Boxing can be a great way to lose weight quickly, mentally as well as physically.
Every workout is a challenge for every muscle and burns hundreds of calories. You don’t even need to be very fit to begin.
MailOnline is pleased to share top tips from Stuart Wade (a London-based expert in boxing) with MailOnline if you are making resolutions for the New Year to be more mindful of yourself.
Stuart Wade is a martial artist who has been practicing for more than 26 years. He has won over 20 British/British Open/UK titles as well as four World Championships of Taekwondo/Kickboxing.
If you’re boxing for fitness, the only two essential items of kit you will need are boxing gloves and hand wraps to to protect the bones, joints and ligaments in your wrists and hands.
Stuart advises that spending between £40 to £50 on a pair of gloves should be good enough quality to protect your hands sufficiently and last quite a long time with regular use.
The Venum Unisex Adult Challenger 3.0s on Amazon are a decent entry level pair of gloves, according to Stuart.
Aim to spend between £40 to £50 on boxing gloves like the Venum Challenger 3.0 and make sure hand wrap is more than 3 metres long, according to trainer Stuart Wade
To ensure that the wraps are long enough to support your hand properly, they should not exceed three meters in length.
But if you’re worried about taping your hands yourself, the RDX glove boxing handwraps are supportive in their own right and you simply need to slip them over your fingers.
The warm-up is an important part of any boxing session. Many boxers adhere to the RAMP protocol. Begin by raising your heart rate.
Your warm-up should involve practicing the moves you’ll use during the workout in order to prepare your body and mind for the main training program.
Stuart shares how this can be done at home, explaining: ‘I would start with some light cardiovascular exercise, jogging, skipping, star jumps and stair climbs for up to five minutes. It shouldn’t cause exhaustion, but it should leave you feeling warmer and maybe a little out of breath.
“Following that I would do an overall full-body, bodyweight circuit. After that, I would perform a dynamic full-body stretching routine. The routine would involve head and neck movements, arm rotations forward and back and torso twists rotating your body. Hip circles, leg abductions and circling the knees outwards are some of the exercises.
Do five to ten repetitions of each stretch before you move on. These are the exercises that you’ll be doing during your training. This is a modified version of the original, but with less repetitions and a lower intensity.
Stuart Wade, a champion in martial arts and expert on punches and jabs says that it is great for warming up your muscles by practicing low-intensity drills.
It may interest you to learn a way that you can avoid making common errors in your training, before you begin boxing.
Stuart has claimed that the biggest mistake beginner’s make when they punch isn’t keeping their wrists straight. He won twenty British/British Open/UK titles and three European Championships.
He explains that no matter how many punches you throw, whether it’s a cross, jab or hook, your wrist should remain straight. You should strike with your index and middle finger’s largest knuckles. You are at risk for injury if your wrist moves from straight.
“And you must learn the right technique if you want your punch to be more powerful.”
Stuart Wade is a Retrofit boxing master trainer.
Resistance training is another way to make your punches more powerful. It increases the muscle fibers and thus the power of your punches.
Stuart says, “Strengthening the muscles by resistance training, and including explosive power exercises like medicine ball chest pass, will strengthen your neural signals to your muscles and recruit more muscle fibers, allowing you to punch with greater power.”
This is a quick and easy 15-minute home boxing program
1) A three-minute, two-minute skipping round with 30 seconds of rest between.
2) Three x Two Minute rounds of shadowboxing, with 20-30 second breaks in-between.
Combination for the first round: jab, cross and roll right. Cross, hook, cross.
Combination for the second round: Four uppercuts (left-right, left, left, and right), hook, and cross.
Troisième round: jab and cross
2) Two core procedures consisting of an pLank hold for between 30-60 seconds; side plank hold (30 seconds per side); 12 lying back extensions.
As Stuart advised, warm up and cool off with static stretches.
A Pro’s Boxing List
You may find it helpful to hear tips from a boxing coach about the best punchbags and pads for you as you learn boxing.
A pair of focus mitts is a great way to practice pad work together. The mitts will be slightly curvy and look similar to baseball mitts, but with more padding. To aid in accuracy, these mitts may have a target at the center to assist with punching.
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For moving about, walking and pivoting with punches, boxing boots offer more support to the ankle.
They are made from quilted material and feature a cushioned ankle collar. These are lightweight and easy to move about in.
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It is easy to mount on the wall and only takes up a small amount of space. The bracket must be sturdy enough to hold the bag while also able to withstand the vibrations of your punches. It is also important that the wall can hold both the bracket and bag.
For the ultimate starter kit, you will find gloves and wraps in your RDX Professional hanging bags
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You can use a punch bag to hold a bracket without drilling into walls. It’s easier to walk around the bag because it has a narrow base. This allows you to weave, bob, and weave with no risk of slipping.
You don’t need any bolts or nuts. Simply push the unit to the side and it will be there when you are finished.
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