BOXING DRILLS AT HOME

Boxing is one of the purest forms of combat sports in the world today. There are many different forms of Martial Arts that have tenacity, strength, resilience, and technical brilliance, but the art of boxing has elements of elegance, gracefulness, and finesse. The common boxing athlete is an extremely tough individual, with a high aptitude for combat strategy, a higher level of strength and athleticism, a technical excellence for punching combinations, a mentally tough attitude, and an extremely dexterous, and agile style of footwork. All of these concepts are extremely important in becoming a successful, and skillful boxer.

Most boxing athletes train inside of a gym, with high level training partners, and an even higher level boxing instructor. This is a great way to improve the quality of their boxing, and gain valuable full contact boxing experience. Not all athletes will want to expose themselves to the rigorous grind of high level boxing. Instead some athletes prefer to train boxing techniques from their own home garages. This can be highly achievable, because in the modern day there are many different technical components to learn from valuable resources like YouTube, and other websites like dynamicstriking.com. Perfecting these techniques in many different home style drills, can be highly beneficial to an athlete.

CAN ATHLETES IMPROVE THEIR BOXING FROM HOME

Boxing is traditionally learnt at a boxing gym under the guidance of an experienced trainer, but a commonly asked question is can you learn boxing at home. Boxing is a high intensity form of combat sports that has many aspects which can be trained as a solo drill. Utilising shadow boxing exercises, and working on footwork skills can be done at home by a solo athlete.

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All an athlete needs to do is hang a boxing bag up in their garage, and they can practice their punching form, their punching power, their punching accuracy, and their punching speed, in the confines of their own home. Traditionally the answer is yes, a person can learn boxing from within their own home, and even though they may be lacking in actual combat experience, they can more than make up for it with a technical proficiency of boxing skills.

FOOTWORK DRILLS

When an athlete begins boxing at home they will commonly be training in solo drills. This means workout drills like shadow boxing are highly valuable resources that can help the athlete improve their boxing skills. Shadow boxing can be used for many different aspects like punching form, punching accuracy, hand and eye coordination, cardiovascular fitness, evasive and attacking footwork, and a combination of all of these aspects. Shadow boxing involves maneuvering around the mats, while throwing punches, and utilising evasive movements. This drill can be heavily focused on footwork, and using strategic stepping like the lateral shuffle, a diagonal slide in, a level change, circling around the opponent, and a pivot, can be extremely effective for a boxing athlete. Shadow boxing is employed by all professional athletes, and utilising this iconic form of training will significantly develop an athlete's boxing ability.

All athletes must be able to move in a sideways direction, and developing their lateral movement ability is a key component in boxing. All boxers need to be capable of circling out of danger, because getting stuck in the corner of the ring can be disastrous. Using a lateral shuffle must be developed, and some good boxing tips for beginners at home is to set up an object in the middle of their mats so they can practise shuffling in and out of range. This type of drill is extremely important, and will always help an athlete with their evasive maneuvers, which in turn will boost the productivity of their counter striking. Using lateral jumps is another extremely vital area that athletes must put in significant work. A lateral jump is basically the same as the lateral shuffle, but instead of stepping to the side they will use a quick directional change to jump into a more advantageous position. This will help them to inflict dominant strikes, or to evade a counter strike from their opponent.

PUNCHING DRILLS

Developing boxing skills from home has a number of different factors involved, and utilising the right drills from the start will help athletes tremendously with their development. There are many boxing drills that can help athletes increase their overall skills in boxing. One of the most fundamental boxing drills that athletes should master from the beginning is a simple jab and cross combination. The jab is always deployed off of the lead hand, which is usually the non dominant hand, unless the athlete is a right hander and is using a southpaw stance. After the initial jab the athlete should pivot on their back foot, and rotate their hips, and this is how they can generate enough power with their cross.

Drilling the double jab is extremely important for a boxer, and this will commonly set up power shots like a hook, a straight right, or an overhand punch. Throwing two consecutive jabs can often confuse an opponent, because after an initial jab the opponent will often expect a cross or a hook. Practising the double jab in a three hit combination can be extremely useful, and using two lightning fast jabs that are designed to distract an opponent, before landing the knockout blow is highly strategic. An athlete can practise this combination on a bag, or in a shadow boxing workout, and what makes the double jab so diverse is that the athlete can use any punch they want as the finisher. This becomes increasingly hard for an opponent to predict which punch an athlete will use, and gives the athlete total control of the situation.

Another good combination is the jab, the cross, and then followed by a roll underneath the counter strike, before landing a rear hook to the body. Like all good combinations the athlete will close the distance with their hands guarding their face, as they step into their opponent, executing a fast jab. Pivoting off their back foot, the athlete will throw a strong right cross to the chin, and as the opponent evades and counter strikes, the athlete will roll underneath the punch to their right side, and execute a rear hook to the body. It is important to note that the athlete can use a jump step after the roll, as they rotate their hips to add extra power into the hook. If the opponent doesn't throw a counter strike then the athlete can finish this three punch combination with a lead hook to the body instead.

BAG DRILLS

Training from home means that an athlete will usually be training alone, and this is why it becomes increasingly important to utilise boxing bags. There are a multitude of different bag drills that athletes can work through, and depending on which bag they use will dictate the sort of drill each athlete incorporates into their training regime. The heavy bag is used mainly for power punching, and a good drill is called the pyramid drill. This involves an athlete engaging the bag in their fight stance, as they step in and throw a jab, before stepping out, and stepping back in an executing two consecutive jabs. This drill can be repeated all the way up to ten consecutive jabs, and can be utilised with a variety of different punches.

Athletes can also utilise a movement and power drill, where athletes will shuffle in towards the heavy bag, and throw a volley of combinations. The point of this drill is to focus on their footwork, moving in and out of the bags range, and employing significant power punches. Athletes will use lateral movement, circling to either side, pivoting off their back foot, and lateral jumps to infiltrate their opponent's space. Another great drill is to simply throw consecutive punches, and this will help athletes to develop technique, and power within their punch. Throwing twenty consecutive jabs, or jabbing continuously for thirty seconds, before switching to hooks, uppercuts, overhands, or crosses, are great for developing an athlete's punching ability.

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The double ended bag is a smaller bag that is held up from the top, and the bottom by an elastic band. This will enable an athlete to throw combinations at the bag, which will force the bag to fling back at a quick speed, enabling the athlete to work on their evasive maneuvers. Learning how to slip a punch is pivotal in becoming a good boxer, and the double ended bag is the perfect way to gain real fight experience, while developing a faster, and more strategic evasive maneuver. Athletes can incorporate blocking, dodging, parrying, circling, and rolling in this workout, as they will learn how to combine these evasive movements with a fundamental series of attacking punches.

AGILITY DRILLS

One of the most important aspects in boxing is an athlete's agility. This is the ability an athlete has to move in one direction, and then suddenly change direction, in order to either evade dangerous situations, or to advance their position to administer attacking movements. There are many ways to train an athlete's agility, with one of the most common ways shared with other high profile sports like Gridiron. Using a rope ladder is a great way for athletes at home to practice their maneuverability. This can be done by stepping in and out of the ladder's rungs in a sideways movement. Athletes can also move diagonally, or forwards so they can improve their ability to change direction with a faster reaction time.

Using resistance bands can also help an athlete who trains from home with their agility. An athlete can use a resistance band fitted around both of their ankles, which will severely constrict the athletes movement. This may seem like a hindrance but what it is doing is forcing the athlete to build strength within their legs, as they attempt sideways movements like a lateral shuffle, or a sideways lunge. The resistance band will create tension between the legs, which will build up significant strength in the athlete's sideways movement. Athletes can also wrap the resistance band around their waist, and around a pole, where they can execute different sorts of exercises like lunges, or crossover side steps. These exercises will benefit an athlete severely with their agility skills, and improving the quality of this aspect will only contribute to becoming a more strategic boxer, with a greater ability of footwork skills.

CARDIO BASED DRILLS

Cardio is another extremely important aspect of becoming a fully competent, and a dynamic boxer. Having the versatility of being strong and fast, with a good level of endurance will only help athletes become more confident in the ring, and more capable against a high quality opponent. Having a good level of cardiorespiratory endurance will enable an athlete to last all twelve rounds of a boxing match, and still have an extremely dynamic nature. Utilising old school methods like running can never be overlooked, as all athletes will build a significant endurance within their cardio systems. Endurance is great, which will help athletes last for long periods of time, but a good boxer has extremely powerful, and explosive core muscles that will enable them to attack fast, and escape even faster. This is where interval sprinting is a great method, as an athlete will sprint hard for thirty seconds before resting for half the time, and repeating the process over and over. This will only build up an athlete's resilience, which will help them become extremely fitter, and faster on the canvas.

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Using a skipping rope is one of the most iconic ways to build up an athlete's cardiovascular ability. All of the greatest boxers of all time like Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, and Floyd Mayweather all worked extremely hard on the skipping ropes for both warm up exercises, and for developing an extremely dynamic series of cardio abilities. Utilising different skipping techniques like hopping on one foot, or skipping on the balls of their feet, before switching to their heels has an extremely powerful effect. All of the best skippers in the art of boxing have gone on to become champions of the sport, and using fast feet will ensure the athlete has the upper hand within their boxing matches.

STRENGTH FOR BOXING

There are many different ways to condition an athlete's body for boxing, with many of these fighters using different weight lifting workouts to enhance their strength capabilities. Traditional weight machines will definitely build strength within an athlete, but are not always the most functional way. Kettlebells on the other hand are extremely valuable, and are a compact way of maximising their overall ability to gain a dominant strength. Combat sports require athletes to push and pull in functional ways that relate to each individual technique. This means holding on to light dumbbells and utilising different shadow boxing techniques like jabs, uppercuts, and hooks will effectively build functional muscle within the athlete.

The most traditional form of strength and conditioning is the more simplistic exercises that have been around for a long period of time. Utilising push ups, sit ups, squats, lunges, dips, and chin ups are some of the most functional ways that an athlete can build strength within their bodies. Pushing an athlete's body weight will effectively help them to become explosively strong, with a high level of muscle endurance. Incorporating these drills into a circuit style of training, can be highly beneficial for an athlete. Although strength and conditioning is not the most important aspect in boxing, it is however, a great way to gain the ascendancy over most opponents they may face. The stronger and fitter an athlete is, the better chance they have of winning the match, and an even greater chance of avoiding any kind of injury.

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