Does warming up before a workout mean anything to you? You know, the short quarter of an hour at the start of training during which we tend to alternate between jogging, chasing steps and kneeling? Do you also tend to do it in a hurry or skip it completely? It's time to stop neglecting Tigers!
Find out why a good boxing warm-up is essential to practice safely. And as a bonus, we offer you a selection of exercises especially for your warm-ups. Training at home or in a boxing club, follow the guide!
Awakening the Mike Tyson in you starts before you even punching bags. Before chaining jabs and hooks, you must prepare your body for the effort.
Warming up allows you to gradually increase your body temperature and limit the risk of injury.
More specifically, warming up before boxing training is essential for:
This physical and mental preparation must be done at the very beginning of your training but it can also be done again before starting a new activity or a new, more intense exercise.
As with all combat sports, the warm-up in boxing is divided into two stages: the general warm-up first, then the discipline-specific warm-up afterwards.
During the first phase of the warm-up, you will perform exercises common to all sports. The objective is to gradually use all the parts of the body involved in the effort.
Jumping on the spot, heel-buttocks, knee raises, joint rotations (neck, shoulders, pelvis, knees), you are spoiled for choice in terms of exercises to perform.
In the second phase, the specific warm-up allows you to gradually integrate exercises and movements specific to boxing.
This is where shadow-boxing (punches thrown into space) and small right-left movements come into play. Enough to warm up your muscles properly before your hiit boxing session Or other.
In sports practice, you can perform two different types of stretching: static stretching and dynamic stretching.
But should you stretch at the end of a warm-up? Some coaches will tell you yes, others will tell you no. We help you see things more clearly.
Static stretching corresponds to the best known and most practiced stretches.
These are stretches during which you hold a position for between 15 and 30 seconds, trying to go as far as possible in a progressive manner. You don't use any momentum, just your body weight.
Dynamic stretching is done in bursts and is not maintained for more than 15 seconds.
With a swing, you bring one of your muscles into a position that stretches it.
More concretely, this involves, for example, the heel-butt exercise. These movements allow you to dynamically stretch your hamstrings, the muscle located at the back of your thighs.
In conclusion, for a boxing warm-up, yes we stretch, but not just any way.
You can include dynamic stretches during or at the end of your warm-up to increase your muscle temperature and prepare the muscle for exercise. Be careful to do them correctly so as not to injure yourself. So avoid doing it if you are coming back from an injury or if you are not really in top form.
On the other hand, leave static stretching for the end of your workout. They will then allow you to improve your flexibility and relax your muscles. Ideally do them 15 to 20 minutes after finishing your session.
In order to achieve a warm-up worthy of the greatest boxers, remember to follow three essential principles: progressiveness, alternation of rhythm and adaptation.
We can never tell you enough, the objective of a warm-up is to raise your body temperature and prepare it for more intense effort. To do it without straining your body, it's quite simple: gradually increase the intensity of your exercises.
So finish your warm-up in style with the most demanding exercises to increase your body temperature. But be careful, you don't have to end up with a sideways fist either.
After successfully raising your body temperature, you now need to maintain it so as not to cool down until your session begins.
Our advice to get there:
For your warm-up to be effective, you must also adapt it to the sport you are going to practice, to your sporting profile as well as to your training environment.
For French boxing, also known as foot and fist boxing, you will spend time warming up your upper body and your lower body.
On the other hand, if you are more like Mohamed Ali and you choose to do English boxing, you will only be able to rely on your punches. You will therefore warm up your upper body particularly well: arms, shoulders, wrists.
And of course, whether you are a beginner or experienced, young or old, whether it is sunny or rainy at your training location, you will also have to adapt the duration of your warm-up accordingly.
In general, you don't need any boxing equipment especially for warming up before your workout.
However, if you have a jump rope on hand, you can use it for both your general warm-up and your specific warm-up.
In addition, the skipping rope is truly THE boxer's accessory. All the biggest players use it in their physical preparation.
You've followed all our advice to the letter and now comes the question of whether you did a good warm-up. Trust your feelings.
And to help you, here are three unmistakable clues:
If all these points are validated, your warm-up is complete. Put on your gloves, and let's go for the rest of your session!
We've already told you, there is no typical warm-up in boxing. We have therefore selected several exercises that you can add to the to-do of your warm-ups. Make your choice.
To wake up the joints, we advise you to perform each exercise for 15 seconds.
If you have a jump rope, you can use it after your joint start. The exercise possibilities are endless with this iconic boxer's tool.
Accelerate the pace, diversify your jumps and vary your supports. You will increase your heart rate while strengthening your arms and shoulders. And as a bonus, you tone and strengthen all of your muscles.
It's all in one: ideal for a gradual warm-up.
This part of the warm-up aims to gradually warm you up. Perform each exercise for 30 seconds while jumping in place. This will begin to awaken your inner Rocky.
You can continue the shadow boxing by performing the sequences that you like. Jabs, hooks, uppercuts, let your imagination run wild. The idea is to get you in the mood for your session.
Now that you know how to be perfectly warmed up before a boxing workout, it might be time to move on to the boxing session itself.
And for that, we have the solution: 50 minutes of training combining boxing and muscle strengthening.
Come and discover the world of combat sports with zero combat. If you want to free yourself from daily stress and hit something without getting hit in return, this is the ideal solution.
Our coaches are there to support you in offbeat, energetic and musical sessions. In addition, our sessions are suitable for everyone, regardless of your level.
We're waiting for you in the Tigers round!
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Our studios
Le Cercle Boxing – Boxing club in Paris
6 rue de Clignancourt, 75018 Paris
Le Cercle Boxing – Studio Beaubourg – Boxing club in Paris
60 rue Quincampoix, 75004 Paris
The Boxing Circle | Studio Bastille – Boxing club in Paris
28 rue Popincourt, 75011 Paris