In order to take up boxing on the amateur or professional level, you have to be in top condition and constantly train in order to improve. You are going in the ring with the intent of hitting your opponent and hurting him and his goal is to do the same to you. In order to be at your best, you have to use equipment to get stronger and in better shape.
Effects
In order to get in top shape, build punching power and increase your reaction time, boxers should use the equipment that is associated with the sport. Speed bags help improve quickness and hand-eye coordination. Heavy bags help build punching power and explosive strength. The jump rope helps boxers move with quickness. These tools all help boxers improve a their chosen sport.
Time Frame
When using boxing equipment like the speed bag, heavy bag or jump rope, you should try to build up to the point where you can use the apparatus for three minutes at a time, rest for a minute and then continue in the pattern of three minutes on and one minute off. The 3-to-1 ratio is used because that mimics a round in a professional boxing match. Each round is three minutes long and then there is a one-minute rest period before the fighter goes back to work in the next round.
Benefits
Using all the equipment associated with the sport of boxing has several benefits for those who use them. Not only will the fighter improve his hand-eye coordination with the speed bag, his strength with the heavy bag and his quickness with the jump rope, he will improve his confidence as he gets better with each piece of apparatus. Those who train may go on to become amateur or professional fighters but others will train just to get in shape.
Hitting a speed bag tends to become an addictive form of training. The late champion Sugar Ray Robinson continued to hit the speed bag even after he retired from boxing. Robinson retired from the ring in 1965, but he hit the speed bag nearly every day for the following two decades. "I love to hit the speed bags," Robinson told Los Angeles Sports Magazine in 1976. "They don't hit back. I believe if I can work out everyday, I'll live to be 200." Robinson died in 1989.
Considerations
You can have all the best equipment at your disposal and you may even be able to get something out of it if you start using it on your own. However, you will become a much more effective fighter and make better use of your time if you have a trainer who shows you how to use each piece of equipment expertly. This will make much better use of your time and help you to become more effective in the ring.
Warning
You can get in better shape and you can improve your speed, quickness and power by using standard boxing training equipment. However, you won't know how good a fighter you are until you step into the ring and spar with a live opponent. If you have been training seriously and you are working with a good trainer, you will have a good chance to do well. However, you have to put your boxing skills to the test by going up against a live opponent if you want to take up the sport.
Posted in: Boxing Training