Fitness: My Boxing Gym Workout Regimen

There are a lot of different types of gyms. The most common type of gym is the kind that hones one's general fitness. This type of gym normally has a treadmill, a bench press, and a set of dumbbells that comes in varying weights along with a few other pieces of equipment. A boxing gym is different from your regular gym and for this blog post I'm going to show you my workout regimen when I put the gloves on.

A boxing gym is much more spacious than your regular gym.

Before I start with my workout regimen I want to tell you how different a boxing gym is from the ubiquitous kind that I mentioned a while ago. A boxing gym has all sorts of different equipment that you won't ever see in your average gym. In the boxing gym I go to, Elite Boxing Gym, these are:

• Heavy punching bags (obviously)
• Double-end bags
• Speed bags
• Wall Bags
• Kettle Bells
• Lightweight dumbbells
• Jump ropes
• A Spar Bar
• A boxing ring (I think that counts as equipment)

I don't utilize all of the equipment listed above; I usually ignore the wall bags and I just casually toy with the spar bar from time to time. The rest of the equipment I use though, and they're great for improving one's technique and form in boxing just as much as they're useful for breaking a sweat.

A boxing gym will typically have a boxing ring and a timer.

Now that I've painted a picture of what the boxing gym has to offer, let's get right to my workout regimen:

1. Jogging - 3 rounds

That's right my first exercise doesn't include any of the equipment I listed down. Not yet. I jog around the gym for 3 rounds. For those of you who don't know a boxing round is 3 minutes in length with a minute of rest in between each round. 

When I jog I try to jog at a pace that's near sprinting speed. I avoid jogging leisurely to keep the blood pumping. The jog serves as a warm-up after all.

2. Jump rope - 2 rounds

Once I'm all warmed up from the jog, I grab a jump rope and start skipping. Naturally, I go into the Boxer's skip for this exercise. If I hit the rope while skipping that's alright, I just carry on my way like it didn't happen. To prevent the exercise from getting monotonous, I like to incorporate a view tricks and moves into my skipping. I must admit I only do 2 rounds of these because I want to save up my leg energy for the other exercises that are yet to come.

3. Shadowbox - 2 rounds

Before I start shadow boxing, I wear my hand wraps. This takes a while so I get more than my fair share of 1-minute rest from the previous exercise. This is when I try to get into the rhythm of boxing. I'm more focused on form, technique, and defense in this exercise than working a sweat.

Ideally, the first round of shadowboxing is done with lightweight dumbbells in my hands and the second round is done without any dumbbells to improve my speed, but sometimes I just do both rounds without any weights at all.

4. Mitts Work - 3 rounds

This is where the fun begins. My trainer puts on the boxing mitts, I put on my boxing gloves, and then we begin our combination drills. Focus and concentration are of utmost importance in this exercise. There is a delicate balance between speed, power, and soundness of technique. My trainer critiques my performance if I'm not boxing properly. I try to keep the quality of my punches consistent throughout all 3 rounds without showing any signs of exhaustion to improve my stamina and endurance.

5. Heavy Bag - 3 rounds

What comes after 3 rounds of punching? Even more punching! And there are more punches to come after this exercise too. A heavy bag is a simple tool that's made to be punched, but it's important to not neglect technique when using this equipment. The aspects of boxing that I take into consideration the most when I use the heavy bag are distance, range, and accuracy. The bags in the Elite boxing gym have a logo at eye-level so I like to make that my target when I work the heavy bag.

6. Double-End Bag - 3 rounds (and beyond)

This is my favorite tool to use in the boxing gym. I'm only required to use this piece of equipment for 3 rounds but I aim for 6 rounds with this. It develops good habits, speed, and hand-eye coordination. The double-end bag instills the rhythm of boxing into the individual practicing on it. I make sure to work my head movement and footwork when I use the double-end bag.

7. Mitts Work again - 2 rounds

My arms are already tired by this time in the workout, but that's when my endurance and stamina start to improve. I focus on keeping my hands up at all times while I do my combination drills.

8. Speed Bag - 3 rounds

Although it's called a speed bag, it doesn't actually improve speed, per se. It hones my rhythm and -- given how exhausted I am by this time -- it improves stamina and endurance even more. This can get repetitive just like the jump rope exercise so I like to mix it up by alternating between punches from ones to twos to threes.

9. Ab workout - 2 sets of 5 different exercises

This is the most difficult part of the workout because my body barely has any energy left to complete this set of exercises. It's also the last one. I try to do 2 sets of several different ab exercises like crunches, planks, Russian twists, burpees, and so on.

That's about it for my average workout regimen in the boxing gym. If you tally the number of rounds from each exercise, excluding the ab workout, we have about 21 rounds in total, which roughly translates to 63 minutes of exercise. Sometimes when I'm feeling really energetic, my coach likes to add in other exercises in what he calls circuit training, which is a hundred times more difficult. Circuit training is for another blog post. Sometimes my coach puts me in a sparring session, which I already made a blog post about here.

Fitness: Boxing is All the Exercise you Need

I've always wanted to write a post about Boxing. It's become an integral part of my lifestyle and there's so much I want to say about it, but I don't actually know where to begin. I can write endlessly about how awesome it is to practice the sport, to wear cool gear like gloves and handwraps, and to teach other people self-defense. I could write about whatever came into my mind about boxing, but then my thoughts would be really unorganized because there are just so many aspects of the sport that I can delve into.

One of the great things about Boxing is you can practice it anytime and anywhere. My video above shows what I mean. It's a video of me and my sister doing mitts work in our living room. You can't practice like that with other sports because they require a wide spacious area to practice, like basketball, or football. You also need to get more than a couple of people to free their schedules so they can join you, which is a hassle for everyone.

I titled this blog post the way it is because I wanted to emphasize how beneficial boxing is for those people who want to get fit and toned. I've been practicing the martial art -- and adhering to exercises relevant to the necessary conditioning for the sport -- for nearly 5 years now. I can easily say that it does a great job at keeping my body toned and my spirit confident, as I've shown here. I've listed down some very nice features of boxing that might lure others to be a fellow practitioner of the sport.

1. Gear and Gym Rates are super affordable

Boxing is one of the cheapest sports around. The Philippines is a nation full of people tight on budgets, so affordability is a heavenly characteristic. The bare minimum you have to invest in are a couple of boxing gloves and handwraps, which would cost no more than $40. Your handwraps and gloves can last a couple of years even if you're rough with them (and you will be rough with them; you'll be throwing punches the whole time you're wearing them.)

Boxing gyms like Elorde and Elite are incredibly cheap compared to places like Fitness First and Anytime Fitness. The latter two gyms I mentioned charge you membership rates on a monthly basis. The boxing gyms? They charge you cheaper membership rates per year. You save up so much money by working out at a boxing gym instead of overpriced places like Fitness First and Anytime Fitness.

2. You can practice it anywhere, even if you're alone

Like my video above showed, you don't need a lot of space. More space is good so you don't hit any walls or people while you're doing your thing, but obviously you don't need an entire basketball court to box.

You don't even need anyone else but yourself, per se. It's always nice to have a partner to do mitts work with, or a coach who can whip you to shape (that's of venerable importance to athletes who are aiming to be professionals) but when it comes down to it you can just box by yourself. More specifically, you can shadowbox by yourself, which is a fundamental workout for all practitioners of boxing, regardless of skill level.

3. Boxing exercises your body, mind, and soul

When you box, you use every inch of muscle in your body. Obviously, you use your arms to punch, but punching requires more than that; it takes back and hip muscles to throw punches packed with power. A lot of people underestimate boxing because it doesn't have any kicks involved, but these people don't know that the footwork required in boxing will make you use your legs to their fullest extent, because you always have to be on your toes. Your abs will also get a lot of workout, because a good core is important to quickly slip and dodge incoming fire.

Boxing requires your mind to be sharp so you can see the punches coming, and react accordingly. You also need to train your mind to stay focused (even if you're exhausted!) so you can throw your own shots with precision and accuracy. Boxing also has strategy. You need to fight your enemy with a plan in mind so you can exploit his weaknesses and vulnerabilities while protecting your own.

Finally, boxing is good for your "soul" because it's an immensely cathartic experience. We live in an age of stress and anxiety. Our bodies were designed to react to stress with fight-or-flight responses. Depriving ourselves of the physical outlet in which we can let our bodies do what they have to do eats away at our souls. Boxing lets our body release all the adrenaline it's producing, so we come out of the ring with a better state of mind; destressed, confident, and free.

So there you have it! That's all I'll say for now. Thank you so much for sticking around until this part of the post. Maybe in the future I'll blog about more specific things in boxing, like who are my top 5 favorite boxers lately, the times when I taught young girls self-defense, or about the different Boxing Gyms I've been to and which of them do I think is the best. There are really a lot of things to talk about in this exhilarating sport.

What do you think of boxing as a workout? Leave a comment below and let's talk :)