Boxing is one of the most spectacular and most paid combat sport on the earth, pro boxers make money by fighting and competing each others Furthermore is the oldest compact sport; it takes years and years to train it to become an outstanding boxer.
If you are a beginner at boxing or your goal is to start boxing in 2021, congratulations, there are many things to know about boxing.
But I can imagine that at the beginning boxing can be a challenging sport for you, especially if you are coming from other sport and not compact sports, but no problem because in this article I will give you my
Top 14 best tips for beginners that want start boxing
1-Footwork
My first advice for beginners that want to start boxing is to pay attention and learn the footwork as much as possible.
As a child, the first important step that he does is learn to walk, same importance for the boxing.
You cannot start boxing without learning the basic footwork movements; learning the footwork and practice on it will guarantee you to progress on your boxing.
The footwork on boxing is essential because it will guarantee a necessary position in the attack and defense phase.
You will learn how to balance your body’s right weight to not exceed on the front feet. Otherwise, your movement for going away from your opponents will be passive.
As soon you will start your journey on boxing, you will notice that the footwork is the primary thing; in boxing, the knowledge of footwork will help you exit and counter-attack off your opponents’ attack thanks to the angle that you will learn.
My first advice for a beginner who wants to start boxing is understanding the basics of footwork and improve it day after day.
2-Never look to the floor
The second advice is to not look at the floor.
As a beginner in boxing or in general also for other martial arts, one of the common mistakes that a beginner makes is to look at the floor while doing footwork.
The stage to look at the floor is permitted for a beginners on the first days of his activity, just to look the correct alignment of the foot.
As soon as you pass the initial stage, you do not have to watch the floor; for any reason, your goal is to feel the correct stability and the accurate movements needed by yourself.
I know that this can be hard to do, especially in the first days, but try to reach your independence on the movement without looking at the floor as soon as possible.
3-Extend all your arm when throwing your punches
Sometimes, a common mistake that can compromise the intermediate and beginner boxers’ power is how they extend their arm when they throw a punch.
While you are throwing a punch, your complete arm’s extension is a significant consideration to remember. It is more important if you are a beginner, in the way that you will not build an inadequate habitat in the future.
My tip if you are a beginner in boxing is to repeat all the movements of every punch that you will learn slowly, in the way that your brain and your body will absorb the movement.
During all the stages of throwing a punch, make particular attention to extending the arm and extending as much as possible.
The extension of a punch is essential when you will throw your punch to your opponent because you will want to have the maximum of your power in it.
ATTENTION must be taken when practicing punching without a heavy bag or any bag, to avoid injury in particular:
NOT throw quick punching, especially if you are a beginner in boxing; these rapid movements can bring to your shoulder and elbow severe damage if not done correctly.
4-The punch must come back ( Tips for beginner in boxing)
Another important tip for beginners that are approaching boxing and throwing their firsts punch is to remember that the arm of the throwing punch must be back almost immediately after hitting your target.
Instead of keeping your arm over your target, you can throw your second punch; it will be more efficient, but always remember to bring back your arm.
I mentioned this tip because it is crucial to make this step in the initial phase of your learning progress as a beginner.
You will notice the difference and importance of these tips as soon as you progress in your boxing career. Almost certainly, after prating constantly, these tips will be apparent, and you will not think anymore. You will do it in automatic.
5-Control Your Breathing while training on boxing
As soon as you start to train in boxing, you will notice that you have to adapt to a new way of breathing; the effort required on boxing and the combination will consume your oxygen.
For the beginner in boxing, as for every combat sport, it is essential to control breathing. One of the variations that can bring you to consume fast your oxygen is the tension, which is mostly encountered while you are sparring.
You will notice that you will make sparring on the first time after some minutes you will fill exhaust.
This type of feeling is not due to your body or your training that is not done correctly, but the main reason is the tension of the fight and the fear that it is hard to control at the beginning stage.
An essential tip for the beginner that is approaching and already start training on boxing are the following:
- When you train on the bag, take a breath before you throw the punch, and as soon you throw the punch, breath out.
- As soon you finish your combination of punch, come back, retake a breath, and repeat the same process.
If you follow this breathing methodology, you will not have the feeling of tired soon, and you have more chance to perform better on punching and during your training.
An important consideration that a beginner must do is to breath on boxing and, most importantly, on breath slow.
Breath slow
We already explain before that if you do not perform correct breathing, you will get tired soon; as beginners, you will have to control your breathing better.
In boxing, it is essential to breath slow, and it is important for this reason:
- It gives you the possibility to relax and will calm you.
- Breathing slowly will provide you with more energy.
6-Relax
As you can imagine from the before the point that we saw, the relax while you are boxing is fundamental, a correct breath will help you get more relaxed, so keep calm and breath correctly.
It is a common problem for beginners in boxing that their muscles are in tension; this can come from various motivations, like a natural reaction to the stress, that there is as the possibility of getting a punch in the face.
There are some boxers that you can take inspiration about how they are relaxed and this is very visible during the match and the way of how they use their head movement; these are :
- Floyd Mayweather
- Muhammad Ali
- Roberto Duran
- Naseem Hamed
And the list can continue going ahead, but in general, the point that is important from that part of relaxing is understanding to the beginners that relaxation in boxing is one of the best qualities that a fighter can possess.
7- Not panic
If you are still here, congratulation because you learned many essential tips to begin your career in boxing in a better way.
From the previous point, you saw that relaxing is one of the boxing fundamentals and that some professional boxers are the perfect example to take inspiration on that.
Now it is time to speak about panic on boxing.
Panic, by definition is the advent of fear, in the reaction of some particular situation or state that the person is involved.
Applying this word to boxing, it is expected that some of you that are beginners can happen to have a sort of panic, especially during the sparring section.
What to do when advent anxiety while boxing?
Suppose you feel a sort of anxiety when you are sparring. In that case, you have to think that you are for training, will not happen anything dangerous, and that if your coach decided to make you sparring, you have all the means necessary to defend and attack decently.
Some tips for beginners on boxing that encounter anxiety during sparring are:
- Breath correctly and slow
- Try to tend your muscle relaxed
- Be positive, and believe in your potentiality
If you apply this fundamental principle, passing with the time, you will see the result, so NOT PANIC boxing is just a sport, enjoy it and not take it so seriously try to Have Fun.
8-Repeat the combination that are you learning on boxing
As humans, repetition will boost our learning; as children, we grow and hear our parents’ words. The process continues going ahead, between listening to the same terms like mother, father, after month and month, the children understand it, and this way continues the child’s learning process.
Now the same concept is for boxing.
Boxing as other martial arts, needs time to be learned, the repetition of the combination and everything you will do on boxing is fundamental.
As beginners in boxing your primary goal are to understand at 100% all the movements and combinations you will learn during your boxing section and then apply it with repetition and control.
Especially at the beginning, you must take care of every single movement and correct eventual mistakes during the execution.
For example, in judo, a particular technique called “uchikomi “uses the same principles as boxing.
Apply the repetition of the combination with constant, put all your attention on the movement, and in the future this work will paid off.
9- Try to think about what will happen next
This is another important tip to remember; it is a mine gold that some beginners do not think about, the importance of prediction in boxing is the most powerful quality that a fighter may possess.
As a beginner, try to think about what will happen next after your combinations and think strategically.
It is good practice to start to do it, from the first months of your boxing journey, because before you do it, more possibility do you have to understand what your fighters have the intention to do next.
The quality of anticipating and understanding what your opponent will do next needs time, practice, and most importantly, experience.
So not worry too much if at the beginning you are not able to predict what the next move of your opponent is, instead try and always try in every possibility that you will have. You will see that after some time, you will predict your opponent’s next move with more accuracy.
11-Be Patience
Be patient with boxing, and the boxing give you significant results, make one step at a time, not be hasty, but learn slowly and most important with Constance.
If The patience is a quality that you do not have; in boxing, you have to learn it, because you will need a lot of it.
We speak of Patience on boxing for some reason:
- Be patience with the progress of your boxing.
- Be patience in the learning process.
- Be patience if you don’t have the expected result.
And many others.
Your path to becoming good boxing is not so short; it needs time and dedication, so be patient and take everything you will learn as gold, not make on your head complex about your level, train, and keep motivated.
I think that probably to everybody happen that we imagine something on whatever aspect, and in the end is not as we were wondering, this can happen as soon as you start boxing.
So please not make you wondering about something that you aren’t; keep humility and hard work.
12-Stay Hydrated during your training and sparring on boxing
The boxing sparring section will burn many calories; depending on your training level, you can also burn 600-900 calories in half an hour.
During your training section on boxing, you will sweat a lot, so bring with you a bottle of water to be always hydrated and never remain without the right quantity of liquid inside your body.
The hydration in boxing is essential because the water can maintain our blood volume and regulate the body’s temperature.
Drink water and assuming fluids guarantee your body to maintain normal muscle function, and most importantly, helps prevent a decrease in physical performance.
Some studies have analyzed that a loss of sweat of 2% of body weight causes decreased physical and mental performance.
While the Losses of 5% or more of body weight during physical activities may decrease the capacity for work by roughly 30 %.(1).
13-Have Fun
It is essential not to take so seriously the boxing; you have to find the Fun of doing it.
As For every sport, you will have to take it in the right manner; also if you are a beginner and do not know so many things regarding boxing, you will have to take the small things that you will learn and make you happier.
As soon you will learn the technique of punching, footwork, and combo, you have a lot of fun with it, and one of the most exciting things about boxing is that you can practice it and have Fun also in your home, this is one of the reasons why boxing is considered a good martial art.
14-Don’t give up
Last but not for importance is DON’T GIVE UP; I know that for beginners the boxing can be challenging, especially at the beginning, when you start to be hit by the first punch.
But you have to think about what boxes can give to you, all the punches that you will receive at the beginning, you will be returned back in the future, if you will make boxing your passion and your life.
Don’t be frustrated if your boxing’s first days are not excellent will be day better, and if you believe in yourself, nobody can stop you, try to have a winning mentality, either inside the boxing gym and outside.
Conclusion
That’s it; now you have a better idea of approaching your first days as beginners on boxing.
I hope that this post was useful for you and that you have found the right tips for your future start or for your imminent start on boxing as a beginner.
References
(1) Jeukendrup, Asker, and Michael Gleeson. “Dehydration and Its Effects on Performance.” Humankinetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2015.