The boxing gym near my place has been closed temporarily due to Covid. I am beginner and my trainer has advised me to only practice the jab and cross for now along with a lot of endurance and core exercises. Even I do not want to add any complicated combinations to my training. Can someone give me some advice on what kind of training routine I can follow at home? I usually start of with cardio. My cardio is 10 mins of skipping/jump rope, after that I do some cardio exercises on the stairs in my house. After that I do 5 minutes of shadow boxing then I do a bit of bag workout. On the heavy-bag, i start off by throwing a couple jabs, then I do a 1-2 , a little bit of 1-1-2 and some 1-2-1. I would like some advice on how I can perfect the jab and the cross and what kind of training routine I should follow as a beginner. Any other insight would be appreciated.
As a beginner, your time is gonna be better spent doing conditioning. Not necessarily lifting weights cause it doesn't translate very well in boxing but doing a lot more road work, working on your core. (I see your coach already mentioned this. Follow some of the exercises you've done in the gym or take a look on Youtube.) Building overall endurance, especially in your legs will payoff once you get back into the gym. It is difficult for someone online to critique your punch form, even in video format. We can give general ideas but it isn't the same as teaching in person. I would focus more on your footwork than anything else because as a beginner, that is something you can work on without the need for heavy critique.
Heaps of stuff you can do at home. You said you have a heavy bag which is a plus. Variety is the key. I'm a big believer in breaking up training into different areas (strength, cardio, skill work etc). I like each session to have a specific focus. This makes it easier to monitor progress, to help the body recover and prevent the training becoming boring. That being said there is no one way to train. The best way to train is in whatever way you feel more motivated and interested, although you shouldn't be being the same workout every day. Say for a 4 day training split you do: * 1 day cardio (on the heavy bag) * 1 day conditioning (calisthenics) * 1 day (strength) * 1 day (active recovery + stretching) Bag work has so many variations. You can start with 3 x 2 min unders/overs (30 seconds for each) to get a good sweat, followed by 4 x 2 min two hands, anything you want be sure to move around the bag, then 2 x 2 min 20 seconds on 20 seconds all out). Finish with some core work (not situps, do planks, dead bugs etc). Calisthenics. So many things you can do. My fav was you pick four body weight exercises (burpees, squats, lunges and mountain climbers). Start at 20 then go all the way down to 1. So its 20 reps of each - 20,20,20,20, then 19,19,19,19 etc. When you get better you can change the number of exercises and reps to test yourself. Boxing is a skill based sport, but if you have a gas tank that can keep going you are ahead of the game. Strength work. Kettlebell exercises and functional movements are better suited to boxing but also consider you might have weaker or underdeveloped parts of your body that may need strengthening from a traditional bodybuilding perspective. It doesn't have to be heavy. Farmers walk, shoulder, back and chest presses, turkish get ups, around the world, halos, sumo deadlifts can all be done with just a single kettlebell, go for reps of 10 each set and leave your session with something left in the tank. Do not annihilate yourself. Pull ups on a bar are also fantastic for boxing - its teaches grip strength, scapular retraction and are great for shoulder health. If you can't do a strict pull up properly, build it up. Start but just dead hangs for 4 X20 secs, then next week build up to 4 X30 secs then maybe 3 weeks later try 4 x 50 secs. The key is to just do it. Ego tells us we should repping them out, no, make them perfect in form and you should have no pain when doing them and your core needs to be on, you should look like a pin just rising on the bar with whole body in control. Even at my best, I did a maximum of 15 pullups each set. Slow up slow down 3 seconds each direction with full lockout and chest touching the bar (but this isn't really needed). The moment my form degraded I stopped the set. Start with just sets of 5 reps. The key is to just keep trying. There is no secret most, people want to be amazing on their first try, I started doing sets of 2 reps then slowly over years built it up over the years. Shadow boxing. Do in a mirror, break down your punches. Slow it down. 10 jabs slow, where is your hand?, where is your elbow?, can you be hit?, are you looping them?, are you off balance? Then 10 jabs fast proper technique. You can do this with every punch. Jab, straight right, hooks, right slip upper to the body etc. The key is to be proud of your technique, always striving for it to be tight and precise. Then finish with 5 x 2 min shadow boxing, mix up the rounds 2 rounds box from the outside, 2 rounds on the inside, 1 round flurries and go for speed). Hands must be up, the hands start from the chin and once the punch is thrown return back to the chin. As you progress your guard moves away from the face and you can be more loose with your hands. Good luck have fun with it. Write down your workouts in a book and be sure to rest. We are all human. Boxing is really taxing on the elbows, forearms, shoulders, hips and knees. Train smart and try to avoid injuries. Some times a 30 minute active workout is all that is needed. Less is always more. Do your work then rest. Flexibility is a key part of boxing, so stretching and foam rolling is a must before and after every workout. Plus a separate session where you just chill and look after yourself).
One great poster used to do push ups to failure every 10mins till he hit 1000 every other day. I would suggest a lot of running and shoulder endurance work throw in some weightlifting and you are set box in the gym where your coach can see you work the bag ect.
