Any boxer you ask will tell you that they do a range of regular daily tasks to help them stay focused, build muscle and promote general well being. By spending around three hours a day exercising, professional boxers are ensuring their bodies are perfectly primed to take on the stress of a boxing match or series of matches without causing too much damage.
Boxers are busy people and daily you will find them engaged in activities that help them to stay in good shape. Professional boxers have trainers who guide them through their training sessions. For starters, they can join as a beginner’s group to train together or click here to watch what other professional boxers are doing.
Here’s what ten things’ boxers do daily:
Stretching
Start with some stretching exercises to warm up their muscles and joints for the hard work ahead. This helps avoid injury during sparring sessions and competitions.
Jumps to build stamina
Stand on one leg while throwing punches at an imaginary opponent for 5 minutes, then swap legs. This is to strengthen the core muscles that often get neglected when training.
Shadowboxing
Follow this with some shadow boxing, where boxers mimic fighting moves against an opponent. This helps boxers think about their fighting stance and evade the next moves.
Sparring
Sparring is the most important part of any boxer’s daily routine as it helps boxers become accustomed to being hit so they are prepared for competition. The boxer will be hit by his partner wearing protective headgear, chest guard, and gloves while wearing headgear, mouth guard, and wraps on his hands.
Speed ball moment
Hit the speed-ball before lunch for 10 minutes to increase hand-eye coordination, which should have sharpened up from sparring earlier. Slot in three sets of two minutes, each separated by one-minute rest periods. Do not let the ball hit the floor.
Punchbag session
Hit the punch bag for 30 minutes in the afternoon. This is to work on boxer’s speed, timing, and power while building muscle endurance. A boxer should aim for 10-second burst of fast hard-hitting before resting for 20 seconds.
Cardiovascular exercise
Do some rowing or cycling exercise in the evening to work on cardiovascular fitness and recover from intensive sessions earlier in the day. Run outside if weather permits for the same reason to do 5 kilometers at a steady pace, aiming for six repetitions per set: one-minute rest is the ideal length of time between each repeat.
Body stretches
Finish with some stretching exercises again, which tightens up muscles that will have expanded during exercise with blood rushing through the boxer’s system.
Weight lifting
Do some weight training in the evening to build strength and power without heavy impact on the boxer’s body. Train at a gym with a personal trainer if boxer doesn’t know what to do; those planning their first few sessions can look up how-to guides for exercises like bench press, shoulder press, and bicep curls online before visiting the gym.
Time to grab some food
Eat 1 gram of protein per kilo of boxer’s weight as part of the recovery process that begins as soon as a boxer gets home from training: eating nutrient-rich food around this time will ensure boxer has the right foods readily available for the body to use.
Repeat muscle stretch
Spend 30 minutes stretching muscles again afterward to tighten them back up and allow the boxer to sleep without pain.
Sleep enough time
Sleep for 7-9 hours depending on boxer’s own needs: an amateur boxer may need more frequent but shorter nights than a professional boxer who can afford longer, deeper night’s sleep.
Repeat the process another day
Repeat the cycle the next day, working towards boxers’ specific daily tasks in time with their training schedule, which will probably revolve around a weekly routine.
Things professional boxers should avoid
Professional boxer are the epitome of physical fitness, endurance, strength, speed and agility. However, it’s important to remember that even professionals can fall into bad habits that will hinder their abilities if they’re not careful to avoid them. Here’s a list of things every boxer should avoid doing on a daily basis.
1) Avoiding Cardio Workouts
Cardio is one of the most important aspects of training as a boxer; it helps keep their stamina, and muscles lean and healthy. Although boxers typically train at extremely high levels of intensity for short periods (e.g., 2-rounds), they still need to take a break after every workout session. This will help them participate in cardio exercises such as running sprints or jumping rope.If you don’t, your body will eventually adapt to the amount of work being forced to do, and you’ll never improve.
2) Dieting All the Time
Dieting is a boxer’s worst enemy. Although they need to eat healthy to improve their endurance and speed, they also have a lot of muscle that requires large amounts of protein. Eating too little can put them at risk for malnutrition and injury, whereas eating too much can make them fat (which affects mobility). They should have a balanced diet to meet their body needs; They should eat meals low in unhealthy fats but high in lean proteins such as baked chicken breast or lean hamburger meat.
3) Skipping workout sessions
Although a boxer typically only trains for about 1 or 2 hours, they should never skip workout sessions because boxers rely on regular workouts to improve their abilities. Skipping even one training session sets them back several days in terms of improvement. Every boxer must make every effort to avoid missing training sessions to maintain or improve their fitness level.
4) Not interacting with other boxers
A serious boxer should train with other professionals for weeks when preparing for a competition or not. Although as a boxer you are required to maintain focus during practice, it’s important to interact with each other’s – discussing old fights is an excellent way for a boxer to learn from the experiences of others and give advice whenever necessary. Without interaction as a professional boxer, you deny yourself vital information that can save your career, especially competition strategies.
Conclusion
The toughest thing for every boxer is to maintain discipline. The daily tasks boxers are supposed to do are important for their boxing career if followed consistently. The steps shared above should guide you whether you are new in the industry or a professional boxer trying to recreate a daily momentum.