Boxing / workout excersises for a newbeginner.

Hi! I have a lot of questions so im going to sum it up in the end, might be a bit messy to read this post, bear with me.

My name is Even, im 18 years old from Norway and i've never been a guy to work out at all really. however, since im joining the army in like 6-8 weeks, i figured i would work my ass off until the army so i can be in somewhat of a good shape! So thats why i bought myself a boxing/punching bag of 40 pounds / 20kg. My knuckles hurt alot after and during the punching work out. mainly my right hand (the little finger and up to my middle finger) hurts the most. it's really numb and has swollen up quite a bit.

Pushups: I've started a pushup excersise which should take 6 weeks to complete. (Its called 100pushups)
Jogging: Trying to jog between 2-4 times pr week, can only jog for about 15-25 minutes nonstop before im tired and have to take a break.

Regarding food and such, do you have any tips as to how my routines should be? Im trying to eat alot of eggs (atleast for breakfast), fruits every now and then and pretty much trying to eat 6 times pr day instead of my normal 2-3. Drinking alot more water then i've usually done.

If wanted, i could post pictures of stomach so you could see my progress (if i can keep the work out up for the next weeks.)

So here are the questions:
1. How can i stop my knuckles from getting hurt so much when boxing?
2. How can i increase my stamina when boxing? (can only box well for around 10-15 minutes before im all out, and im a tiny man so i cant hit very hard)
3. Tips and hints as to what i should eat/drink for the different excersises ?
4. tips and hints as to how i can improve my quickness/ability to jog further/more?

Anything that does not have anything to do with these questions, but could help with my training is much appreciated! :)
Thank you in advance.

Your knuckles are hurting because you are not landing your punches properly. You don't want to land on those outside, smaller knuckles. I would guess that this is happening because you are swinging your arms- slapping with your punches, which is probably why you aren't punching hard as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by greynotsoold

Your knuckles are hurting because you are not landing your punches properly. You don't want to land on those outside, smaller knuckles. I would guess that this is happening because you are swinging your arms- slapping with your punches, which is probably why you aren't punching hard as well.

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That is highly possible, i've never done boxing before so "slappy punches" is pretty accurate i guess :rolleyes:
So what should i do in order to "improve"? dont have any local boxing gyms here, so i guess youtube and such is the place to go, got any movies that could help improve my technique?

There is a ton of stuff on youtube and elsewhere on how to throw punches, some of it better than some others, none of it very good, in my opinion, but I'm picky that way and its a place to start. In general, try keeping your feet a bit closer (front to back) than what they demonstrate in these videos: turn your hips into your punches more than is shown: throw your left hook with the palm inward and the thumb on top.

Good luck on your mission.

I think 6-8 weeks is cutting it abit short. Google c25k running program,' couch to 5k'. Look at there time line. Depending on how hard you push yourself. As from a running point of you, you mind and your muscles develop faster than your bones and ligaments so don't go to hard to fast especially if your a heavy guy.

Omto boxing get hand wraps and some gloves and and your punches propery. Go for speed not power and your hands won't get saw. There are lots of video"s on youtube. Remember your punches must be snappy, get them in and out of there as soon as possible. Keep your hands up. Bass rutten has got some nice punching tapes to keep you motivated.

Checkout RossTraining.com Blog

If you going to cut it in the are you going to need to work seriously hard. If you working out for an hour you should be totally drenched in sweat otherwise you not working hard enuff. Since you are new to training beware of over training you don't wanna arrive at boot camp with a depleted immune system. You need protien, don't starve your self. No junk food, no fizzy cooldrinks. Steam as much food as possible

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ST1

Good luck on your mission.

I think 6-8 weeks is cutting it abit short. Google c25k running program,' couch to 5k'. Look at there time line. Depending on how hard you push yourself. As from a running point of you, you mind and your muscles develop faster than your bones and ligaments so don't go to hard to fast especially if your a heavy guy.

Omto boxing get hand wraps and some gloves and and your punches propery. Go for speed not power and your hands won't get saw. There are lots of video"s on youtube. Remember your punches must be snappy, get them in and out of there as soon as possible. Keep your hands up. Bass rutten has got some nice punching tapes to keep you motivated.


If you going to cut it in the are you going to need to work seriously hard. If you working out for an hour you should be totally drenched in sweat otherwise you not working hard enuff. Since you are new to training beware of over training you don't wanna arrive at boot camp with a depleted immune system. You need protien, don't starve your self. No junk food, no fizzy cooldrinks. Steam as much food as possible

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Thanks for many good advises!
Will try to punch faster and not as hard as i have done before, hopefully this will increase my stamina without having to break my bones :)

Rosstraining.com had a lot of good ideas in "how to" train at home, many good tips that will definitively be used. The couch 2 5k seems like a good program that i'm going to start using, im not fan of jogging (jogging + snow = bad combination), but i'll try making it to the gym so i have somewhere to run :)

Keeping it short and sweet - if you're new to training then master your body weight first.

press ups, great try to get good at a variety of them to put the load on different areas of the anterior delts/pecs and triceps... try wide, normal and narrow (diamond)... oh and pike for the shoulders would start. Once you've got the endurance to do 20 of each then you can worry about more advanced forms of training... but with all resistance training - you first not to condition the muscles to cope with a good work load

If you can... find somewhere to do pull ups and bodyweight rows... you need to balance all of that pressing out with some pulling... other wise your shoulders and neck will end up in a horrible position.

Running is great for C.V. (more on that in a bit!) but it's not going to promote good mobility or muscle activation in the hips. Get good at lunging and squatting... again with your body weight... trying to build up some good endurance... 15 reps or more.

When you squat it is very important to keep your chest big, your head up right and to stick your arse out.

Too many people squat from the knees and not the hips... even worse is when people tilt forwards at teh waste... they think if their vision is going up and down then there body must be... not true... people do it with press ups too... they just nod their head up and down like a hungry bird!

To help you squat - remember you are trying to sit your hips down... not just bend at your knees... if you stand with your toes about an inch from a wall this will help... as it will prevent your knees from shooting passed your toes... aim to be able to squat like this, with your legs ending up roughly on a right angle... the stronger and more flexible you are in the hips, the deeper you will go... same with lunges... keep your trunk upright!

Outside of that, doing 'the plank' and back/glute bridges will help to activate your hips correctly.

In terms of C.V. road work is a great place to start for cardio fitness... once you are pretty comfortable with running 3-4 miles you may want to start adding some sprints in. Other than that nothing will beat bag work... just make sure you're not just aimlessly hitting the bag... I'd start off aiming for 6 1 minute rounds with a 30 second break... work on a different combo or drill every round and do it properly! :)

This should build up good foundation of cardio fitness and muscular conditioning and hopefull a better understanding of how your body works and responds to training... once you know where your strengths and weakness are you will be able to indentify and research where you want to go next.

Good luck :)

To AdamGB:
By press ups, you mean push ups? I can handle 25 of those consecutively and im doing this program called "100 pushups". im currently doing this 3 times pr week:
-10 push ups then a 60 sec break
-12 push ups then a 60 sec break
-7 push ups then a 60 sec break
-7 push ups then a 60 sec break
and then as many as i can do (I got to 14)! and i'm gonna continue to do this and im going to add more push ups as i go. Hopefully i can see some improvement along the way.
- Ill try to take your advice and use some variation to those push ups so that they arent all "normal".

Squatting: i think i see where i've gone wrong with this. ive always had my knees go much further then my toes (pointing my knees heavily outwards), but it seems my entire upperbody is.. ehm, supposed to be leaned back? sort of? with the help of my ass that is and somewhat the back of my thighs?

Roadwork doesnt really work that well here in norway cause of the snow, but ill try going to the gym so i can get some more endurance in my legs. god knows i could use it.
Thanks for the help :) keep it coming


All:
I guess what im most conserned about when it comes to boxing is that i've NO clue if im hitting it right or anything. ive been watching alot of youtube "tutorials" and trying to get clues and such from others, but to actually see it and get an instructor is what would really make a difference! (hard to get one here though)

Just for your information: I'm 1.70 cm tall and 63 kg. (in american that is 5.6 Feet and 139 pounds; This is more or less for those who care, im gonna try to update how my training goes for the next 6 weeks/ what sorts of programs/techniques and motivation that keeps me going!)