Boxing is a fantastic workout and an overall great life skill to learn. Whether looking to improve cardiovascular health, develop total body strength, or even if you’re just looking to de-stress boxing really is for everyone.
To help you on your way, we have gathered 7 steps to learning how to box.
Already know you'd like to incorporate boxing into your fitness routine? Easily find a top local boxing coach and get started with an inspiring new exercise plan today!
How to Box – 7 Steps to Getting Started With a Boxing Routine
1. Learn The Best Stance
Working on the correct boxing stance is one of the first skills you will learn when being taught how to box. When starting to box, trainers will often first teach you the beginner boxing stance. This stance allows you to punch with both hands easily and is simple to learn.
As you become more advanced, trainers can teach you more complex stances. These stances are used for counter-attacks and more advanced body movements.
Working with a trainer will teach you the most basic boxing stance. This consists of:
- One foot forward and one back
- How to evenly distribute your weight across both legs
- Keeping your hands up and elbows down
- How to relax yet maintain a steady breathing rate
The more time and energy you invest in lessons with a trainer, the more advanced stances you will be taught. The more you practice, the better you'll get!
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2. Practice Your Footwork
Footwork is an essential skill in boxing. This will be covered extensively with a boxing coach. Alongside your boxing stance, footwork will also come naturally with practice.
Many beginners will often make the mistake of jumping around and letting their feet leave the ground. A boxing trainer will teach step-drag and pivot maneuverers, fundamental for beginners. Once this technique is mastered, trainers can teach much more fancy footwork.
3. Develop Your Punching Technique
There are many different kinds of punches which are thrown in boxing, the most basic include jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. When learning to box, these basic punches will be taught first.
While throwing punches, you will be taught to rotate your body and pivot on your feet – except for when throwing a jab. As well as this, other punching skills you may be taught include:
- How to maintain your stance to throw higher power punches with better mobility
- Exhaling on every shot
- How to throw a variety of different punches
- How to throw a variety of different punching combinations
4. Hone Your Blocking Skills
Boxing defence is just as crucial as your footwork and punching. Moreover, there are many different forms of defence in boxing. The most basic is learning how to block. This will be taught from your very first lesson.
Once your trainer agrees that you have mastered blocking, they will begin to teach you further defence techniques such as parrying, slipping, and rolling.
When blocking, there are a few tips you may wish to digest. These include:
- Effective blocking techniques
- How to stay out of range of your opponent’s punches
- How to analyse your opponent’s offence
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5. Keep up With Your All-Around Fitness
Aside from straight-up boxing, you will also be getting into great shape. Workouts which are both practical and directly applicable to boxing include rounds on the bag and skipping. Both of these are great for burning calories, boosting your metabolism, and most importantly developing your cardiovascular system to cope with the high demands boxing entails.
Other workouts your trainer may add to your boxing routine include shadowboxing with weighted dumbbells and general gym work.
This will often be done as part of your boxing training. If working with a trainer, you can expect to be doing a little bit of conditioning work every session – with at least one session primarily focused on conditioning such as round on the bags and skipping.
6. Learn Sparring Techniques
Once you’ve got your basic stance, footwork, defence, and conditioning down, it’s now time to start sparring. You’ll usually spar with someone of a similar skill level, so you have nothing to worry about.
Sparring will allow you further to develop all of the essentials, including defence, punching, and footwork. Sparring is not a fight either. Sparring is merely learning how to fight with another opponent – the next step up from learning with your coach.
A few extra sparring notes:
- Sparring is a learning experience, not a fight
- Focus on speed, technique, and different punches – power will come with this
7. Get Sufficient Rest
All great athletes incorporate rest into their training. A boxing trainer will teach you how to rest correctly for your fitness goals so that you can effectively keep your energy levels up
Likewise, sufficient rest will also need to be built into your training program. Having a minimum of two days’ rest per week when the beginning is essential to progress. On these days you may wish to practice another form of exercise such as yoga to keep your muscles feeling great.
Summary
Boxing is a great sport, which can be enjoyed by everyone. All set to begin boxing? Simply submit a free request to find a top local boxing coach and get started!
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