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Get lean, mean and ripped with a boxing workout
A couple of month’s back, the topic of conversation on most people’s lips, at least for the weekend of 2 May 2015, was ‘the fight of the century’ between Mayweather and Pacquiao.
I had to get up super early to watch it because of the time difference here in South Africa. In hindsight, I should have just stayed asleep because the fight turned out to be a big disappointment and has now become tainted with scandal and controversy.
I was supporting Pacquiao, I find his rags-to-riches story inspiring. I was a little disappointed with the result, and I must admit I didn’t entirely agree with the judge’s decision – but hey, I’m no boxing expert, so what do I really know about how it supposed to be scored?
One of the things that struck me about the two fighters, was the phenomenal shape they were in during the weigh-in. Both of them were sporting six-packs and looked like they weren’t carrying an ounce of fat on their frames.
There are few athletes in other sports who are in better shape than boxers. If you had to pit athletes from different sports against each other in terms of fitness and athletic ability, boxers would consistently rank near the top.
It got me thinking that one should train a lot more like a boxer and use boxing workouts if you want a lean, shredded physique that will allow you to do basically anything.
If you’re looking for a killer training program and want to burn fat, build muscle, get strong and look great, go here
I’m no boxing expert, and truth be-told I didn’t know much about boxing workouts before researching them for this article, but I do know a killer program when I see one, so I scoured the internet to find a boxing workout program that the average joe or jane could follow to get into the best shape possible.
The best one I could find was published by Muscle and Fitness, you can find the original article here.
I suggest you give the article a read, as the author does a good job of portraying just how hard a boxer’s training is.
I must warn you though, this program is brutal.
If you’re not already in phenomenal shape, you may need to scale it down a bit. I’d suggest halving the specified time and sets/reps to start out and then increase them as your conditioning improves.
Here’s the program, give it a try for 8-12 weeks, and if you can stick with it, you’ll be giving Rocky a run for his money!
Days 1, 3 and 5:
1) Jump Rope – 3 sets of 3 minutes, rest 1 minute between sets
2) Speedbag – 1 set of 3 minutes
3) Shadow boxing, or boxing in front of the mirror – 3 sets of 3 minutes, rest 1 minute between sets
4) Heavy bag – 3 sets of 3 minutes, rest 1 minute between sets
Tri-set:
5A) Squat Thrusts – 4 sets of 20
5B) Lunge Thrusts – 4 sets of 20
5C) Lateral leap and hop – 4 sets of 20
Rest 1 minute between tri-sets
6) Plyometric Push-ups, 6 sets to failure, 1 minute rest between sets
7) Shoulder raise combo – 3 sets of 3 minutes, 1 minute rest between sets
8) Sit-ups – 3 sets of 3 minutes, 1 minute rest between sets
Day 2: Back and Legs
1) Barbell deadlift – 4 sets of 10 reps
2) Dumbell rows – 4 sets of 10 reps
3) Wide-Grip lat pulldown – 4sets of 10 reps
4) Barbell squat – 4 sets of 10 reps
Superset:
5A) Leg extension, 3 sets of 10 reps
5B) Lying leg curl, 3 sets of 10 reps
6) Seated Calf-raise, 3 sets of 10 reps
Day 4: Chest and Arms
1) Dumbell bench-press, 4 sets of 10 reps
2) Incline dumbbell bench-press, 4 sets of 10 reps
3) Incline dumbbell flye, 3 sets of 10 reps
Superset:
4A) Bodyweight dip, 3 sets to failure
4B) Standing dumbbell biceps curl, 3 sets of 10 reps
If you need an explanation or video to show you how
to do some of the exercises, check out the original article.
If that seems like a bit much or you’d like something with a lot more punching, bobbing and weaving, with more of a cardio-focus, then the 20-minute boxing workout in the video below might be more suitable:
Either way, whichever workout you choose, boxing workouts are awesome if you’re looking for something super effective and different.
Give it a try.
It’s rough. Even on paper it looks bad, so go easy with it, otherwise you might need to keep a bucket close by….
I’m curious to find out how it works for you, so if you end up giving it a try, let me know in the comments below.
Article by: Bryan Hamann.
Bryan is a personal trainer, certified bootcamp instructor, Ironman Triathlete and author of THE PRISON WORKOUT.
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