Boxing your way to a toned upper body.
With an abundance of conflicting information on television and on the internet, it can be quite confusing to differentiate what kind of physical activity and exercise best suits you. As most of us do, we want the best bang for our buck. Furthermore, this entails incorporating an exercise schedule that not only compliments our daily lifestyle, but also yields fast results.
Many people lose motivation in the gym because of the repetitive nature of their training schedule. They just find lifting weights boring; it’s as simple as that.
IF YOU FALL INTO THIS CATEGORY, READ BELOW.
To keep working out and staying healthy, eliminating the element of boredom is a prerequisite.
This is WHY you should be open to doing some activity that involves interacting with others.
That can be a team sport, a fitness class, or a private coaching session.
All of the above can do the job for you!
What I do recommend is trying out the sport of boxing for a change. That does not necessarily mean enlisting in a boxing gym. You can instead hire a boxing coach to help you reach your fitness goals.
Boxing has the following benefits:
Diminishes Flabby Skin. Boxing allows you to stimulate muscle fibres in your arms that are often neglected in your primary workouts. Your biceps and triceps are engaged depending on the specific punch you throw. Biceps are known to be stimulated more when you throw hooks and uppercuts, whereas triceps are stimulated when you extend your arm. So, if you’re looking to say ‘good riddance’ to your flappy and weak arms, then boxing is a great tool for you to do just that!
Strengthens Core. All the bobbing and weaving (an evasive defensive technique boxers use to dodge the punches of opponents) that you will be trained to do over and over will give you a rock solid core. Your abs will harden, your oblique muscles will tighten and your lower back will strengthen. Moreover, it is widely agreed upon in the boxing community that bracing to get hit in the stomach will strengthen your transversus abdominis. The latter supports the abdominal wall, compresses the abdomen and stabilizes the spine, acting similar to a built-in weight belt.
Helps Shoulder Muscles Grow. Hitting the boxing bag or mitts will undoubtedly work your scapular muscles and shoulder deltoids. The proper technique of a powerful punch goes through several sequences. It starts off with force that comes from the legs and moves through the torque created by your midsection, to be then transferred to the chest. The final motion of the strike will then be channelled to the shoulder.
Improved Coordination. Last, but not least enhanced hand-eye coordination. Boxing involves a lot of footwork, in addition to executing manoeuvres at the split of a second. You might ask yourself: “But how does this correlate to toning my upper body?” To the contrary of popular belief, any type of exercise will need an enormous amount of hand-eye coordination, especially gymnastics, yoga, calisthenics, mountain climbing, parkour, among many others.