfort with having a gaming system in their hands than in wearing boxing gloves.
Boosts Whole-body Strength
There is a misconception that punching power only comes from the shoulder. In reality, throwing a punch engages the entire body. A good punch needs to push the lower limbs against the ground and coordinate the rest of the body to deliver a powerful strike. As a result, both the lower limbs and core muscles are responsible for making a strong punching movement.
Improves Balance and Hand-eye and Body Coordination
Boxing is a movement-intensive activity, one that requires coordinated footwork, developing reactive movement strategies, and muscular strength. All of these exercises help improve balance. In fact, it is so effective that many people who deal with Parkinson’s disease found an improvement in their condition after doing boxing training. Other benefits that come with boxing include having better hand-eye and body coordination. This is because the sport involves many drilling punch combinations and complex movements, and the body also has to be in a certain position to perform successfully.
Better Stamina, Endurance, and Core Stability
Stamina involves how long you are able to maintain an activity. During an endurance exercise, your body has to be able to maintain itself physically for a certain amount of time – this is where cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance come in. Cardio endurance can be defined as your body’s ability to give itself oxygen. On the other hand, muscular endurance is when your muscles can function without feeling exhausted on a constant basis. Boxing and hitting the punching bag improves cardio and arm endurance.
Boxing-related exercises, like hitting the heavy bag or shadow boxing, can also increase cardiovascular fitness, and simultaneously work your entire body. Core stability is related to the muscle control that is needed to keep the lumbar spine in a stable condition. Not to be confused with abs, core muscles include the following: pelvic floor muscles, transverse abdominis, multifidus, internal and external obliques, rectus abdominis, erector spinae, and diaphragm. According to many studies, core strength can improve athletic performance, injury prevention, and lower back pain. Throwing punches, performing boxing footwork and practicing defense and offense skills in boxing workouts will build a stronger core by activating it to coordinate the lower and upper body.
Excellent Cardio Workout
There are many health issues, like obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, which can be reduced by doing excessive aerobic exercises. Through having a boxing session or hitting the punching bag, your heart rate will definitely go up. It is also more enjoyable compared to other types of cardio training. Depending on your fitness level, you can select boxing-related activities that are mild to high-intensity interval training.
Reduces Stress
Punching a bag can work wonders with releasing stress. Even though there are different levels of intensity in boxing training, most programs typically follow a HIIT protocol that can alleviate stress. Research has even found mood improvements in those who practice boxing training.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Boxing and HIIT training have revealed positive results in lowering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and decreasing stress on the blood vessels. High blood pressure can result in greater health risks, like heart attacks and strokes. While comparing a HIIT boxing program to a moderate intensity cardiovascular training program, one particular study discovered a reduction in blood pressure.
Improved Confidence
If you find yourself struggling with insecurities, learning how to box is a great way to boost your self-confidence. By learning the fundamentals of boxing, you can defend yourself and read your opponent’s mind before they act. Not only can this develop your confidence levels, but you will also have more control over your thoughts and emotions and the way you deal with certain situations.
Can Be Fun and Exciting
Boxing has been around for hundreds of years, and is a well-loved sport for many reasons, especially for its versatility. You have the liberty of choosing to do many things, like effective additional cardio, strength training exercises or using various bags for punches. The sport also teaches many different offensive and defensive moves that are worth learning. With boxing, there is never a dull moment, and you will find yourself enjoying it more than you anticipated!
Boxing training has many benefits that can impact your overall physical health, while releasing stress in a safe and healthy way. Even though it takes time to master, once you learn the basics, you will feel motivated to become even better at it.
Author’s Bio
Afsara Tasnim is a content writer for BreezeMaxWeb, who helps businesses grow their online presence through creating engaging copy. During her spare time, she enjoys taking photographs of nature and exploring the outdoors.