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An important part of your boxing routine is practicing your boxing techniques. Its just practice, practice and more practice. Sorry to disappoint you 
 A useful drill is working on your combinations with a partner holding focus mitts. This can be turned into a heavy bag workout as well. It can also be done by yourself but you loose the reaction part of the drills – try surprising yourself by guessing a number that you didn’t know you were going to guess!
When you do these drills on focus mitts, only practice your speed. Do not practice your strength or power (power is strength and speed – fast strength) as your partner will soon become tired of being a boxing bag. If you are doing heavy bag training then, by all means, practice your power and strength.
Agree with your partner what the punches are going to be. A jab can be 1, a cross 2, lead hook 3 and lead upper cut 4.
If you are going to do combinations then you can start with 1 being jab and cross. 2 is jab, cross and lead hook. 3 is jab, cross and lead uppercut. 4 is lead uppercut and cross.
Reaction Drill
The person holding the focus mitts or bag calls a number. You have to do that punch or combination as fast as you can.
Reaction and Speed Drill
The person holding the focus mitts or bag calls a series of numbers. Start with two numbers and work your way up as your fitness improves. You have to do those punches or combinations as fast as you can. This becomes a great workout as you do a pyramid - start with one punch/combination and work your way up to 3, 5 or 10 punches or combinations before working your way back to one.
Exercise Drill
If the previous drill didn’t tire you you, try this. The combination now ends in an exercise, for example, jab, cross then squat or jab, cross, lead hook then a standing jump. Any exercise can be added onto the end of the combination. If you are wearing bag or punching bag gloves then I wouldn’t do push-ups, burpies or sprawls as this can ruin your gloves.
You could make the exercise a sprint or a ladder run. This is even more tiring as you exercise your arms then legs.
This boxing training program can easily be changed into kickboxing drills by adding kicks or adding elbows and knees to become a Thai boxing training program. I will cover these workouts on boxing-tips.com
 Once you have decided that you want to learn boxing, you will need some boxing training equipment.
Don’t worry, you don’t need much to get started. I have come up with the basic boxing equipment you will need at each stage of your training.
The list is the minimum you need, I’m not trying to scare you into buying a lot of stuff – unless you are buying it through me
Just starting out
 Congratulations. While you might want to get all decked out in Everlast boxing equipment, all you really need to get started is a pair of boxing bag gloves and boxing hand wraps (Muay Thai hand wraps are the same thing) If the club or gym does not have them, your own skipping rope would be useful as you can practice at home.
Getting into it
 Now that you have found that you like boxing, you will start to see that the bag gloves are better for focus mitts. You might need some thicker gloves for doing your punching bag or heavy bag workouts. You will soon need a bag to keep your stuff together.
Doing it by myself
If there isn’t a club nearby or you want to practice at home, you will find that a clock or boxing timer is useful. A clock will keep you honest when you are feeling tired during a round If you are feeling really keen then your own punching or heavy bag will be a great addition. Check out http://kidsboxing.net/68/kids-boxing-punching-bags-and-punching-bag-stands for how to pick a good punching bag stand.
There isn’t a boxing club nearby and I’m training with a friend
 If you are working out with a friend then focus mitts allows both of you to work on technique. Its hard to see what you are doing when you are punching a bag. Coaches use focus mitts as it gives them the best view of what you are doing and allows them to speed up or slow down the action.
I’ve learnt the basics now I want more fitness
Once you have learnt the basics then you can work more on your fitness instead of working on more boxing techniques. Now you will see how fitness equipment can help: kettle bells or weights for strength or a medicine ball for power.
I’ve learnt the basics now I want more boxing
Now you will have gloves for working on focus mitts as well as punching bags. The next step can be sparring. For this you will need safety equipment – sparring gloves, a mouth-guard, boxing head gear and a box.
Boxing-tips.com will cover more competition, sparring and coaching equipment.
If the club is competing then they should have competition gloves and headgear.
Coaches will need focus mitts, catch mitts, buckets, sponges, sprays and cleaning equipment.
 Playing games seems like, well, playing games but they are a great, and fun, way to get fit and help with team work.
All of these games can be made harder by increasing the distances ran or by adding in push-ups etc. They can also be made easier by decreasing the distances or walking instead of running etc.
Shuttle runs
Mark out 4-6 parallel lines. The first line is the start/finish line. The exercise works like this:
- Run from the start line to the first line, back to the start line then to the last line and back.
- Then run from the start line to the second line, back to the start line then to the last line and back.
- And then to the third etc.
This is a pretty basic exercise but does the job. Lets add some fun!
- Make the run from the start line to the end line and back into a sprint or a tiger walk.
- Or have a runner at each line and turn the game into a relay.
- Or at each line, do an exercise. A push up or a star jump etc.
Baseball/Softball
This game is laid out like a baseball diamond. The pitcher is the coach holding focus mitts.
- Add enough bases so there are 3-4 batters waiting (this is their rest time)
- The bases can be hitting the bag, jumping on the spot, kicking the bag (for kick boxing training) or elbows for Thai boxing training, push-ups, crunches… you get the idea.
- The “batter” punches for 10-30 seconds before they run (or hop, or jump, or do walking lunges) to first base, the boxer on first moves to second etc.
- If you are short on space then you can put two punchers or kickers on one bag – the third person to arrive makes the first person move on to the next base.
Outside games
If you access to a hill then the game can be to run up the hill and slide/toboggan/roll back down it. To make it more interesting, it can be turned into an individual race or a team relay. Steps can be used as well.
Intervals are great for outside, running from one tree to the next then walking. Or using a football field – the short sides can be for running or hopping etc and the long side is used for the rest period.
These games and group exercise are not just for kids boxing, they can easily be modified for kick boxing or Thai boxing training.
An important part of a boxing training program is a punching bag. Check out punching bag exercises for using punching bags in a boxing training programs.
While you can work on your punches with focus mitts, it isn’t fair for your partners to try and punch hard. A punching bag is great for working on your power and on dodging things.
 There are three types of punching bags, ones that are hung usually from the roof, ones that use a punching bag stand and free standing ones. Free standing ones are usually inflatable punching bags like the Wavemaster brand.
Inflatable punching bags are good when there isn’t anywhere strong to hang the bag from or there isn’t enough room for a punching bag stand. Be warned, these bags can be knocked down by strong punches. They are good for using inside as they can be put away easier than the other types.
 Bags that use a punching bag stand can fit in smaller spaces than ones that are hung and can take a bigger punch than an inflatable punching bag. They are best for garages or where you can leave the bag up.
Gyms use hanging bags as they need more than one bag and each bag tasks up less room than a punching bag stand. Gyms also expect to drill holes into the roof or attach beams to walls unlike the average family home.
Always check how hard a punching bag is before hitting it and remember to punch correctly.
If you have got punching and punching and moving then you are ready for punching something!
Before we start, make sure you have read Kids, Boxing and Safety as punching bags are where you can start hurting yourself. You will need a good pair of punching bag gloves and hand wraps.
Now, let me introduce you to the boxing training equipment you will need:
- Focus mitts – a pad that is worn on your hands
- Punching bags – the half height bags. These are the same height as an adult from head to waist and you can easily wrap your arms around them.
- Heavy bags – longer and wider than punching bags, you will have trouble wrapping your arms around one of these.
- Bag gloves, punching bag gloves or boxing gloves – bag gloves or punching bag gloves are smaller than boxing gloves as they are just to protect your hands.
Before you start, focus mitts need two people, one to hold them and one to hit them. Boxing or punching bags can be used by one person.
Focus mitt exercise
The person holding the mitts holds up one and asks for one punch or holds up both and asks for two or three punches. This can be turned into a punching bag exercise by the someone standing behind the bag making the calls.
Focus mitt or punching bag exercise
- Step in, jab and step out
- Step in, jab, cross and step out
- Step in, jab, cross, hook and step out
- Can you work out what is next?
Focus mitt or punching bag exercise (but easier on the bag)
- Step in and jab then instead of stepping straight back, move to the side (to your left if your left hand is in front) so you move in a circle around the bag.
- Step out and start again Step in and jab, cross then move to the side (to your right if your left hand is in front)
When using bags remember that the punching bag moves more than a heavy bag so its better for practicing hitting a moving target. A heavy bag moves less and is for working on punching power.
A simple heavy bag workout is just standing in front of one and punching. I will cover heavy bag training in a later article.
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