The best boxing workout to get lean and fit

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Published: March 19, 2019

Boxing is a brutal and a tough sport to handle — it takes a great fitness level to be a good boxer. But even though you are not aspiring for a boxing career, your kickboxing personal trainer Dubai will help you drill in this brutal, hard workout to help you knock out your fitness goals. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have gloves or an opponent, the principles of this fighting sport can be applied to make you a better athlete. And if you’re frustrated and you want to unleash some pent up anger during your workout, there’s nothing better than putting on boxing gloves and hitting a heavy bag.

How to build your best boxing workout

Boxing exercises can help to improve your cardio stamina, endurance, balance, and coordination. Since it includes CrossFit training, it will be drilling your upper body, lower body, and core. The intense, fat-burning workouts can help you lose weight, too. Be careful how you plan your best boxing workout because it takes more than effort and determination to make the most of a fighter’s fitness routine. You’re going to need to learn specific movements to really exercise the way a fighter does.

A handsome boxer in black and white
An experienced trainer Dubai can teach you specific movements to really punch away the extra weight the way a fighter does.

To reap the benefits like a true boxer you will have to have focus, coordination, power, speed, and endurance. To help you tap into all the skills, we have prepared the best boxing workout out there with the most experienced trainers in Dubai. Hit these workouts to improve your punching power, just make sure you throw on some wraps or gloves before you attack the bag to protect your hands.

Warm up for the best boxing workout: Sparring

There’s no drill that better imitates fighting conditions than sparring. Sparring is the best boxing workout because you work every muscle in your body trying to respond to your opponent’s every move. Your arms get tired because you’re swinging at the air. The legs wear out faster because you keep going off balance. And the mind is in high gear because you don’t usually have to think that fast in training. You can’t breathe as well because you have a mouthpiece on and an opponent who will literally keep you on your toes.

We don’t recommend this for everyone but try to spend as much time as possible in the ring. Spar for warm-up, exercise, and to develop your skills. We do this to build our best boxing workout and fitness level.

First, go slow. When you first hit the gym, you should spar light with a beginner to warm-up the muscles. You usually have a trainer coaching you both, and this works nicely because you get a real opponent to practice with, instead of the usual shadowboxing. After the warm-up sparring, hit the jump rope or do some stretching.

Shadowboxing

This may be one of the best boxing workouts, but also one of the most underrated. It works best on developing your form, speed, and balance. You can practice anything you want at full speed. It conditions your body to throw fast punches and gives you the opportunity to practice all fighting movements.

Girl kissing her boxing glove
Shadow boxing gives your body an opportunity to throw fast punches in order to practice all fighting movements without having to actually hit or get hit.

Use the opportunity to practice anything you want — you can visualize any strategy as you shadowbox, moving around an imaginary opponent. Shadowboxing in front of a mirror allows you to check how you perform and see instant changes in your movements. Perfect your strikes on air so you’ll know how to punch and put together combinations before you start pounding at the bag. Our favorite benefit of shadowboxing is that you can do it anywhere and the only equipment you need is a place to stand and a little time.

How to shadowbox for the best boxing workout warm up

  1. Jab: A quick punch using your forward hand (left for righties, right for southpaws)
  2. Cross: A punch across your body from the backhand for righties, left for southpaws)
  3. Hook: A sweeping strike from across the body using either hand (not demonstrated above, but used in the other workouts below)
  4. Uppercut: A punch upward using power from your hips to strike with either hand.

String together punch combos for 30 seconds to one minute. For an extra challenge, hold 2.5 lb. or 5 lb. weights. Drill for 3 to 5 rounds, and rest for a minute between each one.

Add some heavy duty cardio into your best boxing workout

You’ll need to incorporate more than just punches into your routine to get the best boxing workout and get into the ultimate fighting shape. Add a rope, slam ball, speed ladder, and box to push your conditioning up to the next level. Perform 3 to 5 rounds, resting 2 minutes in between rounds

  • Jump Rope: 60 seconds
  • Overhead Ball Slam: 10 reps
  • Ladder Drill: 60 seconds
  • Box Jump: 10 reps
  • Shadow Box: 90 seconds
Girl jumping rope in ring
Push your conditioning to the next level. This is commonly done by jumping rope.

UFC Power Punches

According to Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champ, no matter if you’re facing an MMA champion in a cage match or a heavy punching bag in your gym, the same rules apply: once you warm up, you should be throwing each punch at full blast. He uses this demanding six-round routine to build mental and physical tenacity.

Grow your intensity by timing each round at 3 minutes, with 1 m1-minutes between rounds. With each round, you’ll add one punch to your sequence:

  1. For warm up, strike the bag at 50 percent with a variety of punches
  2. Add power to full strength and launch jabs
  3. The first jab, then throw across repeat
  4. Again jab through the air, cross, hook, repeat
  5. Jab once again, cross, hook, uppercut, repeat
  6. Endure through the final repetition of jab, cross, hook, uppercut, body punch

Punch and Pull

Use light dumbbells and a stretch band with a handle to balance out your strikes and build punching power and self-defense skills with this drill. Time six cycles of the exercises to simulate three rounds of tenacious boxing work. The best boxing workout you want to create depends on our mental strength and will power.

Under the line: best boxing workout for endurance

You’ll need a slack line for this drill, or just imagine one for the purposes of this workout. Since you will be shifting and squatting under the line, a solid stance is key. 

Use 2.5 lb. or 5 lb. weights and advance back and forth down the line for a minute straight, throwing crosses and left hooks. Then, do 30 explosive air squats right away. Do the whole workout six times to exercise the action you will face during two 3-minute rounds in the ring.

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