Boxing is one of the most intense and rewarding exercises we can do, especially if we want to lose weight, tone up, get ripped and increase our confidence.
Boxing is a full body sport but punching is going to require a lot of effort from the shoulders and arms, making it the perfect exercise for burning fat from your arms and revealing the muscle underneath.
It doesn’t matter whether you are someone who wants to remove excess fat from their arms or a body builder that wants to reveal all the muscle that they have work so hard to build over the course of a few months.
Caloric Deficit
To burn fat and tone our bodys we generally need to be in caloric deficit and then the body will turn to the fat your body is storing to fuel the workout. As boxing works primarily the arms for throwing punches, this is where the fat will be burned, revealing the muscles underneath.
Boxing Burns A Ton Of Calories
An hour of boxing class can burn an unbelievable 6-800 calories in a single hour and while that does not guarantee you will get ripped, it will go a huge way to helping once you keep your diet healthy and your workouts consistent.
Boxing Classes Are For The Full Body Not Just The Arms
Even punches generate their body starting for the body of the feet, moving through the glutes and turning at the hips, extending finally through the lats, chest, shoulders and triceps when done correctly for maximum force in each punch thrown.
Boxing classes don’t just involved punches however, they usually also involve a ton of conditioning, circuits and core work that will be great for toning the whole body and even getting a six pack if you stick with it long enough!
Great For Releasing Endorphins
Intense Exercise is notoriously good for releasing endorphins into our body. Endorphins are the chemicals that make us feel happy and that is why the key to overcoming depression and anxiety is to get active.
Having tried nearly every sport under the sun, boxing is by far the best I have seen for releasing those feel good chemicals.
Increase In Confidence
There is nothing like the increase in confidence you get from learning how to box properly and it is not just the feeling of being able to beat people up.
The feeling of being able to protect yourself in any situation is awesome but the discipline it takes to keep going on your boxing journey builds your character and self esteem to a point where you may feel and act like an upgraded version of yourself after some time.
Stress Relief
Anyone that works a 9-5 or stressful job will understand the feeling of stress that can build up in our bodies and letting this stress sit there without an outlet can have serious effects on our mental and physical health.
Getting to the boxing gym is the number 1 that I know to hit that stress as hard as you can leave it all on the gym mat.
Boxing is a lifestyle
Boxing is a sport that can become a hobby to keep you in shape for your entire life and you may only need to focus on improving at boxing to get in incredible shape and tone your arms as a secondary benefit. Boxers can be in shape all year round and you can burn so many calories from all the training that you can eat cheat meals quite regularly and still stay in excellent shape.
It’s a much better way to stay in shape than just running on a treadmill and watching your diet down to the exact calories every day. For me, that is something that is boring and not worth the sacrifice. I much prefer working out hard and boxing is one of the best ways to do that.
Once you catch the boxing bug, you might find yourself out jogging to improve your cardio or shadowboxing and jumping rope at home to improve your game for when boxing comes around.
Best Boxing Exercises For Toning The Arms
The Heavy Bag
The heavy bag is a great stress reliever, you get to hit it as hard as you can and it will keep coming back for more. The heavy bag is great way to drill your combos and potentialize your power and speed.
It is intensive on the arms and will burn the fat in the area first leaving them toned and you looking ripped and lean.
You can work in rounds on the bag or you can do drills like 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds hard for a 3 minute round.
Jumping Rope
Jumping rope is great for boxing as it increases our conditioning and our hand and foot coordination which is crucial for moving around the ring, closing the distance on your opponent and then landing your punches.
Jumping rope is also a perfect way to blast belly fat and really condition the shoulders and arms. The arms will get tired long before the legs with skipping making it a perfect way to tone the arms and get in peak condition.
You can even skip at home for 2 minute rounds with 30 seconds of sprinting and lifting your knees up to your stomach for ultimate conditioning.
Shadow Boxing
Shadow boxing may seem awkward at first but it is a great way to improve at boxing and increase your fitness. Just like all other forms of punching, it is heavily dependent on the arms and will burn up the fat in the arms if you are in a deficit.
All the best boxers put a heavy emphasis on shadow boxing and you can even include light dumbbells to make it an even more intense workout.
Pad Drills
Pad drills with a partner can be an intense anaerobic exercise. That means the arms will fill with lactic acid making it painful to keep going but if you put in 100% your arms will recover and come back stronger, leaner and with more definition so you are better able to deal with the exercise next time.
Pad Drills might include you partner holding the pads while you do 1 punch – 1 push up, 2 punches – push ups all the way up to 10 and then you swap over and it is you partners turn.
In the next round You can swap the push ups for burpees and in the third round you could do
Circuits
Circuits are a crucial part of increasing your boxing fitness and it will also give you an overall full body workout.
You work on a station for 20-30 seconds before moving quickly to the next station and there can be 6-10 stations in a round. A full workout may include 3 rounds and the stations may include Push Ups, Sit Ups, Jumping Squats, Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Shadow Boxing With Dumbbells, Pull Ups, Dips, Leg Raises, Plank and more.
Getting toned arms is one benefit of this and getting a full ripped and lean body is another one.
Sparring
Sparring is the ultimate test of your boxing conditioning and skills. You have to worry about and not getting hit and the combination of moving around the ring, engaging with your opponent, taking punches to the body and head and throwing you own is probably the most intense workout in boxing.
If you can last 5 or 6 rounds of sparring, you should be in amazing conditioning, provided that you have kept your diet healthy and you are working out 3-5 times per week.
Conclusion
If you are talking about conditioning and toning your arms, boxing and rowing are two of the very best sports that you can practice to lose any excess fat from your arms and build a little bit of lean, functional muscle.
If you are going on holidays, lean arms and a lean body can give you a lot of confidence to wear what you like and feel great doing.
Give boxing a try today and let us know how you get on in the comments.
