If you are a combat sports lover who especially loves boxing, it is essential to know every bit of knowledge needed before proceeding with any physical workout or action. At least you must know that what muscles does boxing work? Also, do not blindly go to strength training; this will not help you improve your boxing skills.
Due to the lack of knowledge many people believe that boxing is just the game of fist fighting, but in reality it is more than what they think. Boxing is the combination of many contributing muscles that providing an effective assistance in the form of power, strength and support to a boxer.
To know exactly what mucles does boxing work the most. In this article, I will explain the role of different body muscles used in boxing and its workout.
Muscles Used in Boxing
The most important muscles used in boxing include the shoulders, abs, obliques, erector spinae, thighs and buttocks. These major body parts and their smaller muscles have their own separate boxing effects. Beginner boxers must be familiar with the exercise and function of these boxing muscles.
The following will briefly explain the role played by each muscle and how to use it in boxing.
Many physical boxing conditions, such as balance, strength, and movement, come from your lower body. More technical qualities such as accuracy, defense, and scoring punches usually come from your upper body.
These depend on your style needs; the most important thing is whether you want to focus on training more strength or hand speed, endurance, or all things.
The key to practical boxing training is to understand how your muscles are used in boxing and to be able to decide how to train them to achieve their goals. Intelligent athletes know and give priority to specific muscles in their training.
Boxers Legs – A Source of Strength
I specifically pointed out the quadriceps and calf muscles. It is a deep-rooted concept. Any antagonistic sport wants to maximize its strength; then the key lies in the strength of the legs. All power comes from the ground; there is no other place! Because your legs are in contact with the ground, they are responsible for pushing your body off the ground to generate power.
Your legs have the largest muscles in your body, so all proper punches rely on the rotation of the legs. Again, the power is generated by the legs, and it’s not the pectoralis and triceps.
If you take a closer look at the many great boxers in history, you will find that they all have strong legs instead of solid arms or chest muscles. If you look closely at the body of a typical boxer, you won’t find well-developed pectoral muscles or massive triceps. These people don’t have big upper muscles, but their fists have great power. And such a fierce boxer has more muscles in his legs than his arms!
Boxers Hips – For Balance & Lower Body Core
The hips connect your lower body and legs, and they also generate a great power to turn your entire body when you need it. Another essential function is that your hips are closely related to your balance. Because your hips are very close to your body’s center of gravity, stronger hips mean you have better control of your balance.
I should emphasize that balance is one of the essential factors in boxing. The essence of balance determines the effectiveness and efficiency of offence, defense, movement and overall combat! You can also think of your hips as your center of gravity, and using your leg muscles to move your hips with each punch lets you maximize your weight through the fist.
Boxers abs – The Core Unit of The Body
The abs muscles are a compelling set of muscles that keep your whole body together. Every limb in your body produces a certain amount of strength, but the abdominal muscles allow you to integrate the strength produced by each limb into a total strength.
Simply put, your abdominal muscles allow the power generated by your limbs to converge into a single punch. In addition to connecting your whole body, the abdominal muscles also allow you to breathe and withstand a frontal punch.
Boxers Back Muscles – Back Body Core & Close Fist
The core muscles of the back can keep the body together and combine the power generated by the limbs. Another known (but significant) thing is that the back is vital for the recovery of punches, and it will determine how quickly your punches will be recovered.
Many boxers are busy practicing the muscles in front of the upper body, doing push-ups desperately, or hitting heavy punching bags, but few people focus on the shoulders and back behind the upper body.
I want to explain some essential things. When you spend all your time on the heavy punching bag, you may not realize that your hands will automatically rebound. If you neglect to exercise your back and back shoulder muscles, your fist closing muscles will be weak.
In a real battle, from the moment you hit empty, your arms will quickly tire because your gloves become very heavy, and you have to use your muscles to pull your fists instead of letting them bounce back.
Boxers Shoulders – Arms Endurance
The shoulders are essential for hitting endurance. Yes, the shoulders can indeed generate power, but its endurance is the most important for me.
Usually, when the boxer’s arms become too tired to attack or hold up to defend, the shoulders are often tired!
Think about it: When your arm is tired, it is usually the shoulder, which is the first part of the arm. This makes sense from a physical point of view because it is a relatively small muscle on the edge of the arm but used to support the entire arm.
From a physics point of view, it is not difficult to see why the shoulders can fatigue so quickly. Therefore, if you develop more punches or can hold up for a long time to defend, you better start training your shoulder endurance.
Don’t worry about not being able to make the shoulders stronger. Compared with the contribution of the leg muscles, they will only increase the punching power a little.
Boxers Arms – A Mean of Power Delivery, Speed & Explosive Power
The meaning of the arm lies in the transmission of power! As for the transmission of power, I mean that the most critical boxing function of the arm is to connect and transmit power to the opponent.
The arm is not responsible for generating strength; it is the responsibility of your leg. All your arms have to do is connect your body with force generated to hit your opponent! So, all your arms need to do is reach out and touch your opponent, nothing else!
Now that you realize that your arms are used to transmit power, not to generate power, you will see that fast arms are more important than powerful arms. Fast arms give you speed and explosive power, and speed helps you sneak into the opponent’s defense, and explosive force can help you reclaim punches to protect yourself from being hit.
More specifically, the triceps are used for the linear punch speed. The biceps are used for the speed and explosive power of swing punches and uppercuts. Don’t try to train your arm strength to expand the muscular dimension specifically. Few professional fighters will practice the biceps.
If you are not a professional athlete, this will only make you slower! Power is poured into the lower body and transmitted to the upper body.
Boxers Pectoral Muscles
It may be the most beautiful muscle in the human body, but it is not essential for boxing. You won’t see any boxer who has mainly developed pectoral muscles. The essential function of the pectoral muscles is to connect your shoulders, arms, and latissimus dorsi as a combined force.
Small muscle group, you will see a lot of fighters strengthening their neck muscles to practice fighting fights. The most common ones are weight training and bridge training.
Conclusion
In combat sports, boxing looks attractive and charming, like when professionals are fighting, jumping, and striking. In reality, it is not as easy as its looks. Each body muscle has its functionality and contribution in the final strike when delivering and striking with the opponent body.
Before becoming a pro boxer, you must practice all the requisite workouts needed to develop your stamina and muscular strength.
You can do your practice at home or in a gym as it suits you in both ways. However, getting advice from a professional player or coach is very useful and, in my opinion, essential.
If you are already familiar with the correct procedures of workouts for strength building or got admission in training classes, you need dedication toward regular practice.
Boxing workouts are not limited to boxers but are also helpful for other people who want to develop their muscular strength, relieve mental stress, and shape their bodies by losing weight.
For good exercise, punching bags are trendy and helpful exercising equipment. If you are interested in such tools at fitnessumpire.com, I have already researched, tested, reviewed and categorized various types of quality punching bags and boxing gears.
I tried my best to provide information related to what muscles does boxing work and its role. If you find this article helpful, let me know in the comments about your thought about the subject and also, please do share this info with your friends who love combat sports.
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