Boxer Exercises (Part 3) Special Boxer Exercises

Basic stages of boxer training

Training an amateur boxer, regardless of the place of training - in the gym or at home, includes five stages:

• warm-up;
• technical training with practicing movements around the ring;
• practicing punches on the punching bag, paws, working in sparring;
• exercises for muscle development;
• final part.

Warm-up is mandatory preparation for heavy physical exertion of muscles and ligaments to prevent muscle pain and injuries. It includes a sequence of light gymnastic exercises that engage all muscle groups - from the neck to the ankles.

In a gym or large room, some of the movements can be performed by jogging in a circle (running with head turns, swinging arms, raising knees).

At the second stage:

• elements of combat are mastered, then improved and brought to automatism - strikes, dives, dodging, moving around the ring with steps and short jumps;
• development of speed of movement, reaction, dexterity, development of excellent coordination;
• psychological preparation for work in the ring.

Sparring is designed to train technique in conditions “close to combat.” Paw work teaches you to strike hard at a “moving target.” The pear makes it possible to bring the very force of blows to the maximum.

The fourth stage - pumping up muscles - is as important as all the previous ones. Strength training for fighters differs from that of bodybuilders, but a boxer needs to train because:

• without powerful triceps and shoulder girdle there are no strong blows;
• strong abdominal muscles are needed for endurance and the ability to withstand blows to the body;
• when pumping your abs, you need to put a load on the long back muscles so as not to damage the spine;
• Strong legs and glutes are required to move around the ring with endurance and speed.

You should complete your workout by walking slowly, shaking your arms in a relaxed manner to relieve tension from tired muscles.

Working on technology

If you want to train at home in order to become like the king of the ring in appearance, to develop muscles like a boxing champion, and not a bodybuilding champion, we do not recommend doing only strength exercises for boxers, neglecting technique. Follow the entire fighter's training program, strengthening your body and spirit.

The first and subsequent boxing training sessions certainly include practicing:

• correct strikes;
• various combinations;
• defensive movements - escapes, ducks, dives, blocks.

The five punches at the heart of boxing:

1. Jab - a straight punch with the front hand. The elbow is fully extended, the clenched fist is turned palm down.
2. Cross - a direct strike with the far hand.
3. Hook - a side blow with a hand bent at the elbow. Applicable only at close or medium range.
4. Swing - a side strike with a straightened arm in long-range combat.
5. An uppercut is an upward blow in close combat.

Best punch combinations:

• double strike - left jab, right cross (hereinafter - vice versa for left-handers);
• two left jabs, right cross;
• left jab, right swing;
• Left uppercut, right hook;
• Right uppercut, left hook.

Start by practicing individual strikes, then add combinations to them, but not earlier than the third week of classes.

An approximate program of technique exercises without a sparring partner at the initial stage of training:

• jabs from a front stance (FS) - feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, fists near the chest;
• slopes from one's stance (SS) - the weaker leg and arm are brought forward, the second protects the jaw, the strong arm is at chest level;
• crosses from SS;
• SS dives;
• hooks from FS;
• blocks from SS;
• uppercuts from FS.

Do each exercise one round lasting 3 minutes (if it’s hard - 2 minutes).

Having mastered these basics of technique, continue to train the correct movements and reactions while mastering movements around the ring (or other battlefield).

Correct technique

Before performing exercises on the horizontal bar for wrestlers or boxers, you need to warm up well. You can use a jump rope, squat, bend over, or run on a treadmill. You need to pull yourself up smoothly and softly, without twitching or swaying. It is necessary to rise solely through muscle strength.

The speed of performing the exercise on the hitting bar should be comfortable, especially for beginners. After a while, you can start doing quick pull-ups, and it is also recommended to try using a wide grip and placing the bar behind your head, but not until it touches, so as not to injure yourself.

Mastering movement

Practicing technique and speed of movement is just as necessary in boxing as training powerful and sharp blows, otherwise instead of a fighter in the ring there will be a dummy that a fast opponent will beat without allowing him to respond.

So from the first days, even when training at home, it is important for a boxer to master:

• steps on toes back and forth;
• steps and jumps left and right, jumps back;
• moving to the side in a circle;
• diving trips.

Perform fast movements for as long as you can. In the first days and weeks you will get tired quickly, but over time your speed and strength endurance will increase. Banish laziness and train hard, at the same time getting a serious cardio load, improving the condition of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Once you have learned how to move your legs correctly, include training in moving kicks in your training program. Learn to hit both forward and backward. By retreating while throwing punches, the boxer disrupts the opponent's attack and even gets the chance to make a devastating counterattack.

Circular training helps to train effectively by performing cardio exercises and simultaneously loading your muscles, which is also useful for boxing.

Circuit training

Boxing lessons for beginners are useless if you do not pay attention to developing muscle strength and strength endurance. So, both in specially equipped and home gyms where boxing classes are held, you can often observe circuit training.

Recommended for beginners:

• pull-ups;
• lifting the body from a supine position;
• lunges with legs alternately forward and backward;
• pushups;
• bending forward with dumbbells in hands;
• jumping rope;
• bending to the sides with dumbbells in hands.

All exercises are done in one approach, then rest for 2-3 minutes and perform in the same sequence. Just 4-5 approaches.

The number of repetitions of each exercise depends on your physical characteristics, as well as the available weight of dumbbells or other weights. Let's move on to the equipment that boxers often and successfully train on.

Work on shells

Features of strength training for boxers using bodybuilding equipment:

• perform each exercise with a working weight no heavier than 70% of the maximum weight with which you can perform the movement;
• lift the weight at maximum speed, since the boxer needs to first develop explosive power, and the beauty of muscles and physique will follow;
• do not pump up your biceps, this will harm the sharpness and power of your blows, pay special attention to your triceps, shoulder girdle, chest muscles and upper back.

Important! Boxers work out, preferring basic exercises with a barbell and/or dumbbells, which allows them to increase physical strength. Exercises to increase muscle mass and “drawing” the ideal relief are not included in the program: the kings of the ring already look great.

Recommended exercises:

• bench press (for triceps and chest);
• deadlift (for long back muscles);
• jumping out of a squat with a barbell on your shoulders (for legs);
• standing press (for triceps and deltoids);
• Bent-over rows (for the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles);
• lunges with a barbell on the shoulders;
• bending to the sides with weights.

Be sure to add 1-2 abdominal exercises to them, without any equipment.

To optimally combine boxing classes with visits to the gym, you can adhere to the following schedule:

• first day - work on apparatus in the gym;
• second day - rest;
• third - boxing classes;
• fourth - work in the gym;
• fifth - rest;
• sixth - boxing classes;
• seventh - rest.

If you train at home and do not depend on the weekly schedule of the gym, a more intense schedule will suit you:

• first day - boxing training;
• the second is work on projectiles;
• the third is rest.

Important! You can do any exercise performed in a barbell machine at home with dumbbells.

Basic exercises for training a boxer

We must not forget about the eight most useful movements that can be performed as a set of exercises for a boxer (remembering the warm-up). They develop well the qualities needed in boxing.

Run

Running is a key element in the training of healthy lifestyle fans, but it is also included in boxing exercises, since running training strengthens the body, increasing endurance, leg strength, strengthening the heart, blood vessels and ligaments, and developing breathing.

If your physical characteristics leave much to be desired, before becoming a boxer at home, devote 3-4 months to running. We advise you to start with jogging (2-3 kilometers), then add sprinting to your training program - running 60 and 100 meters.

One arm burpee

This exercise is a very effective technique for developing the muscles involved in boxing.

If at first you don’t succeed in it, start training without burpees, and add it to your training program after increasing your training.

Lying jumping

Rules for performing this element of strength training:

• starting position - emphasis, lying on your fists;
• pull your right leg towards your hand with a jump, return to IP;
• do the same with your left foot;
• the exercise continues until the last 2-3 repetitions are difficult.

Perform at least 2 approaches, over time increase their number to 3-4.

Timed push-ups

This is a universal boxing exercise. If you do push-ups for a while, making each movement with your arms as quickly as possible, your explosive power will quickly increase.

It is useful to alternate different execution techniques. For example, if you place your hands narrower, the load on the triceps will increase, and wider - on the chest muscles. If you have enough strength, do push-ups on one hand - first with your left, then with your right.

Fold with one leg alternating

An element of speed-strength training for a boxer, useful for simultaneously loading the core muscles and all the abdominal muscles. It is highly recommended for inclusion in independent training programs.

Twists diagonally

Good load on the oblique abdominal muscles. Included in the training plan of the novice boxing enthusiast, together with the crease, they provide maximum abdominal power.

Jumping rope

They guarantee a good cardio load, strengthening not only the legs, but also the heart. Mandatory when practicing boxing at home.

Note that many boxers prefer to alternate jumping ropes on each leg instead of both.

Gun

Pistol squats are called single-leg squats, which provide excellent load to the leg muscles. This is an excellent exercise for those learning boxing at home.

Types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar video

Wide grip pull-up

Wide pull-ups on the horizontal bar also come in two types: wide-grip pull-ups to the chest and wide-grip pull-ups behind the head. The distance between the palms in both cases is the same, the technique of execution is different, the effect on the muscles is different.

Wide pull-up to chest. We do this exercise by placing our palms on the bar wider from each other and raising our torso, trying to reach the horizontal bar with the top of our chest; the thumb should not squeeze the projectile, but should be on top of it (this will maximize the tension of the back muscles). This exercise has another version of execution - we spread our arms wider, reach the bar with the upper point of the chest and then, with the chest positioned near the bar, we begin to move to the right and left, to one hand, then to the second hand. The task is not easy, especially for beginners, it is quite difficult to do it, but the result is amazing. The main load falls on the paired teres muscles, the top of the latissimus, and the trapezius.

Wide pull-ups on the horizontal bar behind the head. We place our palms wide apart from each other and pull ourselves up, reaching the horizontal bar with our shoulders, we try to keep our legs and torso as straight as possible, and our elbows should not look back, only to the floor. The same muscles work as in the previous exercise; it additionally covers the middle of the “wings”.

Pull-up on the horizontal bar with a narrow grip

Pull-ups with a narrow grip can also be of two types - a narrow direct grip and a narrow reverse grip. A pull-up with a narrow straight girth is performed like this: you need to hang on the bar with both hands so that the backs of your hands are turned towards you, then, arching your back, pull your body to the bar, trying to touch it with your lower chest. Muscles worked when pulling up: the lower latissimus, serratus and brachialis muscles.

Pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip are performed according to the same principle, only the hands are turned away from you and clasp the horizontal bar close to one another. Muscles worked during pull-ups: biceps muscles and lower latissimus muscles.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar in a mixed way - we clasp the entire diameter with both palms, while they are directed in opposite directions from each other, as if we were holding a fishing rod with both hands. We pull ourselves up, arching our back well, and touch the horizontal bar with our lower chest. We alternate hands periodically, that is, their order. Muscles worked during pull-ups: brachialis, serratus and inferior latissimus muscles.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a medium reverse grip - palms clasp the horizontal bar away from you at an average distance from each other, pull the body to the bar, try to touch the collarbone, lower the body not completely, but in such a way that the arms extend only until a right angle is formed, that is, not completely . Muscles worked during pull-ups: biceps brachii.

Exercises for pulling up with weights - fasten a belt to your lower back, attach a load to it, and pull yourself up in any of the ways, depending on which muscles you want to increase the load on. Trainers do not advise beginners to perform this exercise; they should first learn to lift their own weight without any problems.

Pull-up on the horizontal bar on one arm - one hand clasps the bar, and the second is along the body. Pull-ups with a rope - take a very strong rope, about 3.5 meters long, it is better if it is slightly smooth to reduce the friction force, tie a weight of no more than 8 - 11 kilograms to it, throw it over the horizontal bar. Then we grab the horizontal bar with one hand, and with the other hand we hold the rope, we pull ourselves up so that the weight falls down or remains in place, and does not rise up, otherwise the load decreases. This is a lighter version of the one-arm pull-up. After mastering it, we put the rope with the load aside and proceed to pull-ups with one arm.

Sets of exercises for boxers for home and gym

We will also present comprehensive exercise programs for the physical training of boxers that deserve attention. They serve the same purpose - developing strength and endurance, helping to increase the power of strikes.

Workout in the gym

The complex, which includes a boxer’s physical exercises performed in the gym, is designed for three strength training sessions per week.

1st workout:

• for legs - lunges or squats with a barbell on the shoulders or extensions in the simulator;
• for the lower back - bending over with a barbell on your shoulders or deadlifting;
• for triceps, deltas and many other muscles (basic exercise) - bench press while sitting or standing;
• for medium-sized deltas and trapezoids - swing dumbbells to the sides while standing.

2nd workout:

• for the upper back, deltas and trapezius - pull-ups with an overhand grip wider than shoulder width;
• for triceps and chest - dips, close-grip bench press or French press;
• for the front deltas - swing dumbbells forward while standing;
• for legs - jumping out of a squat with weights.

3rd workout:

• for legs - jumping onto a bench or other height with weights;
• for the chest and triceps - wide-grip bench press or lying dumbbell fly;
• for the lower back - deadlift or hyperextension (lowering the torso and lifting it with a bend in the back from a face-down position, the torso above the floor, legs fixed on the bench);
• for the rear deltas and upper back - bent over dumbbell raises.

We recommend doing an abdominal exercise at the beginning or end of each boxer's strength training session. To pump yourself up properly, do each exercise in three sets of 8-12 repetitions, resting 2 minutes between sets.

Simplified program at home

The home training program involves the use of a small number of equipment that do not take up much space in the house and fit well into the interior of the room.

For such boxing training for beginners, it is enough to purchase:

• collapsible dumbbells;
• a lightweight bar or just a metal rod weighing about 10 kilograms;
• medicine ball (medball) weighing 5-10 kg;
• boxing gloves and punching bag.

Training program - 3 times a week boxing exercises on technique and punching power (with training on a punching bag) and 3 times a set of strength exercises:

1. Squats with a medicine ball. Starting position: feet shoulder-width apart, ball at chest. Sit down and stand up, raising your hands with the ball or slightly throwing it up.
2. Push-ups with clapping.
3. Throwing the bar (rod) away from you.
4. Lunges with a medicine ball in hands.
5. Twisting.
6. Pump with dumbbells - bending left and right with raising the right and left arms to the armpit.
7. Pushing honey ball with one hand against the wall.

These exercises are also done in three approaches each. If physical data allows, you can perform them according to the principle of circuit training.

Recommendations from experienced trainers

Reputable experts give beginners the following advice when creating a personal training program for boxing:

1. Avoid curling exercises (for biceps), with the exception of pull-ups, and even those are preferable with a wide grip - with the main load on the “wings”.
2. Boxing classes and pumping up muscles in the gym should be performed according to a single schedule and a strict system, correctly combining one with the other. Long breaks between workouts are fraught with serious problems with movement, technique, speed and force of strikes.
3. Do boxing, not bodybuilding, that is, only according to the physical training program for a boxer. Consult with boxing trainers, politely refusing assistance from fitness instructors.

Develop explosive strength and strength endurance, which is what boxing classes at home serve. Along with a beautiful figure, you will gain agility, excellent coordination of movements, the power of blows, excellent breathing and a cardiovascular system that will be the envy of the “jocks”.

Why do you need horizontal bar training for boxers?

Many people are interested in whether exercises on the horizontal bar are good for punching power? In reality, pull-ups are beneficial for all athletes, including wrestlers and bodybuilders. The boxer's bar helps strengthen your hands and pectoral muscles, as well as your entire back. The posture straightens and the spine stretches. The main thing when training on the horizontal bar for boxers is not to overuse it, since pumping muscle tissue causes clogging of the muscles and a deterioration in the speed of the strike, which is important in this sport.