Boxing Lessons: Training and Conditioning

I am happy to bring you the second article in my four-part series on boxing. This article will deal with training and conditioning needed to help get you in good shape for competition or just to lose some weight. Let me first again remind everyone that boxing is a contact sport and any time you begin a new workout plan it's a good idea to check with a doctor.

Stretching- Before any workout, stretching is essential. You want to make sure you don't pull or strain any muscles. A lot of people think they can just skip stretching but the first time they end up bent over in pain because they pull an arm or back muscle punching they learn otherwise. The most important muscles to stretch are

Calf- Punches begin in the legs, meaning you'll need to stretch your calves and ankles. Bending down to touch your toes helps here, as does pushing against a wall with one leg extended out behind you, then switching off.

Thigh- Continuing on leg stretches you can balance against a wall or chair then pull on your foot behind your back to stretch the upper front thigh. Leaning deeply from one side to the other, as you see runners doing on TV help get the lower thighs. Finally, bend slightly to one side, arm extended over your head to stretch both your back and upper inner thighs.

Back- Start with trunk rotations, then turn from one side to the other while pulling the opposite side arm will help stretch both shoulders and back. Stretching straight up, or up and slightly back helps to stretch the back and hips flexors.

Arms- Start with bending one arm behind your head, with your hand on your back, reach over and pull slightly at your elbow to stretch. You should also extend your arm out palm face up then grab your fingers and pull down slowly, this stretches forearms and wrists.

Any other stretches you think you'll need are also fine. You should repeat each stretch three times holding for ten seconds each time. Stretch after exercise as well to prevent cramping.

Road Work- One of the most important parts of boxing and a great way to get in shape is roadwork, which is boxing slang for running. Three miles is the recommended daily running by professional boxers though when you first start out if you are not in shape you'll need to start smaller. Start by running for fifteen minutes a day, working up to being able to run fifteen minutes straight, and then go for thirty minutes. When first starting out you should skip a day between runs, to let your body rest and get used to the new strain. Eventually you'll want to go for a three mile run, every day or every other day. If you're not actively competing every other day is fine, since you don't need to be in elite condition.

Interval running is another great running technique used to get people in excellent shape. Interval running is starting out jogging, at a steady pace for about two minutes, then sprinting hard for one or two minutes, then going back to jogging, etc. Do this for ten to fifteen minutes, the rapid speeding up and slowing down of the heart rate is a great way to condition yourself for the world of boxing in which you need to be able to use explosive actions suddenly.

Calisthenics- The next important exercise you'll need is calisthenics, also known as floor work in the boxing world. Basic push-ups and sit ups are great to build strength and endurance. Here are a few ideas to help get you started on a healthier body.

Push-ups: Everyone who has ever taken gym class has done these. Just make sure your back stays straight and your arms evenly spaced. If you want to work on chest or arms you can do push-ups with arms extra close or extra far away, the closer they are the more they work on your triceps, the further away the more your chest is worked out. Starting out you should do at least five to ten. As you work up you should get to twenty-five to thirty at a time. Some people prefer to do these in three sets while others like to do more but all at once. Either way works so long as you feel the burn at the end of the workout.

Sit-ups: Another basic gym class exercise, sit-ups work your abs out great. While crunches are recommended over full blown sit-ups because of the wear they save your back, either work fine. Start out with at least ten to fifteen, working up to fifty or more. As with push-ups, decide if you want to do these in sets or do more straight through. As your skill grows you can also add in twists, where you reach your hand toward your opposite side knee to bring the sides into play. Another great way to enhance sit-ups is using a slant board, to put you at an angle which increases the tension in the muscles.

Pull-ups: Great for the lats and biceps, pull-ups are another great conditioner that our gym teachers terrorized us with. Start out doing as many as you can, even if it is only one or two at a time. Work up to doing about ten to fifteen at a time. These cause you to use all your weight on your arms, which really pays off in results.

Dips: What pull-ups are for the biceps, the dips are for triceps. If you need to work up to full blown dips on a dip bar you can start by leaning back against a counter, with your feet out in front of you. Slowly lower yourself using only your arms then bring yourself back up. Once you can do these fairly comfortably move up to doing them on a dip bar, which has you using your full bodyweight on your triceps. You'll eventually want to be able to do at least fifteen on a dip bar.

Jump Rope: Skipping rope is seen as a staple o a boxer's workout. Start off with three to five minutes of skipping rope, just jumping over the rope. As you practice you want to get to the point you can do the alternating foot skips you see in boxing movies. The ultimate goal for competition is to be able to do fifteen minutes straight skipping rope without stopping unless you get tangled up, which even pros do sometimes.

Do these every day or every other day and you'll see results fairly quickly, especially if you go on some kind of diet, which we will discuss later. These are only one part of the boxer's workout though for now we come to the all important aspects of training.

The Boxer's workout: This is the actual skill building exercise used by boxers. I will present all the workouts with time in rounds, a round is three minutes, so doing three rounds on a heavy bag is nine minutes. Between each round you should take a thirty second to one minute rest period. I usually take thirty seconds but using the full minute is fine.

Shadow boxing- Part warm up, part conditioning, shadow boxing is extremely important to the boxer's workout. First off it helps get you used to throwing punches as well moving around. While shadow boxing don't just throw random punches, visualize an opponent in front of you, throw jabs, crosses, etc as if you were really fighting. Duck, slip and block as if you were really getting attacked. Practice all your skills in footwork, punching, defense and so on. Doing this in front of a large mirror is best, but if you don't have one just watch your shadow as you box, to watch for any mistakes in your form. Shadow box for at least 2 rounds at the beginning of the training.

Heavy bag- Next we hit the heavy bag, which reflects what it is like to hit a solid target like a person. Throw your punches like you would in a real fight, though not every punch needs to be full power. Practice combos on the bag or just drill punches. If your having trouble with the cross, try throwing a full round of crosses at the bag, this will train you to hit the cross perfectly in the ring or on the streets. Don't let your stance or defense slip on the heavy bag though, you need to be in the right stance during the whole time your throwing punches so you can get used to being in that stance. Work the heavy bag for a minimum of three rounds, working up to five rounds or more.

Speed bag- To me, this is one of the most fun exercises in the boxing workout. I love throwing quick punches at the speed bag while working in slipping and ducking. You should start out each session just rolling the bag, which is simply punching it quickly as you see people doing in movies or in training films. As you get better you can hit the bag two or more times with one hand, hit the bag quickly in rapid hand circles and work in your defense. Work the speed bag for a minimum of three rounds, working up to five or more rounds.

Slip bag- Working a slip bag helps build even more defensive skills. You work the slip bag by pushing it or having someone push it at you, then quickly slipping, ducking or blocking it. This really helps improve your overall defense as well as your health. You should let the slip bag hit you from time to time, just to get used to keeping your eyes open while being hit, which is very important. Work a minimum of three rounds on the slip bag.

Hand pads- If you have a partner who is willing to help you should work on hand pads as well, if you go to a boxing gym, your trainer will help you with these. Hand pads are worked by your partner/trainer holding the pads up while you punch at them using the punch they indicate. These help you get used to looking for openings and throwing rapid combos without stopping. Work these pads for at least three rounds with a partner who is willing to push you

Sparring- If you do plan to compete, or just want to see what it might be like, you need to spar. Sparring needs to be done only under supervision of a qualified trainer. Getting into a ring or onto a mat and throwing punches can be fun, I enjoy it, but you'll need to get used to a few things first. First off you need to understand, you will get hit. During sparring you won't get beat up badly, at least not if the trainer is doing their job, but you will get knocked around a little. You may get a bloody nose or a black eye. Don't panic, everyone gets hit in boxing and as you build your skill up you'll be doing a lot more hitting yourself. Next, and just as important, you need to get used to hitting others. This might not sound like a problem, but most people do not enjoy hurting others, just remember the person you're sparring with is in there the same reason you are, to learn and practice, and just like you they know what they signed up for. Not to say you should try to hurt them, sparring is about learning, not hurting others for fun, but don't be afraid to let a few lose. Finally, don't try to be the tough guy/girl who goes in without proper safety gear, wear headgear, gloves, etc. If you're trying to compete and get hurt the fight is off, unless you're a big name star who the public is willing to wait for, which few of us are. Spar safe, spar for learning and have fun while you're doing it.

Following these training and conditioning workouts will help get you into great shape. To further help you there are many helpful diets you can be on to reduce your fat. Now in today's carb-hating society this may sound like heresy but you do not want to reduce carbs too much whilst on the boxer's workout because you will burn a lot of energy up very quickly and carbs are your bodies source of energy. Low carb diets are great for people who are not very active, but if you follow these workouts you will need those carbs to fuel yourself. You don't need as much protein as you might think for this kind of conditioning, while you will be building muscles your overall protein intake does not need to be huge. I suggest just eating a little more fish or even peanuts to give you all the protein you'll need.

You're going to want to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially green vegetables. Avoid pork as it is very fattening, the best meats tom consume while trying to lose weight or train for a completion are fish and lean beef, not to sound like a commercial but the grill designed by George Foreman really does help to reduce fat and I use it constantly. As for drinks you'll want to increase your water consumption while cutting back on drinks like soda and other overly sugared drinks. You don't really want to drink too many sports drinks as they have a huge sugar intake. If you really feel you need the electrolytes go out and get some pedialyte, which is what people use to hydrate sick children, as it has almost no sugar but hydrates really well.

I hope this article has helped you on your way to being healthier and maybe showed you how great a workout boxing can be, even if you never plan to compete. If you do plan to get into a ring, you'll need a good gym to train at; I'm including a web page with a list of gyms around the nation. If you live outside the US I'm sorry but I don't have much info as to what gyms are available, but I'm sure a quick internet search will point you in the right direction.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my article and I look forward to bringing you the rest of my four part series on the wonderful sport on boxing.