If we talk about the basic physical difference between a normal person and an athlete, we can simply talk about stamina and better body structure. As a boxer, you are not only improving your stamina but also developing your muscles and shedding your fat. Training the muscles is often an advantage when being a boxer. You have better muscle memory, better reflex action, and a better body. Most people think that training the muscles is the only advantage of boxing.
This does not mean that if you end up training all muscles within your body, you will become an ultimate human. Daily workout is very essential for boxers and athletes. However, it is pretty difficult to work on all of your muscles daily. You can start with a few and then move to others but if you think there is one specific exercise that will bring all your muscles into action then you are wrong.
Boxing is not just a muscle training game, it includes balancing, power movement, and rhythm. Furthermore, as you get better, technically your accuracy, defense, and precision also improved. For someone who is looking forward to developing a good lean yet muscular body, boxing is a great exercise. Even fitness gurus and health instructors are adding shadowboxing and other kinds of boxing to their toolbox of daily exercises.
Importance of Muscles and How They Work
Everyone knows that muscles are made of protein and their main function is contraction and relaxation. However, we generally simplify the actions of muscles. Most people are not family with the use of muscles and the first thing they think about is just biceps and triceps. It might come as a shock to most people, but there are hundreds of muscles in the human body.
To perform a simple and small activity you need multiple muscles. These muscles work together, facilitate each other and support each other to perform an activity. Even for a small task like a smile, you need the movement of forty different muscles. Imagine if a simple task requires forty muscles, how many muscles your average work requires.
To make it easier for the beginners to underhand we have listed down some basic muscle groups, their work, and their movement. Another misconception is that only upper limbs and upper body strength are required for boxing. This article will also explain how full-body strength is required for boxing. Finally, we will also highlight the main muscles used for boxing and how they develop with the daily workout.
Abs or Core Muscles
Everyone wants to work on their abs. abs or core muscles hold the whole body, they are good for posture and also vital for stamina building. Abs are considered vital for force generation, this is the reason most instructors start the session with abs-based exercises. Even to generate a powerful punch, you feed to use the force of your core. In short, working on abs muscles will help you not only to look good but also to generate better energy than any other source.
Shoulder Muscles
If we can list down two of the most mentioned muscle groups when it comes to boxing, we can simply mention arms and shoulders. Shoulders help in generating power, although the arm executes the punch if your shoulders can bring that energy in, your arms will not be able to channel that energy. Even if we talk about getting tired, it’s never the arms or the core that is tired, it’s always the shoulders. Even if you lift something, your shoulders get tired first and then any other part of the arm. Within the forelimb, shoulders are not only vital for lifting weight but also vital for energy generation.
Chest Muscles
No one talks about the chest muscle when it comes to boxing. One of the main reasons is that people do not expect that chest muscles are important or they are even used. Chest muscles are located just above the core muscles, which highlights their importance from a geographic point of view. They are not only vital for connecting your shoulders but also help with the merging of the force of shoulders and abs. If we can talk about punching power, chest muscles are the most significant of all.
Arms Muscles
Well, if we talk about powerful punches, there is no way to neglect arms muscles. They help with a powerful delivery, speed, and good delivery. They connect the power from the shoulder and transfer it to the opponent. One of the common misconceptions is that arms are used for power generation. This is not true. Instead, arms are used for delivering the energy that is generated by the shoulders. Your arms muscles need to be strong enough to direct the energy to the opponent. This means that you might not need bulky arms but strong or powerful arms. You need speed to snap when required and you need to get that punch and redirect to others.
If we look at the location of the muscles, we will be able to understand the work as well. If we see triceps, it is mainly used for straight punches. On the contrary, the bicep is good for speed, snap, uppercut and hook. This also explains why bulky arms are not important but instead the focus is on stronger arms.
Back Muscles
Back muscles include the rear body core as well as hips. Both of these are very important and this is the reason instructors will especially help with formulating something that focuses on back muscles. One of the major functions of the back muscle is punch recovery. This means that your total body core muscles are held by your back. Your back will also help with punch recovery, this means as you pull back after punching someone, your back muscles will support you. If you are punching someone with full force, your body needs a proper halt. If you cannot support your body after a halt, this might lead to imbalance. In short, stronger back muscles are going to help you with the fight.
Hip Muscles
Hip muscles are usually just known for supporting the posture when we sit. However, the hip is known to be a vital part of the body. It is not only supporting your body weight but also keeping you balanced on both legs. With the use of the leg muscles, you will move and with every punch, you need to balance yourself. This is exactly where the body rhythm comes from and if you have seen the footwork, you will know how important and hard it is to perfect the footwork. The balance is not just for keeping you on foot but also for offense, defense movement, and fighting ability.
