Skip to main content

Boxersise is the popular full-body HIIT workout that gets your heart pumping

Revamp your workout routine and torch serious calories with boxercise

man boxing shirtless gym boxing gloves
Logan Weaver / Unsplash

People have engaged in hand-to-hand combat for eons, and today, boxing is a popular Olympic event. As an Olympic sport, boxing adheres to strict safety standards. Boxing has evolved into boxercise — a trendy full-body workout that gets your heart pumping. It’s an exercise that helps you blow off steam while fine-tuning your fitness. Boxercise is increasingly popular for a good reason. Let’s look at the benefits and the history of boxercise.

What is boxercise?

shirtless man wearing black shorts walking wearing boxing gloves
Logan Weaver / Unsplash

Boxercise is a type of exercise or ‘fitness boxing’ that involves aspects of boxing training. You wear pads and gloves, but it isn’t a competitive sport like traditional boxing. Boxercise is a HIIT or high-intensity interval training class, but you won’t be getting in the ring swinging and dodging punches. Instead of sparring with a partner, you’ll throw punches at a punching bag or in the air, typically in a boxercise class with an instructor.

Recommended Videos

What moves are involved in a boxercise class?

man boxing in gym with punching bag
Pixabay / Pexels

You might engage in strength training moves, stretching, and then hitting a punching bag. The most popular type of boxercise is a class where you follow an instructor and perform a number of boxing moves with upbeat music in the background, similar to an aerobics exercise class. You might perform moves like:

  • Smaller jabs (punches)
  • Large sweeping punches like crosses, uppercuts, and hooks
  • Squats and ducks
  • Short steps forward and back
  • High knees
  • Jogging on the spot

Different instructors have varying ways of implementing boxercise. You can make modifications if you need to, such as staying seated while punching the air or a punching bag.

How did boxercise start?

guy squatting boxing gloves boxercise exercise
Logan Weaver / Unsplash

Boxercise has been around for a while now, but it’s still picking up steam as people become more interested in enhancing fitness, especially at the dawn of the new year. In 1992, professional boxing coach Andy Wake created boxercise in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1990s, millions of Brits got involved, and the concept soon generated interest worldwide.

The largest boxercise class

woman boxercise class boxing gloves exercise
Logan Weaver / Unsplash

Boxing and world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua broke a world record for the largest Boxercise lesson. On Monday, 9th April 2018, Anthony took part in a mammoth fitness challenge in London alongside 540 other participants. Boxing coach Andy Wake led the class through 10 rounds of exercises for a 30-minute session, with music like the power anthem ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen motivating everyone to push through every minute.

What are the benefits of boxercise?

boxing gloves on table
Mikhail Nilov / Unsplash

Boxercise provides plenty of benefits, such as:

Steph Green
Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…
Topics
These 5 fitness myths are hurting your daily workouts
These fitness adages aren't really true
fit man lat pulldown shirtless

Fitness tips are everywhere. They’re on our screens, regardless of which devices we’re using. They’re at the gym, too, even if some are unsolicited. And devices. They even turn up in health and wellness information, which makes them virtually impossible to avoid.
This is a good thing to some extent, but it also comes with a major downside. It spawns a lot of fitness myths, and many of them don’t look like fiction when you first see them. There’s a lot that goes into recognizing these myths, so here’s some help with some of the most common ones, which can easily creep into your workouts and mess up your training plan.

Fitness myth #1: Calories in, calories out is the best way to lose weight

Read more
What does grip strength tell you about your risk of chronic disease? New studies
shirtless man in gym doing close grip lat pulldown with cable machine

We often hear fitness buffs discussing bulging biceps, toned triceps, and how to build tree trunk legs on leg day. What’s equally important but not as widely discussed is grip strength. You use your gripping muscles in your hands and wrists every day when you’re doing your functional tasks and when you’re in the gym powering through a deadlift or doing HIIT battle rope exercises like slams, waves, or pulls. Let’s explore the latest research and the importance of grip strength.

Correlations and vital signs

Read more
Elliptical workout plan for beginners: Burn fat without the impact
Discover how to optimize elliptical training in your routine
Man and woman using ellipticals

Nearly every commercial gym has at least a dozen ellipticals — and for good reason. The elliptical is a great piece of cardio equipment for those just starting their fitness journey. As a personal trainer, I also have clients with joint pain who prioritize the elliptical over the treadmill, Stairmaster, etc.

If you are interested in implementing cardio into your routine, consider this elliptical workout for beginners. Keep reading to learn more about elliptical training as well!

Read more