After lots of Victoria Secret Models including Adriana Lima shared lots of boxing training moments in their social media accounts, boxing training has been a huge trend among females. And let’s not forget Gigi Hadid. After she released her photos on Instagram there has been a TOTAL blast in social media. I am really glad they did and after seeing their results, lots of women started boxing training ever since.
There are amazing benefits of boxing for women and let’s start with the physical ones.
1. Physical Benefits
Toned Arms and Shoulders
Many women complain about their arms. Some say it is saggy, some want more toned arms. Both speed bag and double end bag training are just what they need. Speed bag session burns 200 calories in 20 minutes and only your arms, shoulders work during the speed bag session. It is truly incredible and as you get better skills you can even change the speed bag with a smaller model and get more challenging workouts and even better results. You can also see other benefits of speed training.
Double end bag training is similar to speed bag and you still get mostly cardio for your arms. However punching technique is a lot different. For example, you can even do uppercuts with it. With that, you will burn the same amount of calories and these all will be from your shoulders and arms. And achieving great looking arms will be sooner than you think 😉
Flat Stomach
Whether you do sparring or heavy bag your core will work incredibly and you will face great resistance during punching bag training session. This training is is both anaerobic and aerobic training session. According to Poliquin Group, anaerobic exercises are better than aerobic exercises for burning visceral fat. However, when an exercise combines both of them like heavy bag training, it is the BEST way. When women try having that “Victoria Secret look” obviously boxing will be way better than a treadmill. You can also check out other amazing benefits of heavy bag. This workout is one of the explanations why these models have incredible bodies.
Muscle Building
You probably have seen some bodybuilders wear boxing gloves and punch the heavy bag in their workout routine. Actually, lots of my friends, who have not done any boxing training in their life, started supporting their weight lifting routine with punching bag and many of them saw incredible results. Because of this many females also start doing it and according to Elite Magazine many of them reviewed it as more “fun” than “weight lifting”. And I totally agree with this statement because I always get incredibly bored when I lift weights.
Also other than models lots of actresses are known for getting in amazing shape with boxing training. Even some of them did heavy bag training sessions to have muscles for their fight scenes. Some of the famous names are Angelina Jolie, Ashley Greene, Lauren Conrad. I am sure some of you have seen Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider and after watching it I think there will be hardly anyone who is not impressed by her fit look 😉
2. Posture
Boxing training can also provide you an incredible posture. According to Elite Magazine, after a couple of months of boxing training, lots of women get rid of “back pain”. According to WebMD’s research, the most obvious reason is the speed bag training. Basically, you keep maintaining the straight posture during speed bag training and this provides you a good posture. Over the years I also realized the difference in my posture as well.
3. Reflexes and Eye-Hand Coordination
Just in seconds you will adjust punching power and direction of the punch during speed bag session. So it improves eye-hand coordination greatly. There is no wonder that people on boxing forums continuously reports that speed bag sessions improve stealing ability in basketball.
Speed bag also forces us to decide and react according to speed bags movement in milliseconds. Your reflexes will surely benefit from it as well.
4. Self-defense Skills
Learning how to defend yourself is incredible for everyone, however, women find it more empowering and it boosts their confidence. Because after some classes in boxing gym they know how to knock out someone with proper technique 😉
5. Mental Benefits
Many women in Women’s Elite Boxing also reported that boxing training is liberating and also it relieves their stress. You try punching your sparring partner as hard as you can and dodging from their attacks in the process or even punching the heavy bag for 20 minutes can finish all of your energy. So whatever makes you feel angry or sad, it won’t be your mind anymore or you will think much less about it. Because you simply don’t have a calorie to think about it. I actually benefit it from time to time and I have also lots of friends who use boxing training purely for this reason and they don’t even take boxing classes. They just wear some boxing gloves and train with punching bag training. Some even don’t have proper punching technique. However, as long as they are safe ( having boxing hand wraps, gloves etc. ) I think it is okay. I also saw MANY testimonials in women’s social media accounts. It clearly helps a lot.
If you are interested doing boxing training, there are some gloves which are preferred A LOT more by females and many professional female boxers also use them. You can check out these women’s gloves reviews.
6. Variation of Exercises
Jumping rope, double end bag training, sparring, speed bag… there are so many types of boxing training and these all target different areas of your body at different intensity. In this way built muscles will be denser and burn even more fat. It challenges our body in very different ways and according to Healthy-living’s research, this also helps for reducing stress and aids for sleeping. And I can easily vouch for that 😉
There are many incredible benefits of boxing for women and obviously looking fit is not the only reason. It may be a huge reason but not the only one 😉 It can also help for reducing stress, benefit other sports and thanks to speed bag training you can even have an amazing posture. I hope you enjoyed the content and if you have any experiences or anything to share about the topic please have a comment below.
I have to find a gym that includes boxing training too. I love weight training, but I get highly bored and start mixing up between HIIT and weight. Treadmill is like torture for me. I love the benefits you pointed out and I didn’t know that bag training can benefit your posture. I will keep that in mind for my girls. What are your thoughts about the kickboxing bags? Will they give the same upper body benefits?
Well I would suggest that you search well Linda. Because lots of boxing gyms just suck. And when I run I really get bored too ;). These bags are similar to boxing bags, these are just taller so you can get same benefits.
I was searching around because of the buzz about boxing for women lately and glad to find your post. I can see all those benefits to boxing are true as it’s such a whole body sport. I can’t wait to get started myself and get that flat stomach! LOL
Besides gloves, what other equipment you think I’ll need?
This is really nice that you will start boxing Grace 🙂
You can check out what equipment is needed for boxing. There you can find anything you need.
And if you look for a pair, definitely check out reviews of quality boxing gloves for women. These pairs are preferred a lot by females and I am sure you will get results faster with these.
Great Post! Now I have learned the benefits from boxing. The speed bag training seems very interesting to me. Unfortunately not all gyms in my area have it. Only the boxing specialized gyms. Is it something I could install at home? If yes, can you recommend any particular brand?
So you want to have toned arms 😉 Well I know it is a really common problem for lots of gyms. It provides denser shoulders and arms. And I know that so many people will also love it.
You can install speed bag platform in home quite easily. You can have a look at these speed bag platforms and their features.
I am sure you will see something you like.
Great article! I especially like these benefits you mention: toned arms, better reflexes, enhanced self-defense, and good stress relief.
I think something like boxing takes you out of yourself and definitely makes your problems seem smaller as you live more physically in the moment. Thank you!
I know so many people do speed bag training just for having better arms. It is truly an amazing tool.
Boxing training can even make you forget your problems for a second, I sometimes benefit from it in that way 😉
By the way you are welcome,
Thanks for the awesome reminder of the benefits!
I used to kick-box, but doing the real thing would add bone mass and strength that kick boxing does not. Very important for me as a senior. As I age and my arms are acquiring that flabby hang women hate, I recognize this as a great way to tone them up as well as gain bone strength!
Time to find a gym with boxing!
Thanks for an inspiring article.
Well that is really nice that you take your training seriously. And truly many women hate those saggy arms I have witnessed that many women just started because of this.
I hope you can a find good boxing gym Rori, it is really easy in these days. Many gyms have at least “decent” boxing classes.
Love that you get toned arms and a flat stomach from this, never thought of taking up boxing, after reading this might be something to try in the future 🙂 Great post
Hi Helen, it will definitely give many physical benefits. And I am sure you will love train with both speed bag and heavy bag. These can tone your arms and flatten your stomach in no time. I am really glad that you started considering it 😉
I’m 58 years old with mild arthritis, does that affect my body doing boxing before I go ahead and buy
Hi Marcia, I am really not familiar with your condition. I actually did some research after your comment and I definitely think that this decision should be made by your doctor.
Hey! Great post, thanks for sharing. We recently moved into a building with a gym in it and there’s a punch bag down there. My girlfriend started to use it at the end of her workout sessions to really get the blood pumping and found that 5 minutes on the bag tired her out more than the hour run. How long do you think she needs to spend on the bag each day to see some of the results you mentioned in your post?
That is great, I would also love to have my own gym lol. If she is having a hard time, I think she can move punching bag workout to earlier stages of her routine. In this way, she can be fresh and work on it more effectively.
It actually depends on her physical conditioning. She can start punching the bag with one-minute intervals and she can increase this period in future. If she is really tired after a workout, she can do light punches. This helps with saving energy.
What a great post and site! I have a brown belt in Taekwondo, but am not interested in returning to it. I’m totally bored on machines, but do still use the elliptical and weights at the gym and a mini trampoline and free weights or kettle bells at home. Boring. The whole boxing thing sounds awesome. I remember the results I had from sparring and would love to get those kind of results again. I’ll be checking on setting up an area to do boxing at home. It would be fun and a great workout. Sounds like I would enjoy it better than the whole body vibration machines I’ve been researching lately too.
I am not familiar with Taekwondo but I just checked it. Well, you are definitely experienced enough : ) Machines get boring so fast and I also stopped using them a long time ago. I used to use row machine a lot and even though it was fun it lasted only a couple of months.
You are experienced enough so you can do sparring in a controlled environment at your own home.