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Survival Fitness Plan Blog/Self-Defense/Boxing Techniques for Beginners - Survival Fitness Plan

Boxing Techniques for Beginners - Survival Fitness Plan

Learn the best boxing techniques for beginners to use on the street or competition

Boxing Techniques for Beginners

Boxing is one of the best combat sports for street fight applications. If you want to become a better fighter, reading a boxing tutorial for beginners like this can help you develop a strong foundation. In this article, you will learn about the best boxing techniques for beginners. 

Benefits of Boxing

Learning how to box will not only make you great at evading punches and countering. It can also give you a lot of other benefits that can lead to a better physical well-being. Below are some benefits of boxing. 

Improved Cardiovascular Health

Boxing is one exercise that can help you burn a lot of calories if you are also looking to cut weight while learning self-defense. Among all the self-defense disciplines, boxing is one of the most tiring, mainly because the workout is framed to build endurance so real pro athletes can last for 12 rounds if needed.

Improved Body Strength

The average training punching bag usually weighs around 25 kilograms. Boxing training will require you to hit these bags more than a hundred times per session. 

Workouts like these will help build body strength since every punch requires you to maximize everything from the foot, to the core, and to the arm in order to produce a powerful punch every time. Therefore, boxing can even help develop your glutes and legs aside from the upper body because the force of the punch comes first from the ground.

Better Hand-Eye Coordination

Training in boxing helps improve hand-eye coordination. The training usually involves mitting drills, which requires you to hit the mitts at the right angle and position, and at a more advanced level, while the mitt is moving.  

Also, sparring requires you to anticipate what your opponent will do and react accordingly. This not only improves your coordination but your reflexes too. 

Lower Stress Level

Most of us experienced stress because of work, school, and relationships. One of the best ways to help yourself feel better from stress is by exercising. When you exercise, the endorphins in your body which are hormones that boost your mood increases. Another thing is that boxing can actually be a meditative exercise to help clear your mind. 

Higher Confidence

Since training in boxing will help you achieve a better body, this will increase your confidence. Your work ethic will also improve and the more significant results you see for yourself, the more desire you will have to improve yourself further.

Basic Boxing Stance

To become a more effective fighter, it is necessary for you to know the two different boxing stances. Knowing your boxing stance will help you identify your power punch and which hand is better for a jab.

Orthodox

This boxing stance is usually for people who are right-handed. The left hand is the jabbing hand, while the right hand is the power punch. Since most people in the world are right-handed, we usually call this the proper boxing stance.

Southpaw

This boxing stance is usually for people who are left-handed. The left hand is the power hand and the right hand will be the jabbing hand. However, it has made waves recently on being the best boxing stance for right-handed fighters following the popularity of Bruce Lee. 

According to him, the dominant hand must be in the front rather than in the rear, similar to the concept of fencing. This will allow two powerful punches compared to just one, as opposed to the orthodox style for right-handed fighters.

Boxing Footwork Techniques

If you want to know how to be good at boxing, you need to master footwork techniques. Although boxing doesn’t use kicks, the legs play a major role in movement and power generation. Correct foot placement can be the difference between winning a fight and losing it.

Shuffling

Shuffling is one of the most basic boxing moves. It is a side-to-side movement done by a boxer. When you are shuffling, move like a pendulum wherein the lifting of the lead foot should be simultaneous to the pushing of the back leg. 

Sliding

Sliding is the back and front movement by a boxer. The forward slide helps generate more force when punching, while backsliding helps you evade punches such as a shoulder roll, lean, or just plain evasion. 

Pivoting

Pivoting does exactly what its name says. A boxer pivots to mitigate the damage coming from the opponent, especially if it is a move other than a straight such as a hook or haymaker. Pivoting also helps you get out of harm’s way and stay in the safe zone while still being able to deal damage. One of the best boxers to ever used pivoting is Vasyl Lomachenko.

Boxing Basic Punches

To learn good boxing techniques, it is very important for you to learn basic punches which you can then use to make combination. Below are the four basic punches in boxing.

Jab

A jab can both be an offensive and defensive weapon. It is also the fastest punch you have in your arsenal that requires the least amount of energy. Jabbing also helps open up defenses, which is why boxing combinations often start with a jab. The jab is can also done in synchronization with a forward step to generate more force instead of turning the body like in a cross.

To do a jab:

  • Extend your left fist forward without rotating your hips. Do it fast and sharp. 
  • ​ Pull the hand back as fast as you can. This is very important as pulling back slowly will open your jaw for a counter from the opponent.

Cross

Among the basic boxing techniques, the cross is your most powerful punch. A cross is very important to master because it is one of the least telegraphed punches and can often end a fight. 

To do a cross:

  • ​As you throw your right, push your back foot off the ground as your turn.
  • ​ Rotate your hips and transfer the force towards your arm.
  • ​ Extend your right arm and pull it back fast.
  • ​ Avoid overextending your punch or you will be vulnerable to a counter.

hook Punch

A hook can be thrown to the head or to the opponent’s stomach. A hook is a looping punch that generates force from the outside with the help of the turning of your hips. This is a knockout punch that can momentarily stun your opponent. 

To do a hook:

  • Do the same steps as throwing a straight cross.
  • ​ The only difference is that you loop your punch going away from your shoulder.

Uppercut

The uppercut is an inside punch that is directed to the chin or the solar plexus. This punch uses the momentum of both feet to generate a powerful punch.

To do an uppercut:

  • ​Bend towards the side of your lead foot in such a way that your head is aligned with the outside of your opponent’s shoulder. 
  • ​ Keep your arm close to your waist and don’t let it stray away from your waist as you throw the punch. 
  • ​ Like a spring, go just a little low and launch the punch as you go up.
  • ​ The movement of rising must be in sync with the throwing of the punch.

Boxing Defense Techniques

Learning defense techniques will help you protect yourself from dirty boxing techniques and street boxing techniques.Below are the most fundamental ones.

Slip

Doing a slip is just basically staying outside of a punch. When you slip a punch, you put your head out of alignment with the opponent’s lead shoulder. If the opponent throws a cross, his rear shoulder will go forward and will match the alignment of your hand. Here, you just move your head out of danger’s way.

It is one of the most useful among the basic boxing defensive moves. A slip is a side-to-side head movement and doesn’t require movement of the foot. However, advanced techniques usually incorporate pivoting after a slip to get a helpful angle against your opponent.

Weave

The most useful boxing head movement tips you can ever get are to bob and weave. Always keep your head moving so that it will not be easy to hit. Weaving isn’t just randomly moving your head, but it is a movement from left to right in such a way that it aims to keep the head out of the punching range of the opponent. One of the most famous boxers to use bob and weave is Mike Tyson.

Parry

Parrying a punch is done by redirecting an opponent’s punch so it will not hit your head. Only use a parry against a jab and across. It is one of the most important boxing tricks and techniques as it opens your opponent up to a counter. A parry allows you to counter your opponent since he cannot pull back fast after being parried which leaves an opening for you to attack.

Duck

Ducking allows you to avoid hooks directed towards your head. It is an efficient move because it doesn’t require much effort to get out of harm’s way. However, an inexperienced fighter usually becomes vulnerable to an uppercut afterward. 

Basic Boxing Combinations

Defending yourself requires you to know some basic combinations to attack an opponent. Below are some of them. 

1,2 Combo (Jab, Cross Combination)

The 1,2 combo has been the foundation of some of the most advanced boxing techniques. A 1,2 combo is just basically a jab followed by a cross.

Jab, Cross, Hook Combination

This move is a 1,2 combo that involves a hook to the body or to the head afterward. This combination is on a case-to-case basis. Only follow up with a hook to the body if the opponent raises his hands to defend his chin. 

On the other hand, if he drops one of his hands from his chin after your 1,2 combination, immediately follow up with a hook towards the open side of the chin for a knockout punch.

Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut Combination

This builds on the previous combination by adding the uppercut. It is good if your opponent reacts from the hook by covering the side of his chin while exposing the middle part of his chin. Always aim the uppercut towards the centerline, either to the chin or the solar plexus.

Conclusion

Learning the basic boxing skills and techniques will not only improve your fight game, but will also help you be prepared if you need to defend yourself on the street. It also gives other benefits, such as staying healthy and boosting your confidence. Keep practicing the basic techniques and you will soon do advanced techniques easier.

Did you find these basic boxing techniques useful? If so, please share it with your friends.

Article by Sam Fury

Sam Fury 3 png
Sam Fury 3 png

Sam Fury is the creator and owner of the Survival Fitness Plan.

He has had a passion for martial arts and outdoor pursuits since he was a young boy growing up in Australia.

As a young adult he joined the military and studied outdoor leadership in college. After that, to further his skills, Sam started traveling to learn from the best in the world in various fields related to the Survival Fitness Plan including various martial arts in China, SE Asia and Brazil, Parkour in Singapore, Surf Life Saving in Australia, and others. 

These days, he still enjoys learning new things, traveling and sharing what he has learned via the Survival Fitness Plan. 

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