Top 4 Boxing Workouts to Help You Knock Out Fat

Boxing is a known combat game, most people think about boxing as a self-defense method and nothing more. On the contrary, boxing is a type of martial arts. Just like most martial arts forms, you need a change of lifestyle as well as your diet and workout plan. In short, boxing is not just a combat game but instead a whole lifestyle. You need to be disciplined to opt for something that requires so much commitment.

Overall, we have seen boxers going from buff to lean and from lean to buff in a short amount of time. This also means that there is a lot going on that a layman doesn’t know or consider. One of the biggest changes in the lifestyle is that you start to eat healthily. Another important change is the overall mental health change that you need to make.

According to a recent study, people who work out every day have more mindfulness as compared to people who do not work out every day. The best thing about boxing is that you will be working out but you will never realize that you are indeed spending a lot of time on exercise and health because you’re enjoying yourself so much.

Apart from this, your health will get better especially if you want to be more muscular. If we look at the overall change in the body of a boxer, we see that within the first three months, people shed a lot of weight. One of the main reasons is that fat is used as an energy currency for daily workouts. The rest of the fat left in the body is then used for building muscle and toning up the body. Overall if we compare the progress, we will see that a boxer is lean, has more muscle and overall, their stamina is much better.

For the beginner who is trying to figure out the way boxing affects the body as well as some of the best boxing-related workout routines that can help them in losing weight, we have listed down a few of the best workout routines.

Note: I am not a professional boxer or a professional on human fitness. However, in the last few months, I have tried and succeeded in shedding a lot of weight by using these workouts. Most of these workouts have helped me channel my inner boxer but I am just an immature hobbyist boxer.

Starter Pack Workout

This workout is good for someone who is a beginner but familiar with the very basics of boxing. You don’t need too much information, just look up the basic terms and their execution and you are good to go. You can also set a target according to your preference but it is better to notice which one is easily adjustable according to you.

Time: 30 minutes

Equipment: punching bag, boxing gloves, weight and boxing shorts

Setting: Start with a simple shadowboxing method and then take 3 minutes for each maneuver. After each exercise, take a rest for 30 seconds and start again. You will have 3-5 rounds before you are done.

Goal: Lift 2.5 lb. to 5 lb. weight. Once you reach that level you can upgrade the exercise plan

Boxing exercises: Your boxing exercise will consist of various boxing combinations. You can practice each punching style separately and then put them together according to your ease. Start with a jab where you will have a better speed of punching and you need to use your forward hand. The switch to cross, where you will punch across the body and use the back of your hand. Then you can switch to hook, where you will sweep strike by using either hand and punch across the body. Finally, you can finish off with an uppercut where you can punch upward with full power.

Upgrade Power Circuit

Circuit-based workouts are getting very popular. The main reason is that they are very effective and rotate through several smaller workouts, allowing those of us who are more impatient to keep moving to the next thing. This workout plan is good if you want to upgrade to the next level. Most people get bored of the same workout routine so they want to break the monotonous cycle. This workout is good for someone who is no longer a beginner but still cannot get into technical work yet.

Time: 20- 30 minutes depending on the stamina and choice of circuit

Equipment: punching bag, punching gloves, jump rope, medical ball, and boxing shorts

Setting: This will be a heavy intensity interval training. You will start with the circuit and once it’s done, you can then take a few seconds break and start that again. Overall, this will take around 5-6 reps during each set. The length of the overall workout is largely dependent on the choice of the person. These rounds will mainly contain 2 minutes of resting time between each circuit.

Goal: The main goal is to upgrade the exercise when you want to shift to another exercise. You can switch after a week if you see progress, this will help you beat the monotonous workout routine.

Building a Circuit:

The circuit will consist of five main exercises, these exercises include:

• Warm-up exercise
• Jump Rope: 60 seconds
• Shadow Box: 90 seconds
• Overhead Ball Slam: 10 reps
• Ladder Drill: 60 seconds
• Box Jump: 10 reps

Professional Plan

This workout plan is best for people who are professionals and want to go to extreme workouts. We have added this to our list because for someone who is already experienced, this will work like a charm. This is an intense workout so if you are not a beginner this is a very good workout for you. People who are beginners might not be able to follow such an elaborate workout routine so it is not recommended for them.

Time: For the overall workout routine you will need more than 35 minutes.

Equipment: boxing gloves, punching bag, boxing shorts

Setting: You need to start with a jab, then switch to a cross, move to a hook, then uppercut, body punch and finally your first circuit of shadowboxing will be done. Once you are done you can keep repeating this circuit according to your convenience.

Goal: The goal is to see improvement in the overall endurance and intensity. You will start with a 3 minute round and then rest for 1 minute. As you progress to each round, you can add a 3 minute punching sequence to make it more intense.

Exercise Breakdown:

Warm-Up Session: Bag work with 3 minutes of overall punches

Punching Combinations: This part of the exercise just consists of punching combinations. However, it is optional to follow the exact combinations and you can make them according to your convenience. However, it is safe to follow these combinations as well.

Jab – cross – jab - cross
Jab – cross – hook - Jab – cross – hook
Jab – cross – hook – uppercut - Jab – cross – hook – uppercut

Tune Hands Extreme Workout

This is an extreme workout so enjoy it as much as possible. Most professional athletes use this workout and if you visit their gym or a practice session, you will see a lot of people exercising according to this extreme workout plan. The best thing is that you are allowed to put on a beat and let your body move according to the rhythm. This is effective when you are familiar with the combination and bag work. Without proper combination and muscle memory, you might struggle a lot.

Time: 20 minutes–you can measure time according to the length of the songs.

Equipment: boxing gloves, punching bag, boxing shorts

Setting: Practice combinations but keep practicing according to the beat. After the fourth beat, you need to practice a full punching combination. Once done, you can bring your hands down and then wait for the fourth beat to start again. The shifting beat will also help you adjust the tempo and your speed will increase according to the beat as well. Make sure the songs are upbeat, avoid any slow sad songs. You can divide the combinations according to the songs or you can use them alternatively as well.

Goal: The goal is to focus on the tune and adjust the rhythm according to the beat. This will help with body rhythm and you can adjust your footwork according to the beat as well.

Combos to Practice with the Beat:

Right cross - left jab - left jab
Right cross - right uppercut - left jab
Left body punch - left uppercut - right body punch

The Impact of Boxing on the Body

Now that we have figured out the weight shedding process, it is very important to know how it is done. We will also explain the overall impact of boxing on the body.

Rapid Breathing

As the body starts moving, muscles start to work more. As the muscles work more, your body needs more energy. To make sure the energy supply is more, breathing rate increases to ensure that energy is rapidly converted from ATP to actual usable calories. As a result, the breathing rate increases.

Heartbeat

The rise in the breathing rate means that the body is now able to generate more energy through oxidation. This means that now the heart has to work more to ensure more energy throughout the body. As the breathing rate increases, the body has to work more and so your organs need more energy as well.

Heat it up

As you start boxing, you keep moving your muscles. This means that your body will heat up as a result. The heating up is carried out by burning calories and using the energy that is extracted from this calorie burnout. During the burnout process, some of the calories are left behind as a byproduct. This byproduct ends up raising the body heat.

Break a Sweat

As the body heat increases, the temperature rises in the body. Due to this temperature rise, the body needs to bring down the overall body temperature. To make this possible, the body starts to expel the surplus water via pores that are present on the skin. To push the water out of your body, you need some extra calories. Eventually, these extra calories are released from the body via sweating.

This is a cyclic process. As the workout process continues, the catabolic process keeps on going and this way energy is generated.

Why is boxing becoming one of the top recommended exercises?

Boxing is rapidly becoming one of the most recommended exercises for every gender and age. So far, people are trying hard to question the overall validity because most people still believe that boxing is just for self-defense. According to the new generation, boxing is not just for combat or self-defense, it is a complete lifestyle. This starts from diet, sleep pattern, healthy living, and much more.

Some of the most common benefits of boxing include:

• Improvement in the cardiovascular health
• Betterment in the stamina and overall body strength
• Enhancement in body and mind coordination
• Increase in muscle mass
• Improvement in mental health abilities, especially decrease in stress
• Improvement in sleep cycle and cure of insomnia
• Good for discipline
• Self-defense

Final Verdict

This is very common knowledge that once you start any martial arts training, the body will shed a lot of weight. This process, however, is just limited to the first three months. This is the time when you will mainly lose weight as well as shed a lot of fat. After three months, the process of shedding weight decreases. Most people think that maybe the body is not responding to the exercise or training like it used to. However, this is not the case. The body is still responding to the exercises but now it is mainly converting the fat into muscles. So you may not be able to see the progress as much as you noticed in the first few months, however, your body is still making progress.

Looking for a nutrition plan to go with your workout? Check out these healthy eating articles.