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Hitting the gym to hammer the bag
Just how much exercise do you get at a boxing class? Our reporter goes and finds out
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It took just less than six minutes for Manny Pacquiao to take down Ricky Hatton. I'm just trying to make sure the punching bag doesn't swing back and knock me on the floor.
My personal experience with boxing is limited. I've seen Rocky Balboa knock down the likes of Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang, and I've played Mike Tyson's Punch-Out on the old Nintendo Entertainment System enough times to know that my opponents will always be eight times bigger than me.
But boxing is not just about beating an opponent in the ring. Many people use it as a way to get in shape, lose weight, strengthen and tone muscles and improve coordination or cardiovascular function.
"I just liked the whole combination," said Hollie Madamba. "I like the variety. It gives me the workout that I need."
The 40-year-old Linwood mother of two decided to get back into boxing after the birth of her two boys, now 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old.
About three times a week, Madamba takes a class at L.A. Boxing in Somers Point. Her goals are to shed some pounds and tone her body. In the year and a half that she's been boxing, she said it's made a difference in her health and has helped her lose some weight.
I decided to find out for myself what it's like to cross jab and uppercut my way to better shape. I figured that one hour should give me a sense of what it's like to take up boxing.
And what an hour it was.
First of all, boxing isn't all about upper body strength. The first 15 minutes of the class are spent continuously moving the legs, from squats to different forms of jumping jacks to "mountain climbing" against the ground.
In the ring, getting the legs to work well means you can "float like a butterfly" around the ring. This helps when you're trying to stay out of the reach of your opponent or are quickly swooping in to land a few blows. From a health-improvement perspective, moving the legs provides a full-body workout.
It didn't take long to feel the burn. I was clearly working parts of my lower body that hadn't been worked in a while. I got used to the feeling, and eventually I felt like I was ready for more.
After a progressively intense preparatory workout, it was time to work the bag.
It's all about technique at this point in the class. For the fighter, switching between punches confuses the opponent and, if performed quickly enough, increases the chances of hitting the other guy when he's unprotected.
Madamba said beginners sometimes have trouble throwing punches properly. A boxer's wrist can go in directions its not meant to go without gloves and proper banding. If that happens, the pain is worse than anything an opponent can cause.
There are lots of areas of the body constantly seeing use during a boxing class.
"I've used every muscle in my body that I thought I'd ever use," Madamba said.
One of the problems I had with my technique was I wasn't exhaling every time I threw a punch. When you watch a boxing match, the exhaling sounds like the boxer is cutting through air.
Exhaling is important because it removes carbon dioxide from the lungs. The carbon dioxide is a waste product of metabolism. Getting rid of it allows the heart to pump more effectively.
"Exhaling actually allows blood flow to return to the heart, and it gives you more stamina," said Dr. Domenic Coletta, an emergency medicine physician at Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Court House and chief ringside physician for the New Jersey Athletic Control Board.
Breathing out is also important in the ring as you face an opponent. Coletta said the act of exhaling hardens the abdominal walls. That harder tissue underneath the skin offers slightly more protection against an opponent's blows.
Inhaling makes those abdominal walls soften. This is why boxers should pay attention to their breathing during a fight.
I took out my pent-up aggression on the punching bag for half an hour. Then the class and I went through a series of workouts to cool down our bodies.
As I leave, I'm told to watch what I eat in the coming hours, or I'll regret it the next morning. At this point, I'm already regretting what I ate prior to boxing. It smells like that cheesesteak is slowly oozing out of my pores with my sweat. If only cheesesteaks smelled as good in my sweat as they tasted in my mouth.
Despite cheesesteak stench, boxing surprised me by the intricacies of technique as well as its ability to give you a full-body workout. The following weekend, my lower legs and my biceps became especially sore for a few hours. The pain was really noticeable after I tried to get out of bed. But I walked it off, and eventually, I pushed through the pain just like I did in class.
In other words, I could feel the results even days after I took part in the boxing class. The class really pushed me to my physical limits, but even after one class, it was worth it.
Bring it, Pacquiao.
E-mail Ben Leach:
Ask the expert
What are the benefits of sparring with an opponent versus sparring with a punching bag?
First of all, even without an opponent, your workout can vary greatly by using a variety of punching bags. Smaller speed bags help develop speed and technique, and heavy bags help you pack some power in your punches.
But a bag doesn't hit back.
Sparring with an opponent puts the practice achieved through boxing against punching bags to the test, but it also requires the boxer to think about their technique much more, according to Shawn Darling, owner and operator of Gladiator Boxing in Lacey Township.
The problem is a sparring partner will hit back, but your punches aren't going against an inanimate object.
"For most people, when they start off, they go to hard," Darling said.
There are also psychological differences in the work out. Darling said most people aren't used to someone throwing a punch at them. People in the ring who are sparring just for exercise need to think about techniques such as counterpunches and faints so both boxers can leave the ring as healthier and more fit people.
Posted in Monday_health on Monday, May 25, 2009 6:15 am
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