Strength, Speed, & Stamina: Top Benefits of Punching Bag Workouts
A strong and active workout routine offers a number of benefits to your physical and mental wellbeing. The importance of incorporating exercise into your daily routine cannot be understated, but what most people don’t realise is doing the same exercises over and over can stall muscle development and keep you from feeling the full benefits of your workouts. Swapping out your regular routine with boxing training where you can beat up kick pads and punching bags, is the perfect way to build up muscle strength and a lot more in the process.
Not convinced? Just take a look at how going a few rounds with a punching bag can improve your strength, speed and stamina and take your daily exercise game to the next level.
Build Basic Combat Skills
One of the most prominent benefits of learning how to box is being able to develop a fighter’s instincts. Incorporating punching bag workouts into your routine will teach you how to jab, hook, and cross with full confidence, not to mention all the footwork and agility training that naturally comes with staying fight-ready. All of these effectively teach you how to defend yourself, which is truthfully a life skill just as much as it is an asset to your physical fitness.
Granted, the ability to fight probably isn’t in the top five reasons why you exercise regularly. But nobody really prioritises developing their self-defence skills until they’re in a situation that requires them. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to be proactive, in fact it can only help! So why not jump into some boxing and other combat training to not only build your strength gains, but also to ensure that you’re ready to tackle any and all opponents that come your way?
Boosts Confidence
Chances are you’ve heard the phrase ‘confidence is key’ a fair amount over the course of your life. It does seem to be a tenet that teachers and trainers seek to drill into their students. But there is a lot more nuance behind that ideology than just ‘putting on a face’.
In truth, confidence is rarely about putting on a front. True confidence comes from a belief in yourself and your capabilities. And knowing how to defend yourself can have a positive effect on the way you carry yourself day-to-day. That, and an innate confidence is born from the act of mastering something. The day that you nail your footwork or a long and difficult string of boxing combos, is likely to be the day that you walk out of the gym filled with pride.
This confidence will then have a multitude of benefits in your life, from performing better in your job to feeling more present in your personal life. It’s crazy to think that all of these pros can stem from just incorporating something as simple as a punching bag workout into your weekly routine, but to use another phrase – progress comes ‘one step at a time’.
Convenient And Cheap To Setup
This leads me to my next point, which is that punching bag workouts are super simple to start and set up. All that you really need in order to get right to punching and stepping is, well, a punching bag and a good pair of gloves – with both of these pieces of equipment being quite reasonably priced and easily available. Nowadays, punching bags come in a wide range of configurations, and can be set up in a range of different environments, spanning from your garage to your backyard, and perhaps even in your bedroom or living room.
Punching bags also don’t even need to be suspended from a ceiling hook anymore. You can purchase a free-standing punching bag with a weighted sand base, or even invest in a wall-mounted punching bag or kick pad. These wall-mounted alternatives are great for those looking to practice their punching bag workouts in smaller spaces like apartments.
When we compare this to other exercises like swimming or cycling, having a punching bag set up in a convenient location can save you heaps, and allow you to work out from the comfort of home.
Muscle Power, Strength and Endurance
You might be wondering what muscles groups are engaged during a punching bag workout. The truth is because there are so many moving parts in any boxing activity, virtually all the muscles from the arms and shoulders to the legs are being actively engaged. All of these combined effects contribute to developing core strength, full-body stability, and overall endurance.
Regular punches, dodges, and continual movements whilst opposing a heavy bag will prove a challenge at first, but over time you will notice improvements in a number of areas of your body. Even if you have been enjoying consistent yet less intensive workouts in the past, you will still feel the benefits of punching bag workouts pretty immediately.
You will also notice how punching bag workouts can help you perform other exercises you include in your routine as well. For example, let’s say you’re a sprinter looking to improve your top sprint speed and you’re doing everything from squats, box jumps, and lunges to get there. Performing a punching bag workout will work the muscles in between that aren’t directly stimulated in your standard routine and will thus help you surpass your record speeds.
This strategy is common among top athletes as you will often see soccer players and other athletes include punching workouts into their routine to help support their overall fitness gains between seasons.
Decreases stress
Stress from our personal and work lives can be destructive to our well-being. This is why we cannot stress the importance of destressing enough. Thankfully, boxing training allows for a natural physical and emotional release of pressure in the body, making punching bag workouts a destressing exercise all on their own!
It shouldn’t be too much of a mystery as to why ‘having it out’ on the boxing bag can be a very therapeutic exercise. Simply think back to the last time you felt angry or frustrated. Chances are those feelings were accompanied by a real urge to hit something or kick something. These explosive reactions are actually natural, so letting them out in a healthy way can actually be pretty therapeutic. That’s where the punching bag comes into the picture! Just channel all your fury and frustration into that kick pad or punching bag, and feel your tension basically float away.
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Ultimately creating an active routine or adjusting your existing routine, can be a challenge for many aspiring athletes. But there’s no denying that punching bag workouts will not only aid in improving your strength, speed and stamina, but so many more elements of your overall health and fitness as well. From cultivating your confidence, to developing your combat skills, to helping you destress at the end of the day, you will absolutely find that you gain so much more out of your boxing training routine than just strength, speed, and agility gains.
