Fitness Boxing - The Ultimate Training Routine

Fitness Boxing is one of the hottest fitness trends today thanks to Million Dollar Baby, The Contender, Cinderella Man and most recently, the 6th installment of the Rocky saga Rocky Balboa. Interest in boxing is at its highest level since the days of Muhammad Ali and “Smokin” Joe Frazier.

What is Fitness Boxing? Fitness Boxing is a total body workout that helps people achieve their fitness goals. It provides: - Variety - is different, challenging and fun - Strength gain - improves overall body strength and speed - Intensity - challenges both the aerobic and anaerobic systems - Burns calories - fat is burned to help increase and maintain lean muscle - Low risk of injury - provides intensity without injuring muscles and joints - Outstanding x-training for sports relying on “core strength” and mental toughness

Why Fitness Boxing? Participants rave about Fitness Boxing because workouts are always fun, challenging and produce results. The focus is on fitness first and boxing second using sound boxing techniques to get people into their best physical and mental shape learning to “fight without the fight”. The boxing workout improves every type of physical capacity: strength and power, coordination, aerobic and anaerobic fitness and endurance.

What are the Benefits of Fitness Boxing? The best aspects of workouts used by the world’s most finely conditioned athletes, boxers, are combined into a fitness program that’s safe for the recreational exerciser.

Fitness Boxing: Improves total body fitness - Challenges most of the body’s physiological systems: Central nervous system - Is trained to respond faster and more efficiently through punching combination drills Musculoskeletal system - Becomes stronger through specialized resistance exercises and boxing specific drills Cardiovascular and respiratory systems - Become more efficient via workouts that are more than 60% anaerobic - The training load is distributed across body parts providing a lower risk of injury. - Used as a training alternative, it provides a break in routine and adds variety to the fitness regimen.

What is a typical workout like? A session lasts about 60 minues and is divided into components to ensure a complete body workout.

Warm-up - The workout usually begins with 5 to 10 minutes of jump rope to warm up the muscles and tendons for the rest of the session.

Conditioning - The workout transitions from the warm-up into a few boxing specific strength and conditioning resistance exercises. The exercises emphasize muscular strength and endurance, speed, tone and anaerobic conditioning. About 10 minutes.

Technique - One or two new techniques are introduced in each session. The objective is to build from the basics, such as footwork or fundamental punches, to more complex combinations and defensive maneuvers. About 5 minutes.

Punching Drills - This is the heart of the workout and, usually, the most enjoyable part. A series of offensive and defensive routines are worked through utilizing a circuit training format employing focus mitts, heavy bags and more. This part is highly anaerobic, involving three minute rounds (work units) punctuated by one minute active recovery periods (rest units). Each round, one or two new things are added to the routine to be worked on. The first round might be using the jab, the second round, the right hand and some combinations of these. The variety of Punch Drill training is almost limitless. After 5 to 7 rounds, the participant should be de-stressed, refreshingly exhausted and invigorated. About 30 minutes.

Cool Down - This time is used to bring the heart rate down and stretch to improve flexibility. It can also be used as question / answer time with the trainer. About 10 minutes.

Stay tuned for part II… Fitness Boxing is fun - try it! click here [http://www.triangle-trainer.com/contact.html]

Copyright 2006 Triangle Trainer

Rick Goodman is an Elite Personal Fitness Trainer and Nutritionist. His fitness and health site, [http://www.triangletrainer.com] is known for its great content on fitness and health.

Rick Goodman - Committed to your Success! e-mail: rick@triangletrainer.com

Fitness Through Workout Or A Bowflex

Gym memberships as well as home fitness equipment can be very expensive. The usual options you have is to buy free weights and dumbbells and workout at home, or you could get a monthly membership a fitness gym and get access to their weight machines. With a home gym, you could just have the solution to incorporate fitness into your daily routine.

There are a variety of fitness equipment available, so how do you select which is right for you. There may be other benefits to some kinds of gym and home fitness equipment, exercise bikes can also strengthen and tone leg muscles for example, but cardio equipment's primary goal is to raise the heart rate and break a sweat.

Usually there are two types of exercise recommended for the human body: strength training and cardio. If this comes in the form of house cleaning for an hour or strength training at the gym, the result is that every exercise keeps your muscles strong, your heart strong, and your body in shape. If you new to weight strength training, it is easy to get confused by all the different kind of home gym equipment that is on the market today.

It is a fact that the benefits of strength training are many and they are well documented. First, they can be very useful for overall body conditioning and using a home gym equipment for strength training has become a very popular component of many people's home fitness workouts. It is not easy to choose the best home gym and equipment for the job. Take into consideration what your ultimate goal is, for example do you want to tone the muscle you have, focus on strength training or work up to full-tilt body-building?

Nowadays, a wide range is available, ranging from the traditional weight bench to the multi-station gym with weight machines where free weights and resistance equipment are used. Most home gym equipment falls into two major categories, the first being home gyms that use rods or bars to create resistance, and the second being strength training machines that use a weight stack or plates.

When it comes to weight control, don't expect a home gym to be the most effective method. Aerobic exercises are far more effective at helping you lose weight then strength training, although a home gym can help you build up your muscle mass. In that way you can accelerate your weight loss in addition to the aerobic exercises that you do.

As said before, choosing the right equipment for your workout can be a very difficult decision. A simple thing like mirrors allow members to view their reflection and inspect their exercise form. So a mirror in your home workout room can help you with your form during exercise, allow you to visually track your progress and motivate you to achieve greater results.

Louise Wasa always writes about valuable news. A related resource is Sports for Everyone. Further information can be found at Your Economy Inn.