Women’s boxing is going from strength to strength at the moment and dominant champions are emerging which is encouraging more and more women to get involved in the sport.

The benefits of boxing for women are endless from getting in the best shape of your life, to growing in confidence, learning how to protect yourself, having fun and reducing stress. Don’t expect an easy workout at the boxing gym as boxing is known to be one of the most intense sports on the planet, allowing you to burn over 600 calories per class. The physical and mental benefits of lacing up the gloves can be life-changing and with women’s boxing getting more and more popular, now is the perfect time to get down the gym and give boxing a try.

 

1. It’s Intense Exercise That Burns Fat Like No Other Sport

Boxing is an intense exercise, it’s intense action from the word go and the high levels of energy needed to make it perfect for burning belly fat and toning up the arms. You can burn from 600-800 calories in a single class, making it the best sport for weight loss that is readily available everywhere. Expect to be working or your endurance with continuance punches and your condition with plenty of squats, push-ups, and sit-ups as part of the fat-blasting boxing circuits that are part of any serious workout for boxing.

2. Valuable Self Defence Skills

Knowing how to defend yourself is a valuable skill, especially in today’s world where more and more hostility and violence have become commonplace. Boxing is one of the most effective combat sports for self-defense because it is the fastest way you can land a blow on your attacker. Boxing will teach you how to keep a safe distance, counter any attacks that come your way and land the one-two to quickly end the situation but it should only be used as a last resort.

3. Increase Confidence

Boxing has been responsible for turning many introverts into more open and confident people. It gives people a way to express themselves and by getting in better shape and looking good in the mirror, it will make you feel better inside and this newfound confidence will also show on the outside and be plain for everyone to see.

4. Stress Relief

Striking something as hard as you can feel good. The intense exercise of boxing not only gets you in great shape but it releases endorphins in the brain which makes you feel good. In today’s corporate rat race, leaving all that stress inside you can affect your mental and physical health.

We have all had times where we have been pent up with anger and frustration and letting it all out can be a great relief.

Boxing is a great way to get that release of energy, leave it all on the mat and walk out feeling better.

 

5. Fitness And Conditioning For Other Sports

Athletes from all different sports have been known to use boxing as a way to increase their fitness and conditioning for other sports whether it is soccer, volleyball, hockey, swimming, running or rowing. Boxing works with all of the conditioning systems, giving you an advantage in aerobic conditioning.

Aerobic conditioning: enables you to perform steady-state cardio like running for a long period of time, 1-minute plus. Like jogging or cycling, soccer, hockey or swimming.

Anaerobic conditioning: refers to your ability to perform intense exercise from 10 seconds to a minute. This is where the muscles fill with lactic acid forcing you to stop. Boxing really blasts this system and it is a huge benefit for nearly every sport.

Alactic conditioning: This is your body’s ability to perform at the highest intensity for up to 10 seconds. It’s when a boxer is looking for the knockout with one big punch. It refers to the maximum amount of force you can generate and there are plenty of boxing drills that can work on this type of conditioning.

Combat sports and boxing, in particular, offer a way to work on all three systems at the same time, so if you are in another sport or just want to get fit, it is the perfect way to do it.

6. Perfect Compliment To The Gym

More and more women are making it to the gym nowadays and we personally think it’s a great thing. The Squat racks are always filled with girls doing their squats and hit thrusts to work on them booties. Lifting weights is great for building muscle and improving the body composition but weights can get boring and eventually the women that lift will look for another way to tone further and boxing can be the perfect compliment to lifting weights.

When you get down building a great booty and sexy toned arms, cardio in the gym can be extremely boring and gym classes can be repetitive and ineffective. Boxing class will help you to tone and increase your endurance for the gym. You will also correct any posture issues and build functional strength that can be transferred into your gym efforts. With boxing, you won’t just look like you’re in great shape, you will actually be in great cardiovascular shape as well.

 

7. Meet New People And Make New Friends

In today’s world, everybody has their heads stuck in their smartphones and they have their headphones in shutting off the world. It can be extremely difficult to make friends in today’s world, especially if you just moved to a new place or city. Getting into a boxing gym or even a class can be a great way to make new friends and meet people. Boxing classes will mix you up with a partner and you can change partners multiple times in a class so it’s an excellent opportunity to meet new people. If you stick with and become serious you will inevitably make friends with the people you are training with and you will have a common interest to share with them’

 

8. It’s A Full Body Workout

Just because you punch with your hands, doesn’t mean that boxing doesn’t incorporate the full body. We power our power through our shoulders, back, chest, core, legs, and hips to generate power and force. What’s more is that boxers will use circuits and various other exercises like squats, burpees, planks, push-ups and sit-ups to have you working your full body, toning all your muscles and torching fat as you go. Boxing is a very effective full-body workout which is why so many boxers have six-packs and slim physiques.

 

9. It’s Great For Hormones

Women have a lot of hormones and from menstrual cycles to pregnancy, to age, these can get thrown off, leaving us feeling lousy, irritable and having mood swings. The intense exercise of boxing can help to balance our hormones and stop us from having mood swings. Increasing our strength and improving at a skill will help us to feel great and help us to balance our hormones.

 

10. Join Tons Of Famous Models Who Use Boxing For Fitness

We know boxing is excellent for fitness because so many fitness models have added boxing to their workout schedule from Adriana Lima to Jennifer Lopez to Gina Rodriguez, you will be joining a whos who of professional models who understand the intense benefits boxing can have on their mental and physical well being.

 

What To Expect When You Go To A Boxing Class

Skipping Or Jumping Rope

This may bring you back to your youth where you jumped rope for fun. What you probably didn’t know back then was that jumping rope is an excellent exercise for improving hand and foot coordination, increasing heart rate and burning calories. It is the perfect way to start a boxing class for many trainers.

Shadowboxing

Most boxing classes will start with shadow boxing for a warm-up. This is where you practice punches on the air and work on any techniques you have picked up. Don’t worry if it is your first class and you feel a bit awkward, just copy the people around you and wait for the coach to give you some direction.

Pad Drills

You will more than likely be teamed up with a partner at this stage and you should be doing some pad drills. Your partner will hold up their gloves for you to hit with some basic combos like the jab, the 1-2 and the 1-2-Hook. This will usually be mixed with another exercise like pushups, situps or burpees. You might do 1 punch – 1 push up, 2 punches – 2 push-ups, all the way up to 10 and then it will be your partner’s turn. You could do 3 – 5 rounds of this.

Bag Drills

You might then move onto the bag for some drills. This might be 1 minute of fast punches while your partner holds the bag and then switching over to hold for your partner or it could be 30 seconds of fast punches followed by 30 seconds of slow punches. At the end of the 3 minute round, you might be asked to do 20 push-ups or sit-ups.

Circuits

Boxing is well known for its circuits so don’t be surprised if there is a circuit involved in your training. This will involve moving from one workout station to another without a break. There might be 8 exercises in a circuit and you work on every station before getting a break. Stations can be anything from hitting a sledgehammer against a tire to push-ups, sit-ups, shadow boxing with dumbbells, kettlebell squats, pullups, cliff scalers, planks, kettlebell swings, and the list goes on and on. Be prepared to burn some serious calories with these.

Sparring

Towards the end of the class, the more advanced ladies might be asked to spar. This is perfect to practice your footwork and punch technique against an actual opponent. A good trainer would never throw you in at the deep end so it might just involve light body sparring or no contact at all. You should probably wear a gumshield just in case and you shouldn’t spar until you feel comfortable that you have enough skills to spar effectively.

 

What Do You Need To Bring To A Boxing Class

Boxing is an inexpensive hobby to get involved in. All you need to get started is a t-shirt, shorts, a towel, a pair of running shoes and a bottle of water. Most people will provide you with boxing gloves to get started although they can be a bit smelly. Once you start to make progress you can invest in everything from boxing gloves, gumshields, boxing shoes, headgear, and apparel but getting started is relatively straight forward.
Most boxing gyms will have some gear you can buy as well so check out your local clubs’ shop.

Conclusion

Getting into boxing could be the best the decision you make in your life and you could even join the list of great champions like Clarissa Shields, Katie Taylor, and Amanda Serrano if you are good enough and boxing can actually provide a lucrative career for many females boxers as they get on PPV shows and top main events. If you are thinking about getting started, you should definitely take the leap and get down to a boxing gym as quickly as you can.

Boxing is one of the best ways you can lose weight and maintain the weight loss. Boxing offers a much better option for some people because they enjoy the sport and all the other exercises that come with boxing. Once you get started with boxing it becomes a way of life and if you love boxing, losing weight, toning and staying in shape should come naturally to you.

While an hour of boxing class will burn a lot of calories, how often you train, the intensity in which you train and your diet will ultimately decide whether you lose weight or not. The benefit of boxing for many comes in the enjoyment of it, the stress relief, making new friends and learning a new skill. Boxing also develops discipline, good habits, and self-esteem that can really provide lasting weight loss for many.

There is only one way to know if boxing is for you and that is to give it a go for yourself, at a club or working out at home.

 

Intro To Boxing For Weight Loss

Boxing is the art of hitting and not getting hit but for many people, it is a way of life. If you have ever tried a local boxing class, you will know that it is not easy to keep throwing punches and doing the drills but if you can get past the beginner stage, a whole new world of training, exercise, fulfillment, and enjoyment are sure to follow.

You can plan your weeks’ workouts with various different forms of cardio, weight lifting and conditioning that will help you to improve in the ring and getting in the best shape of your life might even become secondary to getting better at a new hobby and sport that you’ve come to love. If you can make boxing a lifestyle and not something you feel obligated to do like running on a treadmill, you will probably not have to worry about your weight for too much longer.

 

Components Of Boxing Training

So you’ve decided to give boxing a go, here’s what you can expect to be working on when you walk into a boxing gym.

 

Shadowboxing

Shadowboxing is basically throwing air punches, working on footwork and head movement and simulating being in a fight with an imaginary opponent. It may seem a bit silly but boxers of the very highest level work on shadow boxing every day and if you are completely new to it, just try to copy what the people around you are doing.

Throw plenty of straight punches from your stance and take direction from the coaches.

 

Pad Work

Pad work is another crucial element of boxing. A coach will hold pads for a fighter and signify the combos or punches he would like the fighter to land on the pads. This can range from very straight forward to extremely complex if you consider the Mayweathers style.

For a beginner, Pad work will involve you and a partner holding each others’ gloves up for each other while the other partner throws basic combos like the jab, the 1-2 and the 1-2-hook. You will usually take turns holding and hitting. If you have tried this before you will know how tough it is and what a great workout it can be for toning the arms. Holding the pads can develop your arms endurance as well and it can become quite tough just to hold them up for your partner.

 

The Heavy Bag

The heavy bag is always ready to give you an awesome calorie burning and if you go to a boxing class, you will surely spend some time on the bags.

You can work your basic punches and movements on the heavy bag or you can work punching drills with a partner.

A heavy bag provides a solid target that you can hit as hard as you can so it is perfect for building up your power, technique and also blasting out the daily stresses of life while torching calories and fat.

 

Sparring

Sparring is one of the best exercises for improving your boxing skills by practicing everything you have learned with a partner where you try to land and evade punches on each other.

Most beginners will just throw take turns throwing punches at their partner while the partner puts their guard up to block the punches.

More advanced beginners will move onto full contact body sparring where you only hit each other in the body and intermediates will go for full sparring but without full force, punches an advanced boxer will work harder in sparring but always with large cushioned gloves, headgear and gumshields.

 

Circuits

Boxing classes wouldn’t be complete without conditioning circuits. Boxers and fighters are known for legendary circuit workouts where you spend 20-30 seconds on each station before hopping quickly to the next station without taking a break.

You may have to work 10-15 stations in a good circuit and this is probably your best bet for dropping weight, increasing your endurance, conditioning, burning fat and toning your arms and stomach.

Common exercises in a circuit would be push-ups, sit-ups, squats, shadow boxing with weights, pull-ups, cliff scalers, burpees, shoulder press, plank, steering wheels and on and on. Circuits are a great place to get the fighters 6 pack and get in great shape in general.

Circuits are tough work but there’s no way to fake being in better shape, you actually have to be in better shape by putting in the work in the gym and the kitchen.

 

HIIT Boxing For Weight Loss

High-Intensity interval training involves training aerobically at light intensity for 30 seconds and then performing an explosive anaerobic exercise for 10 seconds for example although the timings can be any way you want.

The sport of boxing is high-intensity interval training by nature when you think about it. The fighters will circle around looking for angles and openings and then there will be a flurry of activity when the fighters engage and start throwing punches.

If you are sparring in boxing, that is already HIIT but we can certainly incorporate HIIT into our boxing workouts as well.

 

HIIT on the heavy bag

We can throw a variety of shots at low intensity on the bag, work on our head movement and footwork for 20/30 seconds and then explode with straight punches as fast as we can for 10 seconds and repeat for a round of 3 minutes.

We can also swap the fast straight punches for burpees or jump squats if we want to switch it up.

This will work exactly the same with shadow boxing or on the pads as well and this is used by almost all fighters.

 

Boxing To Lose Belly Fat

I don’t think there is anybody in the world that is happy with their belly fat percentage although most professional boxers will have washboard abs. This is completely down to hard work and having a reasonably clean diet.

If you want to lose belly fat, boxing is one the best ways to do it because you burn so many calories in a class and the additional exercises you do in the class will be directly aimed at the stomach.

Consistency is key and if you can fall in love with the training you will surely drop your belly fat percentage.

 

Boxing to Lose Arm Fat

Boxing is probably the best way you can lose weight from your arms, add muscle and tone.

Throwing punches will work the shoulder primarily but also the triceps which is one of the main places where fat stores in the arms build-up and is an area in the caliper test for body fat percentage.

All the push-ups that boxers do will also help to get rid of the fat that collects in the arms.

 

Other Benefits Of Boxing

Boxing is not just for losing weight, it provides a ton of other benefits. If you get into the boxing lifestyle there are forms of cardio that boxers use to get in shape that you can also practice to keep on improving with the secondary benefit of losing weight and torching fat.

 

Running, Cycling and Swimming

Boxers need a ton of cardio because they need to perform at a high intensity for a long period of time. That means that almost all jog, cycle and swim in some combination.

You can apply HIIT to these exercises to blast fat and it is a varied workout approach that you won’t get bored of, with so many elements.

 

Confidence & Self-Esteem

Sometimes we eat too much because of low self-esteem and other personal issues. I have personally seen incredible personal transformations through boxing. Shy and timid characters starting to believe in themselves as they see their hard work paying off, coming out of their shells and becoming happier healthier people.

Quiet reserved, introverts often find sanctuary in the boxing gym and a release for everything they hold inside and they become stronger and fitter every day.

 

Valuable Self Defence Skills

Self Defence skills are becoming more and more important as the world is becoming more and more crazy day by day. Even knowing that you can defend yourself can increase your confidence and get you feeling better about yourself.

Ladies who may feel intimidated by themselves can now have confidence in their ability to react should anything happen and this is a big benefit of boxing.

 

Discipline & Healthy Living

Often times we pack on the pounds because we lack discipline. We have no reason to stay healthy so we binge on fast food and crap.

If you get into boxing, the hard work you do in the gym will build your discipline and on the days where you train, your body will let you know if it doesn’t like what you’ve been eating that day.

If you eat clean on days when you are boxing then you shouldn’t have much trouble cleaning up your diet a bit on your rest days.

We are not saying to become a monk but small changes can have a massive impact over time.

 

Boxing Workouts For Home

Going to a boxing gym is always the preferred option but if you can’t make it because of work, life or your location, you can get a good boxing workout at home and you don’t even need to have much equipment to get it done.

Check out our article on boxing workouts at home here.

 

Shadow Boxing For Weight Loss

Shadow boxing is a great boxing cardio exercise for improving as a fighter and all boxers shadow box at least 10 minutes a day.

To make shadow boxing a good exercise for weight loss we need to do a bit more than just punching the air for 30 minutes.

Shadow boxing with weights will allow you to burn more calories, burn fat from the arms, increase your endurance and help you to tone. If you are doing 3-minute rounds, you can hold the weights for the first 90 seconds and shadow box the air for the second 90. Remember to keep a good intensity.

In your break between rounds, you can include 10/20 push-ups/sit-ups/ scalers to help burn fat, get fitter, add muscle and look better in the mirror.

 

Will boxing 3 times a week get me in shape?

Boxing 3 times will get you in better shape for sure. The days when you are boxing will burn calories, add muscle and torch belly fat. On the days you are boxing you will need to watch what you eat and this can also help you to get in better shape.

If your diet is very bad, no amount of training is going to get you in good shape, so you will need to improve your diet even if it is only slightly.

Boxing should have you feeling better about yourself and this can lead to you making better health decisions and maybe even doing some cardio on the side as well.

 

Boxing To Get Shredded

If you’ve been in the gym lifting weights and putting on muscle and you know want to get shredded to show it off. Boxing is an excellent way to do that.

Drop your calories down from the bulk phase and start doing boxing classes. The boxing drills, hitting the bags and the conditioning circuits are probably one of the best and easiest ways to get shredded available to gym-goers.

If you are going for a bit of sun on holidays, boxing can help you drop fat % easily and it can actually be very enjoyable. Plus you get all the other advantages of boxing.

How Many Calories Do You Burn Boxing

Boxing ranks at the very top of the calories burned per hour list. You can burn up to 800 calories per hour boxing and if your class lasts 90 minutes, you can burn over 1000 calories.

Boxing beats almost every other form of exercise in this regard with rowing and squash also high on the list of the study carried out by Forza supplement company. 

One sport we didn’t see on the list was Muay Thai which is also very effective for weight loss.

 

Boxing vs Muay Thai For Weight Loss

Boxing and Muay Thai are kind of the same but also completely different sports.

Muay Thai differs from boxing in that you can use your legs, knees, and elbows to score points or knock out your opponent. Muay Thai comes from Thailand and it has lead to some incredible transformations and weight loss journeys.

Muay Thai and boxing will burn roughly the same amount of calories but while boxing will rely on conditioning circuits and exercises more for full-body conditioning, Muay Thai won’t need to do that because of the movements of the sport will already get an intense full-body workout.

Boxing and Muay Thai are tied for me but try both of them and the one you enjoy more will probably come with more weight loss benefits for you. If you get into one of these sports, weight loss will become a secondary issue over time.

 

Boxing vs Gym For Weight Loss

Boxing is going to be better than the gym for fat loss unless you have a personal trainer pushing you to your limit for an hour 3 times a week, you won’t get the same benefits of boxing.

In the gym, it is harder to push yourself so being around other people working out in the same group can be a massive bonus and a class will probably cost less than a trainer as well.

One other benefit of having a personal trainer in the gym will be that they will give you a tailored diet but when to comes to burning calories, toning and losing weight, boxing is the clear winner for almost everybody.

 

Conclusion

Just get out there and give it a go. You can count the cost of going to your first boxing class, it will probably be free the first time, but you can’t count the cost of not going.

Getting up and getting active will be one of the best decisions you ever make so get out there and give it a go.

If you like boxing, you will probably make friends for life, get amazing health benefits, increase your confidence and leave your weight issues in the past and we genuinely hope that you are successful in your journey so let us know if you are or any other help that you need to get there.

Shadow boxing is one of the most effective workouts available to us for simulating a fight. You will see that all professional fighters use shadow boxing to get them in the zone for their workout, to warm up, improve footwork, head movement and visualise upcoming fights or sparring against different styles of fighter.

It’s also perfect for practicing the combos fighters have been thinking about in the air before trying them out on the bag or pads and just perfecting our best shots and combos, moving our head and working on our foot work. We can also use shadow boxing as an effective workout for arm endurance, weight loss and even hand speed.

Overall shadowboxing can be rewarding mentally as well as physically but it can be difficult to get started with shadow boxing for the first time and that is usually because you aren’t used to shadow boxing and moving around the ring and feel awkward, so, you need to just dive in and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

 

How Do You Start Shadow Boxing

Shadow boxing can be a bit of a daunting task. If you walk into a boxing gym and everybody starts shadowboxing, you can feel awkward if you haven’t done it before or if you are just starting out as a beginner, you may be wondering how can you get started with shadow boxing as part of or as a full workout in itself.

If you need to learn shadowboxing, you have come to the right place.

You need three things for boxing and that is footwork, Body and head movement and throwing punches , shadow boxing is the perfect place to practice and perfect all three.

Everything in boxing is going to come off the jab so that is the first punch you want to practice.

Stand in your boxing stance and throw the jab 10 times

Do the same with the right hand

Now Throw the 1-2 together for 10 reps.

Try a 1-2 with a left hook for 10 reps as well.

These are the basic Punching combinations and you want to practice these as much as possible whether it’s in shadow boxing or on the bags.

What Muscles Does Shadow Boxing Using

Shadow boxing and boxing in general is a dynamic sport that uses all of our body. Primarily you’re going to be using the shoulder, arms and back to throw punches but you will be using your feet and calves to move around and your legs when throwing body shots.

You are also throwing punches through the hips making it a full body exercise. If you want to make it more difficult you can use light dumbbells and even ankle weights if you want to. Shadow boxing is a great full body exercise but it is also perfect just to warm up and move onto bags, pads, sparring or conditioning.

Benefits Of Shadowboxing

Allows Us To Improve Our Footwork

Foot work is probably more important than throwing punches, if you have good footwork you may be able to evade your opponent for the whole round. Pernell Whitaker once won a round without throwing a single punch.

Stand in your boxing stance and get the basic movements right.

If you want to go forward then the front leg (Left for orthodox) steps forward first followed by the back foot.

If we want to move backward the back leg steps first.

If we want to change direction the back foot pivots around the get us pointing in the new direction.

Try to throw the jab while stepping forward and backward and trying adding the right hand into the combo once you are getting better.

With footwork we eventually want to be able to step into our opponents range land the jab and quickly move out and we want to be able to move out and in with ease to counteract our opponents movements and land our shots.

 

Work On Our Head Movement

Shadow boxing is the perfect time to work on our head movement. Head movement is another very important part of being a boxer and it is often an undertrained element of the game by many.

Shadow boxing is your time to implement anything you have been thinking about that needs improvement in your game and head movement is always something we can get better at.

Throw the jab and slip your head to the right and throw the one tow and slip your head to the left.

Throw the 1-2 and slip to the left and roll from left to right

Throw the 1-2-3 and slip to right and then roll from right to left.

Get used to moving your head from side to side and up and down as you are stalking your opponent, a moving target is much more difficult to hit and work on keeping your hands up.

 

 

Allows Us To Visualise Ourselves In The Ring

If we have a fight or sparring coming up then we will probably have a game plan of how we would like to fight. Shadow boxing gives us the perfect opportunity to execute on our game plans and see how the movements feel.

Once you practice a particular movement, punch or combo 1000’s of times in the gym shadow boxing, on pads or on the bags, you brain will be able to draw on the muscles that make this move possible and throw the punch much faster than someone who hasn’t put in the hard work in the gym.

The say you need 10,000 hours to become an expert at something and shadowboxing allows you to try to reach this number.

If you think your opponent may be open to a left hook and a right hand, you can also throw this combo in the air before trying it out on a sparring partner.

If something worked last time in our sparring, we can try it out again and get it etched into our muscle memory.

One of the key things that all great fighters have done over the years is visualise victory at every opportunity. Moving around the ring and throwing the exact shots you will be throwing in the fight and visualise them landing on your opponent and winning the fight.

 

Allows Us To Get More Comfortable And Relax

There is no pressure with shadowboxing, you can hop in the ring and move around simulating a fight and trying out all of your combos and movements to try to win the fight while also imagining that there are blows coming back.

Shadow boxing is the place where we take the new things we have learned and add them to solid base that we have already built up.

 

Builds Muscle Memory

Muscle Memory is a very important concept. Bruce Lee once said, “I don’t fear the man who has practice 10,000 different kicks, I fear the man who has practiced 1 kick, 10,000 times. That is why drilling our combos and movements into our heads and muscle memory can help us to let those punches go that split second quicker and feel natural adding a left hook to a 1-2 combo when the timing is right.

 

The Perfect Warm Up

Starting your workout off with shadow boxing allows you to warm up with no resistance and get the blood flowing while warming up the muscles.

Many people will skip first to get the blood and arms flowing and then shadow box to get their focus, increase their sharpness, get the positive visualisations going and practice new techniques before moving onto bag work, pad work or sparring.

 

Shadow Boxing Is Perfect For Cooling Down

If we finish a tough session with some tough punch outs, drills or sparring, it can be a great idea just warm down and get in our zone at the end of training and do a round or two of shadow boxing.

Letting the muscles cool down with dynamic exercises or stretches can prevent injury and it also allows us to work the combos we drill through the night into our muscle memory.

 

 

Perfect For Isolating Parts Of Your Game And Improving Them

Shadow boxing provides the perfect breeding ground for picking one part of your game and focusing exclusively on that. You can use only footwork for this round, moving around the ring and practice moving your feet to get angles where you would let you punches go.

In the second round you can go on and work on just your jab or jabs and right crosses. Working on your footwork and head movement as well.

In the third round you can throw certain combos you have been working on and so on and so on.

 

Shadow Boxing Combos To Work On

For Orthodox Stance – If you are a south paw, switch the lefts to rights and rights to lefts

 

Jab

 

Jab – Cross

 

Jab – Cross – Left Hook

 

Jab – Jab – Cross

 

Jab – Left Hook – Right Cross

 

Jab – Cross – Left Hook – Cross

 

Jab – Cross – Left Uppercut – Cross

 

Jab – Cross – Left Hook To The Body And Pivot Away

 

Left Hook to the body, left hook to the head.

 

Shadow Boxing With Weights

Shadow with weights is an effective way to increase the endurance in our arms. Boxers should only shadow box with light dumbbells, 1kg or 2lbs maximum. The theory is that our arms get used to punching with the heavier load and we can punch fast and stronger than before.

Remember if you are doing a 3 minute round of shadow boxing and you arms are fatigued after a minute with the weights, just drop them and complete the round without them and pick them up for the next round.

 

Does Shadow Boxing With Weights Make Your Hands Faster?

I would say shadow boxing with weights good make your hands a little bit quicker but it’s not going to turn someone that is a slow puncher into a fast puncher, so you might make some slight improvement in your hand speed but it will probably not be that noticeable.

 

Will Shadow Boxing Increase The Endurance In My Arms?

Shadow boxing with weights definitely increase the endurance in your arms if you put the work in with them in training. Many boxers will start their training with 3 rounds of shadow boxing so you could use weights for the first 2 and use only your hands for the last set.

You can freestyle with the weights or you can do drills

Try throwing fast straight punches with the light dumbbells for a minute straight and aim your shots upwards or towards the ceiling to engage your shoulders more.

You can do 10 punches with weight – 10 push ups then 9, 8, 7 ,6 down to 1.

These kind of drills really work the shoulders and lead to increase endurance.

 

Is Shadow Boxing Good Cardio

Shadow boxing is good cardio but it is generally used as a warm up and visualisation tool. You might shadow box for 10 minutes before moving onto more difficult work. If you wanted a good cardio workout for shadow boxing, you would need to shadow box for 30 minutes without taking many breaks which will probably get boring unless you bring some conditioning drills into the mix.

Shadow boxing is good cardio but not as good as jogging, cycling, jumping rope or swimming which are solid forms of cardio for boxing/

How Many Calories Do You Burn Shadow Boxing With Weights

Shadow Boxing on its own will burn around 4-500 calories per hour for the average 160 lb man and it will deviate slightly from this the more you move up and down in weight. When we add weights to the shadow boxing we can manage to burn 6-700 calories.

This is really going to depend on how intensely you train and how many punches a round you are averaging.

 

Shadow Boxing With Resistance Bands

Shadow boxing with resistance bands is a great way to build up our arm endurance and work on our punching speed. You want to get the bands with handles to give you resistance on the way out and remind you to bring your hands back to your head when you are done.

Resistance bands with handles usually come in sets and we want to start out with the lowest resistance and work our way up. We don’t need to go too strong with the resistance, fast movements will be better for improving your punching speed and power and the extra resistance will increase your endurance and build the shoulder muscles.

 

Shadow Boxing With Weighted Gloves

I would prefer the dumbbells or the resistance bands over the weighted gloves. The weighted gloves are perfectly mimicking the movement of throwing the punch and we don’t wan to get that skewed by throwing punches with a much heavier glove. Weighted gloves are not necessarily that bad but I would favour the dumbbells or resistance band.

 

If you are talking about 20oz gloves then yes you should shadowbox with them but I wouldn’t go with anything much higher.

 

Egg Weights For Shadow Boxing

Egg Weights are cool ergonomically designed weights that fit in your palms perfectly allowing you to add some weight to your shadow boxing and we think that they work very well to allow to you to develop speed in your punches and overall endurance. Egg weights can stay in your hands if you are doing a circuit as well and these are a great training add and a way to burn those extra few calories in the gym.

 

Dumbbell Punch Outs

Dumbbell punches are a great way to finish off a workout. This involves holding light dumbbells and doing straight punches for a 2 or 3 1 minute rounds. These are perfect for building up your arm endurance especially when you are already tired and just to burn those last few calories at the end of your workout.

 

You could also try 20 straight punches, 20 hooks and 20 uppercuts to get a real good burn in all of your arms and this will really condition and work on your endurance

 

Do Air Punches Build Muscle?

Air punches on their own well not really build muscle as there is no resistance to punch against. While it is using your shoulders and arms, it will only help you to tone and condition as it is too light to build any really muscle. By the time it becomes anaerobic, you really won’t see any strength or muscle gains but it is a great aerobic exercise for cardio and practicing your moves in the ring.

 

Is Shadow Boxing Better Than Punching Bag?

It’s very hard to say whether shadow boxing is better than hitting the bags, they are both different exercises with their own benefits and you should be doing both if you want to get better at boxing.

Shadow boxing is excellent for visualising yourself in the ring, moving around, throwing fast punches and working on what you have been learning in your classes or as you get better.

Shadow boxing is ideal for building up technique and imagining yourself winning, especially as you move around the ring and we can introduce weights to add endurance to the exercise.

The heavy bag offers good resistance at the moment of impact so it is perfect for perfecting you punching power, endurance and working on different combos and techniques. There are tons of drills you can do with the heavy bag and it is great way to improve endurance and overall boxing ability.

Try warming up with 3 rounds of shadow boxing and then move onto 3 rounds of hitting the bags when your arms are warmed up already.

 

 

Should I Shadow Box With Gloves On?

Absolutely, shadow boxing with gloves on mimics throwing a punch exactly in sparring or a fight and it also helps you to visualise yourself more fully in the ring.

Whether you are wearing your 10 ounce training gloves or 16oz sparring gloves, it allows us to add endurance to the exercise with the extra weight and we can see our hands slowing down so we can become more conscious of our defence.

When our punches go out, they should come back just as quickly to protect our chin and body.

 

Is Shadow Boxing A HIIT?

Shadow boxing can easily High Intensity Interval training. We can shadowbox normally for 20 seconds and then sprint with straight punches for 10 seconds over a 2 or 3 minute round.

 

We can also shadow box normally for 20 seconds and then do 10 – Push Ups / Burpees / Squats etc. which will real tone and condition the body.

So we can see that it is easy to use shadowboxing as a full workout, when we couple it with another exercise to add intensity and endurance work.

 

Does Shadow Boxing Increase Punching Power?

Shadow boxing on its own will not increase punching power. It is an excellent visualisation tool, perfect for warm ups or even full workouts and perfect for perfecting the new techniques we have been picking up in training.

Shadow boxing with weights may help to very slightly increase punching power and speed but it is more useful for building endurance, stamina and conditioning.

 

How Often Should You Shadow Box?

Shadow boxing is something you can do every day as it isn’t going to cause ripping and tea in your muscle so you don’t need to recover from it. You can start every workout with shadow boxing or use it to cool down at the end of a session.

You can use high or low intensity and you add in other extra exercises or make it HIIT easily.

 

What Does Shadow Boxing Do For Your Body

Shadow Boxing works your whole body, not just the arms and shoulder. You can punch through the hips bring a wide range of muscles into action and you can dip low to throw shots to the body working the legs more or you can use it to explode with a knockout punch. Shadow boxing is a versatile exercise that can give you a full body workout.

 

 

Can You Lose Weight By Shadow Boxing?

Incorporating shadow boxing into our fitness work can definitely help us to lose weight, get toned and improve our whole bodies conditioning but it is ultimately going to come down to diet.

Shadow boxing will burn a lot of calories for us but its not going to matter if we go to McDonalds or Dominos pizza afterwards. If you can keep a clean diet or even clean up your diet a little bit and you start incorporating good shadow boxing routines into your workouts, you can gain some weight and tone up considerably

 

Try some drills In this shadow boxing workout routine

 

5 * 3 Minute Rounds

 

Round 1 – Practice the jab. Don’t forget head movement and footwork. Go to the body and head, Throw doubles and triples

 

Round 2 – Add The Right Cross. Same as round 1 except no we can throw 1-2’s double jab right hand, jab to body and right hand to head. Moving our head and feet at all times.

 

Round 3 – Conditioning

 

Throw 1 Punch and pick and exercise From Push Ups, Burpees Or Sit Ups

 

Throw 1 punch and do 1 push

2 punches and 2 push ups

3 and 3 all the way up to 10.

 

If you finish in the 3 minutes work down from 10 with a different exercise like

 

10 Punches – 10 Sit Ups/Burpees

 

This will give you a good workout

 

Round 4 – Jabs Crosses and Left Hooks – Work on your punching and movement.

 

Round 5 – Freestyle shadow boxing – throw all different punches, get inventive with combos, move your head, dance around and have fun. Try to keep a good intensity in the final round to really get a good conditioning, weight loss and endurance workout

 

Round 6 – Bonus Conditioning Round

10 Fast Straight Punches

10 Push Ups

 

10 Fast Punches

10 Burpees

 

10 Fast Punches

10 Crunches

 

10 Fast Punches

10 Squats

 

Repeat until the round is over

Floyd Mayweather Shadow Boxing Workout

Floyd Mayweather is the greatest fighter of our era and if he is doing it, you better believe it works.`

Floyd likes to shadow box quite calmly with weights and without weights

He jabs, throws right hands and left hooks, as well as uppercuts on the inside.

He likes the right uppercut followed by the left hook in his shadow boxing which he keep calm and controlled.

Floyd uses shadow boxing to warm up for his rounds on the pads with Uncle Roger Mayweather and this can be a very good strategy to use.