Reasons why should you take up boxing

It Builds Athleticism

You don’t really have to be ‘fit’ to start boxing. That’s what it does. Once you’ve begun the sport, it helps you build a lot of strength and endurance, something your body might not have faced before. It’s the sport that indulges you in athleticism, because being a good boxer does require a lot of strength, endurance, agility and speed.

So, it is a structural work out for your body. You just don’t go start boxing while in a class. You first have to build your mobility strength and speed and eventually learn how to box.

If your body is athletically inclined from before then it’s always a bonus, although it’s not a prerequisite to train in the sport.

You Can Defend Yourself Whenever You Want

This is one of the most obvious benefits of boxing. Any form of martial arts practised is used mostly defensively and boxing is one of the main, taking the lead.

But defending oneself doesn’t really come naturally. It only forms a habit when you have sparred at least 40-50 times with different opponents while learning the sport. You can easily work on your timing, footwork and speed to build a good amount of confidence to defend yourself from any attack, pre-emptively.

I feel it’s very important to know a form of sport or martial art, to be able to defend oneself on an onset of any kind of danger, and I can’t think of anything other than boxing. It teaches you to control your movements, pre-empt an attack and strike at the right time.

It Increases Your Strength Physically & Mentally

Physically, boxing is a great challenge to take up. Not only does it push you beyond your threshold to build endurance, it also increases your confidence to take punches like a man. The more you spar and train, the more you stand and fight, instead of turning your back and running away from your opponent. You are training your body and your mind constantly to persist.

Mentally, it’s a great stress buster. Sparring and releasing all the pent-up energy makes you calmer as a person and less aggressive in life with people around you.

Actually, any form of endorphin released from your body helps you do that, but since boxing is more physical than the rest and it includes contact with another body, most times, it helps to release any pent-up emotion you may have. It balances your centre and keeps your head straight.

Works On Your Self Confidence & Self Esteem

Both your ability and your sense of self will turn around with regular practice. It’s not easy to spar with random strangers while surrounded by a tough crowd, but if you can do that, there is nothing much you can shy away from.

When you acquire a new skill and start putting it into practice religiously, you automatically feel that you can do a lot more and your confidence increases three fold. It’s a natural process and it’s great to be confident and sure about yourself at all times.

It’s A Great Workout & Helps Build Your Muscles Too

Training to fight is one of the toughest workouts you can ever do, so if you ever see a boxer’s body, you’ll never find even an ounce of fat on it. It’s always lean and ripped, ready to put up a great fight.

Boxing works out on a lot of muscles too. Although you might not have really huge muscles, it surely works out the anterior, posterior deltoids, your biceps, triceps and a range of your back and core muscles.

Why are muscles involved in boxing and why it helps you build them? Well, because when you throw a powerful punch, you have to put your whole weight in motion, making your legs, hips, shoulders, back and abs all work together, in one swift motion. Muscle helps to support the punch and stabilize the body and its posture when it’s in motion. So, building muscle is very important to be a good boxer.

Boxing Increases Kinesthetic Intelligence

Kinesthetic intelligence is your own bodily awareness, spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination, and in order to work your body with the movement, you have to be kinesthetically smart and agile. Not just for boxing, for any form of physical activity, especially martial arts.

The brain teaches the body, to be more effective and efficient during a tough work out. So, in life, when you need your kinesthetic to work well, it will come to you naturally, thanks to boxing.

Boxing Is A Challenging Sport

Boxing challenges you, more than any sport does. It’s not because you get to throw punches at someone but because it’s one of the few sports that work on your overall bodily growth, along with working on your mental endurance as well. It makes you get through challenging situations where you grapple with speed, agility, endurance, a lot of legwork, muscle strength and your confidence, constantly challenging you to become better.

So, if you’re contemplating about which sport to take up and excel in, boxing should definitely be on your list. Either that, or take up a form of martial art, to keep your body agile and aware at all times.

Boxing has definitely changed my life and I am sure if you take up the sport, it will change yours too.