What IS Boxercise???

I teach Boxercise. I LOVE my Monday & Thursday night Boxercise classes. I also teach on new Boxercise instructor courses. Boxercise has been part of my life for so long now that I take it for granted that I know what Boxercise is.

However, every week, guaranteed, I get a phone call/text/email from potential clients asking about my classes and invariably their first question is:

‘What exactly IS Boxercise?’

So I thought a blog post, cleverly entitled ‘What Is Boxercise’, might do the trick 🙂

Lets start by stating what Boxercise is NOT. It is NOT sparring in a ring, wearing headgear and mouthguards, aiming for KO’s. It is not Rocky. It is not Katie Taylor (much as we love her!). It is not raw eggs for breakfast followed by punching dead pigs in a meat factory then running up a bunch of steps and having a ‘Rocky’ moment. You don’t even have to get a hoodie with your name on the back made (though knock yourself out if it’ll get you to a class). It is not martial arts. It is not self-defence.  And it’s not Tae-Bo.

What Boxercise IS is a functional, fun, high-paced/high-energy/high-spirited form of FITNESS training. Yes, emphasis on the FITNESS. Also, for me anyway, emphasis on the FUN.  If my group doesn’t dissolve into giggles at least once during sit-up punches then I haven’t done my job.

Boxercise is a form of fitness training that involves boxing concepts. Like Punching. Skipping. Ducking. Weaving. Killer Combinations. Speed. Agility. Endurance. Power. Balance.  Oh. And it’s SAFE. It’s non-contact in that when working in pairs, the puncher is aiming for pads held by the pad-holder. Not their face. Classes typically use the 8 punches (jab, cross, head hooks, body hooks, and uppercuts) in combination with other exercises to maintain a constant workout. Think burpees, skipping, shuttle runs, push ups and the like. We aim to work both aerobically (heart-pumping endurance) and anaerobically (short bursts of power).
I say typically because no two Boxercise classes are the same. That’s part of the addictive fun. Not knowing what to expect. Some classes I’ll do insane amounts of punching, others I’ll add a bodyweight circuit challenge, others still I’ll throw in some kicking work. And that’s just me. There are thousands of qualified instructors creating their own classes every day, all based on the idea of boxing for fitness, using Boxercise’s 8 punches and techniques.

Andy Wake (aka Yoda), created Boxercise in 1992 in the UK. He wanted to take the elitism out of boxing and create a fitness class that everyone could enjoy, whilst being safe. Safety is paramount to Boxercise. Us instructors are drilled and drilled and drilled and then tested on not only our own techniques, but our ability to teach, coach, train and correct. We are taught all we need to know to not only run a safe and fun class, but we are also given ideas on drills to use, and during every course we participate in a brain-storming session and generally swap ideas. This allows us as instructors to grow. It’s a lovely community to be involved in. Even though I am an Assistant Senior Instructor, I still ask for ideas or advice from other instructors. It comes back to the old ‘making classes fun’ thing.

So who goes to Boxercise classes?

Everyone. And I’m not just saying that because I want you to come to my classes. I’m saying that because in my last class I had people including: a 55 year-old grannie, 17 year-old high school students, a professional basketballer, a mother-and-daughter combo, a fellow Boxericse instructor (male) just training for himself, as well as the usual 9-5 workers and mum’s that had managed to escape for an hour for themselves. When potential clients ask me who goes to my classes, I usually reply with ‘smiley happy sweaty normal people’.

Men. Women. Children (yep, younger kids love Boxercise).   Fit people. Less fit people. Busy people. Not so busy people. Mums. Dads. Beginners. Intermediate. Advanced. You name it, they can find a Boxercise class that suits.

And what do you do in a Boxercise class?

Again, this is dependent on the instructor. What you can expect is a warm up,  main ‘workout’ section, and cooldown/stretching. The main workout section will include skipping, punching, running, punching, jumping, ducking & weaving, punching, situps with punches, punching, and depending on how hard you work during a class, you may or may not be given additional burpees as punishment 🙂 (or is that just me that does that?) If your Instructor is also Kickboxercise qualified, expect some knees, kicks and elbows to make it to your new repertoire of skills. And, if your instructor is musically gifted (unlike me), you may even get to do some old-school aerobics with punches.  If your personal trainer is Boxercise qualified, expect to learn some seriously impressive combinations and defensive moves that will have you shadow-boxing in the mirror in between sessions just cos it looks so cool!

Am I fit enough?

Yes. I don’t know you. I don’t know how fit you are or aren’t. But I guarantee if you make the biggest step of all, that of walking into a class, then you are fit enough to take part. So what if you do 1 push up to someone elses 5? So what if you walk instead of run between stations? Fitness is a journey, it’s worked for (hard) and you earn it.

So earn your fitness. Take up a Boxercise class.

Take a look at one of my classes for yourself HERE and tell me it doesn’t look like awesomeness. Go on, take a peek!

***WAIVER- Boxercise HQ don’t know I’m writing this. I hope they don’t mind***