Boxing Day | Boxer’s Workout Plan

Written by Ben Prinsloo

The Boxer’s Boxing Day Workout

If there’s ever a day to enjoy a cheat day, its Christmas day. Whether eating turkey or cake, most will at least indulge a little. This workout will kick start your metabolism the next morning, set your fat stores on fire, and make you look and feel like you’ve had a perfect week of eating. If you’ve never done bag work for cardio (like punching and kicking), use this opportunity to give it a try. Most gyms have a punch bag, but worst case scenario you can do it without the bag and shadow box, in which case you will need ZERO equipment (although asking Father Christmas for a punching bag might be a good idea next year).

The workout is based on a boxer’s workout with a few spanner’s (and hammers) thrown in. Of course a boxing workout in all its exclusivity can provide great results, but for the sake of getting the entire body moving, and therefore getting a maximum stimulation of the central nervous system, and hormone release, we will be adding in some kicks, legs, and core work. The result is a tired and fatigued body, but your energy stores will have opened up, and your fat stores depleting fast, so it’s the perfect time to do it.

Stance:

Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, with one foot in front of the other. Raise both hands, with your front hand being on the same side as your front leg. This is you base position. Your front hand will be “1” and your backhand will be “2”. So for example if the combination reads “1, 2”, this would mean a straight punch with the front hand, followed by a straight punch from the back hand.

Try the following combination to get an idea of how it works, while you are sitting reading this:

1, 1, 2 (so front hand punch, front hand punch, back hand punch)

1, 2, 1 (so front hand punch, back hand punch, front hand punch)

2, 1, 2 (so back hand punch, front hand punch, back hand punch)

If the above all makes sense you’ve accomplished the hard part. Each round is 2 minutes long, for 5 rounds. Take 30 seconds rest in between each round.

Round 1:

First Minute: 1, 1, 2

Second Minute: 1, 2, Kick with the back leg

Round 2:

First Minute: Kick with the front leg, 1, 2

Second Minute: Burpees (yes, the whole minute!)

Round 3:

First Minute: 2, 1, 2, Kick with the back leg, 5 squats and repeat

Second minute: Mountain Climbers

Round 4:

First Minute: Kick with the back leg for the whole minute

Second minute: Kick with the front leg for the whole minute

Round 5:

First Minute: 1, 2, Kick with the back leg, kick with the front leg

Second Minute: Burpees

This concludes the bag work part, now onto the core!

By this point you should be breathing heavy, and your heart beating fast. Sweat should be pouring down your face.

Core work:

30 mountain climbers

20 Jackknives

20 Crunchies

20 leg raises

30 russian twists

Repeat this as many times as you can in twelve minutes, with 30 seconds in between each rotation.

At long last the tough part is over. Your legs should feel like jelly, your fat stores ought to be depleted, and your breathing will be heavy. The reason this workout is ideal for the post-Christmas/Thanksgiving indulgence is that it incorporates the entire body. The punches and kicks, as mentioned earlier, trigger your central nervous system, with stimulates your fat cells for energy. Additionally the composition of the rounds result in your heart acting in the way it does in HIIT, or interval training. This means that the heart spikes to 80% for a period, and then drops back down, this process repeats for a while. Research has show that where this happens, the body actually burns fat quicker. The addition of the core routine at the end gets the blood into the muscles in your stomach, which, combined with the fat blasting workout will result in your stomach looking good, despite your previous day’s indulgence.

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