Boxing is more than just a sport.
It’s also a trendy way to get fit. It might not seem so awesome to get punched, but taking boxing classes is beneficial to your health and wellness. Boxing classes are more than getting into a boxing ring and punching it out with a sparring partner. It involves training elements like jumping rope, heavy bag punching, speed bag punching, squats, pushups, and hook and jab pads to practice punching.
What are the benefits of boxing for fitness?
Full-Body Workout
One of the biggest benefits you will get from taking boxing classes is a total-body workout. Boxing provides both cardio and strength training in one exercise routine. How is it a full-body workout? Boxing involves jumping, punching, and kicking which requires an inordinate amount of strength. Even heavy bags weigh at least 100 pounds.
Improved Coordination
You might not consider hand-eye coordination to be something that affects your physical health, but it does. Your fine motor skills give you the edge when it comes to reflexes, reaction times, and overall physical fitness. Later in life, you will even find your balance to be better and you might lower your risk of falls.
Calorie-Burning
Boxing is a high-intensity interval training routine. It’s anaerobic and aerobic at the same time. The goal is to build speed, power, and strength while also boosting your metabolism. It takes a lot of energy to box, which results in burning more calories in a shorter amount of time.
Stress-Reducing
Taking boxing classes is a great way to relieve and reduce stress. How? Hitting a heavy bag, working out, and performing all the highly intense exercises involved in boxing helps your body release endorphins, the body’s feel-good hormones. You feel happier and less stressed when your endorphins are released, and you’ll go to bed in a more relaxed state.
Protects Bone Density
As you age, your bone mass decreases. Once you get into your late 30s or early 40s your bone density starts to decrease exponentially unless you find a way to prevent it. Boxing, through weight-bearing exercise, helps build bone mass and reduces your risk of bone loss and osteoporosis. This also reduces your risk for bone fractures.
Cardiovascular Benefits
Boxing’s stop-start rounds is interval training at its best. Interval training is one of the best ways to improve your cardiovascular health. When you have better cardiovascular health you reduce your risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
Weight Management
Due to the fact that boxing burns a lot of calories fast prevents a buildup of calories on an ongoing basis. That helps with weight maintenance and weight loss. Boxing, along with a healthy diet will help you lose weight if you need to and maintain your ideal weight over the long term.
These are the primary benefits of taking boxing classes, but there’s more. Boxing also helps safely push you to your limits, continually improves your body, gives you a great upper-body cardio workout, and helps you be more graceful in general. If you haven’t considered taking up boxing as an option for working out, this information should help you think about it.