Can You Learn Boxing Online At Home? Pros and Cons

More and more people today are asking questions about online learning. Many people learn new skills on their own. A live mentor is almost unneeded because everything can be learned online. But is it possible to learn boxing online by yourself? Let’s try to find out.

So, can you learn Boxing online? In general, boxing and other martial arts will be very difficult and almost impossible to learn on your own. There will be always a phenomenon that will be able to do it. But an average person needs a coach who will watch and correct the boxer’s technique in real-time. With the help of his professional experience, he will teach you how to box correctly. On your own, you should practice already learned boxing techniques.

Of course, different training methods can be argued here. For example, in different online courses, students make a video of their technique and send it to the coach to get feedback. And here you need to understand how effective it will be and for what purposes you will do these online courses.

What A Normal Boxing Training Consists Of

Warm-Up

A warm-up is the standard start of a training session. All boxers warm up their body to prepare them for work and reduce the risk of possible injury. Everything goes normally. Athletes do a short run, jump rope, warm up their joints and stretch their muscles.

In addition, athletes do shadow boxing, which is also an important part of the training.

Strength Training

Strength exercises may not always be performed on the day of the main training session. Often strength exercises are performed on a separate day of the week. It can also be done at the end of the training so that the effectiveness of technological improvement is not lost.

Fighters work with weights like barbells or weight lifting equipment. Alternatively performs various bodyweight exercises like push-ups or squats. They also practice various exercises with weights, which in general are also part of strength training.

Cardio Training

Cardio is also an important workout in a boxer’s life. This is where you have to build up your endurance to be able to stay in the ring for all 12 rounds without coughing. Everyone does what they like best here. Some people run, some swim, and some cycle.

There is also various exercise equipment, which helps to increase endurance. Also, fighters need to develop muscle endurance. For example, the shoulder muscles. Even if you have strong lungs but weak shoulders it will this creates a risk of being knocked out. It is because during a fight your arms will gradually drop due to tiredness.

Technique Improvement

In this section, athletes improve their punching technique. They also learn new techniques by their ability and coach’s experience. Usually, the coach sets the development of some combination and shows the right execution. Then the fighters are split into pairs and begin to practice punches.

Now, a good coach will watch his students. He will walk between pairs by watching how they execute the combination. If anyone has a problem with technique somewhere, the coach will correct it. He will also tell them what they need to change in their fighting stance or technique to execute the punch correctly.

If necessary, the coach will work on the technique with the student separately. Besides, if possible, boxers will develop punches on pads as well as on heavy bags.

Sparring

During sparring, fighters try out their learned skills in a simulated fight. During a round, boxers fight freely with sparring equipment. In addition, during sparring, in one way or another, the athlete will see his strong and weak sides. Of course, sparring will not give the full fight experience.

For that, you will need to take part in various amateur competitions. Then, perhaps in professional competitions as well, if someone decides to make a boxing career.

What Kinds Of Training You Can Do On Your Own

In general, you can do all these categories by yourself. Even if you are completely new to boxing and don’t know the most basic techniques, you can always find some teaching videos on YouTube. The video will show and tell you everything. It won’t be difficult for you to do a warm-up before a workout.

The same goes for strength training and cardio. All the exercises that you know, you can always find on the Internet with full instructions. As for practicing technique and sparring, you will need at least a partner for that. I mean a person who is ready to spend his time on boxing training just like you.

If you have such a person, then you’re lucky. If not, you can practice your technique in front of a mirror or take a video of yourself. This way you can check from the side, whether this or that punching combination is technically correct.

How Do You Know If You’re Doing The Technique Right

Even if you have a sparring partner or you work in front of a mirror, how do you know if you’re doing the exercise technically correct or not? It’s very difficult for us as humans to judge our progress, especially when we don’t have enough experience. You can get the technique right when you do a right straight (cross).

In doing so, you won’t wrap your leg fully, the punch won’t be 100% effective and you won’t use its full potential. This is what a coach is for. The coach will closely watch your technique and fix it step by step so that you get the best results. So, as you work on your leg technique, the coach will tell you where to turn your foot.

Also, he’ll tell you where to shift your body weight or just look at what your fighting stance looks like. As for sparring, the coach also plays an important role. The coach also observes his students during sparring. He looks at what fighting strategy and what punch combinations his students choose.

It happens that an inexperienced fighter starts the attack, for example, with an uppercut or any other punch that is not suitable for it. And seeing this, the coach will explain why this or that punch is not suitable for a specific situation in the fight. He will explain in what cases this or another punch is better to use.

Also, the coach will advise on the correct defense during the fight and remind about the correct technique. This is a very important rule, especially for beginners.

What Are The Consequences Of Learning The Technique Incorrectly

When a person learns a new skill that involves specific muscles, a muscle memory mechanism is triggered in the body. This mechanism exists to ensure that in the future our body will remember movements that are frequently used. This will help to execute them on an automatic basis.

In this way, our brain will spend less energy sending commands to the body to do a certain movement. This is how, for example, a person learns to walk, swim, jump, or any other skill. If you learn a skill incorrectly, it will become a problem in the future. For example, an athlete will learn the punching technique incorrectly.

Then someday in the future, that athlete likes boxing so much that he wants to go to boxing school. And when the coach sees that the boxer is punching incorrectly, he will try to correct his student’s mistakes. This will not be an easy task just because of that same muscle memory.

As a result, the boxer will have to completely re-learn. By the way, there is nothing worse than re-learning a skill you’ve already developed. You will spend much more time on it than if you had learned it correctly from the very beginning. Besides, all that time in the past, when you learned it by yourself, will be wasted.

Does It Mean That Online Learning Has No Effect At All

In general, online boxing training does have some effect. The only question is what is your goal when you buy a certain product that promises to teach you how to box?

Fitness Goal

If you just want to box more for fitness or to lose weight and so on, then online training may not be a bad alternative. You will concentrate more on burning calories, and a boxing workout will help you with that.

Expand Your Skills

If you already have some experience in boxing, which means you’ve already got some basics. Your technique is established and you know how to hit correctly. Then the online course can help you improve your skills and add them to your combinations or tricks set in boxing.

Learn To Box From Scratch

If you are a complete beginner and you have no idea how to stand in a fight stance. Or how to properly hit a jab or uppercut, then you risk learning incorrectly a given technique from an online course. Then you will need to re-learn for a long time.

Besides, it will give you some illusion that you have learned how to box. If, for example, a wrongly learned guitar skill will cost you time and energy to re-learn, then in boxing it can also cost a well-missed punch to the face.

What A Beginner Should Do

You’ve never done boxing and you want to start. Then why don’t you search on the Internet for the nearest boxing gym to your home and go there for a trial lesson? It often happens that a person doesn’t fully understand how a training session goes.

Once he tries it he decides that a high load, discipline or often hits to the head – it’s too much. That’s why it’s better to switch to other martial arts without wasting too much time. Today there are many schools of boxing. You can try several of them and see where you like the best.

There is often a free trial class, so you can check out different boxing schools without worrying about money. I think that with a good coach and a lot of motivation to learn, you’ll learn how to box correctly in a short time.

How To Choose A Boxing Gym

Website

Beginning the search for a boxing school, a person today is faced with the fact that the first search will be done on the web. It is important to pay attention to the website of such a school. On this basis, it is important to look at some information:

The site must have complete information regarding future classes. Also, information about the trainers who work in the gym and a small photo gallery. Thanks to this a new student, before not involved in this sport, could see the equipment in the gym. He could also see pictures from training sessions, information about price and training times.

This information will help the prospective student choose favor of this boxing school.

Training Goals

If your goal is to get in good shape and simply improve your physical health, then almost all boxing gyms are good for you. Another thing is when the goal is real progress in this sport. Then it is necessary to choose a good boxing school and to make this choice with full responsibility.

Gym Location

The fast accessible location of the school will allow you to get to it without any problems. Therefore, it is worth choosing schools that are located near your home. If there is no such possibility, it is worth considering options with bus or subway if you do not have a car.

After all, the convenient location of such a gym will motivate you to visit it often and almost do not miss classes.

Coaching Team

This is one of the most important points on this list. The results of the training depend on the coach’s experience. It is worth finding out in advance how long the trainer has been involved in the sport. Also, what are his achievements in boxing and the results of previous students.

A boxing coach should also be able to explain important technique details to his students. The coach should motivate his or her students to achieve even greater success and help them to grow and improve their skills. The coach’s reputation, in this case, is very important information, which will have a big influence on your future decision.

Boxing Gym Equipment

You don’t need a lot of equipment for boxing classes, but it should still be present. And it is important to pay attention to ensure that it is in good condition and can be used for future training sessions. This can be things like a punching bag, boxing gloves, headgear, etc.

Price, Time, And Schedule Of Classes

Of course, these criteria are completely personal for everyone. In this case, it is important to pay attention to the availability of membership options. In this way, you do not have to buy a one-time pass each time, but to make to buy a membership for a whole year or some other long period at once.

It is also worth paying attention to a convenient schedule that will suit your daily schedule, work, school, etc.


I hope this article was helpful to you. Good luck in boxing!

Gregori Povolotski

I have been practicing martial arts since 2007. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a huge passion for combat sports, especially Muay Thai and boxing. Helping people on their martial arts journey is what drives me to keep training and learn new things. Read More About Me

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