Gym Class Hero – The benefits of amateur boxing

TrendLife Magazine discusses the benefits of boxing with experienced boxing trainer Andrew Blumson of AB Boxing

Boxing is a truly fantastic sport and it isn’t just for those giant beasts of men that you see on television. Boxing is a sport that everybody can participate in and that makes a huge difference.

Something that is very beneficial about the sport of boxing is that it is excellent for your cardiovascular health. One of the things that makes boxing so great for your heart is that the act of punching, any punch, forces very many of your muscles to contract at once.

The next big benefit that you can reap from boxing and training for boxing on a regular basis is that you will develop better hand-eye coordination.

The benefits of boxing go far beyond physical. Boxing is proven to help with self-confidence; not just physical confidence, mental too. It can help with balance, co-ordination, focus, anxiety and even ADHD.

AB Boxing specialises in coaching people that are new to boxing. AB Boxing is not an amateur boxing club, neither do we coach pros. Our target members are people that have never boxed before or have limited experience.

AB Boxing coaches people that want to learn how to box and get fit at the same time, on a 1-on-1 basis (or 2-on-1, 3-on-1, etc), but would rather not go to a boxing fitness class.

The misconception is that if you purely want to get fit, a “boxing fitness class” would be a better choice than a 1on1 technical boxing session, however, that isn’t entirely true.

Once you learn the technical side of boxing, you will easily burn more calories doing an hour’s boxing, than you would a fitness class.

A typical hour 1-on-1 session would comprise of around 50-mins coaching, usually broken down to 3-min rounds.

At the very beginning and presuming you haven’t boxed at any level before, you learn things such as stance, how to punch correctly, how to load punches, etc. Footwork movement comes later on, as do things such as blocking and catching punches, high-guard, slipping and rolling punches.

When a client gets to this stage, which is usually after around 6 or 7 sessions, ‘light touch sparring’ is introduced if the client wishes to step up to this level.

Our primary focus is on defence and safety. We won’t let anyone spar, at any level, until we are confident that they have at least basic defence.

When we introduce sparring, we start with non-contact, simulated sparring, which gets the members used to moving around, throwing shots, and putting what they have learned into practice.

There are numerous tricks that we use to allow the members to feel like they’re sparring, but in reality, they are ‘simulating’ sparring.

After a few weeks like this, we introduce ‘jab sparring’. This is where you can only punch with your lead hand; left in the case of an orthodox boxer and right in the case of a southpaw.

Within the technical side of boxing, there are many different types of training. If you are interested in starting your boxing journey, in a friendly, safe, no ego gym, then get in touch with Andrew or Nikki at AB Boxing.

Athlon Fitness where AB Boxing is based is an extremely friendly, welcoming gym. Ego’s are left at the door, and everyone that trains there has the utmost respect for each other.