Boxing For Cardio

Never done it, but I’ve worn a HR monitor for years in a variety of activities. As long as your HR gets to zone two and stays there for an hour or more sustained, you will increase your VO2.

At the end of my 20 minute karate workouts, I do a couple of rounds shadow boxing with 16 oz gloves.

I used to box growing up but pretty well stopped in my early 20’s after a few too many injuries doing something I wasn’t ever going to turn pro and make money at. Picked it back up when I got into BJJ in my 30’s at a school that had a boxing program for their MMA guys. I pretty well do some kind of boxing circuit 3 days a week now on top of jits and I’m 53 now.

There is so much training info these days on YouTube that you can practically get world class instruction at your finger tips. Me personally, I usually do (10) 3 minute rounds. Usually start with rope work for 3 rounds, speed bag, shadow box, then bag work. It’s great cardio with a purpose. Just make sure you get pretty comfortable throwing good punches because I have seen more than a few broken hands from poor form hitting a heavy bag. In fact, I highly suggest starting doing all shadow boxing in front of a mirror before getting a heavy bag. You will get all the benefits of the cardio without risking injury until you get comfortable.

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I found a boxing/fitness gym in Hammond that offers a boxing fitness class. You can try it one time for free so I’m going Wednesday night. I’ll report back.

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Russ Anber has a boxing series on YouTube it’s 11 or so short videos showing the basics. Practice them over and over then show up to that class and challenge all the men to fight and start savagely KOing them one by one.

great cardio, youtube is your friend and has ton's of videos. shadow box before getting a bag, get some light weight dumbbells or something around the house that you can hold while shadow boxing once you get hang of it

Do not hang a heavy bag without going to a boxing gym for a couple of weeks/months to figure out how sustainable it is. It will smoke you, as stated. Plus, you're not going to do it for every workout even if you love it.

Yeah, I’ve been using a heavy bag for cardio the past year, solid choice. It’s way more fun than running, and you burn a ton of calories without even realizing it. Just make sure you wrap your hands properly and maybe get a pair of decent gloves to avoid wrist pain. Also, mix in some footwork and combos instead of just throwing random punches, it’ll keep your heart rate up and improve your rhythm. Great stress reliever too.

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Just get a stopwatch, 3 minutes on, 1 off. Learn some combinations, don't just throw hay makers. Watch some tutorials or something

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Bas Rutten has an excellent boxing workout that follows this method where he calls out the combinations for you. I used to be able to go 10 rounds with no problem... tried it a while back after not doing it for a few years and I almost died

Here's one from YT... if you search "Bas Rutten boxing" there are plenty of videos.



Also, if just starting out:

1 is left jab
2 is right straight
3 is left hook
4 is right uppercut

So when he calls a number you do that. If he says any number higher than 1 you do every number before it as well. If he says 3 you do 1,2, then 3.

If he says something like "1 and a 3" you do 1 then 1,2,3 (jab, jab, straight, hook).

Had the class tonight and enjoyed it. It was what I was expecting.

It’s excellent cardio. They have some good follow along heavy bag workouts in YouTube that are anywhere from 10-20 minutes long, yet very effective.