Boxing has a bad reputation for many reasons, but there is also a lot of good that comes out of this sport. In boxing you train your whole body while having a lot of fun! You don't even have to fight anyone, you can just spar and practice on a punch bag and still get the same benefits. Here we list 4 important health benefits of boxing.
Improved cardiovascular health
Would you rather run on a treadmill, do the same round or box? Boxing is our preference! The bonus is that you'll get a good workout for your cardiovascular system that's as good as running, if not better, and you'll enjoy it more. Working on your cardiovascular system will help prevent heart disease, burn calories and lose or maintain weight.
To improve your cardiovascular health, you need to put a moderate amount of stress on your heart and lungs, which gets them pumping and your blood flowing – this is easily achieved with boxing. The warm-up, which is a mini-workout in itself, is enough to get you going, and the bonus comes when you start boxing. It's exciting and will make your heart beat.
Improves total body strength
All the kicking, jumping, side-stepping and hitting takes a lot of energy and strength because you do it multiple times. Keep in mind that in boxing in a match, the goal is to keep hitting the person until he is knocked out; if not, you will be scored and judged on how well you did at the end of the match.
Due to the high intensity and the fact that your whole body is used while you box, you build muscle strength and easily stay tight. Boxing is a sport that targets your upper body, lower body and core at the same time – even the training circuits use your whole body.
Improves hand-eye coordination
Hand-eye coordination is something we rely on every day, so strengthening it will help you not only in the world of boxing, but also in everyday life as it will increase your reaction time and give you faster reflexes. Plus, it will help you later in life as reflexes tend to slow down with age – strengthening them won't slow your reflexes down as quickly.
While boxing, you have to think about your feet and be ready for whatever your opponent does. You need to block quickly and then take a gamble with a punch and you need to take a side swipe. You also need to be able to do a right hook combination quickly while reacting to what your opponent is doing. This means that boxing definitely improves hand-eye coordination during all workouts and throughout the sport.
Reduces stress and improves your mood
During exercise, your body releases endorphins, leaving you feeling happy, stress-free, focused and ready to keep training. This happens with any kind of training, but boxing knocks it out when it comes to raising your mood.
Boxing is a great outlet because a workout usually alternates between high and low intensities:during the high intensities, you let go of your frustrations blow after blow and get happier with each shot.
During the low-intensity parts, you're too busy to catch your breath while waiting for the high-intensity interval, so you don't have the time or mental energy to think about what's bothering and frustrating you; instead you just take it out to the punching bag. Boxing is often beneficial for some people as it is a release from all the stress and bad vibes which in turn brings good vibes.
