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A common misunderstanding among beginners is that you can’t learn boxing without a gym, coach, or boxing equipment. This is strictly not true. Many legends of the sport started in their bedrooms (or parent's garage) practising the moves of their boxing idols. With the right plan and persistent practice, you can learn various rudimentary boxing skills at home.
What’s more, at home it is possible to develop your fighting fitness. Without any kit, you can put together challenging workouts that promote combat conditioning and sharpen your pugilism.
The aim of this article is not to try and turn you into the next World Champion. To achieve that lofty ambition would require a gym, coach, and equipment – not to mention a ton of determination.
Instead, I will provide you with a range of tools and training tips that can help you master the basics of boxing. You will also learn how to establish a workout routine that improves training consistency. If you’re committed enough to last the distance, you’ll walk away knowing how to:
Adopt the correct boxing stance
Form a guard and protect yourself
Throw a jab, a rear hand power punch, and the ‘one-two’ combination
Establish a boxing regime
Identify extra-curricular training opportunities
Leverage free resources
Build a budget boxing gym
In addition to that impressive list of outcomes, you’ll gain access to home workouts, fitness plans, recommended reading resources, and five-star-rated training equipment. Ready to get in the ring?
Related: Best Boxing Reflex Bag >
Learn boxing at home | Getting started
The most important first step you can take is to learn the boxing basics. This includes your stance, footwork patterns, how to hold your hands (forming a ‘guard’) and throw a range of punches.
All these skills – and more – can be polished to perfection at home. Here’s how to start.
Footwork
First things first, you need to know how to form a stable stance. Like a tree with deep roots, a firm foot position will enable you to weather any storm. Also, a well-planted pair of pins improves balance, responsivity, and punching power. (Don’t believe me? Try throwing a haymaker with your legs together – then try after I teach you how to place your feet properly.)
After lacing up a sturdy pair of boxing boots, have a go at adopting the correct stance with these five teaching points.
Boxing stance
Adopt a neutral stance. Assuming you’re right-hand dominant (thus an orthodox boxer), step forward with your left leg and space your feet a little over shoulder-width apart. It’ll look as though you’ve paused midway through a stride.
Now angle your toes 45 degrees so that they point to the side of your dominant arm (right for orthodox, left for southpaw).
Soften the knees – there should be a light ‘spring’ in your stance.
Shift most of your weight onto the back foot. (Aim for about 70/30 bodyweight distribution.)
You’ll have to keep making minor adjustments to find your preferred foot position. Once you do, it’s a matter of repeating the steps until you can form a stance in your sleep.
How to hold your guard
While working on your feet, you can also begin building your fortress. The guard – how we hold our hands – is the boxer’s first line of defence. A strong guard makes it more challenging for an opponent to land scoring strikes.
Furthermore, maintaining hand position discipline – i.e., keeping ‘em up! – can improve the efficiency of your punches which in turn can conserve energy. A punch thrown from your jaw has less distance to travel than one thrown from the hip.
Are you ready to raise that guard? Read on . . .
Boxing guard key teaching points
Before you start working on where to position your hands, first adopt a boxing stance. Doing so will provide you with additional opportunities to practice the techniques outlined above.
Raise your first level with your cheekbones. Do not press your hands to your face. There should be a space separating them. This helps to absorb the impact of an opponent's punch.
Your forearms are very nearly parallel. It is okay if they splay apart slightly. But too much can expose your torso and solar plexus to body shots.
Elbows should be protecting your floating ribs.
Finally, lower your chin to your chest and – as the saying goes – look through your eyebrows!
Related: Best Budget Boxing Gloves >
Learn boxing at home | Punches
Up to now we’ve covered elementary boxing skills. It’s almost impossible for an aspiring boxer to advance in the sport without mastering the stance and guard. The former enables you to absorb shots and evade attacks while capitalising on offensive opportunities. The latter can make it harder for your opponent to hit you but make it easier for you to hit your opponent.
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for these skills, you’re ready to practice punching.
Boxing jab (‘left’ or ‘one’)
The jab is the most lethal weapon in the boxer’s arsenal. A sharp sticking jab acts like a spear thrust that serves multiple functions. It can keep an opponent at range while scuppering possible counterattacks. ‘Working behind the jab’ can also frustrate the opponent by breaking up their rhythm thus making it harder for them to set up their own combinations.
Begin perfecting your jab with these teaching points.
How to throw an effective jab
First, get in your boxing stance. Hands up. Chin down. Look through those eyebrows.
The simplest jab (there are multiple variations) involves throwing your lead hand out and back. No twisting or stepping. Simply out and back. This jab is supposed to be short and snappy.
To increase the power of your jab, try twisting your body into the punch. As you do so, ensure to rotate the lead foot so that the heel raises off the floor.
You can further increase the power by stepping into the jab as you throw it. The dual action should be delivered simultaneously.
Rear hand power punch
In contrast to the jab, the rear-hand punch is about delivering maximum force. Whereas the jab is thrown from the shoulder, we should aim to transfer most of our body weight through a rear-hand punch.
Utilising your body weight in this way will compound the force of the strike and significantly increase the chances of scoring a knockdown (if you successfully find the target!).
As you would expect, the mechanics of this punch are considerably more complex and nuanced than the jab. Let’s have a look, shall we?
How to throw a rear right power punch
Before unleashing blind fury, get in your boxing stance: Hands up . . . chin down . . . and look through them eyebrows!
The punch is initiated by twisting the rear foot into the floor.
The action causes your body to rotate in the direction that the punch will be thrown.
As you practice the precious two techniques, try leaning your body weight into the action. Remember, if you’re stance is correct, (about) 70% of your body weight will be positioned over your rear leg. Leveraging this latent force will dramatically increase the power of your punch.
All this built-up energy needs an outlet. It’s at this point that you throw your rear hand from the chin. Same as with the jab: our and back.
Of course, teaching points two through to five, should be executed in one succinct movement.
Related: Get started with this Home Boxing Training Set >
Learn boxing at home | Punch combo
Only when you can competently throw a jab and rear right should you attempt to combine them into a combination. The cleaner your single punches, the crisper your combinations will be.
But though by far the simplest combo, the left-right (or ‘one-two’) requires considerable practice to perfect. I’ve been boxing for 20 years and I’ve still got plenty (PLENTY!) of room for improvement.
Let’s improve our left-right combination together. Ready?
One-two punch combination key techniques
You know what I’m going to say. Before practising the one-two combo, get in your boxing stance! Hands up! Chin down! And look through those eyebrows!
Initiate the one-two with a lead hand jab.
As you draw the arm back, transfer the momentum into the rear right.
There should be no pause between the two punches.
It’s not left . . . then right. It’s left-right! One-two! One-two! One-two!
Related: Top ranked Freestanding Boxing Bag >
How to start learning boxing at home
To master the basic boxing techniques outlined above, you’ll need to formulate and implement a training routine. The only way to learn new skills is to practice regularly. Popping into your stance or throwing a quick flurry of punches for a few minutes each week will not deliver meaningful results.
I doubt I’ve said anything that you don’t already know. It’s common knowledge that acquiring proficiency takes time, consistency and dedication.
However, learning simple boxing skills doesn’t mean that you’ll have to train like a pro. Even a minimal routine can confer noticeable developments in your ability.
Below, I have put together a plan that will enable you to learn boxing at home. The plan is comprised of suggestions on how to organise your boxing sessions. I’ve kept the suggestions generic as I recognise that one size (specific training stipulations) will not fit all. With that said, you should not hesitate to adapt the plan to suit your schedule.
Boxing training plan
Step 1: Aim for a minimum of three weekly workouts or practice sessions. To avoid long breaks between sessions, it’s best if they are sprinkled evenly across the week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Step 2: The duration of your practice sessions can last from as little as 10 minutes to as many as 60 minutes. An optimal duration would be 30 minutes. This gives you enough time to focus on the key aspects of each technique. Also, you’ll be able to drill the movement repeatedly, which is an essential method of improving motor skills.
Step 3: Organise your training tasks into a systematic routine and ensure to follow that routine every workout. Adopting this tactic will ensure that all techniques are given equal consideration. Here’s how you might order a practice session.
Start with 5 minutes of footwork followed by 2 minutes of guard (and footwork) practice. This part of the session could be rounded off with 3 minutes of ‘free movement’ – that is, playing around with the techniques.
Once you’re warm and have seamlessly slipped into the boxing mindset, it’s time to introduce punching. Devote around 5 minutes to each technique.
After about 20 to 25 minutes, it’s good practice to spend the final part of the session enjoying a spot of informal training such as few rounds of shadowboxing or drilling specific punch combinations. During this phase of the workout, do not concern yourself with applying the perfect technique. Just enjoy imitating your favourite boxer.
Step 4: Conclude each practice session with a whole-body stretch. Or, if you’ve got time on the clock, have a go at a short bodyweight circuit.
The four steps have been consolidated in the basic home boxing plan below. You can use the plan as it is or modify it to accommodate your pre-existing routine. Though self-explanatory, I'll briefly explain the plan and how it can be implemented.
Boxing skills development sessions are scheduled for three days a week. Fitness training workouts are limited to two days. Applying a simple split, skills development sessions could be performed on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and fitness training on Tuesday and Thursday.
Of course, if you want to amend the splits or reduce/expand the number of workouts, you should do so.
How to get boxing fit at home
While you’re working on your boxing skills, you can also start getting fighting fit. Establishing a boxing-inspired training regime will not only help improve all aspects of your fitness, but it will also offer you opportunities to practice the techniques outlined above.
You might question how to do this. How do I improve my fitness conditioning as well as sharpen my boxing skill set?
The answer is surprisingly simple. Once you know how to target these outcomes in a single workout, you’ll be able to tailor all your training sessions accordingly.
But first, let’s look at how to develop your boxing fitness at home.
Home boxing workout
Though simple, the above boxing workout will put your physicality to the test. After a good warm-up (such as a 10-minute skip or a few rounds of shadowboxing), begin at the first station. For 5 minutes aim to maintain a high tempo on whatever cardio exercise you select. The moment the time is up advance to the bodyweight complex.
You'll be spending one minute on each exercise. The objective is to sustain output for the full 60 seconds. But if you need to rest, do so. Once you've descended the list of exercises, take a minute's rest before going back to start. Repeat as many cycles as you have time for. (If you want to modify the plan, use these beginner boxing exercises.)
Also, if you have resistance equipment kicking about at home, such as dumbbells or kettlebells, don't hesitate to include them in the workout.
About Adam Priest –
A former Royal Marines Commando, Adam Priest is a content writer, college lecturer, and health and fitness coach. He is also a fitness author and contributor to other websites. Connect with Adam at info@hungry4fitness.co.uk.