I love boxing, it’s the foundation of many striking techniques that’ll make you a much better fighter when you master it.
You’re likely wondering if you can just get started in your home from nothing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely can and, in fact, most of the foundations of boxing require no equipment at all.
In this article, I’ll tell you how to learn boxing at home without equipment by sharing my favorite drills that focus on the core essentials of boxing mastery. Let’s go.
Table of Contents
1. Full body boxing warmup
Any good workout routine starts with a thorough warm-up. Not only can this help you avoid injury, but you’ll also get the most out of exercising.
Jumping right into working out can cause damage and even tearing to dormant muscles. This means you must stretch out all the different sections you plan to use.
For this part, it’s a good idea to consider the muscles you use when boxing. These include the deltoids, pectorals, hamstrings, and glutes.
You’ll also need to engage most of your core muscles to maintain balance.
To do that, you can follow these steps:
| Exercise | Duration | Function |
| Jumping jacks | 60 seconds | Warms up shoulders, hips, glutes, and core |
| Running in place | 90 seconds | Increases heart rate and stretches leg muscles |
| High Kicks | 60 seconds | Stretches glutes and upper thigh muscles |
| Arm swing | 60 seconds | Loosens up the upper body and arms |
| Toe touch | 30 seconds | Opens up the back and warms up the hamstrings |
| Lunge | 60 seconds | Stretches the thighs and groin region |
This 6-minute warm-up can get your heart racing and blood pumping. At this point, you’ll start to feel your muscles loosen up, increasing your range of motion.
After that, you should be ready to start your boxing workout.
2. Jump Rope (Without The Rope)
Many of us associate jump rope with the school playground. It was an excellent pass-time activity that you could enjoy with your friends.
However, the workout is much more than a game and is useful for Boxing.
Some of the muscles that jump rope can work on are:
- Quads
- Glutes
- Core
- Oblique
- Forearms
- Biceps
- Triceps
It’s also amazing for your shoulders and back muscles. The best part is you don’t even need the rope to do the jumping.
To start skipping without a rope, you can follow these steps:
- Stand upright.
- Bring your feet close together.
- Shift your weight to the balls of your feet.
- Bend your knees slightly.
- Lift your hands up and align them with your waist.
- Face your elbows down and back.
- Pull back your shoulders.
- Keep your head up and face forwards.
- Rotate your wrists forwards.
- Jump about one inch off the ground while twisting your wrists.
- Land softly on the midsoles of your feet.
- Repeat the process for about a minute.
This describes a single jump rope sequence. You’ll need to do about four or five of these daily for the best results.
Still, you don’t want to repeat the exercise consecutively. Divide the sessions all around the day to avoid overexertion.
It may take a few tries for you to perfect your posture. The moves require a lot of coordination and balance.
If the sequence is too strenuous, you can start with 30-second intervals instead. As long as you maintain proper form, you should get all the benefits of the workout.
3. Ladder drills
In my boxing training journey, one of the key drills was to use a sports training/agility ladder.
They’re a simple tool that’s used across a variety of sports like boxing, football, tennis, soccer, and just about any other sport that depends on physical agility.
But here’s the good thing for you, you DON’T need to have your own agility ladder at all to make use of the same techniques in a drill.
You could use simply objects from around your home like a few kitchen towels, measuring tape, a roll of string, or just your imagination, to get the same effect.
What’s most important is the ladder drills itself.
These are great for warming up and developing the coordination and speed for boxing, something that you can do every single day to get better.
4. Crunches
It should be no surprise that you need a strong core for boxing. While jump rope can work out your abdominal muscles, it doesn’t help them build strength.
For that, you can try crunches. This is an incredibly polarizing exercise; you either love it or you hate it.
Either way, the activity is a great way to improve your stamina and balance.
The steps to a proper crunch are pretty straightforward:
- Lie flat on your back.
- Bend your knees and plant your feet flat on the ground.
- Pull your feet as close to your buttocks as possible.
- Place both of your hands directly behind your head and intertwine your fingers.
- Point your elbows directly out of your center.
- Use your abdominal muscles to lift your upper body off the ground.
- Release your muscles slowly and lower yourself back down.
It’s good practice to sync your breathing to the motion. You want to exhale as you contract your muscles and inhale as you lower back down.
The most common mistake people make during this process is compressing their necks. They try to use their hands to increase momentum.
However, this defeats the purpose of the exercise. Ensure that you only engage your core muscles while doing crunches.
You want to do about four 30-second reps of this workout for it to be effective.
5. Leg Lifts
Once you’re done with the crunches, you can move on to leg lifts. This exercise focuses on stretching out your hamstrings and tightening your abdominal muscles.
This workout involves shifting most of your weight onto your upper body. So, to avoid any scrapes or bruises on your back, it’s a good idea to lay out a mat.
It’ll help cushion and stabilize you in position. After you unroll your mat, you can follow these steps:
- Lie flat on your back.
- Extend your legs as far out as they can reach.
- Lock your knees into position to keep your legs straight.
- Place your hand directly behind your tailbone.
- Lift your legs slowly until they create a 90-degree angle with the floor.
- Use your abdominal muscles to hold the position for a few seconds.
- Release your legs and lower them gradually until they’re about one inch off the ground.
- Hold this formation for a few seconds.
- Repeat the process.
Do this for about 30 seconds. Then you’ll want to redo all the steps three more times.
You should start feeling a burn in your lower abdominal muscles. However, this shouldn’t hurt. If you experience any level of pain, you may want to stop the exercise and realign your body.
6. Squats
Now that you’ve taken care of your upper body, it’s time to shift your attention to the legs.
For this section, you want an exercise stretching out and strengthening your lower region. There’s no better way to do that than squats.
When doing squats, your form is crucial. Without it, there’s a risk of injury in your lower back.
So, let’s dive into how to do squats correctly.
- Stand upright, with your feet hip-width apart.
- Plant your feet firmly on the ground.
- Place your arms straight down on your sides.
- Contract your abdominal muscles.
- Bend your knees in slightly.
- Lower your body down, keeping your back straight.
- Use your legs and glutes to push yourself back up.
- Repeat the movements.
The lowering motion takes a little getting used to. To help you out, you can start out with a chair. Place the seat directly behind you and lower yourself down.
Try not to rest on the chair; it’ll make pushing up more difficult. For the best results, do four reps at 40-second intervals.
Not only will squats help you shape your lower body, but they also enhance your agility. As your leg muscles get stronger, moving around will become much easier.
7. Shadow Boxing
All the previous exercises focus on improving your balance, agility, and coordination. Now, you’re ready to put all the skills together.
When you get into Boxing for the first time, it can feel awkward to perform Shadow boxing, but it’s highly useful for learning and can be done anywhere and at any time.
Shadow boxing involves you practicing the sport without equipment or an opponent.
With this process, you’ll be able to tackle boxing forms and styles.
Stance
One of the most important aspects of any boxer’s skills is their stance. This is all about your resting (but active and ready to fight) pose.
A perfected stance is an important piece of what makes a good Boxer.
You can optimize your stance by following these steps:
- Ensure your hips are parallel to the ground.
- Place your feet hip-width apart.
- Move your non-dominant foot in front of the other.
- Angle your feet at a 45-degree angle.
- Bend your knees slightly.
- Raise the heel of your dominant foot.
- Position your dominant hand in front of your face for protection.
- Raise the other hand to cover your chest.
- Keep your elbows down.
First, practice holding this position for a couple of seconds. As you begin to feel more comfortable in your stance, your muscle memory will develop.
Then, once you feel secure in your pose, you can start moving around. Stand on the balls of your feet and take a couple of steps in every direction.
Over time, this should become second nature.
Defense
While learning to move, you may also want to work on your defense skills. When it comes to boxing, avoiding a punch is always better than blocking it.
This is where all of your agility training comes into play.
There are a few defense techniques that you may want to check out:
- The slip: You tilt your upper body in either direction.
- The bob: You squat down to avoid a punch and spring back up.
- The bob and weave: Similar to the bob, but you move to the left or right before jumping up.
These skills are a little trickier to test out without an opponent. However, you can build a great foundation until you have time for a real match.
Punch
After you perfect your stance, you can move on to throwing some jabs.
When you throw a punch, it’s important to note that you don’t want to land your entire fist. Instead, focusing most of your force on your top two knuckles is better.
This will give you the most bang for your buck.
Practice jabbing the air in a few different directions. You’ll want to do this with both of your hands, not just the dominant one.
You can begin moving around your space as you get comfortable with the motion.
Style
This section will require a little testing. It’s when you’ll get to know the different boxing styles and decide which one to adopt.
Some of the most popular techniques include:
- Counter Puncher
- Slugger
- Pressure fighter
- Out-boxer
These methods all involve the same components. They include the basic stance and punch in different variations.
However, some of them focus more on defense, while others revolve around offense. Depending on your preferences, your choice of style will change.
During this part, it’s best to experiment with as many techniques as possible. It’ll give you a better understanding of the sport and your capabilities.
You may even come out with your own approach.
While you do this, get into the habit of working out in front of a mirror. This will allow you to assess your stance and adjust it as you go.
For a little extra help, you can watch instructional videos to show you what to look out for.
Wrapping Up
This covers how to learn boxing at home without equipment with different ways you can practice the sport without a subscription to a fancy gym.
These include a series of exercises to improve your balance, agility, and coordination. First off, you want to begin with a full-body warm-up.
Then, you can move onto some jump rope to get your muscles moving. After that, crunches, leg lifts, and squats will improve your overall performance.
Finally, you can bring all of these elements together for a little shadow boxing.
