Boxing 101: Boxing Tips for Beginners

If you’re looking for a full-body workout that keeps you on your toes, boxing (and by extension, MMA) might be just the thing. What started as a combat sport has grown into an entire fitness industry due to its host of benefits, from heart-healthy cardio and muscle-building movements to confidence-boosting discipline. While you can certainly find gyms and fitness clubs that offer the right equipment, it’s no sweat to start a beginner MMA or boxing routine right in your own home.

Learn how to start boxing with our beginner’s guide to equipment, basic boxing moves, and more below.

To start boxing at home, all you need is some basic equipment and a space for you to start working on your boxing skills. Any beginner boxing setup only requires a punching bag, boxing gloves, and hand wraps. Now there are many other pieces of equipment that you may want to look into such as a jump rope, or headgear, sparring gloves and mouth piece if you plan to train with a friend or training coach. But for now, we will stick with the basics and cover those here for you to get you started.

Punching bags are an essential piece of boxing equipment for beginners. A good bag will give you the same punching feedback as sparring with a partner — minus the risk of concussion. There are a few different types of bags to choose from, depending on the type of workout you’re looking for:

If you’ve seen any boxing movie, you’ve seen a heavy bag featured in the montage at some point. Heavy bags are usually available in varying weights between 70-150 lbs to help you build strength based on your stature and proficiency. These bags can be mounted on the ceiling — though you’ll need to check that yours can support the weight — or hung from a special metal stand.

Freestanding bags stand on their own with the help of a heavy, durable base, so they can be placed in a wider variety of spaces than traditional heavy bags. Thanks to the spring-loaded system in most free-standing bags, these bags will pop right back up after most punches, offering a different recoil speed and strength than heavy bags.

Speed bags are designed to help you work on your speed. They’re filled with air and as such are considerably less heavy than traditional bags. Additionally, speed bags are usually installed in the ceiling or wall.

Boxing gloves are more than just a visually iconic part of boxing. They’re the key to keeping your hands comfortable and protected through your entire workout. Like any piece of protective equipment, getting the best performance from your gloves is contingent on finding the right fit. Boxing, training, and MMA gloves are designed with some padding on the knuckles to protect your fingers and a stiff cuff to protect your wrist.

The overall features of a pair of boxing gloves will vary depending on the sport and the types of boxing punches you’ll be using. Depending on the type of workout you’re going for, you’ll need to find the right glove weight and make sure they fit you snugly. Most boxing gloves are categorized into the following:

Training and sparring gloves If you’re a true boxing novice, these gloves’ heavily padded shape is what you might be most familiar with from old video games or movies. That heavy padding is designed to protect you and your opponent from the impact of your punches.

Sparring gloves will have more padding and will therefore be heavier. Training gloves will have less padding and are a great all-around piece of boxing equipment for beginners because they’ll work well for training with or without a partner.

Punching bag gloves (also known as bag gloves). As the name suggests, these gloves are designed for any type of bag workout. They feature far less padding in the knuckles than other boxing gloves so that you can better feel your impact on the bag you’re using.

Bag gloves are an invaluable part of any beginner’s boxing equipment since they make it easier to feel when you throw an awkward punch or drop your form.

MMA Gloves refer to any gloves designed for mixed martial arts, so depending on your sport (MMA proper, Muy Thai, kickboxing, etc.) they might have different features. Many will have a fingerless or palmless design to make grappling moves easier.

Hand wraps are the most crucial way to protect your most valuable boxing equipment: your hands. While your boxing gloves cushion the impact from a punch, properly-applied wraps help immobilize the delicate bones (all 27 of ‘em!) and joints in your hand so the shock is evenly distributed.

Without a wrap, your bones and joints would be moving independently from the force you’re applying, which could result in an injury that could prevent you from boxing or doing everyday tasks like typing, driving, and more. No fitness journey is worth injuring yourself, so it’s imperative that you wrap your hands before attempting even the most basic boxing moves.

If you’re planning on eventually sparring with training partners, coaches, or opponents, you might want to consider picking up some additional protective gear like head protection and a mouthguard, but it’s not strictly necessary when you’re first starting out on your own. (You will need them, though, once you get in the ring!)

Now that you’ve got your equipment sorted, you’ll need a good beginner boxing workout. To learn the fundamentals, you can follow along to your favorite videos or put your own routine together with different types of boxing moves. Good, consistent practice of a variety of moves will help you tighten your form and decrease your reaction time — in and out of the ring. The following moves are the foundation of modern boxing, and are important building blocks for your eventual fighting style:

• Jab: Made with your dominant fist, thrown straight ahead and with your arm fully extended. Some rotation of the torso is normal.

• Hook: Made by turning your torso and back to swing the arm at or near a 90-degree angle, making the tell-tale “hook” shape.

• Uppercut: Travels up along an invisible vertical line. In a match, this would be aligned with your opponent’s chin or sternum.

• Bob: Ducking your head and body fully below your opponent’s punch by lowering your center of gravity from your fighting stance.

• Slip: Moving your head or body slightly to the left or right, so your opponent’s punches “slip” by. Multiple slips are called a weave.

• Roll: Rolling your shoulder away from the direction of the punch, so that it lands on your shoulder rather than your face or jaw.

As with any new physical activity, before you get started with your new boxing routine, make sure to talk to your physician. Boxing is a physically demanding sport that can take a toll on your body if you’re not careful. Depending on your medical history, your doctor may recommend additional over-the-counter sports medicine support such as braces, pain relief, and massage guns.

Need more help picking out boxing equipment for beginners? The team at your local Academy Sports + Outdoors location would be happy to get you set up with the right boxing gloves, bags, and more. Or browse our extensive online boxing and MMA catalog to get ready for the ring!