Is Boxing a Good Body Workout?

If you're eager for a different form of exercise to breathe new life into your workouts, consider lacing up a pair of boxing gloves. Don't worry -- no one's expecting you to duke it out with an opponent, unless that's your ultimate goal of getting into the sport. For those less attracted to boxing's physicality, fitness boxing can provide a full-body workout that generates a significant number of health benefits.

  1. Strong Heart, Increased Stamina

    • When you join a traditional boxing club or seek out a fitness boxing program at your gym, you're immersing yourself in a sport that can transform your body. Boxing is a challenging cardiovascular workout that quickly boosts your heart rate and breathing. Whether you're hitting the heavy bag, working the speed bag or polishing your fundamentals by shadow boxing in front of a mirror, doing so at a vigorous tempo provides such benefits as strengthening your heart, increasing your stamina and improving your ability to manage your weight.

    Upper- and Lower-Body Strength

    • Although you might not necessarily lift weights during your boxing workout, the activity itself can strengthen the muscles throughout your body. Boxing uses a long list of major muscle groups; even a basic punch combination requires you to move your legs, hips, glutes, back, chest, core, shoulders and arms together. Boxing isn't just a way to strengthen your upper body. Correct punches begin with lower-body and core movement and hitting a heavy bag correctly requires you to keep your feet moving.

    Say Goodbye to Unwanted Pounds

    • Fitness boxing classes are an ideal way to burn enough calories to help you lose weight. This up-tempo form of boxing focuses on consistent movement of your entire body, rather than an emphasis on the sport's fundamentals, to help you burn hundreds of calories. Hitting the heavy bag, for example, can help a 155-pound person burn about 422 calories in an hour, which is a comparable calorie burn to cross-country hiking. In an article in "The Sydney Morning Herald" newspaper, trainer Matt Spooner notes that a boxing class can boost your metabolism for as many as 48 hours, which greatly contributes to your ability to burn fat or manage your weight.

    Even Your Warm-Up Helps

    • A boxing workout shouldn't begin with you strapping on your gloves and throwing punches at the heavy bag. As with any exercise, a warm-up period is necessary. In boxing classes, the warm-up exercises alone can greatly improve your physical health by burning calories and strengthening your muscles. After a stretching routine, typical boxing-specific warm-up drills include jumping rope, calisthenics, jogging and shadow boxing. When you're not in the gym, cardio exercises such as jogging and swimming improve your boxing endurance.