Boxing – Improves Physical and Mental Fitness

If you want to improve your health and physical fitness a boxing training program may be what you are looking for. As well as building body strength and fitness it can also go a long way to improve your personal confidence. Of course, by taking part in boxing workouts you will also improve your fighting form.

People who have tried boxing as a form of exercise find it to have very positive results, arms and legs usually gain a lot of strength and become more defined in shape. However, the benefits are not all physical. People also find that they gain a greater sense of inner strength and feel more emotionally balanced.

Boxing as a form of training and exercise became part of the large fitness training arena a few years ago. Great benefits can be found from boxing workouts on muscle toning and the cardiovascular system. It was the release of many videos featuring Tae bo and kick boxing workouts that made boxing rise in popularity.

The many innovative variations on boxing such as power punches, defence and punch and kick exercises have all the components of aerobic exercise. As you progress you will find your strength will build along with your confidence as you are taught how to execute punch and kick moves more effectively for a far more intense workout.

Kicks and punches which are performed in various combinations on blocks are done with an imaginary opponent, you have no doubt seen this many times on television etc. where the participant through punches and kicks into the air. There are also training facilities where there is the necessary equipment such as punch bags and so on. In some cases there may even be a real opponent to hit, they have very good padding on their hands of course!

Cardin kick boxing gives many more benefits other than the physical factors, it is an excellent way to burn off excess calories. In just one hour of kick boxing you can expect to use in the region of between 350 and 500 calories. It is also very good for maintaining a good heart rate of somewhere between 75% and 85%. This has been proven to be the ideal rate for anyone in training or exercising.

Boxing as exercise is beneficial for the whole body. As well as increasing arm and leg strength through the repeated sparring and jogging whilst punching at the same time,it also helps increase resistance and strength whilst greatly enhancing the reflexes and flexibility of all your muscles.

The workouts involved help to greatly enhance balance and co-ordination which in turn gives you body great form and increased stability and also allows joint movements to be more flexible giving fantastic results in physical fitness.

There are many benefits to be gained from all types of boxing training, that is on top of the physical benefits. In the training process you will learn a great deal about defence skills which, in today’s world could prove to be invaluable. A great sense of satisfaction, self confidence, motivation and relaxation can also be gained from training.

The stresses and strains of modern living can be lifted and any anger and aggregation which may be building up inside can be released and lifted giving more peace of mind and help you relax more.

A number of aerobic fitness instructors do recommend some boxing training instruction for people starting out. This allows each individual to take things at their own pace depending on how fit you are already. The other extreme is boxing classes which will push you to your limit. In this case it is important that you have a safe environment with fully trained instructors on hand and that you are already physically fit.

You will see many positive results if you take up boxing training, you will be much more fit physically and mentally. You can take things at your own pace and most of all enjoy the fun of being involved in a training program.

The History Of Boxing Gloves

Boxing gloves have been around in one form or another almost since the beginning of boxing 3000 years ago. The ancient Greeks used to wrap their hands in leather strips in an attempt to protect their hands. But there was no padding in these early boxing gloves, just leather to protect the boxer’s hands. Most people mistakenly assume that boxing gloves have always existed to protect the person being hit. But the bones in your hand are very small and fragile. The padding provided by boxing gloves is as much to protect the person swinging as to protect the person on the other end of the swing.

When the Romans picked up boxing as a sport from the Greeks they unfortunately turned it into a life or death type gladiator event. They continued to use Greek style leather strips as gloves. However, they hardened the leather and attached metal studs and spikes to the strips. As a result, in many ancient Roman boxing matches the loser ended up dead or permanently maimed.

This was too brutal for even the ancient Romans. They made boxing illegal in all Roman cities and provinces in 30 B.C. This distaste for boxing was so great in the Roman Empire that the ban continued in the entire Western civilization for over 1500 years.

When boxing finally reappeared in the late 1600s it was of the bare-knuckled variety. However, because of the more civilized approach taken to boxing it was not long before boxing gloves resurfaced as well. This time, padding was added. Jack Broughton, who was a British boxing champ in the early 1700s, is widely considered to be the inventor of the modern padded boxing gloves. However, these padded leather boxing gloves of the 1600s and 1700s were only used in practice and for informal boxing matches. The major public boxing matches were still bare-knuckle events.

But people were dying in these bare-knuckle matches, so something had to be done. Strangely, however, the boxing rules established in the 1700s and much of the 1800s did not require or even mention the use of boxing gloves. Boxers were very reluctant to give up the purity of bare knuckles fisticuffs. As a result, in many parts of the world boxing was banned in the 1800s and picked up its seedy reputation that continues today.

The beginning of the end for bare-knuckle boxing started in 1866 when John Graham Chambers in London published the now famous Queensbury Rules. Among other things, these rules required the use of padded boxing gloves for all boxing matches. By the beginning of the 20th century the Queensbury rules were used everywhere and bare-knuckles boxing was gone from established boxing events.

The last of the bare-knuckle boxing champions was John L. Sullivan. He lost his championship in 1892 to the first of the Marquise of Queensbury rules champions, “Gentleman Jim” Corbett. Not too surprisingly, the match was held under the Queensbury rules and both combatants wore padded boxing gloves.

Today boxing gloves are defined by weight. The heavier the boxing gloves, the safer they are for both contestants. This is not just because they are padded more. The higher weight means the boxers can’t swing as fast as they can with lighter gloves.